Events; Appointments; Etc.: Feb-March 2009

FEBRUARY
9—A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber, hiding among a group of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's war zone, blows herself, killing at least 28 persons and wounding 90.
11—Eight Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests attack three Afghan government buildings in a coordinated assault, killing 20 people in the heart of Kabul.
12—Two big communications satellites collide in space, in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds.
13—One of India's flagship trains, Coromandel Express, crashes out of its tracks, leaving at least 15 people dead and more than 140 injured.
16—In a first-ever such accident a British and a French nuclear submarines—HMS Vanguard, a Royal Navy's Trident class, and French Navy's new Le Tricomphant—both carrying nuke warheads, are reported to have collided in the Atlantic Ocean, but there was no loss of life.
18—A Pakistani journalist with Geo TV, Musa Khan Khel, is shot dead in Matta area of Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), two days after Islamabad allowed the Taliban to impose Shariat in the area.
20—A suicide bomber kills 30 people in the northwestern Pakistani city of Dera Ismail Khan.
—At least 38 people are wounded aftern two Tamil Tiger rebel planes raid Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, and bomb the country's tax headquarters.
25—Bangladesh Border Guards (BDR) launch a dramatic mutiny, taking officers hostage and sparking a gun-battle that leaves many dead.
26—The Mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) ends in Dhaka and six other locations across Bangladesh. The stand-off leaves an estimated 100 people dead.
—The term of the 14th Lok Sabha comes to a friendly end
28—The keel of India's first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) is laid at the Cochin Shipyard.

MARCH
2—The Election Commission of India announces the dates for holding elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. The general elections would be conducted in five phases between April 16 and May 13, 2009
3—In a brazen attack on a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, a dozen masked gunmen wound seven players and a British coach and kill at least six Pakistanis, including five police escort.
6—Liquor baron Vijay Mallya bids over Rs 10 crore to buy the lot of personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi that were put on auction by Los Angles- based film-maker James Otis.
—India successfully tests interceptor missile to engage and destroy "enemy" missile.

Prasoon Joshi: Executive chairman of McCann Worldgroup India, he has been named as part of the ten-member Cannes Titanium and Integrated Jury 2009, a first for an Indian ad professional.

Justice Kamaljit Singh Garewal: of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he has been elected to UN Appeals Tribunal (UNAT) for a seven-year-term beginning July 1, 2009.

Sourabhee Debbraman: of Tripura has bagged the Indian Idol crown 2009. She is the first girl to win the contest.