Unix Timestamp: 1025654400
Wednesday, July 3. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Storms in the region of Washington, D.C. in the US kill one person in Montgomery County and cuts power to 40,000 homes. //www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post_now/post/wind-rain-lightning-knock-out-power-to-thousands/2011/07/03/AGmYRwwH_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost ("Washington Post")

NASA announces discovery of water in the atmosphere of Mercury by its MESSENGER probe. //www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html (Planetary Society)

The Pentagon extends the tour of duty of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Afghanistan. //ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKFyCtaXpdP_H2R7PsiET-9_peOwD91MH1MO0 (AP via Google News)

At just 17 years and 75 days of age, Maria Sharapova becomes the second youngest tennis player to win Wimbledon, defeating Serena Williams in the final.

The World Meteorological Organisation publishes a report stating that recent extreme weather conditions around the world may mark changes in global climate caused by global warming. //news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=421166

A Vladivostokavia Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia, killing 145.

A Vladivostokavia Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia, killing 145

Boris Yeltsin is reelected as President of Russia after the second round of elections.

"Back to the Future" opens in American theatres and ends up being the highest grossing film of 1985 in the United States and the first film in the successful franchise.

ASLEF train drivers in the United Kingdom go on strike over hours of work they return to work on July 18.

The Toxteth riots in Liverpool, UK start after a mob saves a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the Chapeltown riots in Leeds start after increased racial tension.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.

Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) signed.

Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport 1 Israeli soldier and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.

"Gregg v. Georgia": The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.

"United States Bicentennial": From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.

Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors is found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France.

A chartered Dan-Air De Havilland Comet crashes into the mountains north of Barcelona at least 112 people are killed.

Longtime radio music countdown show American Top 40 debuts on 5 U.S. stations with Casey Kasem as host.

Bob Hope and other entertainers gather in Washington, D.C. for "Honor America Day", a nonpartisan holiday event.

The French Army detonates a 914 kiloton thermonuclear device in the Mururoa Atoll. It is their fourth and largest nuclear test.

Brian Jones, musician and founder of The Rolling Stones, drowns in his swimming pool at his home in Sussex, England.

A military rebellion led by Belgian mercenary Jean Schramme begins in Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

American President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year.

North Vietnam declares general mobilization.

Rene Barrientos is elected president of Bolivia.

The ocean linerSS ''United States'' makes her maiden crossing of the Atlantic.

Hartford circus fire: More than 100 children die in one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States.

WWII: At C Hood, Texas, future baseball star and 1st Lt. Jackie Robinson is arrested and later court-martialed for refusing to move to the back of a segregated U.S. Army bus. He is eventually acquitted.

Soviet troops liberate Minsk.

Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle in a British victory.

WWII: Guadalcanal, occupied only by aborigines falls to the Japanese Naval construction force deployed to construct an air field on the island.

WWII: Joseph Stalin, in his first address since the German invasion, calls upon the Soviet people to carry out a scorched earth policy of resistance to the bitter end.

WWII: British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Oran and Mers-el-Kebir. The following day, Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain

A Caudron C-61 aircraft operated by Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne crashes in Czechoslovakia.

The Siberian Expedition is launched to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian Civil War.

Joshua Slocum completes a 3-year solo circumnavigation of the world.

Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen .

The "SS Daphne" disaster in Glasgow leaves 124 dead.

Battle of Königgratz: the Prussian army under King Wilhelm and Helmuth von Moltke defeats the Austrian army of Ludwig von Benedek, leading to a decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War.

French troops occupy Rome the Roman Republic surrenders.

Charles Babbage publishes a proposal for a difference engine, a forerunner of the modern computer for calculating logarithms and trigonometric functions. Construction of an operational version will proceed under British Government sponsorship 1823ndash32 but it will never be completed.

American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.

American Revolution: George Washington takes command of the 17,000-man Continental Army at Cambridge.

A lightning strike causes a major fire at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in England.

French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

The first documented case of cyclopia is found in a horse.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Ulm, the Protestant Union declares neutrality and ceases to support Frederick V of Bohemia.

July ndash The English ship "Mary and Margaret", captained by Christopher Newport, leaves England bound for Jamestown, Virginia.First Germans at Jamestown 1 (history), Davitt Publications, 2000, webpage: //www.germanheritage.com/Publications/Jamestown/first.html GHfirst.

Quebec City is founded by Samuel de Chlain.

Ottoman conquest of Cyprus begins.

Perkin Warbeck's troops land in Kent, in support of his claim to the English crown, backed by Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy. They are routed before Warbeck himself can disembark, and he retreats to Ireland and then to Scotland.

English fleet attempts to sail from Portsmouth to Normandy but is forced back by contrary winds.ref name = crecy/

Battle of Fariskur: Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade he later has to ransom himself.

The Sienese bankers belonging to the firm known as the Gran Tavola, under the steering of the Bonsignori brothers, become the main financiers of the Papacy. ref name=biografico

The Flemish town of Douai emits the first recorded redeemable annuities in medieval Europe, confirming a trend of consolidation of local public debt stated in 1218 in Rheims.

Samoa frees itself from Tongan rule. Beginning of the Malietoa dynasty in Samoa (approximate date).

In Tunis, a popular rebellion against newly arrived, wealthy and influential Andalusian refugees breaks out and is violently put down.ref name=negotiating

The Bahri dynasty of Mamluks seize power in Egypt.

The Welayta state is founded in present-day Ethiopia.

Battle of Freteval: Richard I of England reconquers his French fiefdoms from Philip II Augustus.

Gennadius I becomes patriarch of Constantinople.

July ndash Battle of Hellespont: Crispus, destroys Licinius' naval fleet in the Dardanelles, allowing his father Constantine the ability to cross over the Bosporus into Asian provinces. Byzantium is besieged and Licinius assembled a second military force, under his newly elevated co-emperor Martinian at Lsacus (modern Lapseki).

Battle of Adrianople: Emperor Constantine the Great defeats his rival Licinius near Adrianople, forcing him to retreat to Byzantium. He invades Thrace with a Visgothic force and raids the countryside. This sees Constantine ruling as sole Emperor.