As of 2007

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Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

The year 2007 was designated:

• Year of Rumi.^[1]
• International Polar Year^[2]
• International Heliophysical Year^[3]
• European Year of Equal Opportunities for All^[4]
• Year of the Dolphin^[5]
• Scotland's Year of Highland Culture

Also see: Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

UNESCO has recognized fifteen anniversaries for 2007.^[6]

Events of 2007

January

• January 1 - Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
• January 1 - Slovenia adopts the euro as its official currency, replacing the tolar.
• January 1 - South Korea's Ban Ki-moon becomes the new United Nations Secretary-General, replacing Kofi Annan.
• January 1 - Smoking is banned in all public places in Hong Kong.
• January 1 - Adam Air Flight 574, a routine domestic flight in Indonesia, disappears; debris is found 10 days later, but the aircraft remains missing.
• January 1 - Angola joins OPEC.
• January 1 - War in Somalia: Fighters of the Islamic Courts Union abandon their last stronghold in Kismayo and flee for the Kenyan border.
• January 2 - The new constitution of Gibraltar comes into force.^[7]
• January 3 - China conducts an anti-terror raid in Xinjiang.
• January 4 - Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
• January 5 - War in Somalia: The first shots are fired in the battle for control of the border town of Ras Kamboni.
• January 8 - Daniel Ortega becomes President of Nicaragua for the second time.

• January 8 - Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia-Belarus energy dispute escalates; restored three days later.
• January 9 - War in Somalia: U.S. planes conduct air strikes in Somalia against suspected terrorists.
• January 9 - An AerianTur-M Antonov An-26 crashes in Balad, Iraq. The Islamic Army in Iraq claims to have shot it down.
• January 9 - Apple Inc. announces and introduces the highly speculated iPhone at the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo.
• January 10 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces a plan to station 21,500 additional troops in Iraq.
• January 11 - In Bangladesh, a state of emergency is declared by caretaker President Iajuddin Ahmed, following weeks of violent protests preceding upcoming parliamentary elections.

Nancy Pelosi

• January 11 - Vietnam joins the World Trade Organization as its 150th member.
• January 11 - China successfully tests a ground-based ballistic missile capable of destroying satellites in orbit, drawing criticisms from other countries.
• January 12 - An Argentine judge issues a warrant for the arrest of former President Isabel Martínez de Perón in connection with the disappearance of a human rights worker in 1976.
• January 12 - The US Embassy in Athens is attacked with a rocket propelled grenade, which caused minimal damage and no injuries.
• January 12 - Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in over 40 years, makes perihelion.
• January 13 - The Greek ship Server breaks in half off the Norwegian coast, releasing over 200 tons of crude oil.
• January 14 - The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement adopts the Red Crystal as a non-religious emblem for use in its overseas operations.
• January 17 - Hurricane force winds from storm Kyrill claim at least 40 lives in western Europe.
• January 17 - Protests occur in India and the United Kingdom against the British series of Celebrity Big Brother after Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were alleged to have been racially abusive towards Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
• January 17 - Doomsday Clock is advanced from 7 to 5 minutes to midnight.
• January 18 - Comet McNaught, the brightest comet to appear in over 40 years, becomes visible over the Southern Hemisphere.

Hurricane Kyrill creates havoc as it passes across northern Europe.

• January 18 - The strongest storm in the UK in 17 years kills 14 people, and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Hurricane Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
• January 19 - Israel releases $100 million in frozen assets to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority in order to bolster the president's position.^[8]
• January 22 - A bombing in a market in Baghdad, Iraq kills 88 people.
• January 24 - The Israeli Ministry of Justice announces that the President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, will be charged with rape and abuse of power.
• January 25 - The President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, takes a temporary leave of absence due to a sex scandal.
• January 28 - A battle between insurgents and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops kills 300 suspected resistance members in Najaf, Iraq.
• January 28 - February 4 - The 2007 Asian Winter Games are held in Changchun, China.
• January 29 - A suicide bomber kills three people in a bakery in Eilat, Israel.
• January 30 - Microsoft releases Windows Vista and Office 2007.
• January 31 - The Venezuelan National Assembly gives President Hugo Chávez the power to rule by decree for 18 months.
• January 31 - Delta Air Lines creditors reject US Airways' hostile takeover bid.
• January 31 - The Mooninite scare occurs in Boston, when devices used in a guerrilla marketing campaign for the animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force are mistaken for improvised explosive devices.

February

• February 1 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is questioned for a second time in the 'cash for peerages (Cash for Honours)' probe as a witness.
• February 2 - An unseasonal tornado in central Florida kills at least 20 people.
• February 2 - Palestinian factional violence: Hamas and its rival Fatah renew their truce after violence broke out following the initial ceasefire.
• February 2 - Chinese President Hu Jintao signs a series of economic deals with Sudan.
• February 2 - War in Somalia: Eight people are killed in a mortar attack in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.
• February 2 - Martti Ahtisaari unveils a United Nations plan for the final status of Kosovo; Serbian leaders denounce the proposal.
• February 2 - The IPCC publishes its fourth assessment report, having concluded that global climate change is "very likely" to have a predominantly human cause.
• February 3 - The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is found at a Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk, England.
• February 3 - State of Emergency is declared in Indonesia after 'El Nino'-like flooding.
• February 3 - A truck bombing in a crowded Baghdad market kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339 others.
• February 10 - U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois announces a presidential bid in Springfield, Illinois.
• February 11 - Portuguese voters agree to legalise abortion in a national referendum.
• February 12 - An armed gunman shoots and kills five people at the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, before being killed by the police, bringing the evening's rampage death toll to six.
• February 13 - North Korea agrees to shut down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon by April 14 as a first step towards complete denuclearization, receiving in return energy aid equivalent to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.^[9]
• February 13 - Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
• February 22 - A large fire causes 26 fatalities in care center "Reģi" which is located in Alsunga, Latvia.
• February 25 - The European Space Agency confirms Rosetta's successful Mars trajectory fly-by.
• February 25 - The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, takes place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Departed wins Best Picture.
• February 26 - The International Court of Justice finds Serbia guilty of failing to prevent genocide in the Srebrenica massacre, but clears it of direct responsibility and complicity in the case.
• February 27 - The Chinese Correction: world stock markets plummet after China and Europe release less-than-expected growth reports.
• February 27 - 2007 Bagram Air Base bombing: A Taliban suicide attack at Bagram Air Base while Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney is visiting kills 23, but he is not injured.
• February 28 - The New Horizons space probe makes a gravitational slingshot against Jupiter which changes its trajectory towards Pluto.

March

• March - India's 10th Five Year Plan comes to an end.
• March 1 - International Polar Year, a $1.5 billion research program to study both the North Pole and South Pole, is launched in Paris.
• March 1 - Airbus announces that it will cease work indefinitely on the A380F freight aircraft.
• March 3 - Total lunar eclipse.
• March 6 - Mega Millions sets a new world record for the highest lottery jackpot of US $370 million.
• March 7 - Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, a Boeing 737-400, crashes at Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java, killing many on board.
• March 8 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admits that Israel had planned an attack on Lebanon in the event of kidnapped soldiers on the border, months before Hezbollah carried out its kidnapping.
• March 12 - Alan Johnston, a BBC journalist, disappears in Gaza City, Palestine.
• March 17 - Chlorine bombs injure hundreds in Baghdad, Iraq.
• March 22 - NATO troops launch two assaults in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, killing 38.
• March 23 - Naval forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guard seize Royal Navy personnel in disputed Iran-Iraq waters.
• March 23 - Eight human skeletons are discovered in Fort Myers, Florida, later linked to suspected serial killer Daniel Conahan.
• March 27 - Prime Minister of Latvia Aigars Kalvitis and Prime minister of Russia Mikhail Fradkov finally sign a border treaty between Latvia and Russia.
• March 31 - Sydney, Australia, turns off its lights for one hour between 7:30pm and 8:30pm as a political statement about Global Climate Change.

April

• April 2 - The Solomon Islands is shaken by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake, and hit by a subsequent tsunami.
• April 3 - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dissolves the Ukrainian Parliament following defections that increased the majority of his opponents. It has been nicknamed the "Second Orange Revolution".
• April 4 - NATO and Afghan forces retake a key town from the Taliban in Sangin in southern Helmand Province.
• April 4 - Iran announced it will release the British sailors and marines that they captured on March 23. The captives arrive back in the UK the next day.
• April 5 - The Greek cruise ship M/S Sea Diamond strikes a reef off the harbor of Santorini; the ship sinks the next day.
• April 6 - Severe clashes between two rival factions erupted in Parachinar, a tribal area of Pakistan bordering the famous Tora Bora Heights.
• April 11 - Al Qaeda claims responsibility for two bomb blasts in the Algerian capital of Algiers. At least 33 people have been killed and 222 others injured.
• April 14 - Retired chess champion Garry Kasparov is detained in Moscow for participating in a banned march.

United States President George W. Bush with Virginia Tech Student Government Association President James Tyger after his speech at the school's convocation.

• April 16 - Thirty-two people are killed in the Virginia Tech massacre on the premises of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.
• April 18 - Thirty-two Chinese steel workers are burnt to death in the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation disaster.
• April 19 - US and allied air forces conduct massive exercises over South Korea with over 500 planes.^[10]
• April 23 - Bogotá, Colombia, begins its term as World Book Capital.
• April 24 - Gliese 581 c, a potentially habitable Earth-like extrasolar planet, is discovered in the constellation Libra.
• April 25 - The Burj Dubai reaches the height of the Sears Tower on its way to becoming the tallest building in the world.
• April 25 - Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), introduces articles to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.^[11]
• April 26 - Russians riot in Tallinn, Estonia, about moving the Bronze Soldier. Two nights of rioting leave one dead.

May

• May 3 - Madeleine McCann goes missing; the story receives extensive media coverage.
• May 4 - Tornado strikes Greensburg, Kansas, killing at least 12 and destroying about 90% of the town.
• May 5 - Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 crashes in Cameroon.
• May 7 - Chinese slave scandal.
• May 9 - Subtropical Storm Andrea forms off the coast of Florida, the earliest subtropical storm since Subtropical Storm Ana in 2003.
• May 15 - Coalition government of Fatah and Hamas in Palestinian National Authority appeared to break down, as massive fighting breaks out in Gaza Strip.
• May 16 - The General Assembly of the United Nations, recognizing that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding, proclaimed 2008 the International Year of Languages [1].
• May 17 - The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate re-united after eighty years of schism.
• May 20 - The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum makes the largest single charitable donation in modern history, committing €7.41 billion to an educational foundation in the Middle East.
• May 20 - Clashes in Tripoli, Lebanon, spark the 2007 Lebanon conflict.
• May 21 - The 19th century ship the Cutty Sark is badly damaged by fire in London, UK.
• May 26 - Russia is once again recognized as a full-fledged superpower by the United States.^[12]
• May 27 - Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) is taken off the air after the government of Venezuela refused to renew its license. This action results in protests. On July 16, 2007, RCTV resumed broadcasting via cable and satellite.
• May 31 - A calendar blue moon occurred in the Western Hemisphere and parts of the Eastern Hemisphere.

June

• June 1 - A 2100-year-old melon is discovered by archaeologists in western Japan.^[13]
• June 1 - U.S. warships bombard a Somali village where Islamic militants had set up a base.^[14]
• June 2 - Four people are charged with a terror plot to blow up JFK International Airport in New York.^[15]
• June 3 - The Valley of Geysers in Russia is destroyed by a mudflow.^[16]
• June 4 - Ten people, including a Californian National Guard officer and former Hmong general, are charged over plans to overthrow the Laotian Government.^[17][18]
• June 5 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft made its second fly-by of Venus en route to Mercury.
• June 5 - A mass grave in southern Ukraine, found accidentally by workers in May, is confirmed to be filled with thousands of Holocaust victims.^[19]
• June 5 - A train crash near Kerang in Victoria, Australia kills 11 people and injures 23 others.
• June 6 - Twelve people are killed by cyclone Gonu in Oman.
• June 6-June 8 - The 33rd G8 summit takes place amid strong protests in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis

• June 8 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-117.
• June 8 - Storms in the coastal city of Newcastle, New South Wales^[20] kill nine and flood the city and its surrounding areas.^[21]
• June 18 - Nine Charleston, South Carolina firefighters are killed by a roof collapse while battling a furniture store fire.
• June 22 - An F5 tornado tears through Elie, Manitoba, no injuries are reported.
• June 24 - The refurbished Millennium Dome, now called The O₂, reopens in London.
• June 24 - A wildfire destroys 254 homes in the South Lake Tahoe area.
• June 25 - Following the wettest June on record in the United Kingdom, Sheffield and South Yorkshire are affected by flooding. Much of Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham is flooded when the River Don breaches its banks.
• June 27 - The military police of the state of Rio de Janeiro invades the favela of Complexo do Alemão ending in a massacre.
• June 28 - In the aftermath of Greece's worst heatwave in a century, at least 11 people are reported dead from heatstroke, approximately 200 wildfires break out nationwide, and the country's electricity grid nearly collapses due to record breaking demand.
• June 29 - British police defuse a bomb in Haymarket, Central London.^[22]
• June 30 - A Jeep Cherokee drove into the entrance of the main terminal of Glasgow International Airport in an apparent terrorist incident, resulting in a petrol-driven fire.^[23]
• June 30 - A calendar blue moon occurs in most of the Eastern Hemisphere.
• June 30 - The Hawaii Superferry arrives in Honolulu after a 7,600 mile journey from Mobile, Alabama.

July

• July 1 - Portugal takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Germany.
• July 1 - The Concert For Diana is held at Wembley Stadium to commemorate Diana, Princess of Wales.
• July 2 - Venus and Saturn are in conjunction, separation 46 arcsecs.
• July 3 - Torrential rains cause the onset of the 2007 Sudan floods, the worst in the Sudan's history.
• July 4 - After being held captive for 114 days, BBC journalist Alan Johnston is freed by his Palestinian kidnappers.
• July 7 - Live Earth Concerts are held throughout 9 major cities around the world.
• July 8 - Boeing launches the new Boeing 787.
• July 10 - A Cessna 310R twin-engine airplane crashes into two homes in Sanford, Florida, killing three adults and two children.
• July 10 - Zheng Xiaoyu, head of State Food and Drug Administration of the People's Republic of China executed.
• July 12 - Queen Elizabeth II visits the world's largest Commonwealth war grave in Ypres, Belgium to pay respects to fallen soldiers of the Battle of Passchendaele.
• July 14 - Following a presidential decree, Russia withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
• July 15 - In Tacoma, Washington, the second span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens to traffic, making it the longest twin suspension bridge in the world.
• July 16 - Earthquake occurs in Japan, killing seven and causing a pipe at a nuclear power plant to break and release about 300 gallons of radioactive water.^{[citation needed]}
• July 16 - Britain expels four Russian diplomats in response to a refusal by the Russians to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, suspected to be behind the murder of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.^{[citation needed]}
• July 17 - TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 overruns the runway of Congonhas-São Paulo International Airport and crashes, killing all 186 and others on the ground.
• July 17 - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three other men on charges related to their alleged operation of a dogfighting ring based at one of Vick's properties in southeastern Virginia. Vick was later suspended indefinitely in August by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and is now serving his sentence of 23 months in federal prison.
• July 18 - Nelson Mandela convenes a group of world leaders to contribute their ideas to tackle some of the world's toughest problems.^{[citation needed]}
• July 19 - Ol Doinyo Lengai mountain erupts, bringing a stop to the daily week long tremors experienced in Nairobi and Northern Tanzania.
• July 19 - Russia expels four British embassy staff in a tit-for-tat response over Britain's expulsion of four of Russia's diplomats. Russia also refuses to cooperate with Britain over the war on terror.^{[citation needed]}
• July 19 - Prathiba Patil is elected as the first female President of India.
• July 21 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney serves as Acting President for two and a half hours, while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy procedure.
• July 21 - The final book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released and sells over 11 million copies in the first 24 hours, becoming the fastest selling book in history.^[24]
• July 22 - Floods cause chaos through wide areas of Britain, especially the counties of Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Oxfordshire, leaving hundreds homeless and thousands of vehicles stranded on major roads.
• July 22 - A bus carrying 50 Polish pilgrims crashes near Grenoble in France, killing 26 people and injuring 24.^{[citation needed]}
• July 27 - Two television news helicopters collide in mid-air while covering a police chase in Phoenix, Arizona, killing both pilots and two photojournalists.
• July 27 - Nikola Radosavljevic shoots dead nine people in village Jabukovac in eastern Serbia and wounds two.

August

Security camera images show the collapse in animation of the I-35W bridge, looking north.

• August 1 - The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge on I-35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapses at 6:05 pm CST during the later part of rush hour, killing 13 people.
• August 1 - Scouting celebrates its 100th birthday with worldwide celebrations.
• August 3 - Foot and mouth disease is found on a farm at Wanborough, near to Guildford, Surrey. A UK-wide ban on movement of all livestock is put in place the following day.
• August 4 - The Phoenix spacecraft launches toward the Martian north pole.
• August 6 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives in historic Palestianian town of Jericho, becoming the first Prime Minister of Israel to visit the West Bank or Gaza Strip in over seven years. Olmert met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
• August 6 - The Crandall Canyon Mine in Emery County, Utah collapses, trapping six miners.
• August 14 - Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya, northern Iraq.
• August 14 - At least 22 people are killed, and at least 39 missing, as a bridge collapses in the southeastern province of Hunan, China.^{[citation needed]}
• August 15 - An 8.0 earthquake strikes Peru, killing 512 people, injuring more than 1,500, and causing tsunami warnings in the Pacific Ocean.
• August 16 - The Crandall Canyon Mine in Emery County, Utah, collapses a second time, killing three rescue workers and injuring six more.
• August 17 Vladimir Putin issues a statement, revealing that Russia is to resume the flight exercises of its Strategic bombers in remote areas. The flights were suspended in 1991 after the Collapse of the Soviet Union.

Rapidfire – NASA image of the Greek wildfires, taken on 25 August.

• August 18 - Typhoon Sepat makes landfall in eastern Taiwan.
• August 18 - The remnants of Tropical Storm Erin re-strengthen into a tropical storm over Oklahoma, causing widespread flooding and wind damage.
• August 21 - Hurricane Dean, a powerful Category 5 storm, slams into a largely evacuated Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

• August 25 - Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis declares a national state of emergency after a series of devastating wildfires ravage western Peloponese and southern Euboea, killing 68 people.
• August 25 - Forty-four people are dead after two bombs explode in Hyderabad, India.
• August 30 - 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident in which a B-52 flew from Minot AFB, ND to Barksdale AFB, LA carrying six nuclear warheads.

September

• September 1 - Finland switches off all of its analogue terrestrial television signals as part of the digital switchover.
• September 2-September 9 - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation hosts its 19th annual city meeting in Sydney.
• September 3 - British troops withdraw from the Basra region of Iraq.
• September 4 - Northeast Nicaragua takes a direct hit from Hurricane Felix. The hurricane was a strong Category 5 storm when it reached the coast.
• September 6 - "Operation Orchard": an Israeli airstrike occurred against a suspected nuclear site in Syria
• September 6 - A bomb explodes in Batna, Algeria as a crowd gathered to see Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Nineteen people died, while 107 were wounded by the attack.
• September 8 - Over 50 people die when car bomb explodes in the Algerian port city of Dellys.
• September 11 - Russia unveils the FOAB.
• September 12 - The Sandiganbayan found former Philippines President Joseph Estrada guilty beyond reasonable doubt on the charges of plunder but acquitted on the charges of perjury.
• September 12 - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his resignation, to be effective September 19.
• September 12 - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and his entire cabinet resign.
• September 13 - The Burj Dubai became the world's tallest free standing structure after surpassing the CN Tower in Toronto.
• September 14 - The SELENE spacecraft launches. JAXA has called the mission, "the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program."
• September 14 - Viktor Zubkov is approved as the new Prime Minister of Russia after a vote in the Duma.
• September 15 - Over 3000 Taiwanese Americans and their supporters rallied in front of UN in New York City to demonstrate the dedication that UN should accept Taiwan. At the same time, over 300,000 Taiwanese people rallied in Taiwan to make the same plea.

Myanmar protests

• September 16 - One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 crashes in Phuket, Thailand, killing 89 passengers and crew.
• September 19 - Typhoon Wipha hits Fuding, China. Authorities had evacuated over two million people prior to the storm's landfall.
• September 20 - Opening of the 2007 Universal Forum of Cultures, in the city of Monterrey, Mexico.
• September 21 - The Supreme Court of Chile rules that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori must be extradited to Peru so Fujimori can face charges of corruption and human rights abuse.

• September 26 - Emperor Akihito swears in Yasuo Fukuda as the 91st Prime Minister of Japan.
• September 26 - First confirmed deaths resulting from the Myanmar military's crackdown on weeks long anti-government protests. Buddhist monks are arrested and Internet access is cut from the public.^[25]
• September 26 - In southern Vietnam the Can Tho Bridge, which is under construction, collapses, killing scores of workers.

October