[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 27th)

• 1120 - Richard III of Capua anointed as prince a fortnight before his untimely death.
• 1153 - Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
• 1328 - Philip VI is crowned King of France.
• 1703 - Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
• 1812 - South American Wars of Independence: In Bolivia, the battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba fought against the Spanish army.
• 1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
• 1849 - The Great Hall of Euston station, London opened.
• 1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian Unification.
• 1883 - Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
• 1895 - Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy.
• 1896 - The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, MissouriEast Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and incurring $2.9 billion in damages (1997USD). and
• 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
• 1907 - A Bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California.
• 1919 - The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
• 1927 - The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model A's.
• 1930 - The 1,046 feet (319 meters) tall Chrysler Building in New York (tallest man-made structure at the time) opens to the public.
• 1933 - New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
• 1933 - The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
• 1933 - The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago.
• 1935 - New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in the case A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
• 1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County.
• 1939 - DC Comics publishes its second superhero in Detective Comics #27; he is Batman, one of the most topical comic book superheroes of all time.
• 1940 - World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knoechlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.
• 1941 - World War II: U.S. President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
• 1941 - World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing 2,300 men.
• 1942 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard HeydrichPrague. in
• 1957 - Toronto's 1050 CHUM ** becomes Canada's first radio station to only broadcast top 40 Rock n' Roll music format.
• 1960 - In Turkey, a military coup removed President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
• 1963 - Folk music singer Bob Dylan releases The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, which features "Blowin' in the Wind" and several other of his best-known songs.
• 1964 - Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru dies in office.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
• 1967 - Australians vote in favour of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians, and to count them in the national census.
• 1967 - The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is christenedJacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline. by
• 1968 - the meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (national Union of the students of France), most outstanding of the events of May 1968, proceeds and gathers 30.000 to 50.000 people in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.
• 1971 - The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
• 1977 - An Aeroflot plane crashes, killing 69 people.
• 1980 - The Gwangju Massacre: airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
• 1994 - The Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to his native RussiaUnited States. after 20 years of exile in the
• 1995 - In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
• 1996 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire in the war.
• 1997 - The F5-strength Jarrell Tornado slams into the small town of Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.
• 1997 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sex harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is in office.
• 1998 - Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
• 1999 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimescrimes against humanity committed in Kosovo. and
• 2006 - The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 ** local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600 people.

[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 28th)

• 585 BC - A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
• 1108 - The Forces of Castile reached Ulces Castle, and prepared for the Battle of Ulces.
• 1503 - James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.
• 1503 - The Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed, which would actually last 10 years.
• 1533 - The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid
• 1588 - The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).
• 1644 - Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of the Earl of Derby.
• 1754 - French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
• 1774 - American Revolutionary War: The first Continental Congress convenes.
• 1830 - President Andrew Jackson signs The Indian Removal Act which relocates Indians.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
• 1892 - In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
• 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
• 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declare their independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.
• 1926 - Ditadura Nacional established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic. (28th May 1926 coup d'état.)
• 1930 - The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.
• 1934 - Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Olivia and Elzire Dionne, later becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
• 1934 - The Glyndebourne festival in England is inaugurated.
• 1936 - Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
• 1937 - The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC, who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.
• 1937 - Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1940 - World War II: Belgium surrenders to Germany.
• 1940 - World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik. First allied infantry victory in World War II.
• 1942 - World War II: In retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1800 people.
• 1952 - Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio. The park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
• 1952 - The women of Greece gain the suffrage.
• 1955 - Henry Bolte becomes Premier of the state of Victoria.
• 1961 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
• 1964 - The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.
• 1969 - Sound engineer Glyn Johns mixes the second of the Beatles Bootlegs.
• 1970 - The formerly united Free University of Brussels officially splits into two separate entities, the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
• 1974 - Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
• 1975 - Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, thus creating the Economic Community of West African States.
• 1977 - In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
• 1978 - Second round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta. Elections won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.
• 1979 - Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
• 1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
• 1987 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and is not released until August 3, 1988.
• 1987 - A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• 1991 - The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
• 1995 - The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, ⅔ of total population.
• 1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
• 1998 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of Indian nuclear tests with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
• 1998 - Comic actor Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live is shot to death at his home in Encino, California, by his wife, Brynn Hartman, who then kills herself.
• 1999 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's newly-restored masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
• 1999 - Two Swedish police officers are murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a dramatic car chase.
• 2000 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.
• 2002 - NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
• 2003 - Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
• 2004 - The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
• 2006 - German-born Pope Benedict XVI visits Auschwitz to conclude his pilgrimage to Poland.
• 2006 - Barry Bonds hits his 715th career home run, surpassing Babe Ruth for second place on the all time list.
• 2007 - The first television channel of Venezuela: Radio Caracas Televisión (abbreviated RCTV) closes after 53 years on the air.

Events (May 29th)

• 363 - Roman Emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sassanid capital, but is unable to take the city.
• 757 - Paul I succeeds Stephen II as pope.
• 1167 - Battle of Monte Porzio - A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel
• 1176 - Battle of Legnano, in which the Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
• 1414 - Council of Constance.
• 1453 - Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
• 1660 - English Restoration: Charles II (on his birthday - see below) is restored to the throne of Great Britain.
• 1677 - Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians.
• 1727 - Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1733 - Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec City.
• 1765 - Patrick Henry in a speech (on his birthday, see below) denouncing the Stamp Act is said to have said, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
• 1780 - Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton brutally massacred Colonel Abraham Buford's continentals even after the continentals surrendered. 113 Americans were killed.
• 1790 - Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
• 1848 - Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
• 1864 - Emperor Maximilian of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
• 1867 - Austro-Hungarian agreement called Ausgleich ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire; on June 8 Emperor Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary.
• 1868 - The assassination of Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, in Belgrade.
• 1886 - Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal.
• 1886 - Putney Bridge opens in west London.
• 1903 - May coup d'etat: Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
• 1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring is premiered in Paris.
• 1914 - Ocean liner Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost.
• 1919 - Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total solar eclipse in Principe and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.
• 1924 - AEK Athens FC is established on the anniversary of the siege of Constantinople by the Turks.
• 1932 - WW I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, DC in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
• 1935 - Construction of Hoover Dam is completed.
• 1942 - Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas album in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles.
• 1950 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia .
• 1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's 39th birthday.
• 1968 - Manchester United wins the European Cup, the first English Club to do so.
• 1972 - 26 people are killed and dozens more injured when three Japanese gunmen opened fire on crowds at Lod International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
• 1973 - Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
• 1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff ever to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
• 1985 - Heysel Stadium disaster: In Brussels, Belgium, 39 football fans die and hundreds are injured by Liverpool fans at a European Cup match.
• 1985 - Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
• 1988 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union as he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1990 - Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian SFSR by the Russian parliament.
• 1996 - Benjamin Netanyahu is elected prime minister of Israel.
• 1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
• 1999 - Space shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
• 2001 - U.S. Supreme Court rules that disabled golfer Casey Martin could use a cart to ride in tournaments.
• 2004 - The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
• 2004 - The Al-Khobar massacres in Saudi Arabia kill 22.
• 2005 - France, one of the founders of a united Europe, resoundingly rejects the European Constitution.
• 2007 - Umaru Yar'Adua takes office as President of Nigeria.

Events (May 30th)

• 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
• 1431 - Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
• 1434 - Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle of Lipany - Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilated Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
• 1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
• 1539 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
• 1574 - Henry III becomes King of France.
• 1588 - The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
• 1635 - Thirty Years' War: Peace of Prague (1635) signed.
• 1806 - Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
• 1814 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition - Treaty of Paris (1814) signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent.
• 1832 - The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is first opened.
• 1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
• 1868 - Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclaimation on May 5).
• 1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
• 1876 - Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
• 1879 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
• 1879 - An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.
• 1883 - In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
• 1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race in his Marmon Wasp.
• 1913 - First Balkan War: Treaty of London, 1913 signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
• 1914 - New & then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
• 1917 - Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
• 1922 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
• 1935 - Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.
• 1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.
• 1941 - World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb on the athenian Acropolis, tear down the nazi swastika and replace it with the Greek flag.
• 1942 - World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
• 1948 - A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
• 1956 - Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen premieres his piece Gesang der Jünglinge in Cologne.
• 1958 - Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1966 - Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
• 1967 - At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
• 1967 - The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
• 1969 - Riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao
• 1971 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 launched to Map 70% of the surface and study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface of Mars.
• 1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
• 1972 - In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
• 1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
• 1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
• 1997 - The Norway national football team beats Brazil 4-2. They still have never lost to Brazil, and remain the only team that hasn't.
• 1998 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

Events (May 31st)

• 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
• 1223 - Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus, Kipchaks, Cumans, and Volga Bulgars warriors under Mstislav the Bold.
• 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
• 1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
• 1678 - The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
• 1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Mecklenburg Resolutions adopted urging the American Colonies to declare independence from Great Britain.
• 1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• 1790 - The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
• 1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
• 1862 - American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) - Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
• 1864 - American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor - The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
• 1866 - In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
• 1884 - John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes.
• 1889 - Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
• 1902 - Second Boer War: The last Afrikaner resistance forces sign a peace treaty with the British at Pretoria, ending the war, and ensuring British control of South Africa.
• 1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa.
• 1911 - R.M.S. Titanic launched.
• 1916 - World War I: Battle of Jutland - The British Grand Fleet under the command of Sir John Jellicoe & Sir David Beatty engage and defeat the Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Reinhard Scheer & Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war.
• 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
• 1921 - Comedian Buster Keaton marries actress Natalie Talmadge.
• 1924 - The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.
• 1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
• 1942 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
• 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service in the United States Army.
• 1961 - Republic of South Africa created.
• 1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.
• 1970 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
• 1971 - In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
• 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
• 1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.
• 1985 - The US-Canadian Outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
• 1985 - Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
• 1987 - Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece.
• 1990 - The pilot episode of Seinfeld premieres.
• 1997 - The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.
• 2002 - The United States Secretary of the Navy issued Instruction 10520.6 directing all United States Navy ships to fly the First Navy Jack in honor of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The ensign will be flown for the duration of the War on Terrorism.
• 2002 - A series of major storms blew through Western Pennsylvania, killing 1 person when the Whip pavillion at Kennywood collapses.
• 2003 - 1996 Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph is captured in Murphy, North Carolina.
• 2004 - A foul-up during routine software update at the Royal Bank of Canada leads to a three-day misplacement of 10 million account balances.
• 2005 - W. Mark Felt admits in the magazine Vanity Fair that he is the anonymous source Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal.

[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (June 1st)

• 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus assassinated.
• 987 - Hugh Capet is elected king of France.
• 1204 - King Philip Augustus of France conquers Rouen.
• 1252 - Alfonso X is elected King of Castile and León.
• 1283 - Treaty of Rheinfelden: Duke Rudolph II of Austria waives his right to the Duchies of Austria and Styria.
• 1485 - Matthias of Hungary takes Vienna from Frederick III
• 1495 - Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky.
• 1533 - Anne Boleyn crowned queen.
• 1660 - Mary Dyer hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1779 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold court-martialed for malfeasance.
• 1792 - Kentucky admitted as the 15th state of the United States.
• 1796 - Tennessee admitted as the 16th state of the United States.
• 1812 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
• 1813 - James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, cries out "Don't give up the ship!"
• 1815 - Napoleon swears fidelity to the Constitution of France.
• 1831 - James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole.
• 1855 - American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua.
• 1857 - Charles Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal is published.
• 1862 - American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) - Engagement ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.
• 1868 - Treaty of Bosque Redondo signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
• 1869 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric voting machine.
• 1879 - Napoleon Eugene killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.
• 1886 - The railroads of the Southern United States convert 11,000 miles of track from a five foot rail gauge to standard gauge, beginning May 31.
• 1890 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
• 1910 - Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition leaves England.
• 1918 - World War I Western Front: Battle for Belleau Wood - Allied Forces under John J. Pershing & James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
• 1920 - Adolfo de la Huerta becomes president of Mexico.
• 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: Civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• 1922 - Royal Ulster Constabulary founded .
• 1925 - Lou Gehrig plays the first game in his streak of 2,130 consecutive games; it was the longest such streak until broken by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995.
• 1935 - The first driving tests are introduced in the United Kingdom.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.
• 1942 - World War II: The Warsaw paper Liberty Brigade publishes the first news of the concentration camps.
• 1943 - British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation the downing was an attempt to kill British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill.
• 1946 - Ion Antonescu executed.
• 1958 - Charles de Gaulle brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
• 1959 - Beginning of the Revolution in Nicaragua.
• 1962 - Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.
• 1967 - The Beatles release their landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandUK, the next day it is released in the United States. album in the
• 1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance", the first single recorded by a solo Beatle, from their hotel bed.
• 1974 - Flixborough disaster: Explosion at a chemical plant kills 28 people.
• 1978 - The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty filed.
• 1979 - Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.
• 1979 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power.
• 1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
• 1985 - Alan García is proclaimed President of Peru.
• 1990 - George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
• 1997 - Hugo Banzer wins the Presidental elections in Bolivia.
• 2000 - The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) signed.
• 2001 - Dipendra of Nepal slaughters his family during dinner.
• 2001 - Dolphinarium massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
• 2003 - The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.
• 2003 - Same-sex marriage comes into force in Belgium (Timeline of same-sex marriage)
• 2005 - The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution results in its rejection.
• 2007 - Jack Kevorkian was released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.

Events (June 2nd)

• 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
• 575 - Benedict I becomes Pope.
• 657 - St. Eugene I becomes Pope.
• 1098 - Crusader forces breach the city walls of Antioch.
• 1615 - First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
• 1763 - Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, ChippewasFort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort. capture
• 1774 - Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to let British soldiers into their homes, is reenacted.
• 1780 - The Derby horse race is held for the first time.
• 1793 - Jean-Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.
• 1800 - First smallpox vaccination in North America, at Trinity, Newfoundland.
• 1835 - P. T. Barnum and his circus begins their first tour of the United States.
• 1848 - Slavic congress in Prague begins.
• 1855 - The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine.
• 1886 - U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
• 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi receives a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
• 1909 - Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
• 1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
• 1946 - Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum Italians decide to turn Italymonarchy into a Republic. After this referendum the king of ItalyUmberto II di Savoia is exiled. from a
• 1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the first to be televised.
• 1955 - USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
• 1966 - Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first US spacecraft to soft land on another world.
• 1967 - The Beatles release their landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandUK. album in the USA, a day after it is released in the
• 1967 - Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
• 1975 - French sex workers occupied a Lyon church in protest against excessive fines and taxes, as well as a lack of police action against violence, thereby sparking the birth of the modern sex worker rights movement.
• 1979 - Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
• 1990 - Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornados in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 9. Petersburg, Indiana was the hardest-hit town in the outbreak, with 6 deaths.
• 1992 - Denmark rejects the Maastricht Treaty by a thin margin in a national referendum.
• 1995 - United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
• 1998 - The CIH computer virus is discovered in Taiwan.
• 1999 - The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time.
• 2003 - Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

Events (June 3rd)

• 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
• 1098 - First Crusade: Antioch falls to the crusaders after an eight-month siege.
• 1140 - French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.
• 1326 - Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
• 1539 - DeSoto claims Florida for Spain
• 1608 - Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
• 1620 - Construction of the oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, begins at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
• 1621 - The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherlands.
• 1658 - The Pope appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.
• 1665 - James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England) defeats the Dutch Fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
• 1770 - Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo is founded in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
• 1800 - U.S. President John Adams takes up residence in Washington, DC (in a tavern – the White House was not yet completed).
• 1850 - The traditional founding date of Kansas City, Missouri. This was the date on which it was first incorporated by Jackson County, Missouri as the "City of Kansas".
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor - Union forces attack Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Virginia.
• 1866 - Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario, into the United States to a heroes' welcome.
• 1885 - Last military engagement fought on Canadian soil: Cree leader Big BearNorth West Mounted Police. escapes the
• 1888 - The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.
• 1889 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed from coast to coast.
• 1889 - The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette FallsPortland, Oregon, United States. and downtown
• 1907 - Centro Escolar University was established by Librada Avelino and Carmen de Luna in Manila, Philippines.
• 1916 - The ROTC is established by the U.S. Congress.
• 1916 - The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
• 1935 - One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario.
• 1937 - The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.
• 1940 - World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
• 1940 - World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
• 1943 - A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory beats up everyone perceived to be Hispanic, starting the week-long Zoot Suit Riots.
• 1953 - Billy Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchie Bridge, according to the 1967 hit song Ode to Billy Joe by Bobbie Gentry, and the movie which followed.
• 1956 - British Rail renames 'Third Class' passenger facilities as 'Second Class' (Second Class facilities had been abolished in 1875, leaving just First Class and Third Class).
• 1962 - An Air France Boeing 707 charter, Chateau de Sully crashed after aborted takeoff from Paris, killing 130.
• 1963 - A Northwest Airlines DC-7 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia, killing 101.
• 1965 - Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew.
• 1965 - For 21 minutes, Edward H. White floats free outside the space vehicleGemini IV for the first time.
• 1968 - Valerie Solanas, author of The SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times.
• 1969 - Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
• 1973 - A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
• 1977 - Reggae stars Bob Marley and the Wailers release the classic album Exodus, which would be named Time magazine's "Album of the Century" in 1999.
• 1979 - A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date.
• 1982 - The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street. He survives but is permanently paralysed.
• 1984 - The Indian Army storms the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), the most sacred shrine of Sikhism, near Amritsar.
• 1989 - The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
• 1991 - Mount Unzen erupts in Japan in Kyūshū killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
• 1992 - The Mabo Decision is handed down, recognising the land rights of Australian Aborigines.
• 1997 - Lionel Jospin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1998 - Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails in Lower Saxony, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
• 2006 - The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.
• 2006 - Canada conducts largest domestic anti-terrorism operation, arresting 17 suspected of planning attacks in Ontario.

[NoRanynn]

June 4, 2007 (Monday)

• The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that 40% of the world population will be affected by the loss of glaciers and snow on the mountains of Asia due to global warming. (UNEP)
• A massive mudflow destroys Eurasia's only Geyser Valley. (The Independent)
• The United States government arrests ten people, including former Laotian Army general Vang Pao, on charges of organizing a plot to overthrow the Laotian government. (CNN)
• The government of Nigeria sues pharmaceutical company Pfizer for $6.95 billion in damages. (Reuters)
• The Palestinian government agrees on the terms of a ceasefire proposal for Israel. (BBC)
• Fresh clashes break out between protestors and police in Rostock in Germany prior to 33rd G8 summit. (AFP via News Limited)
• Cyclone Gonu forces the Government of Oman to evacuate 7,000 people from Masirah Island off the east coast of Oman. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• A military judge dismisses terrorism-related charges against a Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee charged with killing a United States Army soldier in Afghanistan. (CNN)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Russia may consider targeting new sites across Europe with nuclear weapons if part of the United States' nuclear capability is introduced into Europe. (Kremlin.ru) The United States and NATO condemn Putin's stance. (CNN) (Reuters)
• China publishes its first National Action Plan on Climate Change, expected to cut national carbon emissions by up to 1.5 million metric tons annually by 2010. (Xinhua)
• Sri Lankan Civil War:
  • Two Red Cross aid workers are found dead after being detained for questioning by unknown men claiming to be police. (BBC)
  • There is heavy fighting in the north of Sri Lanka with both the Army and the Tamil Tigers claiming that they have inflicted heavy casualties on their opponents. (BBC)
• The war crimes trial of former President of Liberia Charles G. Taylor at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone begins at The Hague. (The Southern African)
• The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games unveil the official logo for the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Paralympics to be held in London, England. (BBC)

June 5, 2007 (Tuesday)

• The British Antarctic Survey announces that the flow-rate of 300 previously unmeasured glaciers increased by 12% between 1993 and 2003, adding to concerns over glacier retreat and the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. (British Antarctic Survey)
• A Guyanese suspect who allegedly planned an attack on New York City's JFK Airport surrenders in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Sky)
• United States v. Libby: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney is sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak grand jury investigation. (CNN)
• U.S. President George W. Bush begins his tour of Europe in Prague before the G8 summit in Germany. During his visit he intends to address the deployment of interceptor rockets, the establishment of radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the related tension which has arisen between the United States and Russia. (BBC)
• Spanish Basque separatist group ETA announces it will end its 15-month ceasefire tonight at midnight (CEST). (RTÉ)
• Thailand's interim government removes a ban on political party activities. (BBC)
• Ten people are killed and around 400 injured in a train crash 10 kilometres north of Kerang, Victoria, Australia. (BBC) (RTÉ)

June 6, 2007 (Wednesday)

• Tens of thousands of people are evacuated from Oman as Cyclone Gonu arrives. (CNN)
• The Anaheim Ducks defeat the Ottawa Senators to win the Stanley Cup in five games.(AP via Charlotte Observer)
• HIV drug Viracept is being recalled in the UK after it was discovered that it has been contaminated with a substance that could cause cancer. (Sky)
• Armed forces from Turkey have reported to have crossed the border into Iraq chasing Kurdish guerillas a couple of miles in Iraqi territory. Other reports contradict this. (CNN)
• Five people have been acquitted of the 1982 murder of 'God's Banker', Italian financier Roberto Calvi. (Sky)
• During a weekly audience with Pope Benedict XVI, a man leaps over metal barriers, attempting to jump into the popemobile. He was promptly wrestled to the ground, without the Pope even noticing, and is now in the custody of Vatican police. (BBC News)
• Leaders of the G8 assemble in Rostock, Germany for 33rd annual G8 summit to discuss primarily issues of climate change and international aid, but also U.S.-Russia tensions over anti missile system in Europe. (Reuters via CNN)
• Dozens of people are trapped in a collapsed hall in Leshan in the southwestern province of Sichuan in China. (BBC)

June 7, 2007 (Thursday)

• Sri Lankan Civil War: Police in Sri Lanka force hundreds of the minority Sri Lankan Tamils community out of Colombo for what they say are security reasons. (BBC)
• Italian police arrest a group of people for allegedly providing material support for an al Qaeda-linked organisation Salafist Group for Call and Combat. (AP via CNN)
• 33rd G8 summit :
  • President of the United States George W. Bush and President of Russia Vladimir Putin meet to discuss missile defense. (AP via the Guardian) Putin, in a minor reversal of recent rhetoric regarding Bush's European missile shield plans, suggests placing a radar installation in Azerbaijan. (The Guardian)
  • G8 leaders reach agreement on a deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (Press Association via the Guardian)
  • Four supposed agent provocateurs who had encouraged peaceful protesters to throw stones are unmasked. A police spokesperson pointed to a possible involvement of Intelligence agencies. (Indymedia) (Spiegel)
• At least 12 citizens of Oman are killed by Cyclone Gonu. (Reuters via Australia)
• Hamas militants kill a Fatah member and five other Palestineans are injured in a renewal of fighting between the two groups. (AFP via CBS News)
• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raises interest rates in New Zealand to 8%, the highest level of any industrialised nation. (BBC)
• American scientists identify a new strain of potentially lethal bacteria called Bartonella rochalimae. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Cloture votes fail in the United States Senate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, potentially killing the bill. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

June 8, 2007 (Friday)

• The Council of Europe publish a report claiming to prove member states Romania and Poland conspired with the American CIA to kidnap and torture suspected terrorists. (BBC) (CoE Report)
• Chinese police rescue 31 workers kept as slaves at a brickworks in Linfen in Shanxi province run by the son of a local official of the Communist Party of China. (Reuters via News Limited)
• At least 14 people are killed in two bomb explosions in Qurna near Basra in Iraq. (BBC)
• New South Wales in Australia is battered with severe storms, killing at least nine people and causing major flooding in Newcastle, the Hunter region and the Central Coast. The coal freighter Pasha Bulker is forced to run aground on Nobby's Beach, a major Newcastle beach.(ABC News Australia) (ABC News Australia) (ABC News Australia)
• The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches with a crew of seven on an assembly mission to the International Space Station on mission STS-117. (BBC)

June 9, 2007 (Saturday)

• The Central Intelligence Organisation arrests almost 400 soldiers in Harare, Zimbabwe for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. Air Vice-Marshal Elson Moyo, Major General Engelbert Rugeje, and Colonel Ben Ncube are allegedly the ringleaders. (ZWNews)
• Russia warns the United States to halt its missile defense system in central Europe in order to continue further talks. (BBC)
• US President George W. Bush calls for a UN-backed action over Kosovo's independence despite Russian and Serbian opposition. (BBC)
• Racehorse Rags to Riches becomes the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in 102 years by defeating Preakness winner Curlin. (AP via The Citizen)

June 10, 2007 (Sunday)

• The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate criticizes Islamic Jihad militants for using a vehicle marked with a "TV" sign to approach Gaza's frontier border with Israel, and attempt to kidnap an Israel Defense Forces soldier from a position across the border. (Haaretz)
• On the Sunday talk show Meet the Press, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell calls for the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (NBC News)
• France holds a parliamentary election. Early projections indicate that President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right UMP party will secure a comfortable victory. (BBC)
• Belgium holds a general election. The Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is expected to lose power to the Christian Democrats of Yves Leterme. (Reuters)
• Five people are killed in a ferry fire in the Philippines. (AP
• President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai escapes an apparent assassination attempt. (AP)

June 11, 2007 (Monday)

• A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia rules that the United States government cannot indefinitely detain US residents as "enemy combatants." (AP via CNN)
• At least 78 die in monsoons in Bangladesh. (AP via CNN)
• Two thirds of the Iraqi Council of Representatives removes the Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mahmoud al-Mashhadani due to repeated acts of violence by him or his staff to other members. (New York Times)
• Flooding in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi damage agricultural land and crops, kill 66 people and force 600,000 people from their homes. (BBC)
• Majeedah Bolkiah, the daughter of Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei, marries Khairul Khalil, an official in the office of the Prime Minister, in a lavish Islamic wedding ceremony. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Newcastle, New South Wales remains on alert for rising floodwaters from the Hunter River as people evacuated from Maitland, New South Wales, return to their home. (AAP via the West Australian)

June 12, 2007 (Tuesday)

• Nigerian author Chinua Achebe wins the Man Booker International Prize in honour of his career. (BBC)
• Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel, declares victory in a vote for the leadership of the Israeli Labor Party with 51.5% of the vote compared with 47.5% for for former security chief Ami Ayalon. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
• The PKK declares that it will stop attacks on Turkey but will defend itself if attacked. (AP via the Kansas City Star)
• Jamaican police declare that former Pakistani cricket team coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes, ending a murder investigation. (Radio Jamaica)
• Severe rain causes flash flooding throughout Ireland, particulary in Ulster, where places have been flooded after just 30 minutes of rain. This brings to an end a period of very warm temperatures of up to 29º C (84º F) on the island. The town of Omagh and parts of Belfast are worst hit. (RTÉ) (Irish Independent) (UTV) (BBC)
• Mudslides and floods kill nearly 130 in Bangladesh. Rescuers found 20 more bodies buried under mud in Chittagong, bringing the total number of flood-related deaths to nearly 130. (Reuters)
• Milan Martić is found guilty of murder and persecution committed while he was leader of the Krajina Serb republic between 1991 and 1995. (BBC)
• Afghan officials claim that seven members of the Afghan police were killed by Coalition air forces in a friendly fire incident. (Reuters)
• Palestinian factional violence: Hamas officials report that a rocket-propelled grenade has been fired at the house of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh causing damage but no injuries. (AP via Forbes)
• Structural failure is suspected after the top two floors of a five-storey building collapse in central London's Dean Farrar Street. (BBC)

June 13, 2007 (Wednesday)

• Zimbabwean Minister of Lands Didymus Mutasa says the government will remove all remaining white farmers from their farms and divide their land among landless black citizens. (ReliefWeb)
• Ireland's Green Party (Comhaontas Glas) agree to go into government with Fianna Fáil as part of Ireland's 30th Dáil, when it opens on 14 June 2007. (RTÉ)
• A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits south of Puerto Quetzal, on Guatemala's Pacific Coast. (USA Today)
• Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom awards Sir Tim Berners-Lee the Order of Merit for his pioneering work on the world wide web. (BBC)
• Gigantoraptor erlianensis, a gigantic, birdlike dinosaur, is discovered in Inner Mongolia by paleontologist Xu Xing. (AFP via Discovery Channel)
• Shimon Peres is elected as the President of Israel after opponents bow out in the first round of the Israeli presidential elections. (Haaretz) (Los Angeles Times)
• An explosion in Beirut kills at least 10 people, including MP Walid Eido. (MSNBC)
• Hamas militants kill at least 16 Palestinians, including 2 UNRWA workers and 13 Fatah members, as clashes intensify in the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
• Hamas and Fatah officials claim that they have agreed on a ceasefire but fighting continues. (BBC)
• A South African public sector strike closes down most of the schools and hospitals in the country. (BBC)
• EADS Astrium unveils its space tourism project, one week ahead of Paris Air Show. (BBC)
• A landmark ruling by the UK's highest appeal court, the Law Lords, allows the family of an Iraqi who died in UK military custody to sue the British Government and demand a public inquiry into the circumstances of his death. (The Times) (Scotsman)
• A strike by Indian Airlines ground staff disrupts air traffic throughout India. (CNN-IBN)
• An explosion at the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, is reported to have destroyed two of its minarets. (Reuters Alertnet) (BBC) (Reuters)
• Indonesian police claim to have arrested Abu Dujana, the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings. (BBC)

June 14, 2007 (Thursday)

• A U.S. federal jury convicts former Klansman James Ford Seale of kidnapping and conspiracy in connection with the 1964 deaths of two African-American teenagers in Mississippi. (AP via USA Today)
• Fatah-Hamas conflict:
  • Hamas claims full control of Palestinian Authority security agencies on the Gaza Strip. (CNN)
  • Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Palestine, dissolves the Unity Cabinet and declares a state of emergency. (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)
  • Hamas tightens its control of the Gaza Strip as violence continues. (Reuters) (AP)
• Golf's U.S. Open begins at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. (ESPN)
• Music producer and alleged con artist Lou Pearlman is arrested in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, and deported to the United States territory of Guam. He is accused of defrauding over 1,800 individual investors out of a total of $317 million. He will eventually be returned to Florida to face criminal charges and a growing list of civil litigation. (Orlando Sentinel)
• Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fáil is elected as Ireland's Taoiseach for a record third term upon the opening of the 30th Dáil. The Taoiseach then announces his new cabinet with ministries. (RTÉ)
• Entertainer Michael Barrymore is arrested in the UK along with two others over the murder of Stuart Lubbock, who was found dead in Barrymore's swimming pool in 2001. (Sky)
• Lebanon prepares to bury anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido and nine others killed in yesterday's bombing with a national day of mourning declared. (CNN)
• Iraq War: Three Sunni mosques near Baghdad are burned in apparent retaliation for the latest Al-Askari Mosque bombing. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• The Indian Airlines strike continues for a second day causing continuing disruption to Indian aviation. (BBC)
• New Zealand condemns the expulsion of its High Commissioner to Fiji Mike Green by Frank Bainimarama's military government, which gave no reason for the expulsion. (BBC)
• Cuba introduces a United Nations resolution on Puerto Rico calling on United States to expedite Puerto Rico's self-determination process; the text also requests the General Assembly to consider question; urges clean up of Vieques island, release of Puerto Rican political prisoners. (UN)
• The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Finals to win the 2007 National Basketball Association Championship. (SI)
• Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins wins the Hart Memorial Trophy as the National Hockey League's most valuable player during the 2006-07 season in the annual NHL awards. (TSN)

June 15, 2007 (Friday)

• Thousands of Chinese policemen rescue 450 slave workers while arresting 120 suspects. (VOA)
• Mike Nifong, facing disbarment for his actions in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case, agrees to resign his position as district attorney for Durham County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. (AP via ESPN.com)
• Switzerland opens the world's longest rail tunnel on land, the 34-kilometre Lötschberg tunnel under the Alps. (BBC)
• In the UK, seven members of Dhiren Barot's al Qaeda cell are sentenced to a total of 136 years in prison. (Sky)
• Indonesia claims that it has captured Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zarkarsih. (Reuters via MSNBC)
• A roadside bomb kills at least seven soldiers in Yala Province, Thailand. (BBC)
• United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates meets with U.S. military leaders in Iraq and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al-Maliki to discuss the effectiveness of the current military campaign. (Reuters)
• Two oil and transport unions begin a strike in Nigeria over an increase in fuel duty and a doubling of sales tax. (BBC)

June 16, 2007 (Saturday)

• Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi is chosen as the O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa by the Fono. (AAP via News Limited)
• Mike Nifong is disbarred in the U.S. state of North Carolina for his role in the prosecution of the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case. (AP via WRAL)
• Police in Zimbabwe confiscate opposition leader Arthur Mutambara's passport as he tries to leave for South Africa and the United Kingdom. (VOA)
• The Chinese Ministry of Labour and Social Security undertakes an investigation into claims that up to 1,000 minors worked as slave labour in central China. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• Iraq War: US soldiers find the Common Access Card ID cards of two captured US soldiers. Iraqi insurgents had previously released a video containing images of the IDs. (CNN)

June 17, 2007 (Sunday)

• Air strikes in Afghanistan on a suspected Al Qaeda headquarters kill several militants as well as civilians including children. (Reuters), (BBC)
• Ángel Cabrera wins the 2007 U.S. Open Golf Championship at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. (NZPA)
• Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, is closed for three hours at dawn to allow wildlife experts to trap 80 hares which have bred in recent months and are confusing ground radar. (BBC)
• Audi wins their seventh 24 Hours of Le Mans in eight years, including their second straight win with a diesel R10 prototype.(SpeedTV) (BBC)
• A Canadian pilot and five British passengers die in a plane crash in Malawi. (Channel 4 UK)
• Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, outlaws armed factions of Hamas. (CTV)
• At least 35 people die in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the result of a bombing of a police bus. (Newswire) (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• French voters go to the polls to elect a new French National Assembly. The centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UPM) wins a comfortable majority, however, the left did make some gains with senior minister Alain Juppe losing his seat in Bordeaux. (BBC), (Canada East), (Reuters via CNN)

June 18, 2007 (Monday)

• The Comcast Center officially becomes the tallest building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after a topping off ceremony. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Nine firefighters are killed in a collapse at a furniture warehouse blaze in Charleston, South Carolina, the largest loss of firefighters in the United States in one incident since the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001.
• The President of Turkey, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, vetoes a bill bringing forward a referendum of the direct election of the President. (BBC)
• Floods kill four people in north Texas. (Reuters) (AP via The New York Times)
• The European Union and United States restore foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority. (AP via Time)
• Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar issues an ultimatum to the Palestinian Army of Islam to free kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston, or face military action. (BBC)
• A global internet pedophilia ring with over 700 suspects worldwide has been smashed by UK police. 31 children were rescued. (Sky)
• Two former Croatian generals Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi go on trial in Zagreb charged for alleged atrocities against Serb civilians in 1993. (AP via IHT)
• Rwanda and Burundi join the East African Community in a meeting in Kampala, Uganda. (BBC)
• Mongolian authorities confirm a helicopter crash that claimed 14 lives last Wednesday. (BBC)
• As many as 36 people are killed south of Baghdad in fighting between Shiite militiamen and British forces doing searches door to door. (AP via San Jose Mercury News)
• Parts of Melbourne, Australia are in lockdown after a gunman shoots three people in the CBD, sparking a massive manhunt throughout the city. (The Age) (ABC)
• New negotiations begin between Morocco and the Polisario. (Reuters), (Herald Sun via Reuters)

June 19, 2007 (Tuesday)

• A preliminary study by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency indicates that China's greenhouse gas emissions have overtaken those of the United States for the first time, exceeding those of any other country. (NEAA)
• French prosecutors launch an investigation into alleged embezzlement by two African leaders, Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo. (BBC)
• Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City leaves the Republican Party and registers as an independent. (New York Times)
• North Korea is reported to have test-fired a short-range missile towards the Sea of Japan. (BBC)
• Two armed robbers are holding several people hostage in a Crédit Lyonnais bank in Paris. (Sky)
• Cadbury Schweppes announces plans to axe around 7,800 jobs from its workforce, closing as many as 10 manufacturing sites worldwide. (The Times)
• Iraq War:
  • The United States military launches Operation Arrowhead Ripper near Baqubah, Diyala province with approximately 10,000 troops involved. (Reuters)
  • The Al-Khilani Mosque is bombed, killing 78. (BBC)
• An early fossil is found, proving that the giant panda was once a pygmy. (The Times)
• Fiji's interim government agrees in principle to elections in 2009 following a Pacific Islands Forum assessment and calls for assistance from the European Union and Pacific nations like Australia for funding. (Bloomberg)
• A candidate in the forthcoming Papua New Guinea election is charged with attempted murder of the Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye. (ABC News Australia)
• After the Senegal's parliamentary elections, Macky Sall resigns as Prime Minister and President Abdoulaye Wade appoints former Deputy Minister for the Budget Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré in his stead.

June 20, 2007 (Wednesday)

• A fire in a Russian nursing home in Omsk kills at least 10 people. (BBC)
• The Special Court for Sierra Leone issues the first ever guilty verdicts by an international court related to the military use of children. (BBC)
• The government of Dubai announces that it has purchased the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 from Cunard Line for US$100 million. It intends to turn her into a floating hotel at the Palm Jumeirah when she leaves service in late 2008. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, dissolves parliament, triggering a legislative election for August 18, 2007. (BBC)
• Ehud Barak, the new Minister for Defense, states that Israel will admit "humanitarian cases" of Palestinians fleeing the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. (AP via CBC)
• The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, announces plans to buy three Spanish designed warships and two large Spanish landing ships for the Royal Australian Navy at a cost of $A11 billion. (AAP via the West Australian)
• The Sri Lankan military claims to have killed 30 members of the Tamil Tigers in overnight clashes in the east of the country. (BBC)
• Industrial action in Nigeria over increases in fuel duty and a doubling of sales tax is stepped up to become a general strike. (BBC)

June 21, 2007 (Thursday)

• Lebanon declares victory over Fatah al-Islam, an Al Qaeda linked group, after a month's battle at a Palestinian refugee camp. (Reuters via Daily Times)
• Inflation in Zimbabwe reaches 9,000%, the highest in the world. (CNN)
• NASA postpones the landing of Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center due to inclement weather, prolonging STS-117 for another day. NASA states that it can extend the mission until June 24 if necessary. (CNN)
• A polar blast moving north over the South Island of New Zealand causes major disruptions and claims at least one life. (One)
• The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone finds three leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu guilty of war crimes. (AP via CNN)
• The President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak invites the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Jordan to a summit on Sunday to discuss the Palestinian crisis. (FOX)
• The Kuwaiti government condemns the besieging of its embassy in Iran and the beating of a diplomat, regarding it as an "attack on Kuwait." The Iranian Foreign Ministry says it regrets that the incident occurred. (Gulf News)
• Deposed Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra is ordered to return to Thailand to face charges in an asset concealment case. (UPI)
• Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name Iwo To to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants. (BBC)

June 22, 2007 (Friday)

• Inflation in Zimbabwe rises to 11,000%. U.S. ambassador Christopher Dell predicts it will reach 1.5 million percent by December. (BBC News)
• 2007 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: IDF soldiers near Hebron shoot an unarmed Palestinian who later died. The IDF states that the man was trying to run through the gate, the soliders yelled for him to halt, which he did not, and they shot the man. (Ynetnews)
• Director Michael Hayden of the United States Central Intelligence Agency announces plans to declassify documents detailing illegal activities performed by the agency between 1950 and 1980 including assassination plots, domestic spying and wiretapping, kidnapping and human experiments. (BBC)
• Space Shuttle Atlantis lands safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, after inclement weather had prevented its programmed landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending STS-117. (ABC News Australia)

June 23, 2007 (Saturday)

• Torrential rains in Pakistan, including the city of Karachi, kill 230 people. (CNN)
• The 27 members of the EU agree on guidelines for a new treaty after negotiations to replace EU's current constitution. (CNN)

June 24, 2007 (Sunday)

• Mauricio Macri, a member of the National Congress of Argentina and President of Boca Juniors, is elected as the Chief of Government of Buenos Aires. (Reuters via CNN)
• Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali" is sentenced to death for his role in killing 180,000 Kurds under Saddam Hussein. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
• A roadside bomb hits a dead baby and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon patrol, killing six Spanish speaking peacekeepers (three of whom were Colombian) and injuring two others. (BBC)
• More than 200 people die in accidents related to storms in Karachi, Pakistan. (ITV)
• Government of the United Kingdom:
  • Gordon Brown becomes the Leader of the Labour Party, replacing Prime Minister Tony Blair. Brown will replace Blair as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007. (BBC)
  • Harriet Harman becomes the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, replacing Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. She is not expected to follow Prescott as Deputy Prime Minister, and won the Labour deputy leadership election with 50.43%, narrowly beating Alan Johnson. (BBC)

June 25, 2007 (Monday)

• Three people die in Yorkshire and the Humber as heavy rains and flooding continue in England and Wales. (The Telegraph)
• Conoco Phillips and ExxonMobil reject a deal with PDVSA, the nationalised oil company of Venezuela, over the future participation in development of reserves in the Orinoco Belt. (BBC)
• Middle East leaders President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, the Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert and the King Abdullah II of Jordan meet to support Abbas' leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Olmert announces that he will release 250 Palestinain political prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. (BBC)
• Iran invites the International Atomic Energy Agency to Tehran to discuss its nuclear program. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• The United States Supreme Court issues three 5-4 split decision rulings limiting student freedom of expression (AP via IHT), barring ordinary taxpayers from challenging governmental funding of faith-based initiatives (AP via Guardian Unlimited), and allowing "issue ads" to air on television close to election dates. (AP via Guardian Unlimited)
• PMTair Flight U4 241 crashes in Cambodia, with 22 on board. There are no survivors. (WikiNews)

June 26, 2007 (Tuesday)

• Bolivia reclaims two oil refineries from Brazilian state-owned energy company Petrobras. (BBC)
• The militant group Army of Islam holding BBC Middle East correspondent Alan Johnston captive renews its threat to kill him. (CNN)
• The Central Intelligence Agency releases the "family jewels", secret documents detailing illegal activities, including a plot to hire members of the Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro and domestic spying. (Reuters)
• On the eve of Gordon Brown assuming office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Conservative Member of Parliament Quentin Davies defects to the Labour Party. (Financial Times)
• An International Atomic Energy Agency team heads to North Korea to see if Pyongyang's nuclear reactor has been shut down. (Reuters)
• Tony Blair and Arnold Schwarzenegger hold talks at 10 Downing Street on Blair's last day as Prime Minister, with the environment and climate change as the primary issue. (Guardian UK) (Guardian UK)
• In the United Kingdom, hundreds of people are evacuated from villages in South Yorkshire and a section of the M1 motorway is closed amid fears of an imminent collapse of the dam at the Ulley reservoir, following heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across the UK. (BBC)

June 27, 2007 (Wednesday)

• At least 18 people die in fights between police and gangsters in a Rio de Janeiro favela. (BBC)
• Protesters take to the streets in Iran as the government introduces petrol rationing and raises prices. (CNN)
• Dr. Ashraf Marwan, who had previously been accused of being a senior Mossad agent operating in Egypt prior to the Yom Kippur War, is found dead below the balcony of his home in London. Scotland Yard investigates the "unexplained" death. (Haaretz),(Guardian)
• At least ten people drown and thousands move to higher ground as a cyclone hits Balochistan, Pakistan. (CNN)
• Prime Minister Gordon Brown, United Kingdom:
  • Longstanding tradition is abandoned in the House of Commons as every serving Member of Parliament, and others, clap and give a standing ovation to Tony Blair after he finishes his last Prime Minister's Questions.
  • Queen Elizabeth II accepts the resignation of Tony Blair as Prime Minister.
  • Gordon Brown, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, accepts Queen Elizabeth II's invitation to form a new government, becoming the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  • Tony Blair takes the Chiltern Hundreds to stand down as MP for Sedgefield and accepts a role as the main Middle East envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East. His appointment is announced at the United Nations headquarters. Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, welcomes the appointment of Blair as envoy.
  • Journalists learn that Patricia Hewitt and Margaret Beckett will not be re-appointed as Health Secretary and Foreign Secretary respectively, when Brown assembles his government.
  • Brown begins contact by telephone with U.S. President George W. Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, discussing working closely together. (All of the above, BBC News) (10 Downing Street)
• The wreckage of PMTair Flight U4 241 is discovered in Kampot Province, Cambodia. All 22 people on board were killed in the crash. (BBC)
• The Government of Kyrgyzstan abolishes capital punishment. (Nasdaq)
• Jamaican-born Floridian Barrington Irving becomes the youngest person, and the first black person, to fly solo around the world. (Miami Herald)

June 28, 2007 (Thursday)

• It is announced that people will be asked to commit to a 7-point pledge on global warming during the July 7 Live Earth concerts. (Live Earth}
• The June 2007 Texas floods cause evacuations in some areas. (MSNBC)
• The deathtoll of the June 2007 United Kingdom floods rises to six with Northern England and the Midlands hardest hit. (The Telegraph)
• Eleven Colombian lawmakers hostages out of twelve are killed by the leftist guerilla group FARC. Abducted in 2002, the FARC alleges that the hostages died in a crossfire when an unidentified military group attacked. The FARC blames the Colombian government, but the government says they knew nothing of the location or of any attempt of rescue. (CNN)
• Russia successfully test fires a sea-based ballistic missile, the Bulava. (BBC)
• A TAAG-Angola Airlines Boeing 737 crashes in northern Angola resulting in the death of at least five passengers on the same day the European Union bans the airline from European airspace. (Reuters via News Limited)
• Scientists take a first step towards making synthetic life by transferring genetic material from one species of bacteria to another making it a copy of the first. (Reuters via News Limited)
• Record high temperatures in Greece lead to nine deaths through heat stroke, outbreaks of wildfires killing two people and extensive power cuts. (AP via the Washington Post)
• A bill to legalize millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States is defeated in the United States Senate. (AP via the Houston Chronicle)
• Former Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi convicted of the bombing of Pan ** Flight 103 wins a case for an appeal in the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. (The Guardian)
• An Italian man has been arrested in Spain on suspicion of bribery in connection with the kidnapping of Madeleine McCann. (Sky)
• Premiership of Gordon Brown, United Kingdom:
  • In a major Cabinet reshuffle, every person's post is changed bar one.
  • Alistair Darling becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Miliband becomes Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Jacqui Smith becomes the first female Secretary of State for the Home Department.
  • Alan Johnson takes Health, Jack Straw takes Justice and First Secretary of State, Hilary Benn takes Environment, Des Browne remains as Defence Secretary but also becomes Secretary of State for Scotland, Ruth Kelly takes Transport.
  • Douglas Alexander takes Secretary of State for International Development, Peter Hain remains Secretary of State for Wales but also becomes Work and Pensions Secretary, Shaun Woodward becomes Northern Ireland Secretary John Hutton takes Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary, Hazel Blears takes Communities Secretary and Minister for Equality, James Purnell takes Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and Tessa Jowell becomes Minister for the Olympics, and will only attend Cabinet when required.
  • Baroness Ashton becomes Leader of the House of Lords, Harriet Harman - Labour's deputy leader - becomes Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women, whilst Ed Balls becomes Children, Schools and Families Secretary. John Denham becomes Innovation, University and Skills Secretary, and Baroness Scotland becomes the new Attorney General of England and Wales. The Cabinet is set to change. (Office of the Prime Minister)
• Rivers in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia flood leading to evacuations in Bairnsdale and Sale as a result of days of heavy rain. (ABC) (ABC)
• A car bomb in the Bayaa district of Baghdad kills at least 20 people and injures another 35. (Reuters Alertnet)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrive at the Yongbyon reactor in North Korea to discuss plans to shut it down. It follows North Korea test firing short-range missiles yesterday. (AP via CNN)
• The United States Supreme Court hands down a divided decision against two school districts in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky, saying the districts' plans to admit students to schools based partially on their race violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection. (CNN)
• The commercial space station prototype Genesis II from Bigelow Aerospace is launched at 15:02 UTC from Russia by a Dnepr. (NASASpaceflight.com)
• UNESCO designates 22 new World Heritage Sites, including Sydney Opera House, Canada's Rideau Canal, Japan's Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, Turkmenistan's Parthian Fortresses of Nisa, India's Red Fort complexes, the Lope-Okanda Landscape of Gabon, the Richtersveld desert of South Africa, the rock carvings of Twyfelfontein in Namibia, the fortified tower houses of Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China, Teide National Park in the Canary Islands, Spain, ancient beech forests of Central Europe, Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bordeaux and the Port de la Lune in France, the Old Town of Corfu in Greece, the Palace of Galerius in Gamzigrad-Romuliana in Serbia. (The Globe and Mail) UNESCO press-release
• The Bald Eagle is removed from the endangered species list. (National Geographic)

June 29, 2007 (Friday)

• The EPR nuclear power plant, under construction in Finland and 18 months behind schedule, is reported as having a number of safety-related design and manufacturing 'deficiencies'. (New Scientist)
• Spanish scientists find fossil evidence of humans living in Europe over a million years ago in Burgos, Spain. (Xinhua via the Hindu)
• Rebels unsuccessfully try to assassinate Guillaume Soro, Prime Minister of Ivory Coast, but kill three others in a rocket attack. (Bloomberg)
• British police defuse a bomb in Central London. A second bomb is found hours later. (CNN) (The Globe and Mail)
• At least 13 people die in clashes between militants and Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. (BBC)
• The European Union revises its list of designated terrorist organizations, removing Anti-Imperialist Territorial Units, Unit for Revolutionary Proletarian Initiative, and Units for Proletarian Initiative while adding Revolutionary Struggle. (Payvand)
• After 16 years of existence, the (US) National Football League announced that it would shut down its European operation known as NFL Europa with immediate effect. (NFL.com)

June 30, 2007 (Saturday)

• Glasgow International Airport attack:
  • A car on fire crashes into the main terminal building of Glasgow Airport. Two people are arrested at the scene by police, with one man reportedly on fire when arrested.
  • The airport closes, with all plane flights cancelled and the airport evacuated.
  • COBRA conducts an emergency meeting, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes a statement following it in which he thanks emergency services after the attack today and the London car bombs plot yesterday.
  • Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces that the national security threat level is elevated from "severe" to "critical", the highest possible, meaning "further attacks are imminent" and everyone should be on "high alert". (BBC)
  • Police treat the incident as a terrorist attack, and linked to yesterday's London car bombs plot. (BBC)
  • Police arrest two men in Cheshire in relation to the bombings. (Reuters via Canada.com)
• Archbishop Pius Ncube, the head of the Catholic church in Zimbabwe, calls on the British government to invade Zimbabwe and overthrow President Robert Mugabe. (Times Online)
• United States troops kill 26 militants in an attack on Sadr City in Baghdad. (ITV)
• Voters in Papua New Guinea go to the polls to elect a new Parliament of Papua New Guinea. (Radio Australia)
• East Timorese voters go to the polls to elect a new Parliament of East Timor. (CNN)
• Hong Kong celebrates the tenth anniversary of the handover from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. (BBC)