2007

**2007** (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar.

The year 2007 was called:
- In the Chinese calendar, dates up to February 17 are in the _Year of the Dog_, while dates from February 18 onwards are in the _Year of the Pig_.
- European Year of Equal Opportunities for All
- Year of the Dolphin
- UNESCO has formally recognized fifteen anniversaries for 2007.

### January

- January 1 – Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
- January 1 – Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, joining 20 other official languages.
- January 1 – Slovenia adopted the Euro as its official currency, replacing the tolar.
- January 1 – South Korea's Ban Ki-moon became the new UN Secretary-General, replacing Kofi Annan.
- January 4 – Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House in the United States.
- January 12 – The US embassy in Athens was attacked with a rocket propelled grenade, which caused minimal damage and no injuries.
- January 13 – The Greek ship _Server_ broke in half off the Norwegian coast, which released over 200 tons of crude oil.
- January 18 – Comet McNaught, the brightest comet to have appeared in over forty years, became visible over the Southern Hemisphere.
- January 25 – The President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, took a temporary leave of absence due to a sex scandal.
- January 30 – Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest NT-based operating system, was released worldwide to consumers.

### February

- February 2 – An unseasonal tornado in central Florida killed at least 20 people.
- February 2 – A policeman was killed in the Catania football clashes in Italy and 71 people are hospitalized.
- February 2 – Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a series of economic deals with Sudan.
- February 3 – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi cancelled all football matches in Italy whilst an investigation into riots on February 2 began.
- February 3 – Five people were killed and 40 were injured in a series of car bombs in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
- February 3 – A truck bombing in a crowded Baghdad market killed at least 135 people and injured a further 339 others.
- February 10 – U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois announced a presidential bid in Springfield.
- February 19 – North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program, for oil.
- February 27 – World stock markets plummeted after China and Europe released less-than-expected growth reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 416.02 points, its largest single-day decline since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

### March

- March 4 – Parliamentary elections took place in Estonia and in Abkhazia.
- March 6 – _Mega Millions_ set a new world record for the highest jackpot of US$370 million.
- March 7 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, a Boeing 737-400, crashed at Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java killing many on board.
- March 7 – Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007, was held.
- March 8 – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted that Israel had planned an attack on Lebanon in the event of kidnapped soldiers on the border, months before Hezbollah carried out its kidnapping.
- March 11 – Daylight saving time in most of the United States and Canada began; three to four weeks earlier than previously.
- March 13 – The Bank of England replaces the £20 note bearing the portrait of Edward Elgar with one featuring Adam Smith.
- March 14 – Pi Day
- March 15 – March 21 – CeBIT 2007 took place in Hannover, Germany.
- March 17 – Chlorine bombs injured hundreds in Baghdad, Iraq.
- March 17 – France won the 2007 Six Nations Championship on points difference after a controversial tri.
- March 24 – A legislative election took place in the Australian state of New South Wales, with Morris Iemma's Labor government being returned to power with a reduced minority.
- March 25 – In Berlin 27 European ministers celebrate 50 year Treaty of Rome.
- March 25 – Daylight savings begins in Europe
- March 25 – This day marked the 200th anniversary of the finalization of the 1807 Slave trade act, which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.
- March 31 – Sydney, Australia, turned off its lights for one hour between 7:30pm and 8:30pm as a political statement for Global Climate Change.

### April

- April 2 – Smoking in public and work places is banned in Wales.
- April 2 – 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War.
- April 3 – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the Ukrainian parliament in a historic act of anti-communism in Ukraine. It has been nicknamed the "Second Orange Revolution"
- April 4 – Iran announces it will release the British sailors and marines that they captured on March 23.
- April 4 – Apple Inc. releases Mac Pro with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors each running at a speed of 3.0 GHz.
- April 5 – The British sailors and marines taken by Iran on March 23 arrive back in Britain.
- April 16 – The worst mass shooting in US history occurs at Virginia Tech.
- April 27 – Violence erupts in Estonia after the removal of a Soviet war memorial.

### May

- May 4 – Tornado strikes Greensburg, Kansas, killing at least twelve and destroying about 90% of the town.
- May 5 – Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 crashes in Cameroon.
- May 6 – Manchester United wins the English Premier League after title rivals Chelsea draw against Arsenal.
- May 9 – Subtropical Storm Andrea forms off the coast of Florida, the earliest subtropical storm since Subtropical Storm Ana in 2003.
- May 10 – Tony Blair announces he will resign as British Prime Minister on June 27 triggering a Labour Party leadership election.
- May 16 – Nicolas Sarkozy officially became President of the French Republic after taking over from Jacques Chirac.
- May 31 – A calendar blue moon occurred in the Western Hemisphere and parts of the Eastern Hemisphere.

### June

- June 1 – A 2100 year old melon is found by archaeologists in western Japan
- June 2 – Four people are charged with a terror plot to blow up JFK International Airport in New York City.
- June 5 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft made its second fly-by of Venus en route to Mercury.
- June 5 – A mass grave in southern Ukraine, found accidentally by workers in May, has been confirmed to be filled with thousands of victims of The Holocaust.
- June 8 – The Space Shuttle _Atlantis_ successfully launched on mission STS-117.
- June 10 - Emma's Theatre got debuted.
- June 18 – Nine Charleston, South Carolina firefighters are killed by a roof collapse while battling a furniture store fire.
- June 27 – Tony Blair resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; New Labour Party leader Gordon Brown is appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II.
- June 29 – British police defuse a bomb in Haymarket, Central London.
- June 30 – A calendar blue moon occurs in most of the Eastern Hemisphere.

### July

- July 1 – Smoking in public and work places is banned in England.
- July 1 – The Concert For Diana is held at Wembley Stadium to commemorate Diana, Princess of Wales.
- July 9 – Argentina's capital Buenos Aires is hit by its first snowfall in almost 90 years.
- July 14 – Following a presidential decree, Russia withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
- July 16 – Earthquake occurs in Japan, killing seven and causing a pipe at a nuclear power plant to break and released about 300 gallons of radioactive water.
- July 21 – U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney serves as Acting President for two and a half hours, while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy procedure.
- July 21 – _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, the final book in the Harry Potter series, is released.
- July 27 – Two news helicopters collide in midair while covering a police chase in Phoenix, Arizona. This killed both pilots and two photojournalists.
- July 29 – Iraq wins its first Asian Cup football championship, beating Saudi Arabia 1–0.
- July 30 – New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits U.S. President George W. Bush for the first time as Prime Minister.

### August

- August 1 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge on I-35W in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed at 6:05 pm.
- August 14 – Pakistan marks 60 years of independence.
- August 15 – Peru is hit by a major Earthquake.
- August 15 – India marks 60 years of independence.
- August 31 – Malaysia marks 50 years of independence.

### September

- September 3 – Adventurer Steve Fossett goes missing.
- September 6 – Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti dies aged 71.
- September 22 – Anti-government protests begin in Burma.

### October

- October 18 – Terrorists strike Karachi on the return of Benazir Bhutto.
- October 28 – Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is elected as Argentina's first female President.

### November

- November 3 – In Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf suspends the constitution and declares a State of Emergency.
- November 10 – American novelist Norman Mailer dies aged 84.
- November 24 – Kevin Rudd is elected Prime Minister of Australia.

### December

- December 3 – Kevin Rudd takes office as Prime Minister of Australia.
- December 10 – Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner takes office as President of Argentina.
- December 11 - Car bombs in Algiers kill 41 people and injured 170 others.
- December 19 – Marcus Stephen becomes President of Nauru after Ludwig Scotty loses a vote of confidence.
- December 20 – Queen Elizabeth II surpasses Queen Victoria as the oldest monarch in British history.
- December 27 – Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is killed in a terrorist attack.
- December 30 – Violence erupts in Kenya, after the disputed election victory of Mwai Kibaki.

## Births

- February 28 – Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco, daughter of King Mohammed VI and Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco.
- March 1 - Parker Bates, American child actor, in the film of This Is Us.
- March 5- Eugenia Louis Alphonse-daughter of Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, and Venezuelen heiress Margarita Vargas Santaella.
- March 17 – Prince Abdul Muntaqim son of Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah and Sarah Pengiran Salleh, the Crown Prince and Princess of Brunei.
- March 19 – Prince Abdullah bin Al Ali, son of Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and his wife, Rym Brahimi.
- June 3 - Jakob Burns - A Canadian boy was disappear on November 5, 2020 in New Brunswick, Canada.
- September 1 – Wakana Matsumoto, singer and idol

### January

- January 4 – Marais Viljoen, South African politician (b. 1915)
- January 5 – Momofuko Ando, Taiwanese businessman (b. 1910)
- January 8 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress (b. 1922)
- January 9 – Carlo Ponti, Italian movie producer (b. 1912)
- January 11 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author and conspiracy researcher (b. 1932)
- January 12 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1937)
- January 13 – Michael Brecker, American jazz musician (b. 1949)
- January 17 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)
- January 19
    - Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist (b. 1954)
    - Denny Doherty, Canadian musician (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1940)
- January 22 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and founder of Emmaus (b. 1912)
- January 23 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1932)
- January 30 – Sidney Sheldon, American writer (b. 1917)

### February

- February 1 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian opera composer (b. 1911)
- February 6 – Frankie Laine, American singer (b. 1913)
- February 7 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist (b. 1927)
- February 8 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model (b. 1967)
- February 9 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
- February 15 – Robert Adler, Austrian-born inventor (b. 1913)
- February 23 – Pascal Yoadimnadji, Prime Minister of Chad (b. 1950)
- February 28 – Arthur Schlesinger Jr, American historian (b. 1917)

### March

- March 1 – Sydney Gun Munro, former Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (b. 1916)
- March 2 – Henri Troyat, French writer (b. 1911)
- March 6 – Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher (b. 1929)
- March 9 – Brad Delp, American singer (b. 1951)
- March 11 – Betty Hutton, American actress (b. 1921)
- March 17 – Freddie Francis, English film director (b. 1917)
- March 20 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, former Vice President of Iraq (b. 1937)
- March 25 – Andranik Margaryan, Prime Minister of Armenia (b. 1951)
- March 29 – Tosiwo Nakayama, 1st President of the Federated States of Micronesia (b. 1931)

### April

- April 6 – Luigi Comencini, Italian movie director (b. 1916)
- April 7 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
- April 11 – Kurt Vonnegut, American writer (b. 1922)
- April 16 – Seung-Hui Cho, Korean-born American perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre (b. 1984)
- April 17 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
- April 19 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
- April 23 – Boris Yeltsin, former President of Russia (b. 1931)
- April 23 – David Halberstam, American writer and journalist (b. 1934)
- April 25 – Alan Ball, English footballer (b. 1945)
- April 27 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian musician (b. 1927)
- April 28 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, German philosopher (b. 1912)
- April 29 – Ivica Racan, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
- April 30 – Gordon Scott, American actor (b. 1926)

### May

- May 3 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
- May 5 – Theodore Maiman, American physicist (b. 1927)
- May 11 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa (b. 1913)
- May 15 – Yolanda King, American activist (b. 1955)
- May 17 – Lloyd Alexander, American writer (b. 1924)
- May 18 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist (b. 1932)
- May 25 – Bartholomew Ulufa'alu, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (b. 1950)
- May 27 – Zard, Japanese singer (b. 1967)
- May 30 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor (b. 1933)

### June

- June 2 – Huang Ju, Chinese politician (b. 1938)
- June 8 – Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, first President of Somalia (b. 1908)
- June 10 – Laurence Mancuso, American religious leader (b. 1934)
- June 11 – Tito Gómez, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1948)
- June 14 – Kurt Waldheim, 9th President of Austria, 4th Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1918)
- June 17 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian designer (b. 1944)
- June 18 – Vilma Espín, Cuban feminist (b. 1930)
- June 19 – Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer, actor, equestrian, film producer, and screenwriter (b. 1919)
- June 24 – Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1967)
- June 26 – Jupp Derwall, German footballer (b. 1927)
- June 28 – Kiichi Miyazawa, former Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1919)

### July

- July 3 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)
- July 8 – Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India (b. 1927)
- July 11 – Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
- July 11 – Alfonso López Michelsen, 32nd President of Colombia (b. 1913)
- July 20 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist (b. 1918)
- July 22 – Andre Milongo, former Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1935)
- July 22 – Ulrich Muehe, German actor (b. 1953)
- July 22 – Laszlo Kovacs, Hungarian cinematographer (b. 1933)
- July 23 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, last King of Afghanistan (b. 1914)
- July 23 – Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist (b. 1918)
- July 23 – Tom Davis, former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands (b. 1917)
- July 27 – Abdullah Kurshumi, former Prime Minister of Yemen (b. 1932)
- July 30 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian movie director (b. 1912)
- July 30 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish movie director (b. 1918)

### August

- August 1 – Ryan Cox, South African professional road racing cyclist (b. 1979)
- August 4 – Lee Hazlewood, American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer (b. 1929)
- August 5 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French Cardinal Archbishop of Paris (b. 1926)
- August 10 – Tony Wilson, English broadcaster, nightclub manager, and record label owner (b. 1950)
- August 12 – Merv Griffin, American television personality (b. 1925)
- August 16 – Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer (b. 1924)
- August 20 – Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)
- August 24 – Abdul Rahman Arif, 3rd President of Iraq (b. 1916)
- August 25 – Raymond Barre, French politician and economist (b. 1924)
- August 26 – Gaston Thorn, Luxembourger politician, 19th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1928)
- August 28 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (b. 1929)
- August 29 – Pierre Messmer, French politician (b. 1916)

### September

- September 3 – Steve Fossett, American adventurer (b. 1944)
- September 6 – Madeleine L'Engle, American writer (b. 1918)
- September 6 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (b. 1935)
- September 7 – John Compton, former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (b. 1925)
- September 10 – Anita Roddick, British businesswoman (b. 1942)
- September 10 – Jane Wyman, American actress (b. 1917)
- September 15 – Colin McRae, Scottish racecar driver (b. 1968)
- September 16 – Robert Jordan, American novelist (b. 1948)
- September 21 – Petar Stambolić, Serbian politician (b. 1912)
- September 22 – André Gorz, Austrian-born French philosopher (b. 1923)
- September 22 – Marcel Marceau, French actor (b. 1923)
- September 29 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (b. 1927)

### October

- October 1 – Al Oerter, American athlete (b. 1936)
- October 7 – Norifumi Abe, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1975)
- October 7 – Stephane Maurice Bongo-Nouarra, former Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1937)
- October 9 – Carol Bruce, American singer and actress (b. 1919)
- October 12 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (b. 1934)
- October 12 – Soe Win, Burmese politician (b. 1948)
- October 16 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (b. 1981)
- October 16 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)
- October 22 – Eve Curie, French writer (b. 1905)
- October 25 – Puntsagiin Jasrai, former Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1933)
- October 26 – Arthur Kornberg, American winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1928)
- October 30 – John Woodruff, American athlete (b. 1915)

### November

- November 1 – Paul Tibbets, American pilot (b. 1929)
- November 5 – Nils Liedholm, Swedish footballer (b. 1922)
- November 8 – Stephen Fumio Hamao, Japanese cardinal (b. 1930)
- November 9 – Luis Herrera Campins, former President of Venezuela (b. 1925)
- November 10 – Norman Mailer, American writer (b. 1923)
- November 10 – Laraine Day, American actress (b. 1920)
- November 12 – Janlavyn Narantsralt, former Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1957)
- November 12 – Ira Levin, American writer (b. 1929)
- November 17 – Ambroise Noumazalaye, former Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1933)
- November 20 – Ian Smith, 8th Prime Minister of Rhodesia (b. 1919)
- November 22 – Maurice Béjart, French dancer (b. 1927)
- November 28 – Elly Beinhorn, German pilot and writer (b. 1907)
- November 30 – Evel Knievel, American stuntman (b. 1938)

### December

- December 1 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (b. 1929)
- December 5 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer (b. 1928)
- December 12 – Ike Turner, American musician (b. 1931)
- December 16 – Dan Fogelberg, American musician (b. 1951)
- December 22 – Chrysostomos I, Archbishop of Cyprus (b. 1927)
- December 23 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist (b. 1925)
- December 27 – Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1953)
- December 27 – Jan Kawalerowicz, Polish movie director (b. 1922)
- December 27 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (b. 1920)
- December 31 – Muhammad Osman Said, former Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1922)

## Nobel prize winners

- Chemistry – Gerhard Ertl
- Economics – Leonid Hurwicz
- Economics – Eric S. Maskin
- Economics – Roger B. Myerson
- Literature – Doris Lessing
- Medicine – Mario R. Capecchi
- Medicine – Sir Martin J. Evans
- Medicine – Oliver Smithies
- Peace – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Peace – Al Gore
- Physics – Albert Fert
- Physics – Peter Grünberg