China 1949 to 2008

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1949, Communist leader Mao Zedong proclaims the founding 0f People's Republic of China.
1958: Mao launches Great Leap Forward, a five-year economic plan.
1959: Chinese forces suppress large-scale revolt in Tibet. Dalai Lama escapes to India.
1962: China attacks India.
1966: Cultural Revolution, Mao's 10-year political and ideological campaign,begins.
1971: China replaces Taiwan in UN.
1972: US President Richard Nixon visits China.
1976: Mao dies. Gang of Four, including Mao's widow arrested. 1977: Deng Xiaoping emerges as leader.
1989: Troops open fire on demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square .. 1989: Jiang Zemin becomes Communist Party General Secretary.
1993: Jiang Zemin becomes President.
1997: Deng Xiaoping dies. Hong Kong reverts to China. 1999: Macao reverts to China.
2001: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan - and Uzbekistan launch Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. China joins World Trade Organisa­tion.
2002: Vice-President Hu Jintao becomes Communist Party leader.
2003: Hu Jintao elected President. China and India sign agreement over status of Tibet and Sikkim ..
2006: Tibet railway line, the world's highest train route opened.
2008: Anti-China protests escalate in Tibet. Olympics in Beijing.

Bangladesh 1947 to 2008

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1947: Pakistan is born with two provinces-East Pakistan and West Pakistan.
1970: Pakistan's first general elections. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Awami League, wins majority. West Pakistan's leaders refuse to recognise the results, lead­ing to rioting.
1971: Awami League proclaims independence of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). 1972: Mujib becomes Prime Minister.
1975: Mujib becomes President. He is assassinated ina military coup .. 1977: General Zia Rahman assumes Presidency.
1979: Zia's Bangladesh National Party wins parliamentary elections. 1981: Zia is assassinated during abortive military coup.
1982: Army Chief H. M. Ershad seizes power.
1983: Ershad becomes President
1986: Ershad elected to a five-year term.
1987: State of emergency declared following mass protests. 1990: Ershad resigns.
1991: Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of President Zia Rahman, becomes Prime min­ister.
1996: Awami League returns to power. Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed becomes Prime Minister.
2001: Awamy League loses at polls to Khaleda Zia's BNP-Ied coalition.
2002: President Chowdhury resigns after BNP accuses him of bias. lajuddin Ahmed takes over as President
2004: Sheikh Hasina survives bomb attack which kills 22 people.
2006: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia completes her term. President Ahmed assumes caretaker role for period leading to elections. Awami League accuses Presi­dent Ahmed of bias; announces poll boycott. Bangladesh Grameen Bank founder Muhammed Yunus wins Nobel Peace Prize.
2007: State of emergency declared amid violence in the election run-up. Poll postponed. Fakhruddin Ahmed appointed head of caretaker government.
2007: Sheikh Hasina, Kha/eda Zia and several other politicians arrested in an anti­corruption drive.
2008: Bangladesh [arnaat-e-lslarni Chief Motiur Rahman arrested.

Russia 1917 to 2008

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1917: October Revolution. Bolsheviks take over Moscow.
1922: Russia joins the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
1991: Soviet Union collapses. Russia becomes independent.
1992: Russia takes up seat of Soviet Union in UN.
1996: Boris Yeltsin re-elected for another term.
1998: Yeltsin dismisses Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and appoints first, Sergey Kiriyenko and later, Yevgeniy Primakov. I
1999: Yeltsin sacks Primakov and appoints first, Sergey Stepashin and later, VladiImir Putin. Yeltsin resigns and Putin takes over as acting president.
2000: Putin elected president.
2002: Chechen rebels' seizure of a Moscow theatre results in the death of more than 120 people.
2003: Putin-backed United Russia wins landslide victory in parliament elections. i 2004: President Putin re-elected. More than 330 people killed when siege at school in North Ossetia ends in bloodbath. i
2005: Chechen separatist leader Asian Maskhadov killed in a military operation. Billionnaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky sentenced to nine years in jail for tax evasion and fraud.
2006: Russia's most-wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, is killed in a military operation. Putin critic and former Russian security service officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, dies in London due to radioactive poisoning ..
2007: Former President Yeltsin dies. United Russia party wins a landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
2008: Dmitry Medvedev takes over as President from Putin, who becomes Prime Minister. War erupts between Russia and Georgia

Sri Lanka 1948 to 2008

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1948: Sri Lanka (Ceylon) gains independence from Britain.
1956: Solomon Bandaranaike becomes Prime Minister. Sinhala made official lan­guage.
1958: Anti-Tamil riots leave 200 people dead.
1959: Bandaranaike assassinated by a Bhuddist monk. His widow, Sirimavo becomes world's first woman Prime Minister.
1965: Opposition United National Party wins elections. 1970: Srimavo Bandaranaike returns to power.
1971: Sinhalese Marxists launch rebellion.
1972: Country's name changed to Sri Lanka.
1975: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formed.
1977: Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) party wins all seats in Tamil areas. 1983: Civil war begins, sparked by anti-Tamil riots.
1987: India-Sri Lanka agreement signed.
1991: India's former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by L TTE. 1993: LTTE kills President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
1999: L TTE tries to kill President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
2002: Sri Lankan government and L TTE sign cease-fire agreement. 2003: L TTE pulls out of peace talks.
2005: LTTE kills Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Mahinda Rajapakse becomes President
2006: Army Chief hurt in LTTE bomb attack.
2007: LTTE fighters attack Anuradhapura air base. L TTE's second-in-command S.P.Thamilselvan is killed in an air raid.
2008.: Government troops attack LTTE's administrative headquarters Killinochi

Event May 2008

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Two Natural Disasters

1.Progress made in Pakistan on re­instating judges dismissed by President Musharraf
*Colombia's most wanted drug kingpin Victor Mejia Munera shot dead
*World's largest sea bridge inaugurated in the Yangtze River Delta in China.

2.Sacked judges of Pakistan to be reinstated
*Georgia-Russia tensions are hotting up
*No outright winner of Zimbabwe's March 29 election, with Tsvangirai getting 47.9% and Mugabe 43.2%.

3.Ken Livingstone is replaced by Boris Johnson as London mayor
*Maoists win one-third of the seats awarded under the proportionate Representation system
*Nelson Mandela still figures on the US terrorist watch list.

4.Microsoft out of Yahoo bid
*Cyclone Nargis wreaks havoc in Myanmar.

5.Death toll from cyclone in Myan­mar put at 10,000, with another 300 missing.

6.China says Dalai Lama must show sincerity in his actions.

7.Dmitry Medvedev is the new Russian President and Vladimir Putin the Prime Minister olMF approves sale of 403.3 tonnes for gold reserves
*Sri Lanka President prorogues Parliament
*Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahem resigns, Brian Cowen succeeds him
*Death toll in cyclone Nargis in Myanmar may reach 50,000, it is feared; One million homeless
*Obama takes a step towards Democratic Party nomination.

8.Pakistan testfires Haft-VIII
*Crude price $126 a barrel
*Lebanese militant group takes over most of Beirut.

10.Myanmar junta holds a referendum on a new constitution
*Afghanistan is hit by a plague of locusts.

11.President Bush's daughter Jenna weds Henry Hager
*Serbs vote in par­liamentary election
*UN puts number of persons missing in Myanmar cyclone Nargis at 2,20,000.
12.Relief materials for cyclone-hit Myanmar pour in from many countries
*Pakistan is readmitted to the Commonwealth
*Southwest China is hit by a major earthquake (7.8), killing thousands, and leaving 900 students buried
*Indonesians protest government's plan to raise fuel prices
*Nawaz Sharif's party (PML-N) to quit Pak cabinet.

13.China earthquake toll surpasses 12,000
*Maoists ask King Gyanendra to leave the Narayanhiti Palace before May 27.

14. Justine Henin retires-Maria Sharapova to be No.1 in women's ten­nis.

16.PCC withdraws defamation suit against Shoaib Akhtar, after a public apology by the bowler
*100 killed in pipeline fire in Nigeria
*Pillayan, leader of the breakaway LTTE faction, is CM of the newly constituted Eastern Provincial Council.

17. Quake toll in China rises to 28,881
*UN report says about 3 b. people are food insecure; 18,000 children die daily
*Taliban releases Pak ambassador to Kabul Tariq Azizuddin, three months and five days after he was abducted
*Kuwaitis vote for a new Parliament
*President Bush in Egypt for peace deal.

18.Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh indicted by a special court in a second graft case
*Double amputee runner Oscar Pistorius regains the right to participate in Olympics at Beijing.

19.Mahathir Mohammad quits ruling party in Malaysia to press for leadership change
*Osama bin Laden lashes out at Arab governments that side with the West
*Anti-foreigner riots in South Africa, 22 killed
*3-day mourning in Myanmar for victims of cyclone that has left 1,30,000 people dead or missing
*3 minutes' silence observed in China and overseas in memory of the earthquake victims.

20. Oil is $129 a barrel.

21.Brigadier Balraj, a key commander of the LTTE, is dead
*Georqia elects a new Parliament.

22. Appa Sherpa of Nepal climbs Everest for the '18th'" time
*Olympic torch relay resumes in China
*Violcnce erupts in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
*Pakistan signs a peace accord with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

23. King Gyanendra of Nepal leaves the Narayanhity royal palace
*Beatification of Pope john Paul II next year
*Ricky Ponting surpasses Gavaskar's record by winning his 35th test century against West Indies
*China and Russia vow joint efforts to maintain global energy security
*Myanrnar opens up to global aid
*850 Malawians affected by the violence against foreigners in South Africa, which has claimed 42 lives
*Somalian pirates free the hijacked ship MV Victoria
*Oil is $135 a barrel.

24. Death toll from earthquake in China is over 60,000
*ppp leader Zardari says judges sacked by President Musharrafwill be reinstated
*Prachanda invited to form government in Nepals
*Thousands march in jo'burg against xenophobia
*NASA gears to land the Phoenix space craft on Mars' frigid north pole
*Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe says Mugabe wants to decimate MDC structures.

25. Min Bahadur Sherchan, 75, of Nepal becomes the oldest person to climb the Everest
*Arrmy Chief Gen. Michel Sieiman is elected President of Lebanon.

26.Palme d'Or (Cannes) goes to 'Entre les Murs' ('The Class')
*Phoenix sends first pictures from Mars
*Sri Lanka train blast kills seven.

27.Detention of Aung San Suu Kyi extended by one year
*Gorbachev given lifetime achievement award at the Energy Cable Awards in Brussels
*Nepal's King Gyanendra's last day on the throne
*Xenophobes attack South Asians in Rome
*France to promote nuclear energy as an .j alternative to tackle climate change.

28.Nepal becomes a Federal Demo­cratic Republic;King Gyanendra to vacate the palace in 15 days
*Assets of four LeT leaders frozen by USA
*Experts say the leaning tower of Pisa has been stabilised and is out of danger for at least 300 years
*James Bond is back in Sebatian Faulks' novel 'Devil May Care', marking the centenary of lan Fleming's birth
*China's earthquake toll rises to 68,109
*A corruption scandal puts pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign
*Indonesia a net oil importer, to quit OPEC.

29. Agreement reached on destroying cluster bomb stock piles in eight years, at a meeting of diplomats from over 100 nations in Dublin.

30.Actor Sharon Stone banned by Shanghai Film Festival for suggesting that the earthquakes in Sichuan were Karmic retribution for the treatment of Tibet
*Earthquake hits Iceland
*China to evacuate 1.3 rn. people in Sichuan for fear of a major 'quake lake' burst
*A.O.Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, says he had not meant a word of his earlier admission of selling nuclear energy
*WHO calls member countries to ban tobacco advertisement.

31.France to help Jordan develop its nuclear energy
*Shane Warne says he is ready to be spin bowling guru in India.

Event April 2008

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Moist Victory in Nepal
1.Fast Bowler Shoaib Akhtar banned for 5 years by Pakistan Cricket Board for repeated indiscipline.
2.In Zimbabwe elections, Mugabe's party loses control of parliament.
3.ShoaibAkhtar not to be allowed to play in India Pre­mier League until the suspension is lifted *China urges US to support its position on Tibet
*NATO summit being held at Bucharest.
4.UN warns that 82 countries face food 102 EVENTS emergencies as stockpiles of wheat drop to the lowest levels since 1980, sufficient to feed the world for just 12 weeks
*Putin says NATO's induction of Ukraine and Georgia is an immediate threat to Russia.
5. Actor Charlton Heston dies
*Clashes between anti-China protesters and police during Olympic torch march in London
*In Zimbabwe, Mugabe's party demands vote recount.
7. Negligent driving of her chauffeur and the pursuing.paparazzi killed Princess Diana, her inquest concludes.
8. IMF considers selling 403.3 tonnes of gold.
9. IOC to go ahead with Olympic torch relay.
10. Nepal goes to the polls, 60 p.c. voter turnout *Zimbabwe's opposition leader Tsvangirai not to take part in any presidential run-off against Mugabe *Jigni Y. Thinley is Bhutan's first elected Prime Minister.
11. China's new bullet train 'Hexie' that can reach a speed of 350 km an hour is ready.
12 The Newseum opened in Wash­ington.
13. Maoists bag 61 of 1 05 seats in Nepal
*92 killed in Sri Lankan clashes
*Italy goes to the polls
*In Kenya Raila Odinga is named Prime Minister.
14. Dalai Lama rules out any more 'concessions' to China on Tibet
*Kenyan President Kibaki announces national unity cabinet, ending a long deadlock.
15. Blasts in Iraq kill 62
*Plane crash in congo kills 60
*Putin to lead United Russia party
*Volcano empts in Colombia
*18 school girls killed in Uganda fire.
16. The Pope is in US
*NLD says Suu Kyi can vote in May 10 referendum.
17. Suicide bomber kills 45 Iraqi mourners.
18. Beijing main venue of the Olympics 'Bird's Nest' makes debut
*WFP to cut rations in Darfur because of insecurity along the main supply routes
*Dense smoke from grass fires envelopes Buenos Aires.
19. Taliban holds Pak ambassador to Afghanistan.
20. Clash between Ethiopian troops and Islamist fighters kill 81 in Mogadishu
*Israeli raids on Gaza strip.
22.Crude oil rises to $118 a barrel *Paris awards honorary citizenship to Dalai Lama.
23. 90 killed in fighting in Jaffna pen­insula
*Hillary Clinton scores a decisive win in Pennsylvania *Reports say Israel is prepared to return Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for a peace treaty.
24.China's Internet population rises to 221 m.
*143 killed in Sri Lanka fighting
*Pakistan's new government has drafted a peace agreement with Taliban militants
*WFP says half of Pakistan is 'food insecure'
*Pro-Tibet riots continue in Nepal.
25. Communist Party of Nepal (Mao­ists) win 100 seats in Nepal.
26. In Zimbabawe, Mugabe's ZANU-PF fails in recount too.
27.Afghan President Hamid Karzai escapes attempt on his life by Taliban in Kabul *Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicts a 10.7 p.c. growth in GDP in 2008
*Nepali Maoist leader Prachanda stresses cooperation with India.
28.70 die as a passenger train jumps the track in China's Shandong province Iran is ready for talks with the West on nuclear proposals.
29.lraq'sformer Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on trial in Baghdad.
30. Shoab Akhtar's five year ban upheld by Pak appellate tribunal.

Event March 2008

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March 2008Violence in Tibet
1.Nicholas Burns, the American points man forthe nuclear deal, quits
*33 Gazans killed in pitched battles.
2.Kosovo Prime Minister Thaci rules out partition
*Iranian President Ahmadinejad in Iraq.
3.Israel ends Gaza incursion
*Dmitry Medvedev wins a landslide in Russian presidential election
*Iran asks US to leave Iraq
*22 LTTE cadres killed; Rajapakse says Tigers will be wiped out
*Accordinq to a poll 64% of Israelis favour a negotiated truce with Hamas.
6.Waren Buffet ($62 b.) is the world's richest man in Forbes list of billionaires, Carlos Slim ($60 b) is second, Bill Gates ($58 b) third, and lakshmi Mittal ($45 fourth.
7. Gold drifts higher in Europe, $984.70 an ounce
*68 killed in twin blasts in central Baghdad
*Eight students killed by a Palestinian gunman inside a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem
*38 Tigers killed in north Sri Lanka.
*Marian Jones goes to prison
*Cun­man kills 8 teens in Israeli school.
9. PPP-PML (N) to form government in Pakistan.
10. Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero's Socialist Party wins elections but not an outright majority *Malaysian PM Badawi sworn in for another term.
11. 26 killed in Lahore twin blasts.
13. Oil price is $110 a barrel and gold hits $1000 an ounce.
14. Violence in Lhasa
*lranian elections.
*Shops and vehicles set ablaze in Lhasa.
15. Over 100 Tibetan protesters killed by Chinese police during protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa, Tibetan Government in exile
16. Wen jiabo re-elected China's Prime Minister
*A plan for a 38 member Mediterranean Union agreed upon
*Conservatives win majority in Iran.
17. Pakistan parliament opens without President Musharraf
*Gold is above $1 030 an ounce in New York
*New York gets its first black governor as David Paterson replaces Eliot Spitzer
*China declares 'people's war' as Tibet riots spread.
18. Wen Jiabo says Tibet protests are incited by Dalai Lama; Dalai Lama offers to quit as political head of his movement in exile, if violence continues
*Four ethnic Indians inducted in Malaysian cabinet
*Casualties in Iraq since 2003: US killed 3987; Iraqi civilians - 89,300.
19.Pakistan has a woman Speaker of National Assembly in Fehmida Mirza (PPP)
*Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian
*Taslima Nasrin leaves India, reported to be in London
*Rabbit fever reported in Thailand.
20.Osama bin Ladan threatens EU with grave punishment for publication of cartoons mocking prophet Mohammed.
21.Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif says he wants ousted CJ Iftihkar Chaudhary reinstated. 22.China sends more troops to restive areas to crush Tibet uprising
*PPP nominates Yousuf Raza Gillani as its candidate for Pakistan's Prime Minister *Russia warns Georgia over NATO
*Opposition KMT wins Taiwan presidential election.
23. Loss of world's biggest bank Citigroup for 2008 put at $43 b.
24.Pakistan's Prime Minister elect Gillani orders release of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary
*ln elections, Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party wins
*US military death toll in Iraq climbs to 4000
*Sri Lanka claims 2500 Tigers killed since Jan. 1.
25. Yousuf Raza Gillani sworn in as Pakistan's 25th Prime Minister
*130 killed in Tibet violence.
26.Fighting in Basra and other towns intensifies.
27. Heathrow airports new Terminal 5 opens.
28.Virender Sehwag becomes the third batsman after Don Bradman and Brian Lara to run up 300 plus scores twice in Tests
*China's economy to grow at 10.7 p.c. in 2008, says a UN agency.
29. Voting in Zimbabwe. 31. Pakistan cabinet sworn in
*Chinese President Hu Jintao launches the Olympic torch relay
*160 nations take part in talks in Bangkok on global warming
*All con­spiracy theories in the death of Princess Diana rejected by coroner.

Event February 2008

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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.

'Civilians die' in Sri Lanka zone

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BBC News, Colombo :At least 60 civilians have been killed by shells fired in a no-fire zone in Sri Lanka in the past 24 hours, a senior health official there says.

Two health facility compounds in the north-east region were also hit, Dr T Varatharaja told the BBC.

Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped by the fighting between the Sri Lanka military and Tamil Tigers rebels.

The military has denied responsibility for the casualties, and the rebels have not responded.


More than 300 people were injured in the shelling in a small stretch of coastal area in Mullaitivu district.

The military says it has captured all rebel-held territory in the north-east after days of intense fighting, and has now pushed the rebels into a government-designated "safe zone" set up to protect civilians.

Health facility hit

The zone is estimated to be about 20 sq km (8 sq miles) of the coastal area.

"Some shells landed inside a smaller health facility in the Ambalavanpokkanai area when people were waiting to collect milk powder for children.


Ten people were killed in the incident," Dr Varatharaja told the BBC by phone from a make-shift health facility inside the "safe zone".

He said the intensity of shell fire had increased in the last 24 hours and another health facility had also come under attack in the same area in which one health worker was killed.

The official said the shells came from an area dominated by the security forces.

There is no confirmation of the official's version of events, because independent journalists are banned by the government from travelling to the war-affected area.

However, the military has denied responsibility for civilian deaths.

"We have not fired any shells towards the safe zone," Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

"The doctor may be under pressure from the rebels to talk about civilian casualties."

There has been no reaction from Tamil Tiger rebels.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said one of its aid workers was killed in shelling in the region on Wednesday.

It also evacuated more than 500 sick and war-injured people from the war zone the same day.

The United Nations says that more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and 7,000 injured in fighting in the last two months.

The government disputes these figures.

The UN has also accused the rebels of preventing the civilians from leaving the war zone, saying there were credible reports that Tamil Tigers were shooting at those attempting to flee.

The rebels deny the accusations.


Source BBC NEWS