Events in February 2008
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Feb. 1
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Sixty Four persons are killed in twin blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. |
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Scientists in New Zealand and Japan announce creation of ‘No tears’ onion. |
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Feb. 2
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The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, weds girl friend Carla Bruni at the Elysee Palace in Paris. |
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Twenty civilians are killed and 80 injured following an explosion in a passenger bus at the Dambulla bus stand in central Sri Lanka. |
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Feb. 3
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Twelve civilians are killed and 100 injured as a woman suicide bomber blows herself up in the crowded Fort Railway Station, Colombo. |
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Boris Tadic is re-elected Serbian President. |
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Feb. 4
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At least 12 civilians are killed and 17 injured in a claymore explosion targeting a bus at Ethwatunuwewa in Sri Lanka. |
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Iran launches a rocket designed to carry its first research satellite Omid (Hope) next year. |
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Feb. 5
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Republican John McCain cements position as frontrunner in U.S. presidential nomination. In the Democratic camp, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are evenly poised after the Super Tuesday races. |
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France’s Alstom unveils “Automatrice Grande Vitesse”, a new generation of superfast train without locomotive that can travel 1,000 km in three hours. |
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Feb. 6
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Samak Sundaravej assumes office as Thailand Prime Minister. |
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Feb. 7
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Dr. Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin a multi-crore kidney transplant racket in India is arrested from a hotel in Saurah, a small Napalese town. |
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Feb. 8
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The former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, died of injuries due to the impact of the bomb blast, says the Scotland Yard in its report. |
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The Turkish Parliament approves statute amendments that will lift a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves at universities. |
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The former Sri Lankan Minister and dissident of the ruling SLFP, Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi (45), dies in a road accident at Madagama in the Galgamuwa area. |
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Myanmar’s military government announces move to hold a referendum on a new constitution. |
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Feb. 10
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British pop singer Amy Winehouse (24) wins five Grammy Awards and jazz veteran Herbie Hancock (67) bags the album of the year award at a function in Los Angeles. |
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Feb. 11
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East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta is critically wounded in an attack by rebels at his residence in Dili. The Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is ambushed while travelling in a car. |
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Mansoor Dadullah, a top Taliban leader is killed after a shootout near a seminary in Zhob distruct, Baluchistan province of Pakistan. |
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U.S. Military prosecutors issue the first charges relating to the September 11 attacks |
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Feb. 12
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Aborigines make history in Australian Parliament overturning hundreds of years of British tradition in the nation. |
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Imad Mughniyeh, a top commander of the Lebanese Hizbullah is killed in an explosion in the Syrian capital Damascus. |
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Illinois Senator Barack Obama routs New York Senator Hillary Clinton sweeping primaries in Virgina, Maryland the District of Columbia. |
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Feb. 13
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Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announces a snap general election. |
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The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, delivers an apology in Parliament for past injustices to aborigines. |
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Feb. 14
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Stephen Kazmierczak (27) a former student opens fire at a classroom at Northern Illinois University in Deklab, Illinois killing five persons before turning the gun on self. |
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Hizbullah declares open war on Israel. |
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Feb. 15
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Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett (63) missing since September 3, 2007 is declared dead. |
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Mark Beaumont (25), a Scotsman sets a record by cycling around the world in 194 days and 17 hours. |
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Feb. 16
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“Elite Squad” (“Tropa Squad”), a political thriller by Brazilian director Jose Padilha bags the Berlin Film Festival’s Gold Bear for best film. |
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Feb. 17
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Eighty persons are killed in a blast on the outskirts of Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar. |
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Kosovo declares independence from Serbia after a vote in ethnic Albanian dominated Parliament. |
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Feb. 18
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Low turnout marks Pakistan general elections. Fourteen persons are killed in election-related violence. |
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Feb. 19
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Pakistan general elections result in hang verdict. The PPP emerges the single largest party followed closely by the Nawaz Sharif – led Pakistan Muslim League. |
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Pakistan Muslim League (Q) an ally of President Musharraf is routed. |
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Fidel Ruiz Castro (81), steps down as Cuban President after a 49-year-rule during which he outlasted nine American presidents. |
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Feb. 20
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The U.S. Navy launches an interceptor missile to shoot down a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office Satellite over the Pacific Ocean. |
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Feb. 21
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Israel launches an incursion into Gaza Strip. |
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The PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and the PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif agree to work together on government formation. |
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Feb. 24
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The Coen brothers’ crime saga “No Country for Old Men” bags four Academy awards, including best picture at the 80th Annual Academy Awards, in Hollywood, California. Daniel Day-Lewis gets Best Actor Oscar (“There Will Be Blood”) and Marion Cotillard is named Best Actress (“La Vie En Rose”). |
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Cuba’s National Assembly unanimously elects Mr. Raul Castro Ruz (76) President in place of brother Fidel Castro. Jose Ramon Machado named Vice-President. |
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Lee Myung-bak is formally inaugurated South Korean President. |
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Feb. 25
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The Pakistan Army’s Surgeon-General Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Ahmed Baig and seven others are killed after a suicide bomber blows himself up near his staff car at a busy intersection in Rawalpindi. |
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Feb. 26
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A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the most important seeds to serve as a Noah’s Ark of food crops in the event of a global catastrophe is inaugurated in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, some 1,000 km from the North Pole. |
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Feb. 27
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Pakistan government drops all corruption charges against the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari. |
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Microsoft is fined a record $ 1.35 billion (euros 899 million) by the European Commission for using high prices to discourage software competition. |
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Britain is jolted by an earthquake, the biggest to hit the nation in nearly 25 years, damaging property worth £ 10 million |
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An online encyclopaedia of life (at www.eol.org) crashes as soon as public unveiling. |
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Iraq’s presidency council gives its nod for the execution of Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as “Chemical Ali” for the genocidal campaign against Iraq’s Kurds in the 1980s. |
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Feb. 28
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Thailand’s deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra receives a hero’s welcome on return home after 17 months of self-imposed exile. |
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Kenya’s leaders agree to form a coalition government after marathon talks in the capital Nariobi. |
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Fifty persons are killed in a suicide bomb attack on a funeral procession in Mingora in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. |
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Events 2008
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Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
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