01|In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist leader, the Rt. Hon David Trimble, shakes hands with Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) deputy leader, Seamus Mallon, in an historic showing of unity. Trimble and Mallon are elected First Minister [Designate] and Deputy First Minister [Designate] of the new Belfast assembly, which is set up on the terms laid out in the Good Friday agreement. (See also April 10.)|
01|In Hong Kong, the first anniversary of the former British colony's return to China is celebrated. More than 200 people are honoured by the country's new Order of the Bauhinia Star.|
01|It is announced by the Environmental Investigation Agency that the orang-utan will become extinct in the wild within 20 years unless strong action is taken immediately. The destruction of the orang-utan's habitat through forest fires in Indonesia has halved the animal's population over the last decade.|
02|In Florida, U.S.A., more than 35,000 people are evacuated from their homes as forest fires spread throughout the state. The fires, caused by lightning and temperatures of more than 38 degrees Celsius, have devastated more than 250,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes. They have been predicted to worsen with the weather forecast promising only a continuation in the hot temperatures that have helped fuel the fires.|
02|In Hong Kong, the country's new international airport is officially opened by China's President Jiang Zemin, who then becomes the first head of state to fly from it. The new Chek Lap Kok airport, which cost 21 billion U.S. dollars to construct, replaces the old Kai Tak airport. It is situated on an island and is linked to the mainland by the longest rail and road suspension bridge in the world. The main span of the bridge measures 1,377 metres.|
02|In Budapest, Hungary, a car bomb explodes on a main street of the capital, killing four people and wounding 25 others. The bombing is the latest incidence of the increasing violence in Budapest, which is blamed on gangland warfare.|
03|In New York, the world's tallest man dies in hospital at the age of 42. Alam Channa, from the Sindh province in Pakistan was 2.3 metres tall. He was in the U.S.A. for vital medical treatment, but lapsed into a coma before he could be operated on.|
03|In Gibraltar, the crew of the Cable and Wireless Adventurer boat complete a record-breaking circumnavigation of the globe by a powered vessel. After 74 days 20 hours 58 minutes, the boat comes to the end of its 42,000-kilometres journey, begun on April 19. The British crew beat the previous record, set by American submarine "Triton" in 1960, by more than 8 days.|
03|In countries across the eastern Mediterranean, temperatures rise as high as 48 degrees Celsius, causing 11 deaths and many more casualties. The heatwave affects Albania, Crete, Greece, Italy, Sicily, and Turkey, and hundreds of people are admitted to hospital with heart and respiratory problems.|
04|In Turkey, two earthquakes measuring 5.1 and 4.4 on the Richter scale strike southern Turkey, injuring at least 700 people. The quakes are centred on Ceyhan district, which was struck by a stronger quake last month. (See also June 27.)|
04| In London, Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia beats Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 7-6, to win the women's singles title in the All-England (Wimbledon) tennis championships.|
05|In London, Pete Sampras of the United States beats Croatian Goran Ivanisevic by three sets to two to win the men's singles title in the All-England (Wimbledon) tennis championships. The victory gives Sampras 11 Grand slam singles titles, just one short of Roy Emerson's record.|
05|In Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Sardinia, thousands of acres of forest are destroyed as fires sweep across the Mediterranean. Most of the fires have been caused by the heatwave that is currently affecting the area, although some have been started deliberately. Strong winds are fanning the blazes, causing them to spread rapidly and making it very difficult to bring them under control.|
06|American actor Roy Rogers, famous as the "King of the Cowboys", dies at his home in California at the age of 86. Rogers, born Leonard Slye, made more than 85 films and is remembered for his portrayal of an honest, singing, cowboy hero.|
06|In Australia, Aborigine groups hold a "national day of shame" in anticipation of the passing of a bill that will limit their rights to reclaim land originally belonging to them. Protesters plant a "sea of hands", a collection of cardboard shapes, outside Parliament House in Canberra.|
06|In the Indonesian archipelago of Irian Jaya, seven people are killed and more than 100 injured as a pro-independence protest is broken up by troops. Unrest breaks out on the island of Biak, prompting fears that the territory will break up.|
07|In Nigeria, Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the country's annulled 1993 elections and most prominent political prisoner, dies of a heart attack a day before he is due to be released from 4-years imprisonment. Abiola's death at the age of 60 prompts rioting in Lagos, as his supporters suspect his death may have been caused by the military government.|
07|In Milan, Italy, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment for complicity in bribing tax officials. He is already appealing against another corruption conviction and is facing trial on four further charges. He freed pending appeal against his latest sentence, which could take years to be heard. Under Italian law, Berlusconi is unlikely to spend any time in prison since his sentence is under three-and a-half years.|
08|In New Zealand, the government is ordered to return more than 6.1 million N.Z. dollars worth of land to the Maori people, following the intervention of the Waitangi Tribunal after government-Maori negotiations broke down. The land was confiscated from Maori ownership more than 30 years ago. This is the first time the tribunal has imposed compulsory recommendations.|
08|In London, a first edition copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is sold at auction for 7.54 million U.S. dollars. The book was printed in England in about 1476 by William Caxton.|
09|In Lagos, Nigeria, it is announced that 45 people have died in rioting since the death of Moshood Abiola was announced. Gangs from southern Nigeria, from where Abiola came, clash with northern Hausa people. The government, which is mostly comprised of Hausa nationals, imposes a curfew on Abeokuta, Abiola's home town, after four people are killed. (See also July 7.)|
09|In Istanbul, an explosion in the Egyptian Bazaar, also known as the Spice Market, kills seven people and injures nearly 100 others. The cause of the blast is not known, but it is thought most likely to be a gas leak.|
10|In London, six people are arrested in four different locations on suspicion of terrorism charges as explosive devices are discovered just minutes before they are due to be detonated. Simultaneous arrests are made in Ireland, and police suspect the attempted bombing to be the work of the Real IRA, an Irish republican group opposed to the peace treaty.|
10|In Poland, the government declares a flood alert in the provinces of Krosno, Rzeszow, and Przemysl in the southeast of the country. Heavy rains are threatening to wreak havoc in the area, and several people are evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure.|
11|In Nigeria, the results of the post-mortem examination of Moshood Abiola are announced, with the team of international pathologists concluding that his death was due to natural causes. Abiola's remains are buried below a coconut tree at his home in the Ikeja district of Lagos, as more than 20,000 people crowd the streets around his house to mourn his death.|
11|Police in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, announce that a total of 18 people have been killed within a week in a series of politically motivated killings. In the latest attack, five people are shot dead in Magoda township, near Richmond, as they sit around a cooking fire. A three-year-old child is among the dead. Police blame the violence on increasing conflict between the ANC and the newly formed United Democratic Movement.|
11|In Sarajevo and Tuzla, Bosnia, the families of more than 8,000 Muslim men still missing, presumed dead, after the massacre in Srebrenica three years ago, march in protest. The women demonstrators demand to know the true fate of the men who went missing on July 11, 1995, in what is believed to be Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.|
12|In Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, three boys aged eight, nine, and ten are killed when a petrol bomb is thrown into their home. The Quinn brothers, Jason, Mark, and Richard, are the victims of sectarian hatred. They lived on a Protestant estate but had a Catholic mother. In the aftermath of the deaths, appeals from both Catholics and Protestants are made to Protestant Orangemen, protesting in Drumcree against a re-routing of their annual march, to call off their week-long action which had prompted widespread violence culminating in the Ballymoney tragedy.|
12|In Paris, the final of the World Cup sees France beat the holders Brazil in a surprise 3-0 victory. More than 2 billion people watch the football game on televisions around the world, as France claim their first World Cup trophy. Zinedine Zidane scores twice for France in the first half of the game, and Emmanuel Petit scores the third goal just before the final whistle.|
13|In Japan, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns after his party loses support in upper house elections. Hashimoto's decision to resign after two-and-a-half years in power augurs badly for Japan, as experts predict that political instability can only worsen the country's economic problems.|
13|In Paris, more than a million fans of the national football team line the streets as the French team bear the World Cup trophy though the city centre. The celebrations are thought to be the biggest street gathering in the country since it regained its freedom from German occupation at the end of World War II.|
13|In Italy, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi receives his second prison sentence within a week for passing a bribe to the country's Socialist party. He is sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment. (See also July 7.)|
14|Richard McDonald, cofounder of the McDonalds fast-food restaurant, now the world's largest restaurant chain, dies at the age of 89.|
14|In Rome, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco sets a new world record for running 1,500 metres, completing the distance in 3 minutes 26 seconds at the IAAF Golden Gala athletics meeting.|
14|In New Delhi, India, women gather outside parliament to protest against the deferment of a bill that would have ensured a third of parliamentary and state assembly seats would be reserved for female politicians. The speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, postponed the introduction of such legislation after it prompted outrage.|
15|In Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) announce a three-month ceasefire in hostilities with the government in order to allow aid deliveries of food to hundreds of thousands of people currently facing famine in southwest Bahr al-Ghazal province. The government reciprocates the gesture by agreeing to a month's ceasefire.|
15|In Nigeria, the government orders the immediate release of hundreds of political prisoners, jailed during the military rule of Sani Abacha. The Lagos Press also reports that the government is planning to annul legislative elections held by Abacha, and is preparing for new, fair elections. (See also July 9, 7.)|
16|In China, rescue attempts are continuing in the province of Sichuan following a bus crash two days earlier. The bus was swept into the flood-swollen Ouxi River. One body has been found and 20 other passengers are missing, feared dead. Floods caused by heavy rains have already killed 760 people in southern China this summer.|
16|In the Dhakar district of Nayabazar, Bangladesh, fifty people are injured in clashes with the police as a half-day strike turns violent. The strike, led by Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is broken up when anti government protesters attack police with stones and homemade bombs. Police use tear gas and batons to disperse the protest.|
17|In the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the remains of some of the Romanov family, murdered in 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries, are buried in a historic ceremony attended by President Boris Yeltsin. The interment of Czar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and three of their four daughters is seen as a symbol of Russia's attempts to unify its people.|
17|In South Africa, the government announces the release of more than 9,000 prisoners as a gesture to mark the 80th birthday of Nelson Mandela. Sipho Mzimela, the country's Correctional Services minister, said the release of prisoners will begin on July 20th.|
17|More than 3,000 people are feared dead as 10-metre-high waves devastate the remote northern coast of Papua New Guinea, destroying seven villages and damaging many more. The waves, or tsunami, are caused by two submarine earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. Thousands of people are injured, and many more left homeless.|
18|In Johannesburg, South Africa, President Nelson Mandela celebrates his eightieth birthday by marrying Graca Machel, widow of the former president of Mozambique, Samora Machel. The couple are married in civil and religious ceremonies.|
18|In Lassing, Austria, 11 men are feared dead as the mine in which they are working collapses. Ten of the men were in the pit to try to rescue a miner who had become trapped by an earlier, minor mudslide. The mudslides leave a crater more than 45 metres deep and 135 metres in diameter, and more than 200 people are evacuated from the area as houses begin to collapse.|
19|In Lassing, Austria, more than 300 people attend a memorial service for 11 men killed in the country' worst mining disaster since World War II. Officials believe the mine will now be closed permanently. (See also July 26, 18.)|
20|In the Caribbean state of St Kitts and Nevis, the state's first hanging in 17 years is carried out, in spite of international protests. David Wilson, convicted in 1996 for the murder of Kenneth Herbert, is hanged at dawn.|
20|In the U.S.A., a nation-wide heatwave continues unabated, having already claimed 113 lives. Temperatures in Dallas, Texas, have reached more than 38 degrees Celsius, the hottest for almost two decades. The weather is forecast to continue for at least another week, spreading further east across the country.|
20|In eastern Slovakia, heavy rain causes several small rivers to overflow, flooding at least 20 villages, and killing more than 19 people. Many more are missing and 16 of the dead are believed to be from the Romanov (Gypsy) village of Jarovnice. Most of the dead are children.|
21|In Macedonia, police announce that three bomb devices have exploded overnight, a day prior to the visit of NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana. Two of the devices explode on railway lines near the Yugoslav border, with the third bomb going off in the capital, Skopje. No injuries are reported.|
21|In Surrey, in the United Kingdom, Brian Milton claims the record of being the first person to circumnavigate the earth in a microlight craft. Milton's journey took 121 days to complete, and overflew 25 countries. His craft also became the first microlight to fly through Japan and China.|
22|Alan Shepard, the first U.S. astronaut in space, dies in hospital in California at the age of 74. He was suffering from leukaemia. Shepard manned his first spaceship in 1961. Ten years later, as commander of Apollo14, he became the fifth person to walk on the moon, and the only one to play golf in space.|
22|In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bernard Mizele, a self-styled "Congo King", is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and nine of his followers are sentenced to death for plotting to overthrow President Laurent Kabila. Mizele's "Congo Kingdom" is also outlawed by the military tribunal which tries him.|
23|In Chechnya, President Aslan Maskhadov survives an assassination attempt that kills one of his bodyguards and injures six others. Maskhadov blames Russia for organizing the attempt on his life, but it is believed the attack was organized by government opponents with Islamic links.|
23|In Tehran, Iran, the city's former mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi is sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement. He is also banned from politics for 20 years. His harsh sentence is viewed as an attempt by conservative opponents of President Mohamed Khatami to discredit the government. Karbaschi is a close friend and ally of the president.|
24|In Japan, Keizo Obuchi is elected as prime minister by his colleagues in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He wins by a majority of 123 votes over his nearest rival, Seiroku Kajiyama, and pledges to reconstruct the country's troubled economy.|
24|In the Capitol building in Washington, U.S.A., a gunman known to the authorities as a threat to the president opens fire indiscriminately, killing two police officers and injuring two other people. Russell Weston's gun triggers an alarm as he enters the building, which is full of tourists and members of the U.S. senate. Police chase him but are unable to prevent him opening fire.|
24|In Jamaica, a 13-year-old boy is made a youth technology consultant to the commerce and technology ministry, becoming the country's youngest ever government adviser. Makonnen David Blake Hannah, a computer whizz-kid, is responsible for informing the ministry of changing trends in computer technology, and representing the younger generation.|
25|In Bangladesh, the country's worst floods in more than a decade prompt a nation-wide relief and rescue operation. The floods, caused by heavy monsoon rains, have caused more than 100 deaths, and have affected more than 10 million people.|
25|In Turkey, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz announces his intention to seek parliamentary approval for an early general election. Yilmaz agreed with his opposition that the current coalition government should be dissolved to make way for an early election, to be held on April 25, 1999, a year earlier than expected.|
26|In Calais, France, Louis Bleriot attempts to recreate the historic flight over the English Channel first completed by his grandfather on July 25, 1909. Bleriot's wood-framed plane, a reproduction of the one used 89 years ago, crashes only minutes after takeoff and he has to be rescued from the lake in which he lands.|
26|In Lassing, Austria, a miner who was thought to be dead is rescued from the collapsed mine in which he has been trapped for 10 days. Georg Hainzl is lifted 60 metres to the surface of the talc mine and placed immediately in a decompression chamber. He is expected to make a full recovery. (See also July 19, 18.)|
27|In Agrigento, Sicily, a riot breaks out at a detention camp holding illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia. Violence erupts as the refugees attempt to escape the camp and are blocked by police. Ten police officers are injured before they fire warning shots toward the rioters, injuring two.|
27|In Yemen, three Catholic nuns are shot dead by Abdullah al-Nasheri, a suspected Islamic extremist. Residents of Hodeida, where the attack takes place, manage to capture the gunman. The nuns worked as nurses for a charity in Yemen.|
27|Two people are killed and 16 others are rescued when a 1940's flying-boat crashes off the coast of Southampton, United Kingdom. Hundreds of onlookers witness the crash, whose cause has yet to be explained.|
28|In Montelimar, France, seven people are killed and 38 more injured as two coaches and a bus collide on a motorway. Most of those killed were Dutch or German tourists, travelling south toward Spain. More than 150 fire officers take over two hours to cut survivors free from the wreckage.|
28|The "China Daily" newspaper reports that the death toll in the Yangtze River summer floods could rise to more than 2,500. Across the region, thousands of army personnel and civilians are desperately building barracades against the worst flooding in the region for 45 years.|
28|In Hammond, U.S.A., an explosion injures 17 people as it rips through a power plant and sets fire to a large area of the plant. Four of those injured suffer serious burns and it takes fire crews several hours to bring the blaze under control. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.|
29|In Madrid, Spain, the Spanish Supreme Court sentences former interior minister Jose Barrionuevo and his deputy to 10 years in prison for their role in the so-called "dirty war" against the Basque separatist group, ETA. They are found guilty of kidnapping and misappropriating public funds, after a trial that has attracted wide publicity. It is the first time in Spanish history that a minister or former minister has been sent to prison.|
29|In France, cyclists taking part in the Tour de France ride the 17th stage of the race from Albertville to Aix-les-Bains deliberately slowly to protest against allegations of drug-taking made against them by police and media. Since this year's race began, the Swiss Festina team have been expelled for drug use, and many more teams have been questioned. A number of teams, including that of the world champion Laurent Jalabert, have withdrawn from the race in protest. |
30|In Brittany, France, fifteen people are killed as two small planes collide in mid-air near the bay of Quiberon. All on board are killed. It is thought that only one passenger was aboard the smaller a Cessna plane, whilst the other twin-engined craft was carrying 12 passengers from Lyons to Lorient. An investigation into the cause of the crash begins.|
30|In London, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, quashes the conviction of Derek Bentley, whose controversial execution for the murder of a police officer in 1953 has sparked widespread protest until the present day. Bentley was sentenced to death for allegedly encouraging his friend, Chris Craig, to fire the fatal bullet at P.C. Sidney Miles.|
30|In Ohio, U.S.A., thirteen machine-shop workers celebrate winning more than 161 million U.S. dollars, after tax, for selecting the winning numbers for the world's biggest ever lottery prize. They win the Powerball rollover jackpot against odds of 80 million to one.|
31|In Beijing, the Municipal Higher People's Court sentences Chen Xitong, former mayor of Beijing, to 16 years in prison for corruption. He becomes the most senior government official to be convicted in China since the Communist Party's rise to power in 1949.|
31|In the state of Kashmir, fighting between Pakistani and Indian troops continues. Bombing by Pakistan forces kills 21 people and damages a military hospital. Indian troops respond with heavy firing on Pakistan bunkers. So far, the conflict has caused more than 20,000 people to flee the area.|
