Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.

The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.

Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.

War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.

Scotland Yard disrupts a major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States.

The United States population reaches 300 million.

The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.

John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in tennis history.

Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.