FEBRUARY

NATIONAL

01 Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi win doubles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament.

02 India signs a nuclear inspection accord with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

09 Around 1,500 personnels of the three armed forces begin a joint exercise in Gujrat’s Madhavpur.

12 A special court at Ghaziabad awards death sentence to Mohinder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli for the rape and murder of Rimpa Haldar, one of 19 victims in the sensational Nithari serial killings in Noida; Lalu Prasad Yadav presents Interim Rail Budget.

16 The United Progressive Alliance government presents the interim budget 20009-10.

17 23 litterateurs including seven novelists are awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi awards for 2008.

21 Luxury automobiles maker Rolls Royce launches one of its costliest cars, ‘Phantom Coupe' in India.

23 Music maestro A.R. Rahman wins two Oscar Awards for British film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ at the Academy Awards.

25 Former Union telecom minister Sukhram gets 3-year jail term in a 13-year-old disproportionate assets case.

28 The 54th Filmfare awards presented in Mumbai.

INTERNATIONAL

01 Spain’s Rafael Nadal beat Switzerland’s Roger Federer to win his first Australian Open tennis tournament.

03 Iran announces the launch of its first domestically constructed satellite.

04 UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon announces a commission to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

05 China declares a national emergency due to severe droughts throughout the country.

06 Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is released from house arrest in Islamabad; Sweden ends its moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants.

07 Bolivia's new constitution entersinto force.

09 Thirty mummies are discovered in a 2,600-year-old ancient Egyptian tomb at Saqqara.

10 Iridium-33, a commercial US communications satellite and Russia's Cosmos 2251 satellite collide above Siberia at a height of 790 km.

11 Movement for Democratic Change President Morgan Tsvangirai becomes Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister.

14 Saudi King Abdulla appoints country’s first female cabinet minister.

15 The Venezuelan National Assembly approves a referendum on a constitutional amendment that allows President Hugo Chavez to run for a third consecutive six-year term in 2012.

18 The GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM World Congress) combines the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry in Barcelona, Spain.

25 The Bangladesh Rifles mutiny in Dhaka.

26 Latvian President Valdis Zatlers names former Finance Minister Valdis Dombrovskis as the new Prime Minister; General Motors reports a US$9.6 billion loss, due to the current automotive industry crisis.