July 2005

World

• Diplomats Kidnapped in Iraq (July 3): Ihab al-Sharif, who was to become Egypt's ambassador to Iraq, is seized by gunmen in Baghdad. (July 7): Militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq says it has killed Sharif. (July 21): Algeria's top diplomat, Ali Billaroussi, and envoy Azzedine Belakdi are kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad.
• Bombs Explode in London (July 7): Four coordinated terrorist attacks on the city's subway and bus systems during rush hour kill 52 people, including the attackers, and wound more than 700. Violence coincides with Group of Eight summit meeting of world's wealthiest nations. (July 13): British Home Secretary Charles Clarke says the bombings were carried out by British Muslims. (July 18): Pakistani officials say that three of the four bombers visited Pakistan in 2004. (July 21): Terrorists attempt another attack on London's transit system. Bombs on three subway trains and a bus fail to explode. Explosives discovered when detonators go off, causing loud cracking sounds. (July 22): London police shoot and kill a suspect on a subway train. (July 23): Officials say the victim, Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, was not involved in the failed bombings. (July 27): Police arrest Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali man, who they think was involved in the July 21st attempted bombings. (July 29): London police arrest four other suspects in the July 21 bombing attempt. A fifth suspect is arrested in Rome, Italy.
• World's Wealthy Nations Agree to Aid Africa (July 8): Group of Eight industrial nations ends summit meeting with pledge to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010, cancel the debt of many poor countries, and open trade. Joint statement fails to set goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
• North Korea Commits to Talks (July 9): Agrees to resume disarmament talks with the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia in late July.
• Opposition Leader Takes Election in Kyrgyzstan (July 10): Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who served as interim president and prime minister since President Askar Akayev resigned in April, wins 88.7% of the vote.
• Ceremony Marks Massacre of Muslims (July 11): Leaders gather at Srebrenica to remember and honor the 7,000 males slain by Bosnian Serbs in 1995.
• Violence Escalates Between Israelis and Palestinians (July 12): Suicide bomber kills two women at a shopping mall in Netanya. (July 15): Palestinians attack Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. Israeli troops respond with a strike at Hamas militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, killing seven of them.
• Suicide Bomber Kills Group of Children (July 13): About 27 people, mostly children who were gathered around a U.S. military jeep, die in attack in Baghdad.
• Three Trains Crash in Pakistan (July 13): At least 130 people killed when three commuter trains crash in southern Pakistan. Driver error is suspected.
• Court Rules That War Crimes Trials May Resume (July 15): Federal appeals court, reversing lower court decision, says that military can continue trials of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay prison.
• Dozens Die in Suicide Attack in Iraq (July 17): Suicide bomber detonates bomb under a fuel tanker in Musayyib, killing at least 70 people and wounding more than 150. Four other suicide bombers hit Baghdad on the same day.
• India and the U.S. in Accord on Nuclear Power (July 18): President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reach an agreement that would allow India to seek outside help in developing its civilian nuclear energy program while maintaining its nuclear weapons. In addition, India would submit the civilian program, but not its weapon program, to inspections.
• Sunnis Involved in Drafting Constitution Killed (July 19): Mejbil al-Sheik Isa and Damin al-Obeidi are shot in central Baghdad. (July 20): Sunnis say they will boycott drafting process until the government increases security for panel members. (July 25): Sunnis say their demand for better security has been met, and they will return to drafting process.
• Report Concludes Iraqi Forces Are Weak (July 20): Pentagon assessment finds Iraq's police force is, at best, “partially capable” of fighting the country's insurgency.
• German President Calls for Early Elections (July 21): Horst Köhler agrees to plan suggested by beleaguered chancellor Gerhard Schröder to dissolve Parliament and hold elections in Sept. 2005, a year early.
• UN Condemns Zimbabwe (July 22): Report calls President Mugabe's program of destroying slums a “disastrous venture.” The plan, called “Operation Restore Order,” has left about 700,000 people homeless.
• Explosions Kill Dozens in Egypt (July 23): At least 90 people die in a series of car bomb explosions at popular Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheik. Two militant groups claim responsibility.
• Assessment Calls Palestinian Forces Weak (July 25): Report says Palestinian Authority troops are unorganized, unmotivated, and inadequately armed. Problems could affect Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
• Talks with North Korea Begin (July 25): U.S. and North Korean officials meet to discuss the eventual dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for energy and financial assistance. Bilateral talks are a departure from Bush administration policy. Talks precede six-nation negotiations.
• IRA Renounces Violence (July 27): Irish Republican Army announces it is ending its armed campaign for a united Ireland and will instead pursue its goals politically.

Nation

• Supreme Court Justice Retires (July 1): Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, announces her retirement. She served on the Court for 24 years.
• Reporter Jailed for Refusing to Testify (July 6): Judith Miller of the New York Times is sent to a Washington, DC, prison when she fails to comply with a court order to answer questions before a grand jury about confidential sources she interviewed while researching the disclosure of a CIA operative's identity.
• Bush Adviser Named as Secret Source (July 10): Newsweek magazine's website reports that in a 2003 background interview, Karl Rove strongly implied to TIME magazine reporter Matthew Cooper that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative. (July 17): Cooper writes in TIME magazine that Karl Rove told him that Plame Wilson worked at the “agency” on “wmd,” meaning weapons of mass destruction. (July 18): In his first statement on the issue, Bush says, “If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.”
• Head of Homeland Security Announces Reorganization (July 13): Michael Chertoff says sweeping changes will help to prevent terrorist attacks and better respond to those that occur. He is criticized for saying the priority should be on aviation rather than mass transit.
• Senate Approves Spending Plan for Homeland Security (July 14): Senate approves, 96–1, $31.9 billion for the agency. Plan reduces funding for transit security to $50 million from $100 million.
• Senate Confirms FDA Chief (July 18): Votes, 78–16, to confirm Dr. Lester Crawford as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
• President Nominates Supreme Court Justice (July 19): Bush selects John G. Roberts, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2003, to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice.
• Labor Unions in Disarray (July 24): Leaders of the service employees union, the food and commercial workers union, the Teamsters, and Unite Here say they will not participate in the AFL-CIO convention because its leader, John Sweeney, has failed to reverse the decrease in union membership. (July 25): The Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announce they are severing ties to the AFL-CIO. The unions have memberships of 1.8 million and 1.4 million, respectively.
• House Approves Trade Bill (July 28): Votes, 217–215, in favor of Central American Free Trade Agreement, also called Cafta, which will remove trade barriers between the U.S. and Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
• Congress Passes Several Measures (July 29): In a flurry of activity before it adjourns for August recess, Senate passes, 65–31, bill that protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits. Also votes unanimously to make permanent most provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and approves, 74–26, energy measure that President Bush has been pursuing for five years. House passed similar energy legislation a day earlier. Both House and Senate vote, 412–8 and 91–4, respectively, in favor of a $286.4 billion highway bill.

Business/Science/Society

• Musicians Urge World to Unite to End Poverty in Africa (July 2): Millions of people attend Live 8, free concerts in nine countries—South Africa and each of the Group of Eight nations—to promote increased aid to Africa.
• Spacecraft Crashes into Comet (July 4): After a 6-month 83-million-mile journey, NASA's Deep Impact hits comet named Tempel 1. Scientists will examine pieces of the comet and photos of the collision.
• London to Host 2012 Olympics (July 6): City chosen over Paris as the site of the summer games. It will be the third time London has hosted the Olympics.
• China Revalues Currency (July 21): After months of pressure from the Bush administration, China announces it will no longer peg the yuan to the dollar.
• Shuttle Problems Continue (July 26): Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a 12¹/2-day mission to the International Space Station. A piece of foam insulation breaks off from the shuttle's external fuel tank. (July 27): NASA announces it will ground the shuttle fleet.
• Scientists Discover Potential Tenth Planet (July 29): Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology find rocky, icy planet that's larger than Pluto and about nine billion miles away from the Sun.