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Feb 1 U.S. military killed in Iraq in January: 92

Feb 2 Researchers at AngioGenetics in Sweden describe a new mechanism for blood vessel growth that could lead to new treatments for cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.

Feb 2 In Lebanon, Sunni Muslim clerics publish a fatwa prohibiting Muslims from killing their fellow countrymen and particularly their fellow Muslims.

Feb 7 The move to control Baghdad - part of the so-called surge - has begun. The city has been divided into nine districts. Each district has been assigned 600 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers.

Feb 12 Iran has an interest in Iraq - a friendly rather than hostile neighbor. The Bush administration denies plans to invade Iran but accuses Iran of supplying weapons to those killing of U.S. troops, and it says the U.S. will use force against Iranian interference inside Iraq. Iran's president, Ahmadinejad, says that Iran regrets the death of anyone in Iraq and says that there should be "no foreigners in Iraq."

Feb 12 For three days, violent protests have been taking place in various towns in Guinea, with protesters trying to oust President Lansana Conté from power. Today fifteen people die in the capital city, Conakry. President Cote tells his military to "take all necessary measures" to prevent civil war and to restore public order.

Feb 13 Sweden extends broadband Internet service to areas in its north where there are only three persons per square kilometer.

Feb 15 Egyptian police arrest 72 men believed associated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. President Mubarak considers political parties with a religious agenda as subversive to Egypt's secularism. The Muslim Brotherhood is his regime's largest organized opponent.

Feb 15 A UN report (UNICEF to be exact) reports its conclusion that the Netherlands is the country that provides the best well-being for children. Sweden is second.

Feb 18 President Assad meets with Iranians and speaks of "the sinister aims of the United States and Zionists." He adds: "Creating conflict between Shia and Sunni in Iraq and Lebanon is the final card that America and its allies have."

Feb 19 In Romania, Daniel Petru Corogeanu, the priest whose exorcism killed a nun is sentenced to 14 years in prison. The four nuns who helped him are sentenced to from five to eight years. The Orthodox Church has promised psychological tests for those seeking entry to monasteries.

Feb 19 The European Union extends economic and other sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year.

Feb 22 Russia has set aside 3.5 billion dollars to address poor health and low life-expectancy - age 60 for men and 72 for women, rather than around 80 for some industrialized countries. Drinking, smoking and pollution are said to account for much of the ill-health. Russia's population dropped by 560,000 last year.

Feb 27 A prosecutor for the International Criminal Court accuses Ali Kushayb of the Janjaweed with ordering killings, rapes, and looting in Darfur. Accused with Kushayb in Sudan's Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun.

Feb 27 Prices on China's stock market rose 130 percent in 2006 and another 12 percent into February of this year. That is more than 12 times faster than its economic growth. Concern that China's government will intervene to stop a growing bubble of get-rich enthusiasm sends China's stock prices falling, down 8.8 percent. Stocks prices drop elsewhere in the world, in the U.S. 4.3 percent. Some look for something like a 10 percent drop in stock prices in the U.S. Maybe 8 percent - an expected "correction" after a long period of rise in the price-value of stocks.

Feb 28 President Bush invites British historian Andrew Roberts to the White House, and Roberts dines with Bush, Vice President Cheney and Karl Rove. Bush has read Roberts' A History of the English Speaking Peoples since 1900, a book that celebrates "Shouldering the White Man's Burden."

Mar 1 U.S. military killed in Iraq in February: 87

Mar 8 In his first news conference since taking command of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Petraeus speaks of not foreseeing a military victory over the insurgents. He favors military action to improve security, but he avoids absolutes such as failure, win or victory. He says "there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq." Petraeus favors negotiations among the Iraqis.

Mar 11 In Mauritania power is changing hands for the first time through the popular elections.

Mar 11 The new leader of Turkmenistan, President Berdymukhamedov, is visiting communities without the pomp of previous leaders - no staged crowds or children reading poems of praise.

Mar 11 In Thailand a Swiss citizen, Oliver Jufer, arrested in December, goes on trial for insulting the king. He could be sentenced to 75 years in prison.

Mar 11 In Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, a crowd opposed to the rule of Robert Mugabe gathers. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic, arrives. The police grab him and other opposition leaders, who are dragged from their cars as they arrive. The police tear-gas the irate crowd, fire their weapons.The crowd is enraged by one of being shot dead. They attack the police. Those police who can, flee in their cars. Those who cannot flee are severely beaten.

Mar 13 Tsvangirai and the other opposition activists have been beaten while being held by the police. Bones have been broken. The activists are released to the custody of their attorneys.

Mar 15 President Mugabe blames the crowd and its leaders for the recent violence and tells his foreign critics to "go hang."

Mar 14-16 Jeremy Bowen of the BBC asks a senior security official from Saudi Arabia whether the U.S. military presence in Iraq has become "a recruiting sergeant for Islamist extremists." His answer: "It inspires these people. Some of them think it is their duty to go and perform jihad in Iraq. They think they are supporting the Muslims in Iraq and actually protecting the Islamic civilization and culture in Iraq."

Mar 19 In a poll by ABC News, USA Today and others, 51 percent of Iraqis say violence against U.S. forces is acceptable, and 80 percent oppose the presence of the U.S. in their country.

Mar 19 President Bush speaks to the beginning of the fifth year of "Operation Iraqi Freedom. "At this point in the war," he says, "our most important mission is helping the Iraqis secure their capital." He concludes: "(T)he fight is difficult, but it can be won. It will be won if we have the courage and resolve to see it through."

Mar 22 Senator James Webb of Virginia expresses his opinion that the U.S. military on the streets in Iraq is an "aggravation," in other words that it would be better for Iraq that they not be there. Webb is an aggressive former Marine and was Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration.

Mar 22 In the Democratic Republic of Congo a former rebel leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has refused to lay down his arms after having lost a presidential election, despite his having agreed to do so. A. confrontation takes place and a gun battle lasts through the day.

Mar 27 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia describes the U.S. military in Iraq as an illegitimate foreign occupation. A friend of the Bush family, he has declined to attend a state dinner in Washington this April 17.

Mar 27 Speaking of the efforts of General Petraeus in Iraq, U.S. Senator John McCain says "there are real signs the new strategy is working" and that some others in the Senate are offering "a date certain for surrender - with grave consequences..." His Republican colleague, Chuck Hagel, sees the new strategy as an escalation that will not bring resolution in Iraq. He complains of young Americans "kicking down doors, with a bull's eye on their back" and speaks of cost in American lives, dollars, and world standing as "devastating for our country."

Mar 28 In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 200 fighters loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba hand their weapons over to government forces. Mr. Bemba has taken refuge in South Africa's embassy.

Mar 28 Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, tells Congress the following: "Overall, the economy appears likely to continue to expand at a moderate pace over coming quarters. As the inventory of unsold new homes is worked off, the drag from residential investment should wane. Consumer spending appears solid, and business investment seems likely to post moderate gains."

Mar 31 In Baghdad both Sunnis and Shia celebrate, by firing weapons into the air, the victory of Shada Hassoun, 25, an Iraqi singer who wins a popular TV talent final staged in Lebanon.