Editing 1979 (section)

===July===
{{main|July 1979}}
[[File:Flag of Kiribati.svg|thumb|[[12 July]]: Kiribati becomes independent]]
* [[July 1]]
** [[Sweden]] becomes the first country to outlaw [[corporal punishment in the home]].
** The [[Sony Walkman]] goes on sale for the first time in Japan.
* [[July 3]] – U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in [[Afghanistan]].
* [[July 5]] – Queen [[Elizabeth II]] attends the millennium celebrations of the [[Isle of Man]]'s Parliament, [[Tynwald]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494861.stm|title=1979: Queen oversees Manx millennium|work=On This Day|publisher=BBC|access-date=2008-01-27|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307131708/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494861.stm|archive-date=March 7, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[July 8]] – Los Angeles passes its gay and lesbian civil rights bill.
* [[July 9]] – A car bomb destroys a [[Renault]] owned by Nazi hunters [[Serge and Beate Klarsfeld]] at their home in France. A note purportedly from [[ODESSA]] claims responsibility.
* [[July 11]] – [[NASA]]'s first orbiting space station, ''[[Skylab]]'', begins falling back [[Earth]] as its orbit decays after more than six years.
* [[July 12]]
** The [[Gilbert Islands]] become fully independent of the United Kingdom as [[Kiribati]].
** A ''[[Disco Demolition Night]]'' publicity stunt goes awry at [[Comiskey Park]], forcing the [[Chicago White Sox]] to [[Forfeit (baseball)|forfeit]] their game against the [[Detroit Tigers]].
** [[Carmine Galante]], boss of the [[Bonanno crime family]], is assassinated in [[Brooklyn]].
** A [[Hotel Corona de Aragón fire|fire at a hotel]] in [[Zaragoza]], Spain, leaves 72 dead, the worst hotel fire in Europe in decades.
* [[July 15]] – President Jimmy Carter addresses the nation in a televised speech talking about the "crisis of confidence in America today"; it would go on to be known as his "national malaise" speech.
* [[July 16]] – [[Iraq]]i President [[Hasan al-Bakr]] resigns and Vice President [[Saddam al-Tikriti]], more commonly referred to in the Western press as "Saddam Hussein", assumes the presidency.
* [[July 17]] – [[Nicaragua]]n president General [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle]] resigns and flees to [[Miami]].
* [[July 18]] – Over 500 people die after a [[1979 Lembata tsunami|tsunami occurs on Lembata Island]], triggered by a landslide on the Iliwerung volcano.<ref name="ngdcTS1">{{cite web |title=Tsunami Event Information |url=https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/event-more-info/2115 |publisher=National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service: NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information|doi=10.7289/V5PN93H7 |access-date=29 June 2024 |author1=National Geophysical Data Center }}</ref>
* [[July 21]]
** The [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] concludes a successful revolutionary campaign against the Somoza dynasty and assumes power in [[Nicaragua]].
** [[Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo]] becomes prime minister of Portugal.
** [[Maritza Sayalero]] of [[Venezuela]] wins the [[Miss Universe 1979|Miss Universe]] pageant; the stage collapses after contestants and news photographers rush to her throne.
** The [[disco]] music genre dominates and peaks on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart, with the first six spots (beginning with [[Donna Summer]]'s ''[[Bad Girls (Donna Summer song)|Bad Girls]]''), and seven of the chart's top ten songs ending that week.
* [[July 22]] – [[1979 Ba'ath Party Purge]]: [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraqi]] president [[Saddam Hussein]] arranges the arrest and later execution of nearly seventy members of his ruling [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Ba'ath Party]].
* [[July 28]] – [[Morarji Desai]] resigns as India's prime minister and [[Charan Singh]] succeeds him.