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August 2007 is the eighth month of that year. It began on a Wednesday and 31 days later, ended on a Friday.
[edit] International holidays
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- New Zealand launches its first commercially available biofuel, which consists of 90 percent petrol and 10 percent bioethanol made from cows' milk. (AFP via The China Post)
- The President of the United States George W. Bush orders senior adviser Karl Rove not to testify before a United States Senate committee on the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. (BBC)
- The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex lost 615 points in a single day becoming the third biggest such crash in its history.
- The bridge carrying Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses into the Mississippi River late in the afternoon rush hour, killing at least six. (Star-Tribune) (CNN)
- The remains of the RMS Titanic's Unknown Child, initially identified as Eino Viljami Panula, are re-identified by a Canadian research team and found to be those of another young passenger, Sidney Leslie Goodwin. (AP via FOX)
- The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) sign an agreement to bolster economic and security relationships. It also called for negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2008. (AP via Forbes)
- A French court orders the release of two suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. (AP via IHT)
- At least 28 people die in Uttar Pradesh, India as an overcrowded boat carrying flood evacuees and aid workers capsizes on the Rohni River. Monsoon floods have killed more than 150 people in India during July while at least 82 people have died in Nepal over the past two weeks and 38 in Bangladesh. (BBC)
- 2007 Russian North Pole expedition: A Russian expedition with the aim of claiming petroleum beneath the Arctic reaches the North Pole. (AP via CNN)
- The Accordance Front, Iraq's largest Sunni party, withdraws from the government while at least 70 people die in three bomb attacks. (AP via Boston Herald)
- US crude oil prices reach a new high of $78.77 a barrel due to declining stocks and decreased output. (Reuters)
- Russia’s gas exports monopoly Gazprom will almost halve supplies to Belarus from August 3 after failing to reach a deal with Minsk over a $456 million energy debt. (Financial Times)
- 18 militants killed near Banda checkpoint of North Waziristan, Pakistan by Pakistan troops.
- The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading levies a fine of £121.5 million on British Airways for price collusion over long distance passenger fuel surcharges. British Airways and Korean Air later plead guilty to conspiracies to fix the price of passenger and cargo fees in the United States with fines of $300 million each being levied. (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)
- Sudan pledges support for UNAMID, a joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. (BBC)
- Sixty-nine Chinese coal miners are rescued from the Zhijian mine in Henan province. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- The US House of Representatives passes a resolution to lift travel restrictions on Taiwan's president and other high-level officials visiting the United States. (AP via China Post)
- The Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero visits the Canary Islands to inspect the damage caused by five days of fires on the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. (BBC)
- Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007. (ABC News Australia)
- Sumo wrestler Asashoryu becomes the first Yokozuna in history to be suspended from competition. (Mainichi)
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- The former deputy director of Augusto Pinochet's secret police, Raul Iturriaga, is captured by the police after having entered in rebellion in June 2007 against the Chilean state and justice Los Angeles Times.
- The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, California with hundreds of people ordered to evacuate due to wildfire. (AP via Fox News)
- US President George W. Bush signs a bill to implement recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. (AP via San Diego Union Tribune)
- The United States Congress allocates $250 million to rebuild the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (BBC)
- The United States Senate votes to extend the powers of intelligence agents to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists in a victory for President of the United States George W. Bush. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Raids at the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland, California allegedly produces evidence that links the bakery to the murder of Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, and two other people. (CNN)
- The Canadian government agrees to make available a judicial report on the treatment of Maher Arar falsely accused of terrorism. (ABC News Australia)
- Mexican archaeologists announce the discovery of what is believed to be the tomb of Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl. (IHT)
- Russia says that it will launch a criminal case against Andrei Lugovoi if the United Kingdom provides it with convincing evidence of Lugovoi's involvement in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- 50 people are feared drowned and 100 are missing after a boat capsized in Sierra Leone (Reuters via CNN)
- The President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe signs the Interception of Communication Act into law, allowing the Zimbabwean government to listen to private telephone conversations, open mail and intercept faxes and e-mail. (AFP via Africaasia)
- Two Cuban boxers, Guillermo Rigondeaux Olympic bantamweight champion and amateur welterweight world champion Erislandi Lara, who deserted their team at the 2007 Pan American Games are found in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will be sent back to Cuba. (CNN)
- An outbreak of foot and mouth disease at a cattle farm in Surrey, UK is confirmed by Defra. The unlicenced movement of all livestock throughout the UK is prohibited. (BBC)
- George W. Bush invites representatives of the UN and major industrialized and developing countries to a conference to discuss a post-Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions. (Reuters)
- 2007 South Asian floods: Monsoon floods make millions homeless in India, Nepal and Bangladesh with a death toll of 145 in India and 65 in Bangladesh. (BBC/AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Turkey's two largest cities, Ankara and Istanbul, struggle with water shortages with Ankara rationing water to two days on, two days off as a result of having 5% left in their reservoirs. (AP via the Guardian)
- The Supreme Court of Pakistan frees Javed Hashmi, the leader of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and Pakistan Muslim League faction leader, who was jailed in 2003 for writing a letter critical of the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf. (BBC)
- Rebel groups in Darfur hold meetings in Tanzania jointly mediated by the United Nations and the African Union to resolve disputes. (BBC)
- Patriarch Teoctist of the Romanian Orthodox Church is buried in a ceremony in Bucharest led by Bartholomew I, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox churches. (AP via IHT)
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- A natural gas pipeline between Turkey and Greece is completed allowing gas to be sent from the Middle East to Europe. (Today's Zaman)
- An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey, England prompts the banning of exports of British livestock and other animal products. (Globe&Mail)
- A United States Army soldier Jesse Spielman is sentenced to 110 years for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Iraq and the murder of her family. (CNN)
- The United States House of Representatives passes the budget for the United States Department of Defense. (Fox News)
- The United States House of Representatives passes an energy bill which aims to expand the use of renewable energy and reduce tax concessions to oil companies. (BBC)
- A vehicle with Florida license plates driven by men of Middle Eastern origin is stopped by police in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and found to be carrying explosive devices. (ABC)
- The United States House of Representatives approves legislation expanding the United States Government's ability to conduct surveillance without a court order on foreign terrorism suspects. (Reuters)
- Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim fires the head of the Brazilian airports authority, José Carlos Pereira for recent problems including the crash of TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 and hires Sergio Gaudenzi, the President of the Brazilian Space Agency. (New York Times)
- San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds ties Hank Aaron for most career home runs with 755, while Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest player to hit 500 home runs in Major League Baseball. (TSN), (Sports Illustrated)
- Oakland police claim that a 19-year-old man has confessed to the murder of Chauncey Bailey, the editor of the Oakland Post. (CNN)
- United States forces claim that they have killed Haitham al-Badri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Salahuddin province in Iraq and believed to be the man responsible for the bombing of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in June. (Reuters)
- NASA launches the Phoenix Mars Lander which is due to land in Planum Boreum on the Martian northern ice cap next year. (AP via Washington Post)
- The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown holds an emergency COBRA cabinet meeting to discuss an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a farm in Surrey, England. The foot and mouth strain has been identified as a rare strain used at the nearby Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright. (Reuters) (BBC)
- 2007 South Asian floods: The Ganges River system will come under further strain from monsoon floods as 20 million are homeless in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Almost 200 people have died. (ABC News Australia) (BBC)
- Ten pro-Taliban militants and four Pakistan Army soldiers are killed in a clash in North Waziristan near the Afghanistan border. In another incident, a suicide car bomber kills six in Parachinar, North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. (BBC)
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- Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer gave a mandate to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to form his second cabinet following a landslide victory for the Justice and Development Party (Ak Parti) in the general elections. (Turkish Daily News)
- Mexico and Brazil sign an agreement on developing technology for oil and natural gas exploration and exploitation involving co-operation between Pemex and Petrobras. (AP via IHT)
- The Lebanese government claim that the police have killed Abu Hureira, the second in command of Fatah al-Islam. (AP via Forbes)
- Trinidad Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls orders the extradition of three men to the United States to face charges of involvement in a terrorist attack on John F. Kennedy Airport. (New York Times)
- United States District Court judge Ronald Whyte strikes down a California law aiming to prohibit minors from buying or renting violent videogames on First Amendment grounds. (IGN)
- An Arizona judge rules that that a United States Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett must stand trial for murder for shooting dead a Mexican immigrant. (Reuters)
- The United States Food and Drug Administration approves Pfizer's AIDS drug Selzentry. (Reuters via National Post)
- 50 feared dead when a boat carrying 130 passengers overturned in the midstream of River Ganga in Bihar, India.
- Five members of the Iraqiya coalition led by former Prime Minister of Iraq Ayad Allawi suspend their participation in the current Cabinet led by Nouri al-Maliki. (New York Times), (BBC)
- NASA reports that three galaxies the size of the Milky Way are colliding with another galaxy three times the size of the Milky Way in cluster CL0958+4702. The eventual galaxy could be up to ten times the size of the Milky Way. (BBC)
- A second case of foot and mouth disease is reported in Surrey, England resulting in the culling of more cattle. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Six miners are trapped in a coal mine 15 miles west of Huntington, Utah. A 3.9 to 4.5 (USGS) magnitude earthquake was reported in the area around the time of the cave-in. (Reuters)
- Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina files petitions challenging government move to try her in connection with an extortion case.
- North Korea and South Korea exchange gun fire over the border, the first such incident in a year. (CNN)
- José Ramos-Horta, the President of East Timor, selects Xanana Gusmão as the Prime Minister of East Timor. (BBC)
- A truck bomb in Tal Afar in northern Iraq kills at least 25 people and destroys 10 homes. (Reuters)
- Sir Michael Somare's National Alliance Party forms a coalition with six partners which will be the next government of Papua New Guinea. (Radio New Zealand)
- Flooding in Lagos, Nigeria, leads to thousands of people being forced from their homes and six people going missing. (Reuters via Press TV)
- International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors examine the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Japan marks the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. (Reuters via Washington Post)
- A state of emergency is declared in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik due to a forest fire. (BBC)
- The Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert and the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas meet to discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state. (Reuters)
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- Six new species of animal are discovered in a forest west of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo including a horseshoe bat, a rodent, two shrews and two species of insects. (China Daily)
- Two men are arrested in Paris for stealing Pablo Picasso paintings from the apartment of his granddaughter. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Argentina signs an "energy security treaty" with Venezuela in Buenos Aires. (BBC)
- Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 756th career home run, passing Hank Aaron as the all-time leader in Major League Baseball. Bonds hits the shot against Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik in the fifth inning of their game at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. (MLB.com), (BBC)
- Seismic activity frustrates rescue efforts for six coal miners trapped underground near Huntington, Utah. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- Two buses crash on the Panamerican Highway in southern Peru resulting in 17 casualties and 37 injuries. (AFP via Times of India)
- Astronomers of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey announce the discovery of TrES-4, the largest known planet in the universe, circling the star GSC 02620-00648 in the Hercules Constellation. (AP via IHT) (BBC)
- The Taliban attacks Firebase Anaconda in Uruzgan province but is repulsed by a joint force of Afghan fighters and United States Army forces with 20 militants killed. (AP via CNN)
- Jordan opens its government schools to Iraqi refugees. (BBC)
- Israel evicts Jewish settlers from Hebron. A dozen religious members of the Israeli Army refuse to participate and are sentenced for up to a month in a military jail. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia, Colombian cocaine trafficker boss of the Norte del Valle Cartel is apprehended in Brazil and faces extradition to the United States. The US Government had offered a reward of US$5 million dollars. (Reuters)
- Malaysia bans hiring of foreign security guards following rape and murder of a student by a Pakistani security guard recently.
- Georgian-Russian relations: Two Russian aircraft allegedly violate Georgia's airspace with one firing an air-to-surface guided rocket onto Georgian territory. The rocket did not explode and the Russian government denies the incident took place. (civil.ge) (Reuters via CNN)
- Tests confirm a second outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Surrey, England. Inspectors think that there is a "strong probability" that the disease came from a research site at Pirbright shared by Merial, a vaccine company and the Institute for Animal Health. (The Telegraph) (BBC)
- The United Kingdom asks United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to release five residents of the UK from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (AP via FOX)
- Youths in East Timor attack Australian Army forces and United Nations personnel following the announcement that Xanana Gusmão would be the next Prime Minister. (News Limited)
- Fortune magazine lists Mexican businessman Carlos Slim as the richest man in the world ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. (BBC)
- The Pakistan Army launches a strike on a militant base in the Degan area near Miranshah in North Waziristan. (BBC)
- A storm kills at least 17 people in Vietnam with another 12 missing. (AP via Washington Post)
- Bangladesh security officials arrest 24 suspected militants at Zia International Airport en route to Kabul, Afghanistan. (Times of India)
- Chinese police arrest six protesters calling for a free Tibet by unfurling banners on the Great Wall of China. (AP via the Guardian)
- Paul Calvert announces his resignation as President of the Australian Senate and as a Senator for Tasmania effective from next week. (AAP via Melbourne Herald Sun)
- An earthquake of 6.4 preliminary magnitude occurs off the coast of Okinawa in Japan. (Reuters)
- Satsuki Eda of the Democratic Party of Japan is chosen as the President of the House of Councillors making him the first member of an Opposition party to hold the position. (BBC)
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- A British Army helicopter crashes near the Catterick Garrison army base in Yorkshire causing at least two deaths. (AP via Forbes), (BBC)
- Tropical Storm Pabuk causes deadly landslides in the Philippines before hitting Taiwan causing power cuts. This comes after floods from another tropical storm kill 34 in central Vietnam. (AP via the New York Times), (Reuters via Washington Post)
- Street gunbattles continue for a third successive day in Port Harcourt, Nigeria as part of a criminal turf war. (Reuters via CNN)
- Endeavour lifts off from Kennedy Space Center for the STS-118 assembly mission of the International Space Station. (CNN)
- Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq, visits Iran to seek co-operation in reducing the level of violence. (AP via Forbes)
- Authorities tighten security on the site of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse following the arrest of 16 people for trespass and hindering investigations. (CNN)
- Powers Fasteners, the company that supplied the epoxy blamed for the Big Dig ceiling collapse in Boston, Massachusetts is indicted on a manslaughter charge. (AP via the Guardian)
- A United States raid and air strike on a Shiite militant base in Sadr City results in 32 deaths. (New York Times)
- A third outbreak of foot and mouth disease has been discovered in southern England but a ban of sending animals to slaughter is lifted in most of the country. (Reuters via News Limited)
- A tornado touches down in Brooklyn, New York just after dawn during a violent thunderstorm that dropped near three inches of rain in the New York City area, crippling the city's subway and commuter rail system during the morning rush hour. (CNN), (Reuters)
- Two fossils found in Kenya challenge existing views of human evolution by showing that Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived side by side in eastern Africa for half a million years. (New York Times)
- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 hits Jakarta, Indonesia. (Sky)
- 2007 South Asian floods: Fresh round of floods hits Gujarat, India. People make trains at railway stations their homes in Bihar. Many places inaccessible by road or rail.
- In Germany the labour court of Nuremberg prohibited the strike prepared by the Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL), which was to be the largest in 15 years. According to the Deutsche Bahn train company, the strike was prohibited because of the heavy tribute which would have been paid by the national economy (BBC).
- Two people killed and several injured as a bomb hidden in a bicycle parked at a police station explodes at Jorhat, Assam, India
- The Pakistani government claims to have killed at least 10 pro-Taliban militants in North Waziristan. (BBC)
- China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region celebrates its 60th Anniversary. Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong visits its capital, Hohhot, and participates in a series of large celebration events. (CCTV International)
- China sends investigators to investigate illegally-built government offices in 30 provinces. (ABC)
- The Reserve Bank of Australia raises interest rates to 6.5%, the highest level in Australia since 1996. (News Limited and AAP)
- The Yangtse River Dolphin is declared extinct. (The Scotsman) (Guardian)
- Violence erupts in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea with security forces and villagers exchanging gunfire. (ABC News Australia)
- Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce is sworn in as the new Governor of South Australia. (AAP via the Melbourne Age)
- Xanana Gusmão is sworn in as the Prime Minister of East Timor with the opposition Fretilin party boycotting the ceremony. (BBC)
- North Korea and South Korea agree to hold summit in Pyongyang from August 28 through the 30th. (Yonhap News)
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