2020

Events

January

• January 1 – 2019–20 Hong Kong protests: Protesters take part in the annual new year day march with organisers claiming that over one million people took part.
• January 2 – The government of New South Wales, Australia, declares a state of emergency whilst the government of Victoria, Australia declares a state of disaster amid large bushfires that have killed as many as 500 million animals.
• January 3 – 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: A U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
• January 5 – Second Libyan Civil War: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces that Turkish troops will be deployed to Libya on behalf of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord.
• January 7 – 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: 56 people are reported killed and over 200 injured in a crush at the funeral of general Qasem Soleimani in the city of Kerman, Iran.
• January 8
• *2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: Iran launches ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting American soldiers, injuring multiple personnel.
• *2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is mistakenly shot down by Iran's armed forces shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport, killing all 176 people on board.
• January 9
• * A rare, circumbinary planet called TOI 1338-b is discovered.
• * ISIL militants assault a Nigerien military base at Chinagodrar, killing at least 89 Nigerien soldiers.
• January 10 – The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said, dies aged 79. Haitham bin Tariq is sworn in as his successor.
• January 12 – Taal Volcano in Luzon erupts, leading to the evacuation of thousands of people.
• January 16 – The impeachment trial of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, begins in the U.S. Senate.
• January 18 – Yemeni Civil War: 111 Yemeni soldiers and 5 civilians are killed in a drone and missile attack on a military camp near Ma'rib.
• January 28 – President of the U.S. Donald Trump and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu announce the Trump peace plan.
• January 29 – U.S. President Donald Trump signs the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, a North American trade agreement that replaces NAFTA.
• January 30 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization declares the outbreak of the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the sixth time that this measure has been invoked since 2009.
• January 31 – The United Kingdom and Gibraltar formally withdraw from the European Union, beginning an 11-month transition period.

  February

• February 5 – The U.S. Senate acquits U.S. president Donald Trump on articles of impeachment.
• February 11 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization names the disease COVID-19.
• February 13 – NASA publishes a detailed study of Arrokoth, the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft, which New Horizons passed by on its journey through the Kuiper belt.
• February 23 - Riots are reported in parts of Delhi, India, leading to 53 deaths, over 200 injuries, and multiple incidents of arson. Over 2,000 people are arrested and detained as a result.
• February 27 – 2020 stock market crash: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges by 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, to close at 25,766.64, its largest one-day point decline at the time. This follows several days of large falls, marking the worst week for the index since 2008, triggered by fears of the spreading COVID-19.
• February 28 – Ambassadors of all 29 NATO allies meet in the North Atlantic Council to express solidarity with Turkey after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by pro-Syrian government forces.
• February 29
• *Luxembourg becomes the first country in the world to make all public transport free to use.
• * A conditional peace agreement is signed between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, leading the U.S. to begin to gradually withdraw troops from Afghanistan on March 10.

  March

• March 5 – The International Criminal Court authorizes the Afghanistan War Crimes inquiry to proceed, allowing for the first time for U.S. citizens to be investigated.
• March 8 – COVID-19 pandemic: Italy places 16 million people in quarantine, more than a quarter of its population, in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. A day later, the quarantine is expanded to cover the entire country, becoming the first country to apply this measure nationwide.
• March 9 – International share prices fall sharply in response to a Russo-Saudi oil price war and the impact of COVID-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges more than 2,000 points, the largest fall in its history up to that point. Oil prices also plunge by as much as 30% in early trading, the biggest fall since 1991.
• March 11 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
• March 12 – Global stock markets crash due to continued concerns over COVID-19 and the U.S. travel ban on the Schengen Area. The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes into free fall, closing at over −2,300 points, the worst losses for the index since 1987.
• March 13 – COVID-19 pandemic: The government of Nepal announces that Mount Everest will be closed to climbers and the public for the rest of the season due to concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.
• March 16 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday. This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.
• March 17
• * COVID-19 pandemic:
• **European leaders close the EU's external and Schengen borders for at least 30 days in an effort to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
• **The Euro 2020 and 2020 Copa América association football tournaments are postponed until the summer of 2021 by UEFA and CONMEBOL respectively.
• March 18
• * COVID-19 pandemic:
• ** The European Broadcasting Union announces that the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will be cancelled due to COVID-19 in Europe, the first cancellation in the contest's 64-year history.
• ** Solidarity trial, a WHO-sponsored group dedicated to finding a cure against COVID-19, is announced by Tedros Adhanom.
• March 20 – COVID-19 pandemic: The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 10,000 as the total number of cases reaches a quarter of a million.
• March 24
• * COVID-19 pandemic:
• **India goes into lockdown to contain COVID-19. The total number of people in the world facing some form of pandemic-related movement restriction now exceeds 2.6 billion, a third of the global population.
• **Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reports that the domestically transmitted epidemic was "basically blocked" and it is now under control. Two days later, China temporarily suspends entry for foreign nationals with visas or residence permits, effective midnight March 28.
• **The International Olympic Committee and Japan suspend the 2020 Summer Olympics until 2021. On March 30, the Summer Olympics are rescheduled from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
• March 26
• * COVID-19 pandemic:
• **Global COVID-19 cases reach 500,000, with nearly 23,000 deaths confirmed. The US surpasses China and Italy in total number of known COVID-19 cases, with at least 81,321 cases and more than 1,000 deaths.
• **Militants in the Philippines, Syria, Yemen, and Libya agree to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' call for a ceasefire; some accept medical aid for themselves and civilians in their communities. Guterres also asked wealthy countries to provide $2 billion to aid in fighting the virus. Colombia and Venezuela discussed a common response to the global pandemic, and the UAE airlifts aid to Iran.
• March 27 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th country to join NATO.
• March 30
• * A passenger train derails near Chenzhou, China, killing one person and leaving 127 injured.
• * 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war: The price of Brent Crude falls 9% to $23 per barrel, the lowest level since November 2002.

  April

• April 1
• * COVID-19 pandemic:
• **China reports 130 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, its first reported asymptomatic cases.
• **Yemen's internationally recognised government releases more than 470 of it's prisoners amid concerns of the spread of the virus in Yemen's overcrowded jails. The United Nations Human Rights Council has called for the release of all political prisoners.
• April 2 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 1 million worldwide.
• April 4 – COVID-19 pandemic: A prison riot occurs in Batman, Turkey, after the release of 100,000 inmates, but not journalists and political prisoners, many of whom are Kurds. The government announces 10 days later that one-third of its prisoners will be freed due to COVID-19. Of these prisoners, at least 45,000 will be freed until the end of May except for those accused of terrorist offenses and of plotting the 2016 coup attempt.
• April 5
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The first case of COVID-19 in a zoo animal is reported; a four-year-old female Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City.
• **King Mohammed VI of Morocco pardons 5,654 prisoners and orders new measures to protect inmates from COVID-19.
• **YouTube says it will remove videos promoting a conspiracy theory linking 5G to COVID-19, while "borderline content" will be removed from search results. The decision comes after four more mobile phone masts are set on fire, and broadband engineers have received threats, in several UK cities.
• April 6 – In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration designates a Russian based white supremacist group as a terrorist organization, and imposes individual sanctions on its leaders. The organization, the Russian Imperial Movement, is believed to have trained the perpetrators of a series of terrorist attacks in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2016.
• April 7 – COVID-19 pandemic: Japan declares a state of emergency in response to COVID-19, and finalises a stimulus package worth 108 trillion yen, equal to 20% of the country's GDP.
• April 8
• *The Saudi Arabian-led coalition declares a unilateral ceasefire in its military action against Houthi forces in Yemen. The ceasefire, which supports UN efforts to end the five-year-old war, will be effective Thursday.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: China ends the lockdown in Wuhan, with people allowed to leave the city for the first time in 76 days.
• April 9 – OPEC+ holds an emergency meeting to try to agree on output cuts due to decreased demand for oil caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Russia says it has "no plans to discuss oil markets with the leadership of Saudi Arabia or the U.S. on Thursday".
• April 10
• *Kivu Ebola epidemic: In a major setback for efforts to declare the end of the outbreak on Sunday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo reports the first case of Ebola since February. The outbreak has killed more than 2,200 people since August 2018.
• *The ESA/JAXA space probe BepiColombo makes its final gravity assist around Earth, and is now on course for Venus, where it will make several gravity assist manoeuvres before finally arriving at Mercury in 2025.
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 100,000 globally, a ten-fold increase from March 20.
• **EU finance ministers agree on a €540 billion loan package to alleviate the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
• April 12
• *A Taliban spokesman announces the release of 20 government prisoners in response to the latter's release of 300 Taliban prisoners since Wednesday.
• *Pope Francis livestreams the Urbi et Orbi blessing for the second time in just a month. Usually given on Christmas and Easter, this year the pope also gave the blessing on March 27, during a special prayer service for the end of the coronavirus.
• *OPEC and allies strike a deal to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day, the largest such cut agreed upon, starting May 1.
• April 14
• *U.S. President Donald Trump announces that the U.S. is suspending funding of the World Health Organization pending an investigation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its relationship with China.
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The International Monetary Fund says it expects the world economy to shrink 3%, the worst contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• April 15
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 2 million worldwide.
• **The 2020 Tour de France is delayed until August due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• April 17
• * The China Securities Regulatory Commission approves a transaction in which Switzerland's Credit Suisse will take a majority interest in a China securities firm, making Credit Suisse the first foreign bank thus far to own a majority of such a company since the easing of foreign ownership rules in 2018.
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **China revises the COVID-19 death toll in Wuhan upward, adding 1,290 more fatalities to bring the country's reported COVID-19 deaths to 4,632.
• **Europe surpasses 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths.
• **The U.N. human rights office says that Myanmar has been carrying out daily airstrikes in the Rakhine and Chin states and that at least 32 civilians have been killed since March 23. The separatist Arakan Army unilaterally declared a month-long ceasefire to fight the pandemic, but the military rejected the ceasefire claiming a previous ceasefire had been reneged by the insurgents.
• April 18 – Forty-four suspected Boko Haram members are found dead, apparently due to poisoning, inside a prison in N'Djamena, Chad.
• April 19
• *A killing spree occurs in Portapique, Nova Scotia, leaving at least 17 people killed, including the perpetrator and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. It is the deadliest massacre in Canadian history.
• *The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns China's decision yesterday to establish administrative districts in the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands, asserting that it violates Vietnam's sovereignty.
• *2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announces it has increased patrols of the Persian Gulf following a previous confrontation between its Navy and the U.S.'s, and warns that "any error in calculation on part will receive a decisive response".
• *COVID-19 pandemic: Unrest breaks out in Paris, Berlin and Vladikavkaz as people oppose lockdowns.
• April 20
• *Oil prices reach a record low, with West Texas Intermediate falling into negative values.
• *The Industrial Bank of Korea agrees to pay US$86 million and will enter a two-year deferred prosecution agreement to settle lawsuits with the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of New York over a 2011 scheme to help transfer US$1 billion to Iran.
• *Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Alliance leader Benny Gantz agree on a deal to form a unity government, thus ending more than a year of political deadlock. As part of the deal, Netanyahu will hold onto his position for 18 more months, with Gantz replacing him afterwards.
• April 21
• *Mozambique police say 52 male villagers were killed by Islamist militants earlier this month in Muidumbe District, Cabo Delgado Province, after they refused to join their ranks.
• April 22 – Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deploys the country's first military satellite, using a new satellite carrier called "Ghased".
• April 23
• *Two former high-ranking members of the Syrian Army go on trial in Koblenz, Germany, for alleged war crimes committed during the Syrian Civil War. This is the first time that Syrian military officials are prosecuted for their roles in the conflict.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: Facebook removes "pseudoscience" and "conspiracy theory" as options for targeted ads, as criticism mounts against social media for their role in spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
• April 25
• *In what is described by the Cabinet of Yemen as "catastrophic", the Southern Transitional Council announces the establishment of a self-rule administration in southern Yemen and deploys forces in Aden. Governors of multiple southern Yemeni Governorates and of the island of Socotra reject the STC's claim to self-rule and declare their loyalty to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Months later on July 19, the STC accepts a Saudi-brokered peace deal and abandons its self-rule aspirations.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 200,000. The U.K. becomes the fifth country to report 20,000 deaths.
• April 26 - King Salman issues a royal decree, declaring that people will no longer be executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes they were convicted of when they were minors.
• April 27
• *The Pentagon formally releases three videos of "unidentified aerial phenomena" encountered by U.S. Navy pilots.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases passes 3 million worldwide, while the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. passes 1 million.
• April 28
• *A fast radio burst is detected from the Magnetar SGR 1935+2154, the first ever detected inside the Milky Way, and the first to be linked to a known source.
• *Colombia formalizes its membership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, becoming the 37th nation of the organization.
• *The Indian Ministry of External Affairs condemns the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom after its annual report recommends placing India on the "countries of particular concern" blacklist over the Citizenship Amendment Act, the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, and controversial comments made by Home Minister Amit Shah, among others.
• April 29 - 1998 OR2, a near-Earth asteroid that is 2 kilometers wide, makes a close approach of 0.042 AU to Earth. It will not approach closer than this until 2079.
• April 30
• *Syrian businessman and Syriatel owner Rami Makhlouf makes an "unprecedented" public appeal to his cousin, President Bashar al-Assad, on Facebook, saying a "cadre of officials" are seeking to seize his assets. Makhlouf, who was a part of President al-Assad's inner circle, says he will pay the president himself but not the state.
• *NASA officially selects SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to build its next-generation lunar lander to carry American astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
• *Bulgaria applies for ERM II, due to join along with Croatia in July 2020.

  May

• May 1 - COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of recovered COVID-19 patients reaches 1 million worldwide, according to data from The Johns Hopkins University.
• May 3-4 - Venezuelan dissidents and an American-based private military company, Silvercorp USA, unsuccessfully attempt to infiltrate Venezuela and forcibly remove President Nicolás Maduro from office.
• May 4 - A team of British and Kenyan scientists announce the discovery of Microsporidia MB, a parasitic microbe in the Microsporidia fungi group that blocks mosquitos from carrying malaria, potentially paving the way for the control of malaria.
• May 5
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The U.K. death toll from COVID-19 becomes the highest in Europe at 32,313 after exceeding the death toll of 29,029 in Italy.
• *The Philippines' National Telecommunications Commission issues a cease and desist order to the broadcasting operations of ABS-CBN, the country's largest media network, as Congress fails to renew its franchise granted on March 30, 1995. The last time the network was shut down was upon the declaration of martial law by the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1972.
• May 6
• *Astronomers announce the discovery of the first black hole located in a star system visible to the naked eye.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: New evidence indicates that an Algerian-born French fishmonger, who had not traveled to China and did not have contact with any Chinese nationals, was treated for pneumonia from an unknown source on December 27, 2019, now identified as COVID-19.
• May 7 - Eleven people die and over 5,000 fall ill from a styrene gas leak from an LG Polymers chemical plant in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, India.
• May 9 - Several Chinese and Indian soldiers are injured in a cross-border clash at the Nathu La crossing. About 150 troops participated in the face-off, which involved fistfights and stone-throwing.
• May 10
• *The Iranian Navy frigate Jamaran accidentally strikes the Iranian support vessel Konarak with a missile, killing nineteen sailors. This is the first friendly fire incident since February 2019, when an Indian Mil Mi-17 helicopter was mistakenly shot down by Indian air defense forces.
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 4 million worldwide.
• **Wuhan reports its first coronavirus cases in more than a month. An 89-year-old man is confirmed positive, but his wife and several members of the community are recorded as asymptomatic cases.
• May 11 - The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology publishes the result of radiocarbon and DNA analysis from the fossils that has been found in the Bacho Kiro cave, Bulgaria. The result, showing that the fossils belong to Homo sapiens instead of Neanderthal, indicates that modern humans may have arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
• May 12 - Gunmen storm a maternity hospital and kill 24 people, including two newborn babies, in Dashte Barchi, a majority-Shia neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. In a separate incident in Kuz Kunar, 32 people are killed at a funeral by a suicide bomber.
• May 14
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 300,000.
• **The UN warns of a global mental health crisis caused by isolation, fear, uncertainty and economic turmoil.
• *NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the military alliance is "ready to support" the UN-recognized Government of National Accord while Greece, a member state of NATO, strongly criticizes Stoltenberg's remarks, saying his recognition of the "Muslim Brotherhood government" does not reflect the positions of the military alliance.
• May 15 - Researchers announce a 2.5 cm millipede fossil belonging to the Kampecaris genus, discovered on the island of Kerrera in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, is the world's oldest-known land animal, which lived 425 million years ago in the Silurian period.
• May 16
• *COVID-19 pandemic: Bundesliga becomes the first major sports league to resume its season since March 11.
• *Félicien Kabuga, a Rwandan businessman responsible for supporting the Rwandan genocide, is arrested in Asnières-sur-Seine, France, after 26 years as a fugitive.
• May 18
• *The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announces that nearly 1 million people are affected and at least 24 people have died in the flash floods that hit Beledweyne and Jowhar, Somalia.
• *In an unprecedented move, the World Health Organization holds its annual World Health Assembly using video conferencing instead of in-person meetings.
• May 19 - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces the termination of all agreements, including security ones, with Israel and the United States in response to Israel's plans to annex the Jordan Valley.
• May 21
• *Cyclone Amphan makes landfall in eastern India and Bangladesh, killing over 100 people and forcing the evacuation of more than 4 million others. It causes over US$13 billion in damage, making it the costliest cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, shattering the record previously held by Nargis.
• *The Trump administration announces it will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty within six months, alleging continuous violations by Russia.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 5 million worldwide, with 106,000 new cases recorded over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day figure so far.
• May 22
• *Flight PK8303, a Pakistan International Airlines passenger aircraft, crashes in a residential area near Karachi, in Pakistan, killing 97 of the 99 total people on board and injuring dozens on the ground.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: Brazil overtakes Russia to become the country with the second highest number of COVID-19 cases, with over 330,000 reported. President Jair Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the threat of the virus.
• May 23 - COVID-19 pandemic: China reports no new cases for the first time since the pandemic began, according to the National Health Commission.
• May 24
• *Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto admits blowing up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge caves in the Pilbara area of Western Australia. The firm later issues an apology to the two Aboriginal peoples who are the traditional owners of the site.
• *A "once in a decade" storm batters 3,000 kilometres of the coast of Western Australia.
• *Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pardons 3,157 prisoners to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and, two days later, President of Zambia Edgar Lungu pardons nearly 3,000 inmates to commemorate Africa Freedom Day.
• May 26
• *Protests caused by the killing of George Floyd break out across hundreds of cities in the U.S. and around the world. These are followed by further protests and rallies on June 6 against racism and police brutality around the world.
• *Costa Rica becomes the first Central American country to legalise same-sex marriage.
• *LATAM Airlines, the largest air carrier in Latin America, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• May 27
• *The Chinese National People's Congress votes in favour of national security legislation that criminalizes "secession," "subversion," "terrorism," and foreign interference in Hong Kong; the legislation grants sweeping powers to the Chinese central government to suppress the Hong Kong democracy movement, including banning activist groups and curtailing civil liberties. The U.S. government responds by declaring Hong Kong is "no longer autonomous" under the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act.
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The U.S. death toll passes 100,000 - more Americans than were killed in the Vietnam War and Korean War combined, and approaching that of the First World War, where 116,000 Americans died in combat. The total number of cases continues to rise, although the rate is slowing.
• May 28 - A court in Rwanda sentences former Mayor of Nyakizu Ladislas Ntaganzwa to life imprisonment for his role in orchestrating the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in the Rwandan genocide.
• May 30 - The first crewed flight of the SpaceX Dragon 2 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first manned spacecraft to take off from U.S. soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011.
• May 31 - COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 6 million worldwide.

  June

• June 1
• * Kivu Ebola epidemic: The World Health Organization reports six new cases of Ebola, and UNICEF reports five deaths, in a renewed outbreak of the disease in Mbandaka, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• * U.S. President Donald Trump labels Antifa a terrorist organisation.
• June 2 - A US$5 billion class action lawsuit is filed against Alphabet Inc. and Google, alleging the company violates users' right to privacy by tracking them in Chrome's incognito mode.
• June 3
• *Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK will change immigration laws to offer a pathway to UK citizenship for all Hong Kong citizens who are eligible for BN status if the government of China imposes new security laws on the territory.
• *Severe Cyclonic Storm Nisarga makes landfall south of Mumbai as a Category 1 hurricane; the first time a tropical cyclone has targeted the megacity since 1891. About 100,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas in the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, an area already hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• *SpaceX successfully launches and deploys 60 Starlink satellites into a low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, bringing the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to 482.
• *Russian President Vladimir Putin declares a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of oil leaked into the Ambarnaya River near the Siberian city of Norilsk within the Arctic Circle on May 26, 2020. The World Wildlife Fund said the accident is believed to be the second-largest in modern Russian history.
• June 4
• * Libya's Government of National Accord says they are in full control of the capital, Tripoli, after forces of the Libyan National Army retreat from the territory following months of intense fighting in the city.
• * Hong Kong legislative council passed the controversial National Anthem Ordinance.
• June 7 - COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 400,000.
• June 8 - COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 7 million worldwide.
• June 9 - COVID-19 pandemic: A Harvard University study suggests that COVID-19 may have been spreading in China as early as August 2019, based on hospital car park usage and web search trends.
• June 15
• *At least 20 Indian soldiers and over 40 Chinese forces are killed or injured in skirmishes in the disputed Galwan Valley, the largest escalation along the Sino-Indian border in five decades.
• *Turkish and Iranian forces commence air and artillery strikes against Kurdistan Workers' Party forces in Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey launches a land operation in the region on June 17.
• June 16
• *COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 8 million worldwide.
• *North Korea demolishes the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong, established in 2018 to improve relations.
• June 21 - An annular solar eclipse occurs.
• June 22 - COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 9 million worldwide.
• June 23 - A 7.5-magnitude earthquake strikes the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico and kills at least four people. It is felt more than away in Mexico City.
• June 27 - Micheál Martin succeeds Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach of Ireland in a historic three-party coalition government.
• June 28
• *COVID-19 pandemic:
• **The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 10 million worldwide. The U.S. continues to report the highest number of any country as it reaches 2.5 million, a quarter of all cases globally.
• **The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 500,000.
• June 30 - China passes the controversial Hong Kong national security law, allowing China to crack down on opposition to Beijing at home or abroad.

  July

• July 1 - Russian voters back a constitutional amendment that, among other things, enables Vladimir Putin to seek two further six-year terms when his current term ends in 2024, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036.
• July 2 - A landslide takes place at a jade mining site in Hpakant, Kachin state, Myanmar, killing at least 174 people.
• July 3 - COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 11 million worldwide.
• July 7
• * Protests begin throughout Bulgaria with the goal of removing Borisov's cabinet and Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev from office.
• * COVID-19 pandemic: Thousands of people rally outside the House of the National Assembly of Serbia in Belgrade in response to stricter lockdown measures proposed by President Aleksandar Vučić following an increase of cases in the city.
• July 8
• * COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 12 million worldwide.
• * At least 180 bodies are found in mass graves in Djibo, Burkina Faso, where soldiers are fighting jihadists. It is suspected that the government forces were involved in mass extrajudicial executions.
• July 10
• * The ECB accepts Bulgaria and Croatia into ERM II, a mandatory stage for countries wishing to adopt the euro. This is the currency union's first major expansion in half a decade.
• * Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan orders the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to be reverted to a mosque following a supreme court annulment of a 1934 presidential decree that made it into a museum.
• July 12 - China reports 141 dead or missing in floods since June; 28,000 homes have been damaged.
• July 14 - The U.S. government passes the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.
• July 15 - The Twitter accounts of prominent political figures, CEOs, and celebrities are hacked to promote a bitcoin scam.
• July 18 - COVID-19 pandemic: The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 600,000.
• July 19 - Flooding of the Brahmaputra River kills 189 and leaves 4 million homeless in India and Nepal.
• July 21 - COVID-19 pandemic: European leaders agree to create a €750 billion recovery fund to rebuild EU economies impacted by the pandemic.
• July 22 - COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 15 million worldwide.
• July 25 - COVID-19 pandemic: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convenes an emergency meeting, declares a state of emergency, and orders the lockdown of Kaesong after a person suspected of having COVID-19 returned from South Korea. If confirmed, it would be the first case to be officially acknowledged by North Korea.
• July 30 - NASA successfully launches its Mars 2020 rover mission to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples for return to Earth. The mission includes technology demonstrations to prepare for future human missions.

  August

Predicted and scheduled events

Scheduled

• October 4 – 2020 New Caledonian independence referendum.
• November 3 – 2020 U.S. presidential election.
• December 6 – 2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election.
• December 14 – Total solar eclipse.
• December 31 – Following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union, the current transition period for negotiations on a future relationship is set to expire on this date.

  Date unknown

• Earliest year that power aboard the space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is expected to terminate.
• China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and the European Union's Galileo are scheduled to be fully operational.
• The African Central Bank is expected to be completed.
• The supposed deadline for a 2014 deal between Liberia and Norway to pay the impoverished country US$150 million to stop deforestation by 2020. However, subsequent review by watchdog groups suggests that the policies put into place may have accelerated deforestation.
• Egypt, which has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the world, was expected to eradicate the disease by 2020 after an ambitious nationwide campaign against it.
• The New Administrative Capital of Egypt was expected to be completed.
• Croatia is expected to join the Schengen area.

  Births

• May 10 – Prince Charles of Luxembourg

  Deaths

January

• January 1 – David Stern, American businessman and NBA commissioner
• January 2 – John Baldessari, American conceptual artist
• January 3
• * Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi-Iranian military commander
• * Qasem Soleimani, Iranian general
• January 5
• * Anri Jergenia, 4th Prime Minister of Abkhazia
• * Hans Tilkowski, German football goalkeeper and manager
• January 6 – Luís Morais, Brazilian football player
• January 7
• * Khamis Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabian footballer
• * Silvio Horta, American screenwriter and television producer
• * Neil Peart, Canadian drummer and lyricist
• * Elizabeth Wurtzel, American writer and journalist
• January 8
• * Edd Byrnes, American actor
• * Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter and television producer
• * Infanta Pilar de Borbón, Spanish royal
• January 9 – Mike Resnick, American science fiction author
• January 10
• * Neda Arnerić, Serbian film actress
• * Guido Messina, Italian racing cyclist
• * Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman
• January 12 – Roger Scruton, British philosopher and writer
• January 13 – Isabel-Clara Simó, Spanish journalist and writer
• January 15
• * Rocky Johnson, Canadian professional wrestler
• * Christopher Tolkien, British academic and editor
• January 16 – Efraín Sánchez, Colombian footballer and manager
• January 17
• * Pietro Anastasi, Italian footballer
• * Derek Fowlds, English actor
• January 19
• * Jimmy Heath, American jazz saxophonist
• * Shin Kyuk-ho, South Korean businessman
• January 21
• * Hédi Baccouche, 6th Prime Minister of Tunisia
• * Terry Jones, Welsh actor and comedian
• * Tengiz Sigua, 2nd Prime Minister of Georgia
• * Theodor Wagner, Austrian footballer and manager
• January 23
• * Jim Lehrer, American journalist, novelist and screenwriter
• * Gudrun Pausewang, German writer
• January 24
• * Duje Bonačić, Croatian rower
• * Juan José Pizzuti, Argentine footballer and manager
• * Rob Rensenbrink, Dutch footballer
• January 26
• * Kobe Bryant, American professional basketball player
• * Louis Nirenberg, Canadian-American mathematician
• January 28 – Nicholas Parsons, English radio and TV presenter
• January 30 – Jörn Donner, Finnish writer, film director and politician
• January 31
• * Mary Higgins Clark, American novelist
• * Janez Stanovnik, 12th President of SR of Slovenia

  February

• February 1 – Andy Gill, English musician
• February 2 – Mike Moore, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• February 3 – George Steiner, French-American literary critic and essayist
• February 4
• * José Luis Cuerda, Spanish filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
• * Daniel arap Moi, 2nd President of Kenya
• February 5
• * Stanley Cohen, American Nobel biochemist
• * Kirk Douglas, American actor, director and producer
• February 6 – Jhon Jairo Velásquez, Colombian hitman and drug dealer
• February 7
• * Orson Bean, American actor, comedian and producer
• * Li Wenliang, Chinese ophthalmologist
• * Nexhmije Pagarusha, Albanian singer and actress
• February 8 – Robert Conrad, American actor
• February 9 – Mirella Freni, Italian soprano
• February 11 – Joseph Shabalala, South African musician
• February 12
• * Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster
• * Geert Hofstede, Dutch social psychologist
• February 13 – Rajendra K. Pachauri, Indian scientist
• February 14 – Lynn Cohen, American actress
• February 15 – Caroline Flack, English presenter
• February 16
• * Zoe Caldwell, Australian actress
• * Harry Gregg, Northern Irish footballer
• * Larry Tesler, American computer scientist
• February 17
• * Mário da Graça Machungo, 1st Prime Minister of Mozambique
• * Kizito Mihigo, Rwandan gospel singer, organist and peace activist
• * Andrew Weatherall, English music DJ and producer
• February 18
• * José Bonaparte, Argentine paleontologist
• * Sonja Ziemann, German actress
• February 22 – Kiki Dimoula, Greek poet
• February 24
• * Clive Cussler, American author
• * Katherine Johnson, American mathematician
• * Diana Serra Cary, American child actress
• * Jahn Teigen, Norwegian singer
• February 25
• * Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher
• * Hosni Mubarak, 41st Prime Minister and 4th President of Egypt
• * Dmitry Yazov, Soviet and Russian marshal
• February 26 – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician
• February 28 – Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician
• February 29 – Éva Székely, Hungarian swimmer, Olympic champion

  March

• March 1
• * Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan poet and priest
• * Jack Welch, American business executive and writer
• March 2
• * James Lipton, American writer, lyricist and actor
• * Ulay, German performance artist
• March 3 – Stanisław Kania, Polish politician, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party
• March 4
• * Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 137th Prime Minister of Peru and 5th United Nations Secretary-General
• * Robert Shavlakadze, Georgian high jumper
• March 6
• * Henri Richard, Canadian Hall of Fame ice hockey player
• * McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
• March 8 – Max von Sydow, Swedish-French actor
• March 9 – Richard K. Guy, British mathematician
• March 11
• *Charles Wuorinen, American composer
• * Michel Roux, French chef and restaurateur
• March 12 – Tonie Marshall, French-American actress, screenwriter, and film director
• March 13 – Dana Zátopková, Czech javelin thrower
• March 14 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and occultist
• March 15 – Vittorio Gregotti, Italian architect
• March 16 – Stuart Whitman, American actor
• March 17
• * Eduard Limonov, Russian writer, poet, publicist, and political dissident
• * Roger Mayweather, American professional boxer and trainer
• * Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, Acting President of Guinea-Bissau
• * Betty Williams, Northern Ireland Nobel peace activist
• March 18
• * Catherine Hamlin, Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist
• * Joaquín Peiró, Spanish football player
• * Alfred Worden, American astronaut
• March 19 – Peter Whittingham, English footballer
• March 20
• * Amadeo Carrizo, Argentine footballer
• * Kenny Rogers, American country singer and songwriter
• March 21 – Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish sports executive
• March 23
• * Lucia Bosè, Italian actress and beauty pageant winner
• * Branko Cikatić, Croatian kickboxer
• March 24
• * Manu Dibango, Cameroonian saxophonist
• * Stuart Gordon, American film director
• * Terrence McNally, American playwright
• * Albert Uderzo, French comic book artist
• March 25 – Inna Makarova, Soviet and Russian actress
• March 26
• * Princess María Teresa of Bourbon-Parma, Spanish-French royal
• * Michel Hidalgo, French footballer and manager
• March 27 – Hamed Karoui, 7th Prime Minister of Tunisia
• March 29
• *Philip W. Anderson, American Nobel physicist
• * Yuri Bondarev, Soviet and Russian writer and screenwriter
• * Ken Shimura, Japanese comedian
• * Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
• March 30
• * Manolis Glezos, Greek politician and resistance fighter
• * Hau Pei-tsun, 13th Premier of the Republic of China
• * Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter
• * Joachim Yhombi-Opango, 4th President and 12th Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo
• March 31
• *Abdul Halim Khaddam, Acting President of Syria
• * Wallace Roney, American jazz trumpeter

  April

• April 1
• *Nur Hassan Hussein, 12th Prime Minister of Somalia
• * Ellis Marsalis Jr., American jazz pianist
• * Adam Schlesinger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• April 4 – Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero, 31st President of Honduras
• April 5
• * Honor Blackman, English actress
• * Margaret Burbidge, English-born American astrophysicist
• * Shirley Douglas, Canadian actress and civil rights activist
• * Mahmoud Jibril, former Prime Minister of Libya
• * Pentti Linkola, Finnish deep ecologist and writer
• April 6
• * Radomir Antić, Serbian football manager and player
• * James Drury, American actor
• April 7
• * Allen Garfield, American actor
• * John Prine, American singer-songwriter
• April 8 – Valeriu Muravschi, 1st Prime Minister of Moldova
• April 10
• * Enrique Múgica, Spanish politician
• * Nobuhiko Obayashi, Japanese filmmaker
• April 11
• *John Horton Conway, English mathematician
• * Edem Kodjo, 3rd Prime Minister of Togo
• April 12
• *Peter Bonetti, English footballer
• * Stirling Moss, English F1 driver
• * Chung Won-shik, 21st Prime Minister of South Korea
• * Keiji Fujiwara, Japanese voice actor
• *Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comic performer
• April 13
• *Ryo Kawasaki, Japanese jazz fusion guitarist and composer
• * Landelino Lavilla, Spanish politician
• April 15
• *Allen Daviau, American cinematographer
• *Brian Dennehy, American actor
• *Lee Konitz, American jazz composer and alto saxophonist
• April 16
• * Christophe, French singer and songwriter
• * Gene Deitch, American-Czech animator and film director
• * Howard Finkel, American wrestling ring announcer
• * Luis Sepúlveda, Chilean writer
• April 17 – Norman Hunter, English international footballer
• April 19 – Philippe Nahon, French actor
• April 21
• * Abdurrahim El-Keib, Acting Prime Minister of Libya
• * Laisenia Qarase, 6th Prime Minister of Fiji
• * Florian Schneider, German electronic musician
• April 22
• * Hartwig Gauder, German Olympic champion
• * Shirley Knight, American actress
• April 25 – Per Olov Enquist, Swedish author
• April 26 – Giulietto Chiesa, Italian journalist and politician
• April 27
• * Dragutin Zelenović, 1st Prime Minister of Serbia
• * Eavan Boland, Irish poet, author and academic
• April 28
• * Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian scientist
• * Michael Robinson, English-Irish footballer and TV commentator
• April 29
• * Trevor Cherry, English footballer
• * Denis Goldberg, South African social campaigner
• * Yahya Hassan, Danish poet and political activist
• * Irrfan Khan, Indian actor
• * Jānis Lūsis, Latvian Olympic champion
• * Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, 80th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
• * Maj Sjöwall, Swedish writer
• April 30
• * Tony Allen, Nigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter
• * Rishi Kapoor, Indian actor
• * Sam Lloyd, American actor, singer, and musician

  May

• May 1 – Tun Tin, 6th Prime Minister of Burma
• May 2 – Idir, Algerian singer
• May 3 – John Ericson, German-born American actor
• May 4 – Michael McClure, American poet and playwright
• May 5 – Millie Small, Jamaican singer-songwriter
• May 8 – Roy Horn, German-American magician
• May 9 – Little Richard, American musician
• May 10 – Betty Wright, American soul singer
• May 11 – Jerry Stiller, American comedian
• May 12
• * Renato Corti, Italian cardinal
• * Sisavath Keobounphanh, 13th Prime Minister of Laos
• * Astrid Kirchherr, German photographer and artist
• * Michel Piccoli, French actor, producer and film director
• May 13
• * Rolf Hochhuth, German author and playwright
• * Chedli Klibi, 4th Secretary General of the Arab League
• May 15
• *Ezio Bosso, Italian composer, classical musician and conductor
• *Lynn Shelton, American filmmaker
• *Fred Willard, American actor and comedian
• May 16 – Julio Anguita, Spanish politician
• May 17
• *José Cutileiro, 8th Secretary General of the Western Europe Union
• * Shad Gaspard, American professional wrestler and actor
• May 19 – Ravi Zacharias, Indian-born Canadian-American Christian apologist
• May 20
• * Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest
• * Gianfranco Terenzi, former Captain Regent of San Marino
• May 21 – Oliver E. Williamson, American Nobel economist
• May 22
• *Ashley Cooper, Australian tennis player
• * Mory Kanté, Guinean singer and musician
• * Luigi Simoni, Italian football player and manager
• * Jerry Sloan, American basketball player and head coach
• * Miljan Mrdaković, Serbian football player
• May 23
• * Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler
• * Alberto Alesina, Italian economist and university professor
• May 24 – Jimmy Cobb, American jazz drummer
• May 25
• * Hyun Soong-jong, 22nd Prime Minister of South Korea
• * Balbir Singh Sr., Indian field hockey player and manager
• * Vadão, Brazilian football manager
• May 26 – Stanley Ho, Hong Kong-Macau business magnate, investor and philanthropist
• May 27 – Larry Kramer, American author and LGBT rights activist
• May 28 – Lennie Niehaus, American saxophonist and composer
• May 29 – Abderrahmane Youssoufi, 12th Prime Minister of Morocco
• May 30
• *Yawovi Agboyibo, 8th Prime Minister of Togo
• *Bobby Morrow, American athlete
• May 31 – Christo, Bulgarian-American artist

  June

• June 2
• * Mary Pat Gleason, American actress
• * Carlo Ubbiali, Italian motorcycle road racer
• * Wes Unseld, American basketball player and coach
• June 3 – Abdelmalek Droukdel, Algerian Islamic militant
• June 4
• *Marcello Abbado, Italian composer and pianist
• *Basu Chatterjee, Indian film director and screenwriter
• *Pete Rademacher, American Olympic heavyweight boxing champion
• June 5 – Boris Gaganelov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
• June 8
• * Tony Dunne, Irish footballer
• * Pierre Nkurunziza, 8th President of Burundi
• June 9
• * Pau Donés, Spanish singer songwriter and guitarist
• * Ödön Földessy, Hungarian long jumper
• June 11
• *Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, 10th Prime Minister of Gabon
• *Dennis O'Neil, American comic book writer
• *Rosa Maria Sardà, Spanish actress
• June 13
• *Dick Garmaker, American basketball player
• *Jean Raspail, French author and explorer
• June 14
• *Aarón Padilla Gutiérrez, Mexican footballer
• *Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian actor
• *Keith Tippett, British pianist and composer
• June 16 – Edén Pastora, Nicaraguan politician and guerrilla
• June 17
• * Marlene Ahrens, Chilean athlete
• * György Kárpáti, Hungarian water polo player
• * Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat
• June 18
• * Tibor Benedek, Hungarian water polo player
• * Arturo Chaires, Mexican footballer
• * Vera Lynn, English singer
• * Jules Sedney, 5th Prime Minister of Suriname
• June 19
• * Mario Corso, Italian football player
• * Ian Holm, English actor
• * Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish novelist
• June 20 – Ema Derossi-Bjelajac, 6th President of the Presidency of the SR of Croatia
• June 21
• * Ahmed Radhi, Iraqi footballer and manager
• * Zeev Sternhell, Polish-born Israeli historian and political scientist
• June 22
• * Pierino Prati, Italian footballer
• * Joel Schumacher, American film director
• June 24 – Marc Fumaroli, French historian and essayist
• June 26
• *Kelly Asbury, American film director and animator
• * Milton Glaser, American graphic designer
• June 27
• * Belaid Abdessalam, 7th Prime Minister of Algeria
• * Linda Cristal, Argentine actress
• * Freddy Cole, American jazz singer and pianist
• * Ilija Petković, Serbian footballer and manager
• June 28
• * Rudolfo Anaya, American author
• * Marián Čišovský, Slovak footballer
• June 29
• * Johnny Mandel, American composer
• * Carl Reiner, American actor, film director and comedian
• June 30 – Ida Haendel, Polish-born English violinist

  July

• July 1
• * Hugh Downs, American broadcaster and television personality
• * Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, 15th Prime Minister of Madagascar
• * Georg Ratzinger, German priest and conductor
• * Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer
• July 2 – Nikolai Kapustin, Soviet and Russian composer and pianist
• July 3
• * Earl Cameron, Bermudian-born British actor
• * Saroj Khan, Indian choreographer
• * Ardico Magnini, Italian footballer
• July 5
• * Nick Cordero, Canadian actor
• * Willi Holdorf, German athlete and Olympic champion
• * Volodymyr Troshkin, Soviet and Ukrainian footballer
• July 6
• * Charlie Daniels, American country singer-songwriter and musician
• * Ronald Graham, American mathematician
• * Ennio Morricone, Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor
• July 8
• * Amadou Gon Coulibaly, 10th Prime Minister of Ivory Coast
• * Finn Christian Jagge, Norwegian alpine skier and Olympic champion
• * Alex Pullin, Australian Olympic snowboarder
• * Naya Rivera, American actress, model and singer
• July 9
• * Miloš Jakeš, 5th General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
• * Park Won-soon, South Korean politician
• July 10
• * Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager
• * Paik Sun-yup, South Korean military officer
• * Lara van Ruijven, Dutch short track speed skater
• July 12
• * Hassan Abshir Farah, 9th Prime Minister of Somalia
• * Kelly Preston, American actress and model
• * Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer
• *Lajos Szűcs, Hungarian footballer
• July 13
• * Grant Imahara, American electrical engineer, roboticist, and television host
• * Hasan al-Lawzi, Acting Prime Minister of Yemen
• * Zindzi Mandela, South African politician and diplomat
• July 15 - Toke Talagi, 5th Premier of Niue
• July 16 – Phyllis Somerville, American actress
• July 17
• * Zenon Grocholewski, Polish Roman Catholic cardinal
• * Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballet dancer
• * John Lewis, American civil-rights leader and politician
• * Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
• * Ron Tauranac, British-Australian engineer and racing car designer
• July 18
• * Juan Marsé, Spanish novelist, journalist and screenwriter
• * Haruma Miura, Japanese actor
• July 19
• * Seydou Diarra, 4th Prime Minister of Ivory Coast
• * Nikolai Tanayev, 8th Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan
• July 20 – Lone Dybkjær, Danish politician
• July 21
• * Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Spanish philologist
• * Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress
• * Tim Smith, English singer, songwriter and producer
• July 23 – Jean Brankart, Belgian racing cyclist
• July 24
• * Ben Jipcho, Kenyan athlete, Olympic silver medallist
• * Benjamin Mkapa, 3rd President of Tanzania
• * Regis Philbin, American actor, singer, and media personality
• July 25
• * Peter Green, English blues rock singer-songwriter
• * John Saxon, American actor
• July 26
• * Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress
• *Hans-Jochen Vogel, German lawyer and politician
• July 27 – Owen Arthur, 5th Prime Minister of Barbados
• July 28
• * Bent Fabric, Danish pianist and composer
• * Gisèle Halimi, Tunisian-French lawyer and feminist
• July 30
• * Herman Cain, American businessman and politician
• * Lee Teng-hui, 13th President of the Republic of China
• July 31 – Alan Parker, English filmmaker

  August

In fiction