1 JULY 2001

Northern Ireland

David Trimble, First Minister of the power-sharing government, resigned in protest over the slow pace of the disarmament of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) (Reuters).

Pakistan

A bomb exploded in a theater in Karachi, killing two people. The attackers were unknown (Reuters).

5 JULY 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin and French leaders in Paris. He received some criticism for operations against Palestinian militants and for Israel's settlement policy (Reuters).

7-10 JULY 2001

Jamaica

There were riots in west Kingston (Reuters).

12 JULY 2001

Northern Ireland

There was rioting in Belfast by Catholics, particularly in the Ardoyne district, where a Protestant Orange Order parade passed a fringe of a Catholic enclave (Reuters).

14 JULY 2001

United States, Research

The US conducted an ABM test over the Pacific. A Minuteman II ICBM was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California at 2240 EDT after a brief delay due to Greenpeace protesters. At about 2302, an interceptor lifted off from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The 120-pound kill vehicle selected the dummy warhead instead of a large, black mylar balloon decoy whose temperature matched that of the warhead. The target was intercepted 140 miles above the central Pacific, outside the earth's atmosphere, at a combined closing speed of about 16,000 mph (Reuters).

Spain

The ETA appeared to be behind the murders of a town councilor in the Navarre region and a member of the semi-autonomous Basque region's Ertzaintza police (Reuters).

14-16 JULY 2001

Asia & The Pacific, Diplomatic Affairs

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Agra, India for talks on Kashmir and other issues (Reuters).

18 JULY 2001

Sierra Leone

A mining ban took effect in the country's eastern diamond region. The ban was agreed to on the 17th by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, UNAMSIL and government representatives (Reuters).

19 JULY 2001

Nepal, Politics

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirila resigned, apparently because of the Maoist rebellion. "I have decided to resign to make way for new initiatives to solve various problems facing the country", he said (Reuters).

Israel

Israeli militants murdered three Palestinians in Hebron (Reuters).

Diplomatic Affairs

US President Bush met British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London (Reuters).

20 JULY 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

The annual G8 (Group of Eight) summit began in Genoa, Italy. Leaders of the US, Russia, France, Britian, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada met to discuss the global economy, poverty and disease in poor countries, and other issues. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated outside the heavily guarded summit venue to demand debt relief for poor countries, among other things. Thousands of the protesters were violent and attacked police lines as well as damaging parts of the city. One protester was killed and almost 200 protesters and police were injured in the riots (Reuters).

21-23 JULY 2001

Indonesia, Politics

On the 21st, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) began impeachment proceedings against President Abdurrahman Wahid. On the 23rd, Wahid declared a state of emergency and ordered police to block the session, but Jakarta's police chief ordered his personnel to guard the MPR session. The MPR then sacked Wahid. He was succeeded by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri (Reuters).

23 JULY 2001

Burundi

There was a failed coup attempt against President Pierre Buyoya, apparently organized by some leaders of the ethnic-Tutsi minority who fear that Buyoya, a fellow Tutsi, is planning to cede too much power to the majority ethnic-Hutus (Reuters).

24 JULY 2001

Sri Lanka

The LTTE raided an air force base and a nearby international airport north of Colombo. Apparently about 20 rebels armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades infiltrated the area and destroyed several military and civilian aircraft, including Kfir FGA and Airbus jetliners (Reuters).

Macedonia

Mobs in Skopje attacked the US and German embassies and other Western-related sites. Many Macedonians apparently feel that Western involvement in the country is aiding ethnic-Albanian rebels (Reuters).

Italy

Tens of thousands of people protested in Rome and other cities against the police (Reuters).

26 JULY-17 AUGUST 2001

Asia, Diplomatic Affairs

On 26 July, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il began a visit to Russia. On 4 August he met President Putin in Moscow. Kim said North Korea would continue to refrain from ballistic missile testing. On the 17th his train returned to North Korea (Reuters).

28 JULY 2001

Peru, Politics

Alejandro Toledo was inaugurated President, taking over from Valentin Paniagua. Toledo promised to reduce poverty, raise public sector pay and cut taxes (Reuters).

29 JULY 2001

Japan, Politics

Elections were held for the Upper House. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partners reportedly won 78 of the 121 contested seats in the 247-seat body (Reuters).

31 JULY-1 AUGUST 2001

Israel

On 31 July, an Israeli airstrike on a building in Nablus killed two senior Hamas members. Several civilians were also killed. The next day, tens of thousands of Palestinians violently protested against Israel in Gaza City and elsewhere (Reuters).