2007

This article is about the year 2007.

2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2007th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 7th year of the 3rd millennium, the 7th year of the 21st century, and the 8th year of the 2000s decade.

2007 was designated as

International Heliophysical Year.^[1]
International Polar Year.^[2]
European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.^[3]
Year of Rumi.^[4]
Year of the Dolphin.^[5]
Scotland's Year of Highland Culture.
Scouting Centenary, celebrating 100 years of the Scout Movement.
Leicester's year of construction

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

Events

January

January 1
- Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union. Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, joining 20 other official languages. Slovenia joins Eurozone.
- South Korea's Ban Ki-moon becomes the new United Nations Secretary-General, replacing Kofi Annan.
- A Boeing 737-4Q8, Adam Air Flight 574, disappeared from Jakarta's radar. A week later it was founded that the aircraft has crashed onto the Makassar Strait, killing all 102 people on board.
January 8 – Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia–Belarus energy dispute escalates; they are restored 3 days later.
January 9 – Apple Inc.'s CEO and founder, Steve Jobs, announces the first generation iPhone (it goes on sale in the United States on June 29).
January 12 – Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught), the brightest comet in more than 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 – 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 allegedly racially abusive towards Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
January 19 – The State of Israel releases $100 million in frozen assets to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority, in order to bolster the president's position.^[7]

February

February 2
- Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China signs a series of economic deals with Sudan.
- Martti Ahtisaari unveils a United Nations plan for the final status of Kosovo; Serbian leaders denounce the proposal.
- The IPCC publishes its fourth assessment report, having concluded that global climate change is "very likely" to have a predominantly human cause.
February 3 – In Baghdad, Iraq, the 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures 339 others.
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.^[8]
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 28 – The New Horizons space probe makes a gravitational slingshot against Jupiter, which changes its trajectory towards Pluto.

March

March 1 – The International Polar Year, a $1.73 billion research program to study both the North Pole and South Pole, is launched in Paris.
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 23 – Naval forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guard seize Royal Navy personnel in disputed Iran-Iraq waters.
March 27
- Prime Minister of Latvia Aigars Kalvītis and Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Fradkov finally sign a border treaty between Latvia and Russia.
- In Iraq, the 2007 Tal Afar bombings take place; two truck bombs target Shia areas of the town of Tal Afar, killing 152 and wounding 347 people.

April

April 3
- French high speed passenger train, the TGV, reaches a top speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), breaking the record for the world's fastest conventional train.
- Second Orange Revolution: The President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, dissolves the Ukrainian Parliament, following defections that increased the majority of his opponents.
April 4 – 2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel: The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran announces that they will release the group of imprisoned British sailors and Marines that were captured by them on March 23.
April 16 – Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho, a South Korean expatriate student, shoots and kills 32 people at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, before committing suicide, resulting in the second deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history.
April 18 – A series of attacks take place across Baghdad, Iraq, killing nearly 200 people.
April 24 – Gliese 581 c, a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet habitable for life, is discovered in the constellation Libra.
April 26-27 – Bronze Night: Ethnic Russians riot in Tallinn and other towns in Estonia, about moving the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet World War II memorial. One person is killed after two of the worst nights of rioting in Estonian history.

May

May 3 – British child Madeleine McCann disappears from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
May 4 – A deadly EF5 tornado destroys much of Greensburg, Kansas.
May 16 – The United Nations General Assembly, recognizing that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding, proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages.^[9]
May 17 – The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate re-unite after 80 years of schism.
May 20 – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai makes the largest single charitable donation in modern history, committing €7.41 billion to an educational foundation in the Middle East.

June

June 1 – A 2,100-year-old melon is discovered by archaeologists in western Japan.^[10]
June 5 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second fly-by of Venus en route to Mercury.
June 28 – 2007 European heat wave: in the aftermath of Greece's worst heat wave 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.

July

July 2 – Venus and Saturn are in conjunction, separation 46 arcsecs.
July 7
- Live Earth Concerts are held throughout 9 major cities around the world.
- The 2007 Amirli bombing kills 156 people and injures 255 in a market in the town of Amirli, Iraq
July 17 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns the runway of São Paulo–Congonhas Airport and crashes, killing all 187 and 12 others on the ground.
July 21 – The final book in J. K. Rowling's 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.^[11]
July 24 – Five Bulgarian nurses were released from Libyan prison after eight and a half years spent behind the bars in Benghazi and Tripoli.^[12] The release marked the end of the famous HIV trial in Libya, known also as "Bulgarian nurses affair".

August

The collapse of 35W Bridge in Minneapolis

August 1 – The 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses, resulting in 13 deaths.
August 4 – The Phoenix spacecraft is launched toward the Martian north pole.
August 6 – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives in the historic Palestinian town of Jericho, becoming the first Prime Minister of Israel to visit the West Bank or Gaza Strip in more than seven years. Olmert meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
August 9 – The French global bank BNP Paribas in the United Kingdom blocks withdrawals from three hedge funds heavily committed in sub-prime mortgages, signaling the 2007–2012 global financial crisis.^[13]
August 14 – Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya, northern Iraq.
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 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 dissolution of the Soviet Union.

September

September 2–9 – The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit hosts its 19th annual city meeting in Sydney.
September 6 – Operation Orchard: Israeli airplanes strike a suspected nuclear site in Syria.
September 14 – The SELENE spacecraft launches. JAXA has called the mission, "the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program."
September 16 – One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 crashes in Phuket, Thailand, killing 89 passengers and crew.
September 20 – The 2007 Universal Forum of Cultures opens in Monterrey, Mexico.
September 24
- India win the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Cup, beating Pakistan in the final.
- ABC launches a new on-air identity.

October

October 4 – Spanish authorities arrest 22 people associated with the banned Batasuna party, which campaigns for Basque independence, but also has ties to the terrorist group ETA.
October 8 – Track and field star Marion Jones surrenders the five Olympic medals she won in the 2000 Sydney Games, after admitting to doping.
October 14 – Al-habileen/lahij: Four citizens are killed on the 44th anniversary of the revolution against British colonial rule in South Yemen.
October 24 – In the space of a few hours, Comet Holmes develops a coma and flares up to half a million times its former brightness, becoming visible to the naked eye. Its coma later becomes larger in volume than the Sun, the second such comet in 2007 after Comet McNaught.
October 28 – The Vatican beatifies 498 Spanish victims of religious persecution from before and during the Spanish Civil War.^[14]
October 31 – The World Economic Forum releases The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008.

November

November 3 – President Pervez Musharraf declares a state of emergency in Pakistan.
November 5 – The Writers Guild of America goes on a strike that lasts until February 12, 2008.
November 6 – A suicide bomber kills at least 50 people in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, including 6 members of the National Assembly.
November 13 – An explosion hits the south wing of the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Quezon City, north of Manila, killing 4 people, including Basilan Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounding 6 others.
November 14
- High Speed 1 from London to the Channel Tunnel is opened to passengers.
- The 7.7 Mw Tocopilla earthquake shakes northern Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving two dead and sixty-five injured.
November 16 – Approximately 10,000 people are believed to have died after Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh.
November 18 – The Zasyadko mine disaster in eastern Ukraine claims the lives of 101 miners.
November 30 – Rambhadracharya, a Hindu religious leader, released the first Braille version of Bhagavad Gita, with the original Sanskrit text and a Hindi commentary at New Delhi.

December

December 3–14 – The United Nations Climate Change Conference is held at Nusa Dua in Bali, Indonesia.
December 7 – Uranus's orbit is positioned such that the sun shines directly above its equator (i.e. an equinox).
December 8 – The 2007 Africa–EU Summit takes place as European Union and African Union leaders gather in Lisbon, Portugal, for their first joint summit in 7 years. The British and Czech prime ministers boycott the event due to the presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
December 10 – The United Nations deadline for a negotiated settlement on the future of Kosovo passes without an international agreement.
December 16 – Ron Paul sets a record by raising over six million dollars online in just 24 hours, an event known as a moneybomb.
December 19 – Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is announced as Time magazine's 2007 Person of the Year.
December 20 – The Pablo Picasso painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, together with Candido Portinari's O Lavrador de Café, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.
December 21 – The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the Schengen border-free zone.
December 24 – The Nepalese government announces that the country's 240-year-old monarchy will be abolished in 2008 and a new republic will be declared.
December 27
- Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, and at least 20 others are killed, by a bomb blast at an election rally in Rawalpindi.
- Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.

Unknown date

Mauritania was the last country to criminalize slavery in 2007 (officially "abolished" in 1981), making the practice illegal everywhere in the world.^[15]

Births

April 10 – Princess Ariane of the Netherlands, daughter of Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima.
April 21 – Princess Isabella of Denmark, daughter of Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
April 29 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, daughter of Felipe, Prince of Asturias (now King Felipe VI) and Letizia, Princess of Asturias.
June 6 – Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, American actress
December 17 – James, Viscount Severn, grandson of Elizabeth II, son of The Earl and Countess of Wessex

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2007

January

Yvonne De Carlo

Bam Bam Bigelow

Ryszard Kapuściński

January 2 – Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
January 4 – Marais Viljoen, State President of South Africa (b. 1915)
January 5 – Momofuku Ando, Japanese inventor (b. 1910)
January 8
- Iwao Takamoto, Japanese animator (b. 1925)
- Yvonne De Carlo, American actress (b. 1922)
January 9 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French historian and anthropologist (b. 1914)
January 10 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (b. 1912)
January 11 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author and conspiracy researcher (b. 1932)
January 12 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1937)
January 13 – Michael Brecker, American jazz musician (b. 1949)
January 14 – Darlene Conley, American actress (b. 1934)
January 15
- Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Iraqi politician (b. 1951)
- Awad Hamed al-Bandar, Iraqi judge (b. 1945)
- Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (b. 1908)
January 17 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)
January 19
- Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist (b. 1954)
- Denny Doherty, Canadian musician (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1940)
- Bam Bam Bigelow, American wrestler (b. 1961)
January 21 – Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
January 22 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and founder of Emmaus (b. 1912)
January 23 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1932)
January 28 – Hsu Wei Lun, Taiwanese actress (b. 1978)
January 30 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
January 31 – Kirka Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)

February

Gian Carlo Menotti

Anna Nicole Smith

February 1 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer and librettist (b. 1911)
February 6 – Frankie Laine, American singer (b. 1913)
February 7 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
February 8 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and television personality (b. 1967)
February 9 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
February 13 – Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (b. 1974)
February 15 – Robert Adler, Austrian-born inventor (b. 1913)
February 17
- Maurice Papon, French Vichy government official (b. 1910)
- Mike Awesome, American professional wrestler (b. 1965)
February 18 – Juan "Pachín" Vicéns, Puerto Rican basketball player (b. 1933)
February 22
- Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author, painter, and art collector (b. 1918)
- Fons Rademakers, Dutch film director (b. 1920)
- Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1954)
February 24 – Bruce Bennett, American actor (b. 1906)
February 28 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (b. 1917)

March

Jean Baudrillard

Betty Hutton

March 2 – Henri Troyat, French writer (b. 1911)
March 4 – Thomas Eagleton, American politician (b. 1929)
March 6
- Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher and sociologist (b. 1929)
- Allen Coage, American professional wrestler (b. 1943)
March 8 – John Inman, English actor (b. 1935)
March 9 – Brad Delp, American singer (Boston) (b. 1951)
March 10 – Richard Jeni, American comedian (b. 1957)
March 11 – Betty Hutton, American actress (b. 1921)
March 14 – Lucie Aubrac, French World War II Resistance fighter (b. 1912)
March 18 – Bob Woolmer, English cricketer and coach (b. 1948)
March 19 – Luther Ingram, American singer (b. 1937)
March 20 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, Vice President of Iraq (b. 1938)
March 25 – Andranik Margaryan, 14th Prime Minister of Armenia (b. 1951)
March 30 – Chrisye, Indonesian pop singer and songwriter (b. 1949)

April

Kitty Carlisle Hart

Boris Yeltsin

April 1
- Driss Chraïbi, Moroccan writer (b. 1926)
- Hans Filbinger, German jurist and politician (b. 1913)
April 2 – Henry Lee Giclas, American astronomer (b. 1910)
April 4 – Bob Clark, American film director (b. 1939)
April 6 – Luigi Comencini, Italian film director (b. 1916)
April 7 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
April 11
- Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor (b. 1922)
- Ronald Speirs, United States Army officer (b. 1920)
- Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist and playwright (b. 1922)
April 17 – Kitty Carlisle Hart, American singer, actress & talk show panelist (b. 1910)
April 18 – Iccho Itoh, Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan (b. 1945)
April 20 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931)
April 23
- David Halberstam, American author and journalist (b. 1934)
- Boris Yeltsin, first President of the Russian Federation (b. 1931)
April 25 – Alan Ball, English footballer (b. 1945)
April 26 – Jack Valenti, American film executive, creator of MPAA film rating system (b. 1921)
April 27 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
April 28
- Dabbs Greer, American actor (b. 1917)
- Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (b. 1912)
April 29 – Ivica Račan, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
April 30
- Grégory Lemarchal, French singer (b. 1983)
- Tom Poston, American actor (b. 1921)
- Gordon Scott, American actor (b. 1926)

May

Wally Schirra

Yolanda King

May 2 – Juan Valdivieso, Peruvian footballer (b. 1910)
May 3 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
May 5 – Theodore Maiman, American physicist (b. 1927)
May 11 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan head of state (b. 1913)
May 12 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Afghan Taliban military leader
May 15
- Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)
- Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1955)
May 17 – Lloyd Alexander, American author (b. 1924)
May 18 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and Nobel Prize for Physics laureate (b. 1932)
May 20 – Stanley Miller, American chemist and biologist (b. 1930)
May 25 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor (b. 1931)
May 27 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer (Zard) (b. 1967)
May 28 – David Lane, American white nationalist (b. 1938)

June

Kurt Waldheim

Chris Benoit

June 2 – Huang Ju, Chinese politician (b. 1938)
June 4 – Craig L. Thomas, American politician (b. 1933)
June 8 – Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, first President of Somalia (b. 1908)
June 13 – David Hatch, BBC Radio producer and comedian (b. 1939)
June 14 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician and diplomat, former United Nations Secretary-General (b. 1918)
June 15 – Sherri Martel, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
June 17 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian designer (b. 1944)
June 18 – Vilma Espín, Cuban wife of Raúl Castro (b. 1930)
June 19
- Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1919)
- El Fary, Spanish singer (b. 1937)
June 24
- Natasja Saad, Afro Danish rapper and reggae singer (b. 1974)
- Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1967)
June 26 – Jupp Derwall, German footballer and coach (b. 1927)
June 28 – Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1919)
June 30 – Jan Herman Linge, Norwegian engineer and boat designer (b. 1922)

July

Beverly Sills

Lady Bird Johnson and Alfonso López Michelsen died July 11

Teoctist Arăpașu and Ingmar Bergman died July 30

July 2 – Beverly Sills, American soprano (b. 1929)
July 3
- Claude Pompidou, wife of President of France Georges Pompidou (b. 1912)
- Boots Randolph, American saxophone player (b. 1927)
July 5
- George Melly, English singer (b. 1926)
- Régine Crespin, French soprano (b. 1927)
July 9 – Charles Lane, American actor (b. 1905)
July 10 – Zheng Xiaoyu, Chinese bureaucrat (b. 1944)
July 11
- Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
- Alfonso López Michelsen, 32nd Colombian President (b. 1913)
July 18 – Kenji Miyamoto, Japanese politician (b. 1908)
July 22
- László Kovács, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1933)
- Ulrich Mühe, German actor (b. 1953)
- Jean Stablinski, French cyclist of Polish origin (b. 1932)
July 23 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, last King of Afghanistan (b. 1914)
July 24 – Albert Ellis, American psychologist (b. 1913)
July 30
- Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian film director (b. 1912)
- Teoctist Arăpaşu, Ex-Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch (b. 1915)
- Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film director (b. 1918)

August

Merv Griffin

Max Roach

Raymond Barre

August 1
- Ryan Cox, South African professional road racing cyclist (b. 1979)
- Veikko Karvonen, Finnish athlete (b. 1926)
August 2 – Holden Roberto, Angolan nationalist leader (b. 1923)
August 3 – John Gardner, British author (b. 1926)
August 4 – Lee Hazlewood, American country singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
August 5 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French Cardinal Archbishop of Paris (b. 1926)
August 8 – Melville Shavelson, American film director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
August 10 – Tony Wilson, English broadcaster, nightclub manager, and record label owner (b. 1950)
August 12 – Merv Griffin, American TV personality (b. 1925)
August 13
- Phil Rizzuto, American baseball player and announcer (b. 1917)
- Brian Adams, American professional wrestler (b. 1964)
August 14 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian composer (b. 1913)
August 16 – Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer (b. 1924)
August 17 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
August 21
- Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American brigadier general (b. 1918)
- Qurratulain Hyder, Indian novelist (b. 1926)
August 24 – Abdul Rahman Arif, 3rd President of Iraq (b. 1916)
August 25 – Raymond Barre, French politician and economist (b. 1924)
August 26
- Gaston Thorn, Luxembourger politician (b. 1928)
- Ramon Zamora, Filipino martial arts actor (b. 1935)
August 28
- Antonio Puerta, Spanish footballer (b. 1984)
- Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist, novelist, biographer and essayist (b. 1935)
- Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (b. 1929)
- Nikola Nobilo, New Zealand winemaker (b. 1913)
August 29
- Richard Jewell, American falsely accused of bombing the Centennial Olympic Park (b. 1962)
- Chaswe Nsofwa, Zambian footballer (b. 1978)
August 30 – Michael Jackson, English writer (b. 1942)