Also in 2008, gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.

In 2009, admitted Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, accused of defrauding thousands of clients of billions of dollars in a massive Ponzi scheme over 20 years, pleaded guilty to 11 counts that lawyers say could net him a 150-year prison sentence.

In 2010, a string of explosions triggered by a reported four suicide bombers struck Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 people and wounding another 45, all said to be civilians.

In 2011, Saudi and United Arab Emirates troops were invited into Bahrain to shore up the beleaguered regime under fire by protesters seeking government reform.

Also in 2011, the Dalai Lama, 75-year-old spiritual leader of Tibet, announced his resignation from his second job, as his people's official political leader, a post he had held since he was 18.

In 2012, an oil cargo ship collided with a passenger launch in Bangladesh's Meghna River, claiming at least 26 lives with more than 200 people reported missing.

Thirty passengers of the Dhaka-bound MV Shariatpur-1 swam to shore.

Also in 2012, the death toll reached 19 in reprisal attacks and the suicide bombing of a Catholic church in Jos, Nigeria.

Copyright 2013 by United Press International