The following events occurred in July 1970:
July 1, 1970 (Wednesday)
The western section of Pakistan (at the time, a nation where west and east existed on either side of northern India), formerly the province of West Pakistan, was reorganized into four sub-national provinces, each with its own provincial government, a system that has been in effect for the nation of Pakistan ever since. President Yahya Khan had announced the division on November 28 and then ordered the transition on April 1 The four provinces created were Balochistan (southwest), the North-West Frontier Province (NFWP, now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (northwest), Punjab (northeast) and Sindh (southeast). East Pakistan, which continued to be a single province, would secede less than a year later and become the nation of Bangladesh. Police in Rio de Janeiro rescued all 40 people on a hijacked jet airplane, after the four hijackers had threatened to kill passengers "one by one" if their demands to be flown to Cuba were not met. The jet had taken off from Rio on a multistop flight to Buenos Aires in Argentina, then landed back at Rio when the crew convinced the hijackers that the jet would have to refuel before its flight to Cuba. Upon arrival in Rio, local police flattened the jet's tires with machine gun fire. In a special Congressional election in California to fill the unexpired terms of two U.S. Representatives who had died in office, the voting public approved two Republican candidates who became, at the time, the only acknowledged members of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society to serve in the House. John G. Schmitz (who would run for president in 1972 for the American Independent Party) took the 35th District seat of James B. Utt, who had died of a heart attack on March 1. John H. Rousselot of the 24th District succeeded Glenard P. Lipscomb, who died of cancer on February 1.
July 2, 1970 (Thursday) Conservative Party rule began in the House of Commons after Queen Elizabeth II addressed the Commons and the House of Lords for the traditional State Opening of Parliament. The Queen spoke on the plans of Edward Heath's government for reducing taxes, reforming relations between management and labor, curbing immigration and reducing the government's intervention in business affairs. Prime Minister Heath then addressed the Commons and said that he planned to lift the ban on the sale of weapons to South Africa. Born: Derrick Adkins, American track athlete and 1996 Olympic gold medalist in 400m hurdles; in Brooklyn Spice 1 (stage name for Robert Green, Jr.), American rap artist; in Hayward, California
July 3, 1970 (Friday) All 112 people aboard Dan-Air Flight 1903 were killed when the airliner crashed into the side of a mountain at Arbucias on its approach to Barcelona. The De Havilland Comet had been chartered to take 105 passengers from northern England to Spain for a 13-day holiday vacation, and had departed Manchester earlier. The Falls curfew started in Northern Ireland as resistance to a weapons search operation by the British Army in a nationalist area of Belfast. The Provisional IRA and the official IRA also got involved. Born: Audra McDonald, American stage actress and six-time Tony Award winner; in West Berlin, West Germany Teemu Selänne, ice hockey wingman known as "The Finnish Flash", who played 21 years in the NHL; in Helsinki