Unix Timestamp: 1214784000
Monday, June 30. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.

Police arrest two men in Cheshire in connection with the bombings. //www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=a469eb24-62e7-43a4-a038-14cce2d2c9d1k=82275 (Reuters via Canada.com)

The Vatican gains full membership rights in the United Nations except voting.

Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Cassini–Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.

In Irvine, California, Joseph Hunter Parker kills 2 Albertsons employees with a sword, before being shot to death by the police.

Brazil wins its fifth FIFA World Cup, defeating Germany in the final.

A Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen, Germany 72 are killed (see Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937).

The Final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup took place in Yokohama, Japan. Brazil defeated Germany and claimed the title for a record fifth time.

The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Crimes committed on or after this date may be prosecuted by the court.

Vicente Fox is elected President of Mexico, as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party), ending 71 years of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule.

At the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 die and 26 are injured on a set while the rock group Pearl Jam performs.

During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 died and 26 are injured in the crowd.

In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.

Bashar al-Assad is confirmed as Syria's leader in a national referendum.

France defeats Italy 2-1 after extra time in the final of the European Chionships, becoming the first team to consecutively win the World Cup and European Chionships.

The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.

Europol (short for European Police Office) the European Union's criminal intelligence agency became fully operational.

Twenty-three people die when fire consumes the Sealand Youth Training Center in South Korea.

Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada was sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines.

Bloomsbury Publishing publish J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in London.

An Airbus A330 crashes during a test flight near Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based, killing the seven-person crew. The test was meant to simulate an engine failure at low speed with maximum angle of climb.

A military coup led by Omar al-Bashir ousts the civilian government of Prime Minister of SudanSadiq al-Mahdi.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.

The first reported medical waste on beaches in the Greater New York area (including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus) washes ashore on Long Island. Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island and in Monmouth County, New Jersey force the closure of numerous New York–area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast.

Iran Air Flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS "Vincennes".

The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners.

In the Soviet Union, Vladimir Nikolayev is sentenced to death for cannibalism.

Greater Manchester Police recover the body of 16-year-old Pauline Reade from Saddleworth Moor, after her killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley helped them in their search, almost exactly 24 years since Pauline was last seen alive.

The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.

U.S. President Ronald Reagannominates former Solicitor GeneralRobert Bork to the Supreme Court. The nomination is later rejected by the Senate, the first and only nominee rejection to date.

Canada introduces a one dollar coin, nicknamed the Loonie.

John Napier Turner becomes Canada's 17th Prime Minister.

A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet, en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.

Total loss of coolant at Embalse nuclear power plant, Argentina. It was classified as an Accident With Local Consequences ndash level 4 at the International Nuclear Event Scale

The Orly airport attack in Paris leaves 8 dead and 55 injured.

The High Court of Australia blocks construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania.

Technical failure causes release of Iodine-131 from Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, Germany

Nintendo's Family Computer, also known as the Famicom, goes on sale in Japan.

Roy Jenkins is elected Leader of the Social Democratic Party.

The Equal Rights Amendment falls short of the 38 states needed to pass Phyllis Schlafly and other leaders of the Christian right take credit for its defeat.

Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry, flies above Long Beach, California in a lawn chair with weather balloons attached.

Ethiopia begins a massive offensive in Eritrea.

A very long total solar eclipse occurs!confirmed here . During the entire 2nd millennium, only 7 total solar eclipses exceeded 7 minutes of totality.

The Canadian ketch "Vega", flying the Greenpeace III banner, collides with the French naval minesweeper "La Paimpolaise" while in international waters, to protest French nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific.

The International Time Bureau adds the first leap second (23:59:60) to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) at the end of the month.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms becomes independent from the IRS.

July – U.S. actress Jane Fonda tours North Vietnam, during which she is photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is subordinated to Public Health Service.

Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati opens.

Colorado State College changes its name to University of Northern Colorado.

The Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signature.

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy heavy military transport aircraft first flies in the U.S. This model will still be in service forty years on.

Canada celebrates its first one hundred years of Confederation.

Moise Tshombe, former President of Katanga and former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is kidnapped to Algeria.

American Samoa's first constitution becomes effective.

EEC joined with European Coal and Steel Community and European Atomic Community to form the European Communities (from the 1980s usually known as European Community EC).

The first UK colour television broadcasts begin on BBC2. The first one is from the tennis chionship at Wimbledon. A full colour service begins on BBC2 on December 2.

Rwanda and Burundi gain independence.

The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.

Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in a referendum.

The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart (which is still the corporate name), opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.

Treaty of Nordic Cooperation of Helsinki (23 Mar 1962 signed) in force.

Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence France recognizes it the next day.

A heavy smog develops over London.

Twenty-one students were killed and more than a hundred were injured when an American North American F-100 Super SabreF-100 jet crashed into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot had ejected after the plane malfunctioned and struck the school.21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa, "Oakland Tribune", June 30, 1959, p1

A TWALockheed Constellation and United AirlinesDouglas DC-7collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft in the deadliest civil aviation disaster to date the accident leads to sweeping changes in the regulation of cross-country flight and air traffic control over the United States.

The first Chevrolet Corvette is built at Flint, Michigan.

The War Relocation Authority is abolished.

CCC abolished.

The steam locomotive "Mallard" sets the world speed record for steam by reaching 126 mph.

The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

July ndash The Mauthausenconcentration c is built in Austria.

"Action Comics #1" is published, which is the first publication featuring the comic book character "Superman".

Among those addressing the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the murdered Archduke are Lords Crewe and Lansdowne in the House of Lords and Messrs Asquith and Law in the Commons.

Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" where he reveals his theory of special relativity.

A wharf fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship line spreads to German passenger ships "." The fire engulfs the adjacent piers and nearby ships, killing 326 people.

Battle of Togbao: The French Bretonnet–Braun mission is destroyed in Chad, by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.

"Mile-a-Minute Murphy" earns his famous nickname this day, after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for one mile (1.6 km) in under a minute on Long Island.

America's first juvenile court is established in Chicago.

NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.

The Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

The Tower Bridge in London opens for traffic.

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds founded.

July ndash A fire at the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago destroys most of the remaining buildings.

The Homestead Strike begins in Homestead, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between striking workers and private security agents on July 6.

The Marine Biological Association Laboratory opens on Plymouth Hoe, Devon, UK.

The Royal Holloway, University of London is opened by Queen Victoria in Surrey, United Kingdom.

"The Black Arrow" by Robert Louis Stevenson first appears as a serial in "Young Folks A Boys' and Girls' Paper of Instructive and Entertaining Literature". Stevenson completes the novel at the end of summer in France.

U.S. presidential assassin Charles Guiteau is hanged.

The British Mediterranean fleet is sent to Besika Bay.

The historic debate about evolution is held at the Oxford University Museum.

Pike's Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory.

Count Camillo Benso di Cavour resigns.

Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope for the first time.

Pike's Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory.

Seven Years' War ndash Battle of Bernetz Brook: British troops defeat the French.

Pope Clement XIII succeeds Pope Benedict XIV as the 248th pope.

Seven Years' War ndash Battle of Domstadtl: Austrian forces under Ernst Gideon von Laudon and Joseph von Siskovits rout an enormous convoy with supplies for the Prussian army, guarded by strong troops of Hans Joachim von Zieten.

Russo-Turkish War, 1735-1739: Russian forces under Field MarshalMunnich storm the Ottomanfortress of Ochakov and take prisoner 4,000 Turks.

July ndash Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War.

War of the Polish Succession: Russian troops take Gdańsk (German: Danzig), which had been besieged since February 1734. Gdańsk is captured after the failure of a French expedition to relieve the city.

Cary\\'s Rebellion: Former governor Thomas Cary, after declaring himself Governor of North Carolina, sails an armed brigantine up the Chowan River to attack Governor Hyde's forces fortified at Colonel Thomas Pollock's plantation. The attack fails and Cary's forces retreat.

The earliest known first-class cricket match took place in Sussex.

A high-powered conspiracy of notables (the "Immortal Seven") invite Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange and Princess Mary to defend the liberties of England and depose King James VII and II.

July ndash Phetracha stages a coup d'état and becomes king of Ayutthaya.

King Charles II of England issues a second charter for the Province of Carolina, which clarifies and expands the borders of the Lords Proprietors' tracts.

First English Civil War ndash Battle of Adwalton Moor: Cavaliers (supporters of Charles I) gain control of Yorkshire.

Battle of Esquiroz: French forces under Henri d\'Albret, exiled King of Navarre, are defeated by the Spanish and forced to abandon their attempt to recover Henri's kingdom.

Battle of Esquiroz: French forces under Henri d'Albret, exiled King of Navarre, are defeated by the Spanish and forced to abandon their attempt to recover Henri's kingdom.

French troops under the Comte de Dunois invade Guyenne and capture Bordeaux.

Nepotianus is defeated and killed by Marcellinus, a trusted general sent by Magnentius. His head is put on a lance and borne around the city.