January
01 – Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
01 – Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel assumes the presidency of the European Union.
04 – Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
05 – The England cricket team loses the fifth Ashes test in Sydney, Australia by 10 wickets, resulting in a 5–0 series whitewash, the first time this has occurred since the 1920–1921 Ashes Tour.
09 – Apple introduces the first iPhone at the MacWorld Expo trade show in San Francisco.
11 – Alfred Gusenbauer is sworn in as the chancellor of Austria at the head of a coalition government.
11 – The Los Angeles Galaxy announces that it has signed Real Madrid star David Beckham to play Major League Soccer in the US starting in the summer.
14 – Legendary Russian test pilot Marina Popovich is awarded the honorary title “The Hero of the Nation” by the Russian Federation.
26 – The royal editor of the News of the World, Clive Goodman, is jailed for four months after pleading guilty to phone-hacking charges.
27 – The final edition of Grandstand, the flagship BBC sports programme, is aired after nearly 50 years on television screens.
30 – Vista, Microsoft’s new Windows operating system and its Office 2007 software suite, go on sale.
31 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham (UK), accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
February
03 – British officials confirm that the H5N1 strain of avian flu has been found on a farm in eastern England.
03 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
04 – Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago Bears, 29-17, in Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium, Miami, Florida. Prince delivers an iconic Halftime Show performance in a literal downpour, widely regarded as the greatest halftime show in NFL history.
04 – American singer and actress Barbara McNair dies in Los Angeles, after a seven-year battle with throat cancer, aged 72.
05 – Astronaut Lisa Nowak is arrested in Orlando, Florida, after a bizarre attack on a perceived rival in a romantic triangle.
06 – For the second time in two days in England, a letter bomb explodes in a motoring-related company, this one in the offices of an accounting firm in Wokingham. The first was in a building near Scotland Yard in London.
06 – American singer Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio) dies of heart failure at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, aged 93.
07 – A letter bomb explodes at the main British Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea, Wales. It seems to be of an incendiary nature, as were the ones that preceded it.
12 – A gunman opens fire in a mall in Salt Lake City (USA), killing five people.
14 – At the Brit Awards for popular music, the Arctic Monkeys win for best British group and best British album, and The Killers win best international group and best international album.
16 – Britney Spears dominates the tabloid circus by shaving her head in California, sparking an unprecedented media frenzy regarding celebrity mental health.
18 – In Daytona Beach, Florida, Kevin Harvick wins the 49th Daytona 500 – the premier NASCAR race – by an exceptionally close 0.02 seconds.
19 – Blogging website Tumblr is founded by David Karp in New York.
21 – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.
22 – Executives of the All England Club announce that, henceforth, the prize money for men and women competing at the Wimbledon tennis tournament will be equal.
23 – A Virgin Trains Pendolino train derails in Cumbria, killing one person and injuring dozens more.
27 – A suicide bomber explodes a device outside the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing 23 people. US Vice President Dick Cheney is inside the base at the time.
28 – British-born Australian rock icon Billy Thorpe dies in Sydney aged 60, after a massive heart attack.
28 – The NASA spacecraft New Horizons, launched in January 2006, reaches Jupiter. The craft will gather data on the planet and four of its moons until June, when it will continue on to Pluto.
March
04 – Two British soldiers are killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, during clashes with Taliban forces.
07 – British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.
07 – In comic books that are available in stores today, the Marvel Entertainment superhero Captain America – who first appeared in 1941 – is killed.
09 – The US Justice Department releases an internal audit that found that the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens.
12 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland inducts singer Patti Smith and the groups Van Halen, The Ronettes, R.E.M, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (the first hip-hop act to be inducted).
15 – A new Palestinian government composed of a unity coalition of Hamas and Fatah ministers is announced. Led by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, it fails to recognise Israel’s right to exist or to promise not to use or support violence against Israel.
16 – An inquest finds the death of British soldier Matty Hull of the 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals, caused by a friendly fire incident involving two USAF 190th Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft on 28 March 2003, to have been “unlawful and criminal”. The US Department of State rejects this ruling.
17 – The rebuilt Wembley Stadium opens in London, more than six years after its predecessor was closed.
17 – With a 46-19 defeat of Scotland, France wins the Six Nations Rugby Union championship.
18 – The coach of Pakistan’s cricket team, Bob Woolmer, is found dead in his hotel room in Kingston. Jamaica, the day after Pakistan’s ignominious defeat by Ireland in World Cup play. The police initially report that he was murdered, but it is later reported that he died of natural causes.
18 – In his first race driving for Ferrari, Kimi Räikkönen of Finland wins the Australian Grand Prix, the inaugural event of the Formula One racing season.
21 – Paul McCartney announces that he will be the first artist to sign with Hear Music, the record label of the coffee chain Starbucks.
23 – Fifteen British sailors and Marines on patrol in the Persian Gulf are seized by Iranian sailors, who say that the British personnel were in Iranian national waters. British authorities maintain that their naval forces were in Iraqi territory.
24 – The Australian Labor Party returns to government after the New South Wales state election.
26 – In their first direct talks ever, Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party and Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin agree to form a power-sharing government for Northern Ireland in a move that will return self-rule to the province for the first time since 2002.
April
03 – The French TGV bullet train, running three double-decker cars, reaches 357.2 mph (574.8 km/h) in a demonstration of its capabilities, setting a new world speed record for conventional trains.
03 – A smoking ban comes into effect in all enclosed public places in Wales.
05 – Four British soldiers are killed in a bomb blast near the Iraqi city of Basra.
05 – The 15 members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines who had been held captive in Iran since they were seized in the Persian Gulf on 23 March are released. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad characterises the act as a “gift” to the UK.
11 – Pak Pong Ju is removed from office as the prime minister of North Korea. He is replaced by Kim Yong Il, who had been minister of transport.
12 – The US Postal Service begins selling the “forever” stamp at the new rate of 41 cents per stamp. Unlike any previous stamp, this one will remain valid even if postal rates increase in the future.
15 – Two UK military helicopters collide near the town of Taji near Baghdad, killing two soldiers.
16 – Student Seung-Hui Cho methodically guns down 32 people, most of them in classrooms, at Virginia Polytech Institute (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg before killing himself.
20 – A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, before killing a male hostage and then himself.
21 – Aussie rock legend Lobby Loyde (born John Baslington Lyde), who championed the loud, aggressive musical style that dominated Australian pub rock, dies in Victoria, aged 65.
23 – Boris Yeltsin dies of congestive heart failure, aged 76. His funeral is the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Tsar Alexander III in 1894.
May
03 – Three-year-old Leicestershire girl Madeleine McCann is reported missing in Algarve, Portugal.
04 – In Las Vegas, challenger Floyd Mayweather defeats fellow American Oscar De La Hoya to become the World Boxing Council super welterweight (junior middleweight) champion.
06 – Nicolas Sarkozy is elected president of France in a runoff election against Ségoléne Royale.
06 – Manchester United win their ninth Premier League title.
08 – Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionists and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin are sworn in as leader and deputy leader of Northern Ireland’s new executive government.
12 – In Helsinki, Serbian singer Marija Šerifović wins the Eurovision Song Contest with her rendition of Molitva.
15 – American televangelist and religious leader Jerry Falwell dies of a heart attack in Lynchburg, Virginia, aged 73.
17 – Alex Salmond of the separatist and opposition Scottish National Party is sworn in as First Minister of Scotland after his party’s victory in elections for the Scottish Parliament on 3 May.
17 – For the first time since the Korean War, two passenger trains travelling in opposite directions cross the border between North and South Korea.
18 – A bomb kills 11 people when it explodes in the historic Mecca Masjid mosque in Hyderabad, India. In resulting fighting between Muslims and government security forces, five more people die.
19 – Chelsea beats Manchester United, 1 – 0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
23 – AC Milan defeats Liverpool to win the UEFA Champions League championship in Athens.
27 – The 91st Indianapolis 500 race, delayed and shortened by 34 laps because of rain, is won by Dario Franchitti of Scotland.
28 – Japanese Minister of Agriculture Toshikatsu Matsuoka takes his own life. He has been under investigation in scandals involving expense padding and bid rigging.
June
01 – Dr Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of a 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder after helping terminally ill patients with assisted suicides.
03 – The USS Carter Hall (LSD-50) engages with pirates after they board Danish ship Danica White off the coast of Somalia.
07 – The organisers of the Tour de France bicycle race announce that Bjarne Riis of Denmark is no longer the winner of the 1996 race, which is now considered to have had no winner. Riis has admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs during that race.
08 – A report from an investigation for the Council of Europe is released, giving detailed descriptions of secret prisons run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Poland and Romania.
10 – HBO airs the series finale of The Sopranos, concluding with a legendary, highly controversial sudden cut-to-black.
11 – Guy Verhofstadt resigns as prime minister of Belgium the day after his party lost in legislative elections.
13 – Queen Elizabeth II awards Sir Tim Berners-Lee the Order of Merit for his pioneering work on the World Wide Web.
18 – The US drops its embargo of the Palestinian Authority, freeing up financial aid for the new Fatah government in the West Bank, and the European Union announces that it will resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority.
18 – The Japanese Geographical Survey Institute changes the official name of the island of Iwo Jima to Iwo To, its name before World War II.
26 – The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) releases 702 pages of documents to the public detailing illegal activities engaged in by the Agency during the 1960s and ’70s. These documents have long been known as the “family jewels.”
27 – Tony Blair officially tenders his resignation as Prime Minister to The Queen, and is succeeded by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
29 – Two Mercedes sedans that had been packed with explosives to make them into car bombs are discovered at Piccadilly Circus in Central London and defused by police.
30 – Two men drive a burning SUV through the doors of Glasgow Airport in Scotland. The men are arrested, and no one at the airport is injured (though one of the men in the SUV later dies from his burns). It is assumed that this incident is connected with the discovery the day before of two car bombs in London.
July
01 – A smoking ban in England comes into effect in all enclosed public places. The ban is already in force in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
01 – The ‘Concert for Diana’ is held in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, at the new Wembley Stadium.
11 – Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady and wife of President Lyndon B Johnson, dies of natural causes at her home in Texas, aged 94.
27 – Two news helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase. There are no survivors.
30 – Swedish writer and director (Ernst) Ingmar Bergman dies in Fårö, Sweden.
31 – Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, comes to an end as the longest-running British Army operation ever.
August
01 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.
07 – San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s historic 33-year-old major league home run record.
12 – American television personality and entertainer Merv Griffin dies from prostate cancer in Los Angeles, aged 82.
15 – Anti-government protests in Myanmar are suppressed by the ruling junta.
23 – The Twitter #hashtag is invented and first used in a tweet by US product designer Chris Messina.
29 – Six AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead, are mistakenly loaded onto a B-52H heavy bomber at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
September
05 – Three terrorists suspected to be part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both Frankfurt International Airport and US military installations.
06 – Italian opera singer and member of the “Three Tenors”, Luciano Pavarotti, dies at home in Modena, Italy, aged 71, after a struggle with pancreatic cancer.
10 – Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years in exile following a military coup in October 1999.
11 – Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, a thermobaric weapon nicknamed the “Father of All Bombs (FOAB),” with a blast yield of 44 tons of TNT.
12 – Former President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime of plunder.
16 – One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269, carrying 128 crew members and passengers, crashes in Phuket, Thailand, killing 89 people.
17 – AOL, once the largest ISP in America, officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia, to New York City.
18 – Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected as president.
October
01 – American oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. pleads guilty to paying bribes to Saddam Hussein’s government in order to gain oil contracts.
02 – President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea walks across the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea on his way to the second Inter-Korean Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
17 – The Dalai Lama receives the United States Congressional Gold Medal.
18 – After eight years in exile, Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan. Later in the night, suicide attackers blow themselves up near Bhutto’s convoy, killing over 100 people, including 20 police officers. Bhutto escapes uninjured.
29 – Argentina elects its first female president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
November
01 – Five-time Grand Slam tennis winner Martina Hingis admits testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon. She maintains her innocence and retires from tennis.
03 – President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, declares emergency rule, suspends the Constitution, imposes a State of Emergency and fires the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
05 – China’s first lunar satellite, Chang’e 1, goes into orbit around the Moon.
13 – Waterloo International Station in London closes after 13 years in service. The last Eurostar trains are the 18:09 to Paris Gare du Nord & the 18:12 to Brussels-South railway station. The Eurostar will now run from London St Pancras International.
19 – Amazon launches the first Kindle e-reader, selling out in hours and initiating a massive digital transition for the global book publishing industry.
23 – The cruise liner MS Explorer sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an ice field near the South Shetland Islands. All 154 passengers and crew are rescued.
24 – Australians elect the Kevin Rudd-led centre-left Australian Labor Party at the federal election, ending the eleven-year tenure of the John Howard-led centre-right Liberal/National coalition government.
30 – Leeland Eisenberg enters the campaign office of Hillary Clinton in Rochester, New Hampshire, with a suspected bomb and holds three people hostage for five hours.
December
05 – A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people before taking his own life.
10 – Legendary rock outfit Led Zeppelin reunites for a single, highly publicised tribute concert at London’s O2 Arena, drawing millions of ticket lottery requests.
11 – Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
19 – The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States, establishing the Republic of Lakotah as a separate country.
20 – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
20 – The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café, by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
21 – The Schengen Agreement area expands to include nine European Union member states: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia at land and sea borders.
27 – Benazir Bhutto, opposition leader and former prime minister of Pakistan, is assassinated by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi. Twenty-three other people are killed by the bombing.
Also this year . . .
- The subprime mortgage crisis hits the US economy and quickly spreads worldwide, triggering the Great Recession, which ends in June 2009.
- Riyo Mori (Japan) is crowned Miss Universe.