Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture the Rwandan capital of Kigali on July 4, 1994, ending the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi. July 4 is now Kwibohora, also known as Rwanda Liberation Day.
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What Happened in July?
Germany's Constitutional Court ends the ban on sending German troops outside the country on July 12, 1994, which had been in effect since the end of World War II. Two days later, on July 14, German Eurocorps military units marched in Paris Bastille Day celebrations, marking 50 years of reconciliation. The ruling also allowed German troops to join in United Nations and NATO peace-keeping missions.
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Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp separately discover the Comet Hale–Bopp. The comet becomes visible to the naked eye a year later and stays visible for a record 18 months, due to its massive nucleus size. This is twice as long as the Great Comet of 1811, the previous record holder. Accordingly, Hale–Bopp was dubbed the great comet of 1997. Sadly, 39 people who were part of the "Heaven's Gate" cult in San Diego committed mass suicide as the comet came close to Earth. More
Dolly, the most famous sheep of all time is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, from DNA taken from an adult sheep’s mammary gland. She was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, rather than an embryo.
The major scientific achievement which also raised ethical concerns was kept secret and was not announced until seven months later on February 22, 1997. More
TWA Flight 800 departed Kennedy International Airport in New York bound for Paris but exploded in mid-air 12 minutes after takeoff. All 212 passengers and 17 crew members on board were killed. Although it could not be determined with certainty, the likely ignition source was a short circuit. Problems with the aircraft's wiring were found, including evidence of arcing in the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS) wiring that enters the tank. More
Terrorist attack at the Atlanta Olympics - A pipe bomb explodes in the Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta, Georgia. One person was killed and 111 injured. The attack was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Rudolph during his domestic terrorist campaign against the U.S. government which he accused of championing "the ideals of global socialism" and "abortion on demand". Rudolf went on to commit three more bombings in 1997 and 1998. For five years. He was listed as one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives for five years until he was caught in 2003. In 2005 he agreed to plead guilty to avoid a potential death sentence. Rudolph was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his crimes. More
In Hong Kong, the flag of the British Crown Colony was officially lowered at midnight June 30 and the People's Republic of China and the Hong Kong SAR Flag are raised representing China's sovereignty and the official transfer of power after 156 years of British colonial rule. More
Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos, operating from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. Initially an online marketplace for books it has expanded into a multitude of product categories, leading to being referred to as "the everything Store". Amazon is now one of the world's most valuable brands with several subsidiaries including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kuiper Systems (satellite Internet), Ring, MGM Holdings and Whole Foods Markets.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established by the Rome Statute Treaty to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. It entered into force on July 1, 2002, after 60 countries ratified the treaty, officially establishing the Court as a functional body headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.
The United States does not recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it is not a member and has not ratified the Rome Statute. The U.S. has a policy of not cooperating with the court, arguing that it lacks jurisdiction over American personnel and has politically motivated actions.
John F. Kennedy Jr. dies in a plane crash. He was piloting a Piper Saratoga when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. His wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, were also on board and perished in the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause was the pilot's failure to maintain control of the aircraft during a descent over water, citing spatial disorientation, as a contributing factor during haze and dark conditions. JFK Jr. was certified to fly under visual flight rules (VFR) and was not instrument rated.
Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashes shortly after takeoff,. All 109 people on board and four on the ground were killed. It was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history. More
Concorde Image extracted from Wikimedia 2000 Collage listed below under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license and it is posted under the same license.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) enters into force after 60 countries ratified the treaty, officially establishing the Court as a functional body headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. It empowered to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
It was originally established by the Rome Statute Treaty. which created a permanent international judicial body to investigate and prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. The United States does not recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it is not a member and has not ratified the Rome Statute. The U.S. withdrew its signature in 2002 and has a policy of not cooperating with the court, arguing that it lacks jurisdiction over American personnel and has politically motivated actions
The International Criminal Court (ICC), the first permanent international court enters into force on July 1, 2002 to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. It was created by the Rome Statute, adopted on July 17, 1998.
Terrorist suicide attacks take place in London as three bombs detonate close to underground stations and one bomb goes off on a bus, resulting in the death of 52 people and more than 700 injured. More
The seventh and final book by by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is officially released on July 21, 2007.
The United Nations declares a famine in parts of southern Somalia, the first time the term had been used in almost 20 years.
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NASA's orbiter Atlantis is launched on its 33rd and final mission, also the last space shuttle mission. Atlantis maiden flight was made from October 3 to 7, 1985. Atlantis landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. By the end of its final mission, Atlantis had orbited the Earth a total of 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km), which is more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. More
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, gains independence from Sudan ending a decades-long civil war. South Sudan is a landlocked country in East Africa; bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the West by the Central African Republic. South Sudan's 2024 population is 13 million people and Juba is its capital and largest city.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis completes STS-135, its 33rd and final mission landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. More
Atlantis Final Tow Back . Source: KSC-2011-5779 | NASA ID: KSC-2011-5779
The discovery of the Higgs boson particle is officially announced on July 4, 2012 by scientists at CERN. The discovery was made by two independent teams—ATLAS and CMS—using data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator located at the French-Swiss border.
The Higgs boson was the final missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. It is the quantum manifestation of the Higgs field, which permeates the universe and gives mass to elementary particles like quarks and electrons. Following the experimental confirmation, the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert, who had theoretically predicted the particle in 1964.