What happened in 2007

49 events　World 3, Japan 1, North America 10, Europe 15, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 5, Middle East 7, Latin America 3, Africa 2, Oceania 2

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Highlights of 2007

World3

  • Mar 3A total lunar eclipse occurs and is visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. It is the 52nd lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros series 123 occurring at the moon's descending node. The moon is just 3.2 days before apogee, making it fairly small.
  • Aug 4The Phoenix spacecraft is launched toward Mars to study its north pole.
  • Sep 13The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Japan1

  • Sep 14The SELENE spacecraft launches, with its objective being to study the Moon.

North America10

  • Jan 9Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco, California; starting the new era of smartphones with this invention. The phone would be released in June.
  • Jan 30Windows Vista is released to consumers by Microsoft.
  • Feb 19Microblogging social network Tumblr is launched to the public.
  • Apr 16Virginia tech massacre: 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho fatally shoots 32 people and injured 17 others, before committing suicide as police arrive on the scene.
  • May 4The 2007 Greensburg tornado moves through Kiowa County, Kansas, United States, striking the town of Greensburg and killing eleven residents. 95% of the town was destroyed, and the tornado was the first to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
  • Jun 22Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit commits a double-murder suicide on his wife and youngest son at their home in Fayetteville, Georgia, United States.
  • Jun 22The 2007 Ellie tornado becomes the only F5 tornado recorded under the use of the Fujita scale in Canada, reaching windspeeds up to 320 mph (510 km/h).
  • Jun 29The iPhone, the first modern smartphone, is released in the United States. It is later released in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and Austria, in November 2007.
  • JuniPhone releasedIn January, Jobs introduced it as an iPod, a phone and an internet device in one. With a screen you touch directly and, the next year, the App Store, it changed what a mobile phone is. It went on sale in Japan in 2008.
  • Oct 10Valve Software releases The Orange Box on Windows and Xbox 360.

Europe15

  • Jan 1Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eurozone.
  • Jan 8Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia–Belarus energy dispute escalates; they are restored three days later.
  • Feb 26The 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.
  • Apr 26"Bronze Night": Ethnic Russian riot in Tallinn and other cities in Estonia against the moving of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet World War II memorial statue. 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia begin.
  • May 3British three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, described by The Daily Telegraph as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".
  • May 62007 French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy is elected President of France in the second round.
  • May 10The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 takes place in Helsinki, Finland, and is won by Serbian entrant Marija Šerifović with the song "Molitva".
  • May 10As a result of factors including the Blair–Brown deal and falling approval ratings as a result of the Iraq War, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces his intention to resign as Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister, triggering the 2007 Labour Party leadership election, in which Chancellor Gordon Brown ran unopposed. Brown would officially replace Blair as Prime Minister on 27 June.
  • Jun 27Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair and becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after a leadership election.
  • Jun 282007 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.
  • Jul 7Live Earth Concerts are held in nine major cities around the world to raise environmental awareness.
  • Aug 9Subprime mortgage crisis: The French global bank BNP Paribas in the United Kingdom blocks withdrawals from three hedge funds heavily committed in subprime lendings, signaling the 2008 financial crisis.
  • Oct 22Montenegro adopts a new constitution, which among other things changes the country's official name from "Republic of Montenegro" to "Montenegro".
  • Nov 7The Jokela school shooting happened in Finland.
  • Dec 13The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by members states of European Union.

USSR / Russia1

  • Mar 19The first solar eclipse of the year 2007 is a partial solar eclipse occurring just 0.7 days before perigee, making it very large. The Moon covers 87.558% of the Sun. In this partial solar eclipse, the best visibility occurs at 61º02'55" N, 55º28'04" E. It is the 20th solar eclipse of Solar Saros series 149, at ascending node. The Sun is its zenith just 83 km south of the Equator, so the Northern Hemisphere was in winter and the Southern Hemisphere was in summer on March 19, 2007.

Asia5

  • Jan 1Adam Air Flight 574, en route to Manado, Indonesia, from Surabaya, Indonesia, crashes into the Makassar Strait; killing all 102 on board.
  • Aug 15Anti-government protests in Myanmar suppressed by ruling junta.
  • OctOctober 15 – October 21 – The 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, China.
  • Nov 16Up to 15,000 people are believed to have been killed after Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh.
  • Dec 27Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, along with 20 other people, at an election rally in Rawalpindi.

Middle East7

  • Jan 10Iraq War: The surge of US troops in Iraq is announced.
  • Feb 3A truck bomb explodes in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 135 people and injures 339 others.
  • Mar 23Naval forces of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrest Royal Navy personnel in disputed Iran-Iraq waters; they were released on April 4.
  • Apr 1818 April 2007 Baghdad bombings: A series of attacks take place across Baghdad, Iraq, killing nearly 200 people.
  • Jun 10Fatah-Hamas conflict: The Battle of Gaza is fought between Fatah and Hamas, and ends with Hamas gaining control of the Gaza Strip.
  • Aug 14Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya, northern Iraq.
  • Sep 6Israeli Air Force airplanes attack a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in an airstrike.

Latin America3

  • Jul 17TAM Airlines Flight 3054 an Airbus A320-233 overruns the runway of São Paulo–Congonhas Airport runway 35L, flies over Avenida Washington Luís and crashes into TAM Express building and a Shell filling station adjacent to the TAM Express building. All 187 passengers and crew are killed instantly. 12 people inside the TAM Express and the Shell filling station are also killed.
  • Aug 15An 8.0 earthquake strikes Peru, killing at least 519 people, injuring more than 1,300, and causing tsunami warnings in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Oct 282007 Argentine general election: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.

Africa2

  • May 5Kenya Airways Flight 507, on a scheduled passenger flight from Doula, Cameroon, to Nairobi, Kenya, crashes after takeoff, killing all 114 crew and passengers on board.
  • Dec 27Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the general election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that killed over 1,000 people.

Oceania2

  • May 11Malietoa Tanumafili II, the head of state of Samoa since its independence, dies in office at the age of 94. His death triggers the first election for the office of Samoan head of state.
  • Nov 7Whistleblower website WikiLeaks leaks the standard US army protocol at Guantanamo Bay.