Events in March 2008
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Mar. 1
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Israel kills 46 Palestinians in its deadliest and deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005. |
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A suicide bombing leaves 20 dead in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency. |
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Mar. 2
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Russia’s presidential candidate Dmitry Anatolievich Medvedev sweeps polls winning about two-thirds of votes cast. |
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The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in Iraq on a visit, the first since the 1979 revolution. |
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas snaps contacts with Israel after the toll in the blitz on Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp by the Jewish state goes up to 120. |
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Thirtytwo persons are killed in a suicide bombing on a grand ‘sirga’ of five tribes in Zarghon village near Darra Adam Khel. |
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Mar. 3
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Kashmir Singh, the death row prisoner who spent 35 years in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail is freed following a presidential pardon. |
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Israel pulls out its ground forces from Gaza Strip following an international outcry. |
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The U.N. Security Council imposes fresh sanctions against Iran. |
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Mar. 4
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Seven persons are killed and 19 injured in a suicide attack at the gates of the Pakistan Navy War College in the heart of Lahore. |
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The Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf rejects the mercy petition of Sarabjit Singh condemned to death for alleged role in bomb blasts in 1990. |
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Mar. 6
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K. Sivanesan, a pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance MP is killed in a claymore mine attack in Sri Lanka’s Wanni region. |
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A Palestinian gunman kills eight students of a prominent Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. |
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Sixty eight persons are killed and 154 injured in coordinated bombings in a packed shopping area in Karrada district, Central Baghdad. |
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A Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout nicknamed “Merchant of Death” is arrested in a hotel in the Thailand capital Bangkok. |
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Mar. 7
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Global equities selloff gathers speed hit by growing U.S. recession fears, a plunging dollar. The euro rockets to a record high $1.5431. |
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Mar. 8
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Malaysian Indian Congress leader Samy Vellu loses parliamentary seat of Sungai Siput in the Perak State seeking a ninth successive term. |
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Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak retain seats in snap general elections. |
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The Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica resigns following a crisis over the independence of Kosovo. |
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Mar. 9
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Spaniards cast ballots in general elections. Polling held for Senate seats too. |
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The Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) announce decision to form a historic coalition government to be led by the former in Murree near Islamabad. |
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Mar. 10
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Spanish Premier Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist Party (PSOE) wins general elections. The party gains in Senate polls too. |
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Local bodies polls are held in Sri Lanka’s Batticaloa district after 14 years. |
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Mar. 11
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Twentyfour persons are killed and 170 injured in twin suicide attacks in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency is reduced to a rubble. |
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A Chinese vessel with e-tagged containers sails out from Shanghai to Savannah in the U.S. marking the opening of the world’s first international e-tagged container route. |
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The Tamil Viduthalai Pullikkal, the party formed by former Tamil Tiger leaders wins a majority in Batticaloa local bodies polls. |
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Jayant Patel, an Indian-born surgeon is arrested by the FBI on charges of manslaughter for the death of 17 patients in Australia. |
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Mar. 12
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Eliot Spitzer resigns as New York Governor in the wake of a prostitution scandal. |
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Mar. 13
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The U.S. Dow Jones industrial average falls more than 200 points. European and Asian markets sink following the dollar’s drop to a 12-year low against the yen. |
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Mar. 14
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Iranians cast votes in parliamentary polls. |
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Europe’s biggest ever fraud trial opens in Italy to reach a verdict in the 2003 collapse of the dairy group Parmalat which left euros 14 billion in debts. |
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Nineteen persons are killed and 382 people injured as violence erupts in the Tibetan Capital Lhasa after protesters led by Buddhist monks clash with troops. |
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Mar. 15
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China’s Parliament endorses Hu Jintao for a second five-year term as President. Xi Jinping is appointed Vice-President. |
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Five persons are killed and 200 injured as a series of blasts rocks an Albanian army munitions depot outside the capital Tirana. |
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Mar. 16
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Pakistan announces that Sarabjit Singh of India caught in 1990 and convicted for spying will be hanged on April 1. |
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Wen Jiabao is re-elected China’s Premier for a second five-year term. |
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Conservatives win a majority in Iranian parliamentary polls. |
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Anura Bandaranaike (58) senior Sri Lanka Freedom Party leader known as the “Crown Prince” dies at his residence in Colombo. |
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Voting gets under way in French local body polls. |
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Mar. 17
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Pakistan’s newly elected members take oath as MPs at the 13th National Assembly inauguration in the capital Islamabad. |
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Left wing wave sweeps French local polls dealing a blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy and his right wing Conservative Party. |
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Former Beatle Paul McCartney reaches a £25 million divorce settlement with his estranged wife Heather Mills. |
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Asian stocks suffer fresh turmoil as the dollar slumps to a fresh record low against the euro and a 12-year trough against the yen. |
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Mar. 18
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Russia and the U.S. agree to set up a broad strategic agenda for bilateral cooperation agree talks between Defence Minister in Moscow. |
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Mohd. Najib Tun Razak is made Malaysian Defence Minister. Syed Hamid Albar gets Home and Rais Yatim gets Foreign Affairs in the ministerial line-up unveiled by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. |
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Fifty persons are killed after a suicide bomber attacks Shia workshippers in the holy city of Karbala in Iraq. Twentynine others die in a series of attacks. |
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Mar. 19
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Fahmida Mirza of the Pakistan People’s Party is elected National Assembly Speaker. Faisal Karim Kundi is elected Deputy Speaker.Mar. 19 Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf stays the execution of Sarabjit Singh till April 30. |
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Mar. 20
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Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme takes over as Belgian Prime Minister to end nine months of deadlock. |
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Mar. 21
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Rival Cypriot leaders agree to reopen Ledra Street running through the heart of Cyprus divided capital Nicosia. The barricades are in place since 1963. |
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Mar. 22
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Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Kuomintang wins the Taiwanese presidential polls, defeating Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Progressive Party. Electorate vetoes propositions on U.N. membership. |
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Mar. 23
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Sixty persons are killed in Iraq. The high security green zone where the U.S. embassy is located comes under rocket attack. |
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Mar. 24
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Yousuf Raza Gillani is elected Pakistan Prime Minister and orders release of the ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and other judges detained since November 3, 2007. |
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Druk Phuensum Tshogpa or the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party of former Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley wins Bhutan’s first ever parliamentary polls by a landslide. |
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Mar. 25
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Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani is sworn in Pakistan Prime Minister by the President retired General Pervez Musharraf. |
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Mar. 26
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Tata Motors acquires Britain’s most famous names in automobile manufacturing, Jaguar and Land Rover, in a $2.3 billion deal with Ford, their American owners. |
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Mar. 27
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French serial killer Michel Fourniret (65) dubbed the “Ogre of the Ardennes” goes on trial for the murder of seven young women and girls, between 1987 and 2001, in Charleville- Mezieres near the Belgian border. |
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American John Griggs Thompson and Belgian-born Jacques Tits win the $1.2 million Abel prize for mathematics for group theory in algebra. |
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Mar. 29
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Zimbabweans cast ballots in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. |
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At least 230 people are killed in five days of clashes between Shia gunmen and troops in Iraq. Seventyfive persons are killed and 498 wounded in Sadr city alone. |
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Singer Miley Cyrus of Hannah Montana fame and the Jonas Brothers — Joe, Kevin and Nick top draws at the Kids Choice Awards in Los Angeles. |
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Mar. 31
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A 24-member Pakistan Cabinet is sworn in by President Pervez Musharraf. Shah Mahmood Qureshi is Foreign Affairs Minister. Sherry Rehman gets Information Ministry and Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar Defence portfolio. |
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Negotiators from 164 countries begin work on drawing a battle plan against global warming in Thailand capital Bangkok. |
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Events 2008
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Feb
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Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
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