Event February 2008

Fidel Castro Steps Down

1. 64 persons killed by twin bomb blasts in Baghdad
*Microsoft offers to acquire Yahoo! for $ 44.6 b. oAI Qaeda leader Abu Laith al-Libi killed in Paki­stan.

3.Serbs vote in presidential election that will decide the fate of breakaway Kosovo province
*Earthquake hits Rwan­da and DR Congo, killing 28
*Rebels in Chad surround President Idrissa Defy's palace
*French President Sarkozy marries his girlfriend former model Carla Bruni at Elysee Palace.

4.12 killed in bus explosion in north­central Sri Lanka
*Boris Tadic re-elected Serbian President.

5.Prototype of 'AVG', a successor to France's TGV fast trains, with 360 kmph speed, unveiled in France
*lran regrets India's launch of Israeli spy satellite.

6.In Super Tuesday showdown in USA, John McCain rides closer to the top of Republican ticket
*Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies in the Netherlands
*Chinese end the Year of the Pig and ring in the Year of the Rat.

7.A billion dollar defence deal signed by US and India for the purchase of 6 Super Hercules military transport planes from Lockheed Martin
*55 killed in tornadoes in southern US states.

8.Scotland Yard thinks that Benazir Bhutto died of an injury she sustained when her head hit the roof-opening of her car as a result of the bomb blast
*Shuttle Atlantis soars into orbit after a 2-month delay.

9.Myanmar authorities announce referendum in May on a new constitution
*Sri Lanka dissident leader Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi dies
*Ban on Islamic headscarves in universities lifted in Turkey.

11. Yahoo rejects Microsoft's buyout offer
*Grammy awards won by Amy Wine house
*Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama wins Grammy for best spoken word album
*Pak Ambassador to Kabul goes missing
*East Timor President Horta shot and wounded by rebel soldiers.
13.Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises to the country's 4.7 lakh-strong Aborigines for past injustices against them
*Obama gets three more states in US election nominations.

14.Hizbollah declares open war on Israel
*President Musharraf pledges to hold free, fair and timely elections.

15. Ex-student in Northern Illinois University kills 6 in a lecture hall
*A South Korean firm receives an order for cloning a pet dog
*US to shoot down a broken spy satellite hurtling towards Earth with a large supply of toxic fuel aboard
*Global loss put at $ 8 trillion resulting from US subprime crisis, Bank of America estimates
*Alan Greenspan says US economy is clearly on the edge of a recession.

l6. Millionaire adventurer Steve Fos­sett, declared dead 5 months after he vanished while flying in a small plane
*Hindraf urges ethnic Indians in Malaysia to vote against Badawi's political grouping
*Sharp drop reported in Baghdad deaths from violence.

17.Suicide attacks kill 40 on poll eve in Pakistan
*40 die in Pak bus mishap
*Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
*80 killed in Afghan blast.

18.Pak elections pass off without major untoward incidents
*The Serb-run half of Bosnia seeks independence.

19. In Pakistan, PPP and PML (Nawaz) sweep polls, with big set­back for Mush­arraf's PML(Q)
*Cuba's Fidel Castro steps down.

20. Oil touches $100 a barrel again
*Earthquake (7.3) strikes Indonesia's Aceh province
*Barack Obama bags 10th consecutive victory against Hillary Clinton *Britain makes it mandatory for immigrants to pass more tests to 'prove their worth'
*Serbia withdraws ambas­sador from Washington; UK, Germany, France and Italy recognise Kosovo.

21.UK to introduce 'migrant tax'
*Thousands of Serbs held a rally to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence, while the number of nations recognising Kosovo rises to a dozen
*Riots target Western embassies in Belgrade, over Kosovo issue.

22.Venezuelan plane crashes in Andesregion killing 46.

24.VirginAtlan­tic operates its first flight using bio­fuel
*Three bankers jailed in' USA for Enron-linked fraud
*Presidential elections in Cuba; National Assembly elects Raul Castro as Fidel Castro's successor.

25.'No Country for Old Men' wins best picture at Oscars
*Raul Castro is the newly elected President of Cuba,

26. Cyprus has a communist head of state, Demetris Christifias.

27. Mathew Hayden of Australia let off with reprimand for calling India's Harbhajan Singh an 'obnoxious little weed' in a radio interview
*UN projections say half the world's people will live in urban areas by the end of 2008
*Earthquake (5.2 Richter) jolts Britain.

28. Nepal Government and United Democratic Madhesi Frontsign an 8-point agreement
*Thailand's deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is back.

29. Chemical Ali's execution approved by Iraq's presidency council
*Israel warns of 'holocaust' in Gaza after attacks
*British Army to recall Prince Harry from Afghanistan.