Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. (Carlos Gutierrez)
Kartoula, 14, a refugee from Sudan’s western Darfur region, enters a distribution centre to receive monthly food rations at Djabal camp near Gos Beida in eastern Chad, June 5, 2008. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly)
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from launch pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center on May 31, 2008 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, en route to the International Space Station on a construction mission. (Eliot J. Schechter /Getty Images)
An aerial view of floods caused by Tropical Storm Hanna is seen in Gonaives, Haiti on September 3, 2008. Haiti’s civil protection office said 37 of the 90 Hanna-related deaths had occurred in the port city of Gonaives. (REUTERS/Marco Dormino/Minustah)
A U.S. Marine, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan May 18, 2008. The Marine was not injured. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)
The hand of a dead body lies on the ground amongst the rubble of the earthquake ravaged town May 15, 2008 in Beichuan, Sichuan province, China. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Buildings and debris are seen floating in the Cedar River against a railroad bridge Saturday, June 14, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Kenyan athletes train at Eldoret’s Chepkoilel stadium on May 30, 2008 in preparation for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games 2008. Recently the Kenyan athletics federation announced the setting up of two training camps in Eldoret and Nairobi to cater for a selected team of 120 athletes ahead of the Beijing Olympic trials on July 4-5. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)
A man dressed as a tiger carries a small whip made from rope in Zitlala, Guerrero state, Mexico, Monday, May 5, 2008. Every year, inhabitants of this town participate in a violent ceremony to ask for a good harvest and plenty of rain, at the end of the ceremony men battle each other with their whips while wearing tiger masks and costumess. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Children of slain Philadelphia police sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, Amber and Steve embrace after their father’s funeral mass on the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania May 9, 2008 Sergeant Liczbinski was gunned down as he investigated a bank robbery on May 3. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer)
A policeman carries a child away during a gun battle in Tijuana, in Mexico’s state of Baja California, January 17, 2008. A shootout on Thursday, after police agents moved in on a drug cartel group, left four people injured and forced the emergency evacuation of a school in Tijuana, according to the local media. (REUTERS/Jorge Duenes)
A man stands in front of the Marriott hotel after a bomb blast in Islamabad September 20, 2008. A truck bomb was detonated outside the Marriott in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday, killing at least 54, injuring at least 266 and starting a fire which swept through the hotel. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood)
Locals and tourists walk around the Dutch ship Artemis which ran aground on the beach of les Sables d’Olonne, southern French Britanny, western France, March 10, 2008. The boat had been driven onto the coast by the wind blowing more than 130 km per hour. (REUTERS/Stephane Mahe)
A fire rages out of control at the backlot filled with movie sets at Universal Studios in Universal City, California, 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Los Angeles June 1, 2008. A portion of the set used in Steven Spielberg’s film “War of the Worlds” including a jet airplane is shown foreground. (Fred Prouser /Reuters)
Cyclone Nargis victims huddle in torrential rain as they await assistance in Dedaye Township, southwest of Yangon, Myanmar on May 19, 2008. Political resistance to outside aid and a slow response by the government worsened an already devastating situation – an estimated 146,000 people lost their lives. (REUTERS/Stringer)
Tear gas cannisters fired by Israeli soldiers fall from the sky on Palestinian and Israeli peace activists during a protest agaisnt the construction of Israel’s controversial security barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, on June 6, 2008. (Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images)
Maasai warriors cover a battle field as they clash with bows and arrows with members of the Kalenjin tribe in the Kapune hill overlooking the Olmelil valley located in the Transmara District in Western Kenya on March 01, 2008. The Massai, the Kalenjin and the Kisii tribes have recently clashed over ongoing land disputes that erupted after botched local elections during the general elections held in Kenya in December of 2007. Over twenty warriors from the tribes have been killed in bow and arrow battles near the borders of these tribes in the last couple of months. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)
Firefighters battle a blaze at the Namdaemun gate, one of South Korea’s most historic sites, in central Seoul, on February 11, 2008. An arsonist started the fire, destroying the gate – the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, first constructed in 1398 and rebuilt in 1447. (Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images)
The head of a male student, still alive, trapped under the debris is pictured at the scene of the church school that collapsed on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, November 7, 2008. At least 30 people were killed when the three-story La Promesse school building collapsed while class was in session and some of the walls and debris crushed neighboring homes in the Nerettes community near Port-au-Prince. (REUTERS/Joseph Guyler Delva)
Wounded Palestinians lay near Reuters news agency reporter Fadel Shaana’s car after it was hit by an Israeli missile on April 16, 2008 in the central Gaza Strip. The Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian cameraman working for the Reuters news service and two other civilians, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kenyan boy screams as he sees kenyan policeman with a baton approach the door of his home in the Kibera slum of Nairobi 17 January 2008. Hundreds of police who had earlier clashed with supporters of Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga at the entrance of the slum moved into the shantytown and did a house to house search for protestors. (WALTER ASTRADA/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan refugee child hides from a dust storm behind a tent at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan on October 7, 2008. Over a quarter million Afghans have returned home this year from Pakistan and Iran, many of them reportedly due to economic and security uncertainties faced in exile, the United Nations said. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images)
The Guizer Jarl is silhouetted as members of his Viking Squad walk around a long boat with burning torches during the annual Up Helly Aa Festival, in Lerwick, Shetland Islands on January 29th, 2008. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian vikings in the Shetland Islands. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Fishermen try to catch fish during the Argungu fishing festival in Nigeria on March 15, 2008. Over 30,000 fishermen from different parts of Nigeria and neighbouring West Africa took part in the final of the yearly Argungu fishing festival in Kebbi, northwestern Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images)
A firefighter uses a flare gun to set a backfire in the rugged area of Little Tujunga Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of downtown Los Angeles in the early hours of October 12, 2008. Fifty miles per hour gusty winds spread the fire towards ranches and houses in the heavily-forested canyon. (REUTERS/Gene Blevins)
Cambodian families living on the grounds of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Thai-Cambodian border October 16, 2008. Nearly 200 Cambodian residents living near the temple have taken refuge on its grounds, after recent fighting killed two Cambodian soldiers, a local Cambodian newspaper reported. The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but the court failed to determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) Hindu ruins, a ruling that has rankled with Thais ever since. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
A man carries the body of a child recovered from the rubble of a destroyed house after an air strike in Baghdad’s Sadr City in Iraq on April 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Kareem Raheem)
Kerby Brown rides a huge wave in an undisclosed location southwest of Western Australia July 6, 2008, in this picture released November 7, 2008 by the Oakley-Surfing Life Big Wave Awards in Sydney. Picture taken July 6. (REUTERS/Andrew Buckley)































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http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html