Events in January 2008
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Jan. 1
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A Sri Lankan Tamil MP, T.Maheswaran, is shot dead at a temple on the outskirts of Colombo. |
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Thirty-five persons are killed as a mob torches a church in Eldoret town, Kenya. Toll in ethnic riots over poll results goes up to 316. |
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E.U. newcomers Cyprus, Malta adopt the euro scrapping the pound and lira. |
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Germany and France ban smoking in public places. |
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Jan. 2
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Sri Lanka declares the 2002 ceasefire pact with the LTTE “invalid.” |
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Pakistan postpones elections to February 18. |
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Jan. 3
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Pakistan frees four Palestinians convicted of the 1986 hijacking of an American airliner in Karachi that ended with the death of 22 persons, including an Indian flight purser Neerja Bhanot. |
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The University of Cambridge announces the launch of the “Jawaharlal Nehru Professorship of Indian Business and Enterprise.” |
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Jan. 5
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Scotland Yard begins probe into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. |
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Georgians cast votes in a snap general election. |
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‘Col.’ Charles (Shanmuganathan Ravishankar), Chief of the Liberation Tigers Military Intelligence” is killed in a “random claymore attack” by the Sri Lankan Army in Pallamadu, Mannar. |
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Jan. 6
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Malaysia awards a $1.08-billion project to IRCON. |
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Jan. 8
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The Sri Lankan Nation Building Minister, D.M. Dassanayake, is killed in a bomb explosion on the Negombo-Colombo main road. |
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The Maldivian President Mamoon Abdul Gayoom escapes bid on life on a visit to the north of the Indian Ocean archipelago. |
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Jan. 9
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Georgian President, Mikhail Saakashvili, is declared winner in the snap polls. |
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Jan. 10
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A suicide bombing near the gates of the Lahore High Court kills 23 persons, mostly policemen. |
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U.S. war planes launch their biggest air strike in Iraq since 2003 raining Baghdad outskirts with 40,000 pounds of bombs. |
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Jan. 11
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Sir Edmund Hillary (88) conqueror of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953 dies in an Auckland hospital of heart attack. |
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The Nepal Government sets Constituent Assembly polls for April 10. |
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The world’s first commercial service from Hobart, Australia to Antarctica, an Airbus A-319, touches down smoothly at the Wilkins glacial blue ice runway. |
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S. Krishnasamy (61), a prominent Malaysian Indian politician is shot dead at Johor Baharu. |
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Jan. 12
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Opposition Kuomintang wins elections to the Taiwan legislature called “Legislative Yuan” |
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A 17-member Chinese expedition team reaches Dome A, the highest Antarctic ice cap summit after a gruelling 21-day journey. |
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Pakistan lawyers decide to end court boycott at a meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council in Peshawar. |
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Jan. 13
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The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, arrives in China on a three-day visit. |
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South African police Chief Jackie Selebie resigns as Interpol president after being indicted of corruption. |
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University of Minnesota researchers report success in creating a beating rat heart in a laboratory. |
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Jan. 14
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Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao sign a joint document “A Shared Vision for the 21st Century” after talks in Beijing. |
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The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, suggests a three-pronged strategy to boost economic ties at the largest ever India-China business congress in Beijing. |
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NASA’s Messenger Spacecraft makes historic Mercury flyby. |
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Jan. 16
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Thirtyone persons, including 26 bus passengers are killed in a wave of violence by the LTTE in Sri Lanka’s Uva province. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission winds up operations as the Ceasefire Agreement ends. |
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Jan. 17
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Bhutan’s poll panel announces the nation’s first general elections will be held on March 24. Elections to the upper House of Parliament were held on December 31, 2007. |
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Jan. 18
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Spain smashes an Islamist terror cell and arrests 14 persons. |
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A journalist from Belarus Alexander Sdvizhkov is jailed for thee years for printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. |
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Abhijeet Mahato, an Indian student is found shot dead at an apartment complex in North Carolina, the U.S. |
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Jan. 20
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Cuba holds parliamentary polls. |
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Jan. 21
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Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Tomishlav Nokolic wins the first round vote in presidential polls. The run-off is set for February 3. |
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Stock markets tumble across the world following fears of U.S. recession, with Latin America being the worst-affected. |
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Jan. 22
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Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary is given a state funeral by New Zealand. |
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Jan. 23
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The World Economic Forum summit opens in Davos, Switzerland. |
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Besieged Gaza residents flood Egypt after breaching a southern border wall. |
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Jan. 24
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A breakthrough in organ transplant eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs is announced by a U.S. research team. |
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Dr. Craig Venter of the U.S. creates the world’s first man-made micro-organism. |
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The Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, heading a nine-party coalition, resigns after losing a confidence vote in the Senate. |
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Jan. 25
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The Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe dissolves Parliament and sets national elections for March 29. |
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Jan. 27
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The former Indonesian President Suharto (86) who ruled the island nation for 32 years with an iron fist dies in a hospital at Jakarta of multiple organ failure. A week-long national mourning is declared. |
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Jan. 28
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Samak Sundaravej, leader of Thailand’s People’s Power Party is elected Prime Minister. |
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Jan. 29
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Seventeen civilians, including 11 school children are killed in a claymore attack on a school bus in Sri Lanka’s Mannar district. |
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Events 2008
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
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