Event of Interest
Jul 1 Britain's Princes William and Harry unveil statue to their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday, at Kensington Palace
COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 1 Indonesian President Joko Widodo announces a two-week lockdown for the islands of Java and Bali amid the worst COVID-19 outbreak in South East Asia
Event of Interest
Jul 1 President Xi Jinping makes a defiant address at celebrations in Tiananmen Square, Beijing to mark the 100 year centenary of the Chinese Communist Party [1]
- Jul 1 State of New York charges The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg with tax fraud and grand larceny [1]
- Jul 2 India's known COVID-19 death toll passes 400,000 with 30.45 million cases, amid expert speculation that over one million have died [1]
- Jul 3 Mudslides crash through town of Atami, Japan, after torrential rain, killing 19, with over 100 people initially missing
- Jul 3 Worst wildfires in Cyprus' history begin in Limassol district, spreading in next few days and killing four people
- Jul 4 Columbus Blue Jackets' 24-year-old Latvian goaltender Matīss Kivlenieks is killed when accidentally struck by fireworks at the home of team goaltending coach Manny Legace in Novi, Michigan
- Jul 4 Military plane crashes near Jolo, Philippines, killing at lease 45 with dozens saved from the burning wreckage
Event of Interest
Jul 4 Pope Francis undergoes surgery to remove part of his colon in Rome
Event of Interest
Jul 4 Researchers reveal there are 14 living descendants of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci [1]
COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 5 Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will scrap all COVID-19 restrictions in England from 19 July, to become most unrestricted country in Europe
Event of Interest
Jul 6 Mary Simon is named Canada's first indigenous Governor General by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
- Jul 7 Haiti president Jovenel Moïse assassinated in his home in Pétionville, Haiti, state of emergency declared across the country
- Jul 7 Stanley Cup Final, Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL: Defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning beat Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 in Game 5; retain title, 4-1
- Jul 7 World's biggest sandcastle 21.16 high (69.4 feet), using nearly 5,000 tons of sand completed in Blokhus, Denmark [1]
- Jul 8 A tiny Leonardo da Vinci sketch "Head of a Bear", the size of a post-it sells for £8.9 million ($12.2 m) at auction in London [1]
- Jul 8 Global known death toll from COVID-19 passes 4 million (equal to all deaths in battle since 1982) [1]
- Jul 8 Japan says the Olympics will be held without spectators as Tokyo announces state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19
- Jul 8 MLB Padres relief pitcher Daniel Camarena gets his first hit, in his second career at bat - a grand slam - against Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer, in San Diego
- Jul 8 Zaila Avant-garde, American student, age 14, from Harvey, Louisiana, wins Scripps National Spelling Bee title
- Jul 9 British road cyclist Mark Cavendish wins Nîmes to Carcassonne stage 13 of the Tour de France for his record equalling 34th career stage victory; equals Eddy Merckx's mark
- Jul 9 Death Valley, California, hits temperature of 130 degrees F (54.4 C), one of the highest temperatures ever recorded on earth [1]
- Jul 9 June 2021 declared US's hottest June ever recorded in 127 years, average temperature 72.6 degrees F (4.2 degrees above average) [1]
- Jul 10 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: World #1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia wins her second major title; beats Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
Branson Flies to the Edge of Space
Jul 11 Billionaire Richard Branson flies to the edge of space on his Virgin Galactic rocket plane in space tourism test
Copa América Final
Jul 11 Copa América Final, Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro: Argentina beats Brazil, 1-0; Lionel Messi named player of the tournament in his first major international title victory
- Jul 11 Rare mass anti-government protests across Cuba due to economic hardships and effects of COVID-19 led to widespread arrests
UEFA European Championship Final
Jul 11 UEFA European Championship Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Italy wins first Euro title since 1968, 3-2 on penalties over England after scores locked at 1-1 AET
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 11 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković claims a record equalling 20th Grand Slam title; beats Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
Riots after Zuma Jailed
Jul 13 337 die in violent protests and looting in South Africa following the jailing of Jacob Zuma, with more than 200 shopping malls set alight [1]
- Jul 13 91st MLB All Star Game, Coors Field, Denver, CO: AL beats NL, 5-2 for their eighth consecutive victory
Sports History
Jul 13 Kawhi Leonard undergoes surgery to repair a partial tear of the ACL in his right knee
- Jul 14 Drug overdose deaths in the US rose 30% to record 93,000 in 2020 according to CDC [1]
- Jul 15 Devastating floods linked to climate change sweep through towns in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, after record rainfall, killing at least 188 people
- Jul 17 73rd Cannes Film Festival: Titane wins Palme d'Or, its director Frenchwoman Julie Ducournau only 2nd woman to win
- Jul 18 108th Tour de France: Defending champion Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia becomes youngest rider to win the Tour twice; also claims Mountains and Youth classifications; Mark Cavendish wins points title
British Golf Open
Jul 18 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: American Collin Morikawa becomes first male in history to win his debut at 2 separate major events [2020 PGA C'ship]; beats Jordan Spieth by 2 strokes
- Jul 19 Bomb attack on al-Wuhailat market in Baghdad, Iraq, ahead of Eid al-Adha festival, kills 25 people
- Jul 19 Peruvian union leader Pedro Castillo declared winner of the country's presidential election (11 April), defeating Keiko Fujimori by only 44,000 votes
- Jul 19 UK lifts most COVID-19 restrictions on so-called "Freedom Day" despite 50,000 new daily infections
Event of Interest
Jul 20 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announces his first two 'Courage and Civility Awards' of $100M each to writer, commentator, and non-profit founder Van Jones and chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés to distribute to charities of their choice
- Jul 20 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos goes into space in first unpiloted suborbital flight with all-civilian crew, aboard rocket developed by his company Blue Origin
- Jul 20 India's COVID-19 death toll likely 10 times its official toll, 3.4 million to 4.7 million (to June 2021), according to The Center for Global Development [1]
- Jul 20 Leyna Bloom becomes Sports Illustrated's first transgender cover model
Sports History
Jul 20 NBA Finals: Milwaukee Bucks beat Phoenix Suns, 105-98 in Game 6 to win first title in 50 years (1971); MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo, 50 points in Game 6
- Jul 20 New York records the worst air quality in the world due to smoke from 80 wild fires on the US west coast [1]
- Jul 20 Oregon's Bootleg fire has burnt nearly 400,000 acres, now so big it's generating its own weather patterns according to local fire chiefs
- Jul 20 Torrential rain causes severe flooding in China's Hunan province, flooding subways with people still on the trains, killing at least 12 people in Zhengzhou city [1]
- Jul 20 US, NATO members and other states accuse China's Ministry of State Security for using "contract criminal hackers" to infiltrate Microsoft email systems [1]
- Jul 21 Life expectancy in the US falls by 1.5 years (3 years for Hispanic Americans. 2.9 for Black Americans) in largest decline since WWII [1]
- Jul 21 President Xi Jinping arrives in Tibet in first official visit by a Chinese leader in 30 years
- Jul 21 World's fastest train debuts, a Chinese state-owned maglev bullet train, with speeds of 600 kilometers per hour (373 miles) in Qingdao, China [1]
- Jul 22 US at “another pivotal point in this pandemic” says CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky as the Delta variant becomes dominant
- Jul 23 At least 164 people die in floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in Indian state of Maharashtra [1]
- Jul 23 Indonesia posts a record daily number of COVID-19 deaths at 1,566 [1]
- Jul 23 MLB Cleveland Indians announce team will be renamed the Guardians, after the Guardians of Traffic, eight large Art Deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge, located near their playing field
- Jul 23 XXXII Summer Olympic Games officially open at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
Olympic Games
Jul 25 Australia wins women's 4 x 100m relay for third straight Olympics as Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell set new WR 3:29.69 in Tokyo
- Jul 25 British Senior Open Men's Golf, Sunningdale: Welshman Stephen Dodd wins his first major title with a 1 stroke victory over Miguel Ángel Jiménez of Spain
- Jul 25 Evian Championship Women's Golf, Evian Resort GC: Australian Minjee Lee recovers from 7 shots behind to beat South Korea’s Lee6 Jeongeun in a play-off for her first major title
- Jul 25 Japanese judokas Uta Abe (women's 52kg) and brother Hifumi (men's 66kg) make history as first siblings to win Olympic gold medals in different events on same day at the Tokyo Games
- Jul 25 Japanese skateboarder Yuto Horigome wins the sport's inaugural Olympic gold medal in the men's street section at the Tokyo Games
- Jul 25 Typhoon In-Fa (Yanhua) makes landfall in the city of Zhoushan on China's east coast
- Jul 25 USA's men's basketball team see their 25-game Olympic winning streak end; beaten 83-76 by France in first round match in Tokyo
Adam Peaty Wins Gold
Jul 26 Dominant British breaststroke swimmer Adam Peaty successfully defends his 100m title at the Tokyo Olympics beating Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands and Italian Nicolò Martinenghi
- Jul 26 Ship carrying migrants wrecks off coast of Al-Khums, Libya, killing at least 57, takes death toll in central Mediterranean to 987 for 2021 [1]
- Jul 26 Tunisian government in crisis after President Kais Saied sacks Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspends parliament with the help of the army because of its handling of COVID-19
- Jul 26 Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz makes history becoming the first athlete from the Philippines to win gold at the Olympics in the 55kg class at the Tokyo Games
Simone Biles Withdraws
Jul 27 American gymnast and four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles withdraws from the women's team final at the Tokyo Games citing need to focus on her mental health; also misses individual finals
- Jul 27 China tests a missile with a hypersonic weapon system, later called “very close” to a Sputnik moment by a US general [1]
- Jul 27 Fiji retains Olympic Rugby Sevens title with 27-12 win over New Zealand in Tokyo; only second gold in the country's Olympic history
- Jul 27 Florida records its highest one-day total of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic at 21,683
- Jul 27 Ítalo Ferreira of Brazil and American Carissa Moore claim inaugural men's and women's surfing gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Jul 27 Largest-ever repatriation of 17,000 looted Iraqi antiquities returned to Baghdad, including items from Hobby Lobby's Museum of the Bible and Cornell University
- Jul 27 Swiss team of Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei and Linda Indergand make a clean sweep of the medals in the women's cross-country mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics
- Jul 27 Triathlete Flora Duffy claims historic first ever Olympic gold medal for Bermuda in the women's event at the Tokyo Games
- Jul 28 19-year-old gymnast Daiki Hashimoto of Japan becomes youngest Olympic men's artistic individual all-around champion in history at the Tokyo Games
- Jul 28 Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus claims Olympic double by winning women's 200m freestyle in OR 1:53.50 in Tokyo; she had beaten American superstar Katie Ledecki in 400m 2 days earlier
- Jul 28 Japanese swimmer Yui Ohashi wins women's individual medley double with victory in 200m at the Tokyo Olympics; 3 days earlier she won the 400m IM gold medal
- Jul 29 Australian canoeist Jessicas Fox with 109.96s wins inaugural women's C-1 slalom gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Jul 29 Australian swimmer Emma McKeon wins the blue riband 100m freestyle gold medal in OR 51.96 at the Tokyo Olympics; her 8th career Olympic medal
- Jul 29 Chinese team of Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei & Li Bingjie smash 4 x 200m freestyle relay WR 7:40.33 at Tokyo Olympics; minor medallists USA and Australia also beat previous mark
- Jul 29 Croatian rowing brothers Martin and Valent Sinković team to win coxless pair gold at the Tokyo Olympics; pair's second Olympic gold after winning double sculls in 2016
- Jul 29 Flash floods kill at least 60 people in Kamdesh, eastern Afghanistan
- Jul 29 Following Simone Biles' withdrawal, teammate Sunisa Lee becomes first Hmong-American Olympic champion in any sport when she wins women's artistic individual all-around gymnastics gold in Tokyo
- Jul 29 Russian backstroke swimmer Evgeny Rylov wraps up the 100/200m double with OR 1:53.27 in the longer event at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Jul 29 South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker sets new women's 200m breaststroke WR 2:18.95 at the Tokyo Olympics beating the American pair of Lilly King and Annie Lazor
- Jul 30 1 out of 169 Americans employed by Amazon in new figures released by the company. Now US's second largest employer (Walmart the largest employing 1 in 100) [1]
- Jul 31 American swimmer Caeleb Dressel wins 100m butterfly in WR 49.45 at the Tokyo Olympics; completes 100m freestyle/butterfly double
Ledecky's Third 800m Gold
Jul 31 American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky wins the women's 800m gold for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympics in Tokyo; claims distance 800/1500m double
- Jul 31 Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown wins gold in 200m backstroke to complete 100/200 double at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Jul 31 First mixed-gender event to feature in Olympic swim program; Great Britain team of Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy & Anna Hopkin wins mixed 4×100m medley relay in WR 3:37.58 in Tokyo
Jamaican 100m Sweep
Jul 31 Jamaican sprinters Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson trifecta women's 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics; Thompson Herah retains title
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