- Jul 1 America confirms more than 50,000 new COVID-19 cases in one day for the 1st time
- Jul 1 Australian state of Melbourne re-imposes a COVID-19 lockdown on 36 Melbourne suburbs affecting 300,000 people
- Jul 1 Europe opens its borders to 15 safe countries after months of lockdown, excluding the US, Brazil and Russia
Important Vote
Jul 1 Russian President Vladimir Putin wins national referendum allowing longer presidential terms of office
- Jul 1 WHO says Middle East at "critical threshold" with COVID-19 cases over 1 million, 80% of deaths in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
- Jul 1 Word record drug haul of 14 tonnes of amphetamines seized by Italian police in Salerno worth $1.1 billion. Thought made in Syria by Islamic State.
- Jul 2 British Darts Organisation’s commercial arm – BDO Enterprises Ltd, goes into liquidation due to lack of sponsorship; oversaw original professional, semi-pro and amateur competitions in Britain
- Jul 2 Funeral for slain Ethiopian singer Hachalu Hundessa in Ambo amid nationwide unrest at his death that has killed over 80 people
- Jul 2 More than 160 people die after a landslide at a jade mine in northern Hpakant area of Myanmar
- Jul 2 Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes wearing face masks mandatory as cases of coronavirus soar in the state
- Jul 3 Major League Baseball All-Star Game planned to be hosted on July 14 by the LA Dodgers is cancelled due to government restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Jul 3 MLB Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan announces he would review changing the organization's name
- Jul 4 Record rain in over island of Kyushu in Japan causes flooding killing a least 37 people with evacuation of more than 200,00
- Jul 5 Florida reports a record 11,458 daily COVID-19 cases
- Jul 5 Mexico's COVID-19 death toll passes 30,000 as it becomes the world's 5th worst-affected country
- Jul 6 America officially begins withdrawing from the World Health Organization
Contract of Interest
Jul 6 Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes agrees to the largest contract for an athlete in sports history, inking a 12-year deal that could end up being worth US$503 million
- Jul 6 Zoonotic diseases, which jump from animals to humans, are increasing due to unsustainable farming and climate change according to new report by the UN
Bolsonaro Tests Positive
Jul 7 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announces he has tested positive for COVID-19
- Jul 7 India surpasses Russia to become the world's third-worst affected country, daily COVID-19 cases exceeding 20,000 and total cases over 700,000
- Jul 7 Texas records more than 10,000 daily cases of COVID-19 for the 1st time
- Jul 7 Violent protests in Belgrade, Serbia, at government announcement of weekend lockdown due to COVID-19 surge
- Jul 8 Americans and Polynesians made contact around 1200 A.D. according to new genomic study in "Nature", people from eastern Polynesia had DNA from indigenous Colombia
- Jul 8 Australian city of Melbourne goes back into lockdown for six weeks after second outbreak of 700 active cases
- Jul 8 US government issues directive that more than 1 million international students will be stripped of their visas if their courses entirely online
- Jul 9 McGirt v. Oklahoma, in landmark case US Supreme Court rules Congress had not disestablished Oklahoma Indian reserves
Hagia Sophia
Jul 10 Sixth century cathedral Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque by decree issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (converted to a mosque 1453-1934)
- Jul 14 New study shows Andean condor, world's heaviest bird, can fly for 5 hours without flapping its wings (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
- Jul 15 Heavy monsoon flooding in Indian north-eastern state of Assam affects more than 2 million people, kills more than 50
- Jul 17 India becomes the third country to record 1 million cases of COVID-19, 56% concentrated in Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu
COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 18 Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Mumbai
- Jul 19 First Arab interplanetary mission, the Mars "Hope" orbiter launches on board Japanese H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center
COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 19 Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says 25 million Iranians already infected with COVID-19, 35 million at risk (official figure just 269,440)
- Jul 19 Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler criticizes federal policing of protesters in his city, calling it unconstitutional
Sports History
Jul 19 World Formula 1 drivers champion Lewis Hamilton wins a record 8th Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest to equal Michael Schumacher's record of wins at a single circuit (French GP)
- Jul 20 Announcement that a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) is able to trigger immune response and antibodies
Sports History
Jul 20 Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first man to score 50 goals in Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League with a double in Juventus' 2-1 win over Lazio
- Jul 20 Scientists find evidence of volcanoes on Venus, showing the planet is not as dormant as previously thought (Nature Geoscience)
- Jul 20 United Kingdom suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong in wake of new Chinese security laws for the territory
- Jul 21 European Union agrees huge €750 billion ($859 billion) post-COVID-19 stimulus bill
Trial of Interest
Jul 21 Former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir goes on trial in Khartoum for the 1989 coup that toppled the government
- Jul 21 Russian interference in British politics is 'the new normal' according to report by British Intelligence and Security Committee
Event of Interest
Jul 21 Stage 1 of the controversial filling of Blue Nile River dam announced completed by Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed
- Jul 22 California passes New York total for COVID-19 cases (415,763 vs 415,094), though NY death toll much higher
Music History
Jul 22 Kim Kardashian asks for understanding of her husband Kanye West's struggles with his bipolar disorder on Instagram
- Jul 23 China launches its first mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, a combined orbiter, lander and rover, from Wenchang Launch Site, Hainan Island
- Jul 23 South Africa records more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases amid surging infections and decides to shut schools for a month
- Jul 23 US confirmed cases of COVID-19 pass 4 million with death toll over 143,000. Real number of cases likely up to 13x higher according to CDC.
Event of Interest
Jul 23 US President Trump says he could send 75,000 federal agents to deal with violence in American cities like Portland, drawing backlash
- Jul 25 Cargo ship MV Wakashio runs aground off the coast of Mauritius and begins leaking oil
- Jul 25 Hurricane Hanna, 1st of the 2020 season, makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast as a category 1 storm
- Jul 25 North Korea reports first 'suspected' case of COVID-19 in city of Kaesong
Event of Interest
Jul 26 Body of civil rights activist John Lewis crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for the last time (beaten there 55 years ago) with a military honor guard as part of a remembrance ceremony
- Jul 26 Italian football giants Juventus wins its 9th straight Serie A title with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschiin in a 2-0 win over Sampdoria
- Jul 27 Google decides its employees can work from home until July 2021, the largest tech company to commit to working from home
- Jul 27 US congressman John Lewis becomes the first black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda in Washington D.C.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 27 WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus states that COVID-19 is "easily the most severe" global health emergency the WHO has faced
Event of Interest
Jul 28 Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak found guilty of corruption, sentenced to 12 years and fined nearly $50 million
- Jul 28 Iter, the world's largest nuclear fusion project, begins assembly in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
- Jul 29 Scaled back Hajj pilgrimage begins in Saudi Arabia with no foreigners
- Jul 30 Barack Obama gives the eulogy at the funeral of congressman John Lewis, with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta
- Jul 30 Federal law enforcement officers begin a phased withdrawal from Portland amid criticism of their actions to shut down Black Lives Matter protests
- Jul 30 NASA launches to Mars its Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter aboard a V 541 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida
- Jul 30 The US economy posts the largest quarterly fall on record with GDP down 9.5% for the 3 months to June 30
- Jul 31 Apple wildfire starts near Beaumont, California, forcing the evacuation of nearly 8,000 people over the next few days
- Jul 31 Eurozone economic activity falls 11.9% for April-June with Spain the worst at -18.5%, its deepest in modern times
- Jul 31 Mexico overtakes the UK to have the world's third highest death toll from COVID-19 with 46,688 fatalities
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
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