July 2002
2002 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
A timeline of events in the news for July, 2002.
See also:
- A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter plane crashes into a crowd at an airshow in Lviv in Ukraine, killing at least 78 people and injuring many more.
- A series of bomb blasts have rocked the Christian districts of the city of Ambon in Indonesia in what appears to be a continuation of violence between Christian and Muslim inhabitants. Over the past 5 years more than 5000 people have been killed in this conflict.
- Nine American miners have been rescued from a mine in Pennsylvania, after frantic drilling by rescuers.
- The Homeland Security Bill passes the US House of Representatives, in a form that appears to kill Operation TIPS.
- A US proposal to delay adoption of a new United Nations anti-torture pact was defeated 15-29, after which the pact was adopted by the Economic and Social Council. The US cited concerns that, if adopted by the General Assembly, American state prisons and other facilities may become subject to inspection.
- Open source: Streaming media company RealNetworks has announced that it will support the free software Ogg Vorbis audio compression technology as part of its new open-source initiative. This will provide a mass market for the Vorbis technology, allowing it access to network effects which may make it a serious competitor to Microsoft's closed technologies.
- A few hours after the spiritual leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, offered to halt all suicide attacks in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Israeli F-16 jet dropped a bomb into a densely populated residential area of Gaza City. Fifteen people were killed, including Salah Shehade (the leader of Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din el-Qasam Brigades), and more than 100 others were wounded. Nine of the dead were children, including Mohammed al-Huwaiti (aged 4), his brother Subhi (aged 3), Ayman Mattar (aged 1) and Dunya Rami Mattar (aged 3 months). The United Nations swiftly condemned the action as a flagrant violation of international law. Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, said it was "one of our biggest successes," though the Prime Minister's office later added, "it is well known he regrets the killing of civilians."
- An earthquake (magnitude 4.7) hits parts of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
- Accounting scandals: WorldCom has filed for bankruptcy protection, in the largest corporate insolvency ever.
- Harry Potter. The director for the third Harry Potter film has been announced as Mexican-born Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron will start directing "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" next year.
- Politics of the Netherlands. A new cabinet is sworn in, with Jan Peter Balkenende replacing Wim Kok as Prime Minister. He heads a coalition of three parties: Christen Democratisch Appèl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn and Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie. One of the state secretaries of the new cabinet resigned a few hours later.
- Michel Brunet, a paleontologist at the University of Poitier, France, announced in the journal Nature that a 7 million-year-old skull found in the desert of Chad is the earliest hominid fossil ever found. But he was immediately met by a firestorm of criticism from other scientists who claim that it is merely the skull of a female gorilla.
