Dec 2008-jan 2009

EVENTS; APPOINTMENTS; ETC.:DEC 2008-JAN 2009 APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc. Sheikh Hasina: She has been elected as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Abhisit Vejjajiva: He has been appointed as Prime Minister of Thailand.

Sheila Dikshit: She has been elected as Chief Minister of Delhi for a third consecutive term.

Omar Abdullah: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of J&K.

Ashok Gehlot: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Lalthanhawla: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of Mizoram.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Raman Singh: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.

Rajiv Mathur: He has been appointed as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

Gordon Brown: Prime Minister of Britain.

He Yafei: Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister.

John Kerry: US Senator and key functionary in the new Obama government.

RESIGNED Shibu Soren: Chief Minister of Jhar-khand.

DIED Samuel Huntington: Political scientist, whose controversial book The Clash of Civilizations predicted conflict between the West and the Islamic world. He was 81.

Manjit Bawa: Noted artist who revolutionized the Indian painting scene with bold use of vibrant colours. He was 67.

EVENTS DECEMBER 11—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates a new era in the Indian telecom sector by launching the next generation 3G services of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). MTNL is the first telecom operator in the country to offer 3G services on its network which has been named Jaddu. 13—Indian warship INS Mysore and its marine commandos thwart an attempt to hijack an Ethiopian merchant vessel and captured 23 pirates and a large cache of arms. 18—About 100 vehicles destined for the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan are

set

ablaze

by

heavily

armed

pro-

Taliban militants in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, in the second such attack in as many days. 27—Israel attacks Gaza in an all-out-war against Hamas militants. 30—Sheikh Hasina Wajed, daughter of Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, wins the country’s first election since 2001 in a landslide, crushing the Khaleda Zia led Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami combine. —National Conference and Congress agree to form coalition government in J&K. NC leader Omar Abdullah is elected to be the Chief Minister.

JANUARY 1—At least five people are killed and 50 injured in separate bombings in Guwahati. 4—Israeli troops advance into Gaza under cover of heavy air, tank and artillery fire after opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas a day earlier. 5—India gives Pakistan and other key countries a dossier of incriminating “Material” from the probe into Mumbai attacks. 7—India’s fourth largest IT company, Satyam is hit by a Rs 7000 crore. 9—Two

people

are

killed

in

a

blast

in

Maligaon area of Guwahati, Assam. 12—Composer A.R. Rahman creates history by becoming the first Indian to win the Golden Globe Award for his music in movieSlumdog Millionaire.

MILESTONES

Swaraj Paul: Leading NRI entrepreneur he has scripted history by becoming the first Asian Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords. Though people of Indian origin have held ministerial berths in the British Cabinet, this is the first time an Indian has been appointed to such a high position in UK’s Parliament.

Rajo Devi: This 70-year-old from Alewa village in Jind district of Haryana has become perhaps the world’s oldest mother after she delivered a girl child on November 28, 2008 with the help of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment at a Hisar fertility centre. Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer in Romania, was till date the oldest woman to have given birth. She delivered at the age of 66 in 2006.