2007:

-President: George W. Bush (Republican, Texas)

-1st Female Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi

-Tensions grow between the US and Pakistan

-Steve Jobs announces release of the first IPhone

- Barack Obama declares his candidacy for President of the United States 

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-War in Somalia

-January: US planes air strike in Somalia against suspected terrorists

-June: US warships take over Somali village occupied by Islamic militants

-US involvement in Iraq:

-January 23, President Bush says he is committed to bringing an additional 20,000 soldiers into Iraq in his State of the Union address

-Shootings in the US:

-February: Muslim gunman Sulejman Talovic shoots and kills five people at the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah before being killed by the police, six fatalities in attack

-April: Virginia Tech Massacre, 32 people killed by gunman Seung-Hui Cho who was able to buy a gun legally, even with a history of mental illness, thus sparking national debate of gun laws

-The Mortgage Crisis:

-In April New Century Financial filed bankruptcy. This meant many world-wide major bank investments were worthless. Mortgage lending companies took a majority of the blame for the financial crash because they were giving loans to people who were unable to afford them or understand the terms of the loans.

-Stem Cell Breakthrough:

-In February scientists announced they found a way to manipulate human skin cells to to behave like embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo.