Events; Appointments; Etc.: Dec 2008-Jan 2009

DECEMBER 2008
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 2009
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 movie Slumdog Millionaire.