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2008 Review: May

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RIA Novosti looks back at the main events of the outgoing year; below the month-by-month review of 2008 continues, with May May 2 * The world's... 22.12.2008, Sputnik International

2008-12-22T13:00+0000

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2008 Review: May

13:00 GMT 22.12.2008

RIA Novosti looks back at the main events of the outgoing year; below the month-by-month review of 2008 continues, with May

May 2

* The world's longest cross-sea bridge is opened in eastern China

May 6

* Russia and the United States sign an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation

May 7

* Dmitry Medvedev is inaugurated as Russia's third president in a glittering and solemn ceremony in front of some 2,500 guests at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow as Vladimir Putin steps down after eight years as head of state

May 8

* The State Duma approves Vladimir Putin as prime minister

May 9

* A military parade involving almost 8,000 personnel, 111 sophisticated tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 32 aircraft and helicopters takes place on Moscow's Red Square on Russia's Victory Day

May 12

* Southwest China's Sichuan province is hit by a massive earthquake, leaving at least 70,000 killed and 10 million displaced

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces his new government, keeping the main ministers in their posts and bringing in several former Kremlin aides

May 15

* Zenit St. Petersburg wins the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history beating Glasgw Rangers

May 16

* The official death toll following Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis, which hit the Southeast Asian country on May 3, rises to 77,738, and 56,000 are missing

* Ukraine becomes the 152nd member of the World Trade Organization

May 18

* Russia's national ice hockey team beats Canada 5-4 in overtime in the final of the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada to become world champions for the first time in 15 years

May 21

* The government of the Czech Republic approves the deployment of a component of the U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory

* President Mikhail Saakashvili's United National Movement garners 63.2% in Georgia's parliamentary elections, despite the opposition party claiming to have won the polls

May 26

* NASA's Phoenix space probe successfully touches down on Mars as part of a 90-day mission examining whether the red planet's subterranean ice could have once sustained life