Portal:Current events/February 2008

• A small plane crashes at Mount Airy, North Carolina, resulting in the death of six passengers. (WSLS)
• Iraq War: At least 43 people are killed and 85 injured as a result of two bombings in markets in central Baghdad. (News Limited)
• RORO ferry MS Riverdance runs aground in Blackpool, England, after its cargo shifts in heavy seas. All passengers and crew are airlifted to safety. (Blackpool Gazette)
• A third fiber-optic submarine communications cable, FALCON, is cut two days after SEA-ME-WE 4 and FLAG were damaged. (BBC News)

• 2008 United States presidential election: former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney wins the Maine Republican caucus. (Bloomberg News)
• Five people are shot dead in a women's clothing store in Tinley Park, Illinois, with the person responsible fleeing the scene. (AP via The Washington Post) (The Sun-Herald)
• An explosion on a bus in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, kills at least 20 people. (BBC News)
• Chadian Civil War (2005–2010):
  • Battle of N'Djamena: Chadian rebels enter the capital N'Djamena and head for the presidential palace. (BBC News)
  • The Libyan Jamahiriya News Agency claims that the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has brokered a ceasefire. (Reuters)
• French President Nicolas Sarkozy marries singer and former supermodel Carla Bruni at the Élysée Palace. (TF1)

• Serbian presidential election, 2008: Boris Tadić is reelected President of Serbia. (BBC News)
• Israeli forces open fire on Lebanon in the Wazzani River area resulting in one death and one injury. (Canadian Press via Google News)
• Chadian Civil War (2005–2010): battles rage in Adré near the Sudanese border. (Reuters)
• At least 23 people die in an earthquake in western Rwanda. (Aljazeera)
• Sri Lankan Civil War: at least eight people die and up to 100 are hurt in a suicide attack in the main railway station in Colombo. (BBC News)
• Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, calls for the African Union to quell the violence that has followed the Kenyan presidential election, 2007. (AP via ABC News)
• Egyptian troops close the last breach in Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. (AP via The Jerusalem Post)
• Super Bowl XLII: the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots 17–14 in Glendale, Arizona. (ESPN) (The New York Times)
• Silver State Helicopters, one of America's largest helicopter flight schools, suddenly closes its doors and files bankruptcy. [1]

• The Versailles Assembly, bringing together both the French Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, votes 560 to 181 in favour of amending the constitution to allow adoption of the EU Lisbon Treaty. (EU Observer)
• United States district court judge Florence-Marie Cooper rules that President George W. Bush cannot exempt the United States Navy from complying with environmental laws banning sonar training. (AP via San Jose Mercury News)
• Thomas S. Monson is chosen as the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (AP via Google News)
• Iran launches the Kavoshgar-1 research rocket to inaugurate a newly built space center. (BBC News) (PressTV)
• A suicide bomber kills a woman and injures at least 10 people in Dimona, Israel. (BBC News)
• Chadian rebels claim to have withdrawn voluntarily from N'Djamena. (AP via Google News)
• The United States military says that it accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians in an operation targeting Al-Qaeda south of Baghdad. (AP via Google News)
• 2008 submarine cable disruption: the Egyptian transport ministry reports that footage of the areas where cables were snapped or damaged shows no maritime traffic. (Khaleej Times)
• U.S. President George W. Bush introduces a Federal budget of $3.1 trillion and a near-record deficit just ahead — $410 billion. (The New York Times)

• 2008 United States presidential election:
  • Voters in 24 states go to the polls to determine presidential nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties. (BBC News)
    • Democratic Party
      • The Democratic Party holds their first Democrats Abroad primary for Americans living overseas. (TIME)
      • Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins the Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and Utah Democratic contests. (Bloomberg News)
      • New York Senator Hillary Clinton wins the American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee Democratic contests. (Reuters) (ABC News) (San Francisco Chronicle)
    • Republican Party
      • Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee wins the Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia Republican contests. (USA Today) (Reuters)
      • Arizona Senator John McCain wins the Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma Republican contests. (The New York Times) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Reuters)
      • Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney wins the Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah Republican contests. (CNN) (Fox News)
• The Red Cross estimates that hundreds of civilians have been killed in the Battle of N'Djamena in Chad. (AP via KGAN)
• Israeli attacks kill eight Hamas members on the Gaza Strip as Hamas claims responsibility for the Dimona attack. (AP via Google News)
• Philippine House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. was ousted by the majority of the representatives of the House of Representatives and Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles was elected as the 13th House Speaker and the first Speaker from Mindanao. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• 2008 Chinese winter storms: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits disaster-affected region in Guizhou Province, one of the worst-hit provinces, to direct relief efforts. This is his third trip to disaster regions in eight days. (China Daily)
• A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves 57 people dead, and causes some polling places to be closed early. The hardest hit areas are in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, including the Memphis area, northern Middle Tennessee and Jackson, Tennessee. (MSNBC) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• WTO approves Ukraine to become a new member. (WTO)

• A state of emergency is declared in Tungurahua Province in Ecuador because of increased activity by Tungurahua volcano. (Bloomberg)
• A $158 billion plan to stimulate economic growth in the United States fails in the U.S. Senate on a procedural vote 58-41, just short of the 60 votes needed to advance. (Reuters)
• The Turkish freighter ship UND Adriyatik catches fire off Croatia. (Jutarnji List) (Reuters)
• President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano dismisses the parliament; the cabinet sets early elections for 13 and 14 April. (CNN)
• The United States Centers for Disease Control says that an infected mother can transmit HIV to her baby via pre-chewed food. (Reuters)

• A gunman kills five and wounds two people at city hall before being shot and killed by police in Kirkwood, Missouri. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) (Reuters)
• Four people die and dozens are hurt in an explosion at a sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia. (CNN)
• The United States Congress approves a $168 billion economic stimulus package and sends it to President George W. Bush for his approval. (The New York Times)
• The Slovakian Parliament vote on the Lisbon Treaty ratification is indefinitely postponed. (SkToday.com)
• The National Assembly of France approves the Treaty of Lisbon by 336 votes to 52. (AP via Google News)
• Space Shuttle Atlantis launches successfully on its STS-122 mission. (Fox News)
• British Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri will be extradited to the United States to face terror charges. (BBC News)
• There are mass arrests in the United States and Italy in an anti-Mafia sweep including three suspected senior members of the Gambino crime family. (Reuters)
• 2008 United States presidential election: Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney suspends his campaign. (CNN)
• The Orthodox Church of Greece elects a new leader, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens. (CNN)
• NATO meets in Vilnius, Lithuania.
  • No agreement on Afghanistan ahead of NATO meeting. (AFP via Google News)
  • Robert Gates will discuss the need to boost NATO forces in Afghanistan. (Presszoom)
• The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband visit Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
• Rio Tinto rejects BHP Billiton's $147 billion hostile takeover bid. (Financial Times)
• WHO declares global tobacco control efforts and an approach to avoid tens of millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century. (WHO)

• The Serbian minister for Kosovo claims that his government has information that the province's Albanian leadership will declare independence on February 17. (AFP via Google News)
• A 5.4 M_w earthquake southeast of Mexicali, Mexico causes 400,000 people to lose power. (CNN) (USGS)
• The Nebraska Supreme Court rules the electric chair unconstitutional. (AFP via Google News)
• Hamas militants launch nearly 20 rockets at nearby Israeli towns. (BBC News)
• A fire in a nursing home in Egg, Austria kills at least 11 people. (BBC News)
• A student shoots two students and kills herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (CNN)
• Scotland Yard detectives investigating the death of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto say that she died from the effect of a bomb blast not gunfire. (BBC News)
• A woman attacks two pilots on Eagle Airways Flight 2279 from Blenheim to Christchurch, New Zealand. The aircraft lands safely at Christchurch and the suspect is arrested and charged with hijacking and three counts of assault. (New Zealand Herald)
• The man accused of the Gurgaon kidney scandal is arrested in Nepal. (NDTV India)

• Writers Guild of America strike (2007–present): Hollywood writers reach tentative agreement with the major movie studios. (The Washington Post)
• 2008 United States presidential election:
  • Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee wins the Kansas Republican Party caucus and the Louisiana primary. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
  • Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins Democratic Party caucuses in Nebraska, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the primary in Louisiana. (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • Arizona Senator John McCain wins the Washington Republican primary. (The Oregonian)
• A suicide bomber kills 20 people at an opposition rally in Pakistan. (AFP)
• A fire at Camden Market in London, England forces the evacuation of residents. The London Ambulance Service reports no casualties. (BBC News)
• The Grand National Assembly of Turkey votes to change the Constitution of Turkey removing a ban on wearing religious head cover in Turkish universities. (The New York Times)
• The military government of Myanmar announces a national referendum to pass a new constitution will be held in May, and that democratic multi-party elections will take place in 2010. (CNN)
• The February 9th Killer rapes, and strangles Damiana Castillo in West Valley City, Utah, USA.

• The wooden portion of Namdaemun Gate in Seoul, South Korea is destroyed in a suspicious fire. (BBC News)
• Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008:
  • Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins the Maine caucus. (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • Patti Solis Doyle resigns as campaign manager for New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Maggie Williams replaces her. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• A suicide car bomb at a market in Balad, Iraq kills 25. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also arrives in Iraq from a Germany security conference to meet with Iraqi leaders, General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. (CNN)
• Association football: Egypt beats Cameroon 1-0 to win the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. (BBC News)
• Ten people are trampled to death at a rock concert in Bandung, Indonesia. (AFP)
• Over five hundred people are evacuated from the North Sea oil rig Safe Scandinavia, 282 kilometres (175 mi) northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland after a hoax bomb scare. (RTÉ News)
• "Anonymous" protests the policies of the Church of Scientology at different locations around the world. (The Scotsman) (The Star) (Adelaid) (Indymedia) (The Guardian) (Newsweek)
• The 2008 (or 50th) Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, United States.

• Judge John Kessler declares a mistrial in the case of China Arnold, who allegedly microwaved her baby to death. (Dayton Daily News)
• The United States files charges against six alleged al-Qaeda operatives including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks, seeking the death penalty for war crimes and murder. (Sky News)
• Paintings by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet are stolen from the Foundation E.G. Bührle, a museum in Zürich. (AFP)
• 2008 East Timor assassination attempts:
  • President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta is shot and wounded in an attack at his home. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinhado, who led the attack, is killed. (ABC News Australia) (Melbourne Age)
  • Prime Minister of East Timor Xanana Gusmão escapes unhurt from an attack on his motorcade.
• The Singapore Flyer, the largest Ferris wheel in the world (30 meters higher than London Eye), starts to turn. (The Straits Times)
• Gregg Bergersen, a United States Defense Department Analyst, is arrested and charged with espionage after being accused of leaking American military secrets to the Chinese government. (CNN)

• 2008 United States presidential election:
  • Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia Democratic primaries. Obama now leads Sen. Hillary Clinton in the delegate count for the first time since early in the campaign. 2006/POLITICS/02/12/potomac.primaries/index.html (CNN) 2006/02/12/us/politics/12cnd-campaign.html (The New York Times)
  • Arizona Senator John McCain wins the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia Republican primaries. (The New York Times)
• European Space Agency's Columbus module is attached to the International Space Station. (The New York Times)
• The U.S. Senate votes to grant immunity to telecommunications companies for their role in NSA call database. (The New York Times)
• Chilean opera singer Ernesto "Tito" Beltran is sentenced to two years in jail by a Swedish court for rape during a concert tour in 1999. (BBC News)
• Russia and Ukraine resolve a dispute over Ukraine's natural gas debt which saw Gazprom threatening to cut off supplies. (AFP)
• Members of the Writers Guild of America vote to end the WGA strike that had been in effect for just over three months. (CNN)

• The United States Senate passes legislation to ban the Central Intelligence Agency from using certain interrogation methods including waterboarding. (AFP)
• Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens testifies to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding performance enhancing drugs. (ESPN)
• The Iraqi Parliament adopts an accord on the budget, detainees and federalism, setting provincial elections for late 2008. (AP via Google News)
• The Swedish government rejects the Nord Stream underwater natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. (The Local)
• Hezbollah commander Imad Mugniyah is killed by a bomb attack in Damascus, Syria. (Reuters)
• Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issues a formal apology to the Indigenous Stolen Generation on behalf of the Parliament of Australia. (ABC News Australia)
• Ch K-Run's Park Me In First, a.k.a. Uno wins Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the first beagle to win the show. (ESPN)
• An explosion in Vancouver, British Columbia destroys a Starbucks and Taco Del Mar. Police report arson, originating in the taco restaurant. (Canadian Press)
• Malaysian Parliament dissolved for The 13th Malaysian general election. (BBC News)

• Kosovo:
  • Former Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi says the province will unilaterally declare independence within the next 4 days. (Sofia Echo)
  • Police in Kosovska Mitrovica report an explosion. (AFP via Google News)
• The United States House of Representatives approves contempt of Congress citations against Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten in the U.S. Attorneys controversy. (The Washington Post)
• A gunman opens fire at a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, injuring as many as 18 students and with at least six people dead including the gunman. (Canadian Press via Google News) (CNN)
• President Vladimir Putin says Russia would target its missiles at Ukraine if it threatened Russia's national security. (Interfax)
• The United States Navy will use an SM-3 missile to destroy USA 193, a broken National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite which contains unused hydrazine fuel. (BBC News) (AP via Google)
• Kiribati now has the largest protected marine reserve in the world. (Reuters)
• The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne has announced that its painting The Seine at Port Villez, thought to be by Claude Monet, is a forgery. (AFP via Google News)

• A Cook County, Illinois, probate judge declares adventurer Steve Fossett to be legally dead five months after he disappeared in the Nevada desert. (Chicago Tribune)
• A home-made bomb explodes near the headquarters of the Federal District Police in Mexico City. One person is killed and two injured. (The International Herald Tribune)
• Political parties in Kenya agree to set up an independent panel to review the disputed 2007 presidential elections. (BBC News)

• Thee Mason Andrew Thorvilson blessed this earth with his presence and showed the people what true brilliance is.

37 people are killed in a suicide car bombing in Pakistan's tribal region after a meeting of  the Pakistan Peoples Party, reports say. (BBC News)

• Toshiba plans to withdraw from HD DVD production, ending the format war in Blu-ray Disc's favor. (NHK)
• Brown pelican delisted from endangered list. (RedOrbit)
• A student dies of unknown causes while competing at the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament. (CBS News)
• The President of the United States George W. Bush arrives in Benin on the first leg of a five-nation African tour. (AFP via News Limited)
• 2008 United States presidential election: A majority of Michigan's Republican delegates say that they will support John McCain following the withdrawal of Michigan primary winner Mitt Romney from the race. McCain has also won the allegiance of a majority of Louisiana delegates. (AP via Google News) (AP via Google News)
• A street racing accident kills eight people and injures four in Accokeek, Maryland. (CNN)

• California-based Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company voluntarily recalls just over 143 million pounds (65 million kilograms) of raw and frozen beef products, considered the largest meat recall in the United States, following an investigation into animal cruelty. (AP)
• Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos is eliminated in the first round of the Cypriot presidential election. (Reuters)
• Kosovo declares its independence
  • The parliament of Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. (BBC)
  • Two hand grenades are thrown at international community buildings in Kosovska Mitrovica. (BBC)
• President of the United States George W. Bush offers a $700 million aid package to Tanzania. (AP via Google News)
• Dozens of people are killed and dozens more injured as a bomb explodes in a dog fighting match in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
• Sir David Li resigns from the Executive Council of Hong Kong following a United States Securities Exchange Commission investigation of insider trading in Dow Jones. (AFP)
• Ryan Newman wins the 50th Daytona 500. (FOX)

• The Government of Kosovo holds its first meeting after the declaration of the independence of the country.(Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo)
• Voters in Pakistan go to the polls in the Pakistani general election, 2008. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald) Early results show that anti-Musharraf parties Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) are emerging as victorious. Pakistan Muslim League (Q), the party supporting Pervez Musharraf, has been defeated with its leaders losing their seats. (Geo Television Network)
• An international conference aiming to ban the use of cluster bombs opens in Wellington, New Zealand. (TVNZ)
• A suicide bombing targeting a Canadian military convoy kills at least 37 Afghan civilians and injures three Canadian soldiers in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. (CTV)
• In China, the trial of human rights activist Yang Chunlin commenced in the city of Jiamusi. Yang helped organise a petition entitled, "We want human rights, not the Olympics", and is accused of "inciting subversion of state power". (Radio Free Asia)

• 2008 United States presidential election:
  • Arizona Senator John McCain wins the Wisconsin and Washington Republican Party primary election. (The New York Times) (The New York Times)
  • Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins the Democratic Party Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucus. (Reuters via The Melbourne Age) (AFP)
• At least eight Iraqi police are killed attempting to defuse a cache of rockets. (BBC News)
• Fidel Castro retires, resigning as the President of Cuba (after 49 years in office) and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, effective 24 February 2008 upon the election of his successor. (AFP via News Limited) (Granma) (Reuters UK)
• Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the chairman of Pakistan's governing party, the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) concedes defeat after preliminary results show that it cannot retain a majority in the Parliament of Pakistan. (AFP/AP via The Melbourne Age)
• Serbian national selection for Eurovision Song Contest is cancelled after eruption of mass protests due to Kosovo's unilateral independence declaration 2 days earlier.

• The United States Federal Reserve forecasts lower economic growth for the rest of the year with rising unemployment rates. (CNN)

• Two United States Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter planes crash in mid-air over the Gulf of Mexico near Florida. (AFP via News Limited)
• The United States Geological Survey reports the occurrence of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake off the western coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. (USGS)
• Seven South Korean servicemen die in a military helicopter crash. (Reuters)

• The United States military imposes a curfew on all personnel on the Japanese island Okinawa following the arrest of a member of the United States Marine Corps on suspicion of rape. (AP via the International Herald Tribune)
• The government of Morocco arrests 23 alleged terrorists, including Mustapha Moatassim, the Secretary General of Alternative Civilization, a political party recognized by the state. (Middle East Online)

• Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan is elected as President in a contest hailed as largely democratic by OSCE and international monitors. (BBC News)

• The Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center following the conclusion of the STS-122 assembly mission to the International Space Station. (NASA)

• A Santa Barbara Airlines Flight 518 is reported missing in Venezuela with 46 people on board. (AFP via Google News)
• The European Broadcasting Union considers relocating the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled to be held in Belgrade, due to security concerns. In the meantime, the Serbian National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest is postponed. (Expressen)
• 2008 protests in Serbia:
  • At least 500,000 Serbs rally in Belgrade to protest against Kosovo's declaration of independence over the weekend. (BBC News)
  • A group of protesters breaks into the United States embassy in Belgrade and sets fire to part of the consular office. (Reuters)
  • A charred body of a protester is found in the United States embassy. (The Age)
  • The British, German, Croatian, Belgian and Turkish embassies were also attacked. (BBC News)
• The United States Navy shoots down USA 193, a spy satellite in a decaying orbit, over the Pacific Ocean. (AP via Breitbart.com) Officials believe the targeted hydrazine fuel tank was destroyed, and no longer poses a threat. (FoxNews.com) (U.S. DoD video)
• A special prosecutor clears South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-bak of fraud allegations. (AP via Newsday)
• A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes the Indonesian province of Aceh. (Indonesia Tsunami Bulletin)
• Singapore is elected by the International Olympic Committee as the first city to host the Youth Olympic Games in 2010. (IOC)
• An earthquake of 6.3 Magnitude hits 11.1 miles east/southeast of Wells, Nevada. It is 2.2 miles deep, and is felt as far away as Twin Falls, Idaho, about 125 miles away, and Salt Lake City, Utah, about 180 miles away. (USGS)
• Gazprom, Total and StatoilHydro incorporate the Shtokman Development Company, a joint operating company to develop the giant Shtokman gas field. (Reuters)

• Russian President Vladimir Putin describes the recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence by several major world powers as "a terrible precedent," ... that "breaks up the entire system of international relations," ... which has taken "centuries to evolve." "And undoubtedly, it may entail a whole chain of unpredictable consequences to other regions in the world" and that will come back to hit the West "in the face." (Interfax) (AFP via Google News)
• The White House announces that U.S. Army National Guard Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for his service in the Korean War, becoming the first Sioux to receive the award. (U.S. Army)
• The Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, names the professor of literature Anders Olsson as one of its members to succeed poet and writer Lars Forssell, who died in July 2007. (Dagens Nyheter)
• Turkey sends between three thousand and ten thousand troops into northern Iraq. (Reuters)
• The Northern Rock bank is formally nationalized by the British government. (BBC News)
• The United States warns the Serbian government that it has a responsibility to protect its assets after about 1,000 protesters set fire to the U.S. embassy in anger at Kosovo's declaration of independence. (BBC News)
• A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber crashes at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam. The two pilots ejected, with one hospitalized. It is the first B-2 to crash. (BBC News)

• Japan launches a new, experimental Internet satellite aboard an H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre. (Wired News)
• At least 18 people are injured by a blast on a bus in the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. (BBC News)
• Gaston Flosse is elected President of French Polynesia after a deal with Oscar Temaru. (Pacific Magazine)

• 80th Academy Awards:
  • Marion Cotillard wins the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in La Vie en rose, while Daniel Day-Lewis takes home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in There Will Be Blood. (News Limited)
  • No Country for Old Men wins the Academy Award for Best Picture while the Coen brothers win the Academy Award for Directing. (ABC News)
• A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 becomes the first commercial aircraft to make a flight powered by biofuel flying between Heathrow and Amsterdam. (CNN)
• The National Assembly of People's Power unanimously selects Raúl Castro to succeed his brother Fidel as President of Cuba. (BBC News)
• Ralph Nader enters the 2008 United States presidential election as an independent candidate. (CNN)
• The Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army sign a permanent ceasefire. (BBC News)
• Cypriot presidential election, 2008: Demetris Christofias is elected President of Cyprus, defeating Ioannis Kasoulidis. (AFP)
• Pakistani censors cause most of the Earth's Internet users to lose access to the Internet site YouTube for up to two hours. (AP via Google News)
• Tottenham Hotspur Football Club win the 2008 League Cup after beating Chelsea F.C. 2-1 after extra time. (The Herald)

• The New York Philharmonic becomes the first American musical ensemble to perform in North Korea. (Time)
• A suicide bomber in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, kills 8 people including Pakistan's Surgeon General, Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig. (The Washington Post)
• Chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission Kevin Martin says he is "ready, willing and able," to prevent broadband Internet service providers from interfering with the speed of their subscribers' Internet access. (Reuters)
• Hungary agrees to join the South Stream gas pipeline project. (Reuters)
• Lee Myung-bak is sworn in as President of South Korea. (Bloomberg)

• A shutdown at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station causes a loss of electricity for millions in Florida. (Reuters)
• Researchers announce they have sequenced the genome of corn. (Reuters)
• A bomb blast in Khost, Afghanistan kills five police officers on their way to work. (AFP via Google News)
• A man who dubbed himself "Osama bin London" is found guilty of running terrorist training camps in the United Kingdom. (Reuters)

• Colombian FARC rebels release four former members of Congress, held hostage since 2001 and 2002, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. (BBC News)
• A roadside bomb in Afghanistan results in the death of two NATO soldiers. (AP via USA Today)
• The biggest earthquake in nearly 25 years hits England (5.2 on Richter scale). (BBC News)
• A gunman kills four at a public housing complex in Bristol, Tennessee, before committing suicide. (AP via Google News)
• Microsoft is fined a record €899 million by the EU anti-trust commission. (The New York Times)

• Germany becomes the first country to formalize its recognition of Kosovo by renaming its diplomatic office in Pristina into an embassy. (Novinite, Sofia News Agency)
• The Israeli Air Force launches a series of air strikes into Gaza following Hamas rocket attacks, with 32 confirmed dead. (BBC News)
• Ecuador suspends oil exports after a landslide cuts off its main pipeline. (AFP)
• International media report that Prince Henry of Wales has been serving in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. (ABC News Australia)
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation will review a denial by baseball star Roger Clemens that he ever used steroids or human growth hormone. (Bloomberg)
• A large explosion hits a shopping mall in Waukegan, Illinois. (BBC News)
• At least ten militants are killed in a rocket attack on a house in the Pakistani village of Kalosha in South Waziristan near the Afghanistan border. (BBC News)
• The former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand to face corruption charges. (BBC News)
• Kofi Annan announces that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have agreed to form a coalition government to resolve the country's political crisis. (VOA)
• Applied mathematicians at Brown University have proven four theorems concerning the optimality of centroid estimators. (Brown University)

• Northrop Grumman and EADS win a US$35 billion U.S. Air Force contract to build a new refueling plane, the KC-45, shutting out Boeing. (Reuters)
• A White House official resigns after admitting to plagiarism in columns published by the Fort Wayne, Indiana News-Sentinel. (AP via Google News)
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture stands down two employees as part of its investigation of the biggest meat recall in United States history. (The Wall Street Journal)
• The British Ministry of Defence announces that Prince Harry will have to return home from his deployment in Afghanistan as recent publicity made it too dangerous for him to stay there. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
• Turkey has announced a complete withdrawal and end to operations in northern Iraq. (BBC News)
• Ricin is found in a Las Vegas hotel room of a man who was admitted to the hospital in mid-February. The area affected is under quarantine. Officials do not suspect any relation with terrorism. (CNN)
• Three policemen are killed in Pakistan's North West Province after a bomb explodes near their vehicle. At least 27 people are later killed in a suicide bomb attack on the funeral of one of the policemen. (BBC News)
• The Presidency Council of Iraq approves the execution of Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali", for his role in the Al-Anfal Campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s. (AP via ABC News)
• The African Union says its troops will arrive in the Comoros in a few days. (Reuters)