About As_of_2006
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
2006 was designated as:
Events
January
- January 1 - Sydney, Australia, has its warmest day on record, when the city reaches 45°C (113°F).
- January 1 - Russia cuts natural gas to Ukraine over a price dispute.
- January 2 - The Bad Reichenhall ice rink roof in Germany collapses after heavy snowfall in the Bavarian Alps, killing 15.
- January 3 - Twelve dead coal miners and one survivor are discovered in the Sago Mine Disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia, U.S.
- January 4 - Powers are transferred from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his deputy, Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, after Sharon suffers a massive hemorrhagic stroke.
- January 5 - A hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia collapses, killing 76 pilgrims visiting to perform hajj.
- January 6 - The record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially draws to a close as Tropical Storm Zeta dissipates.
- January 7 - Embroiled in multiple scandals, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announces he will not seek to reassume his former post.
- January 7 - UK Liberal Democratic leader Charles Kennedy resigns after revelations that he has a drinking problem.
- January 8 - A magnitude 6.9 earthquake, centered off the coast of the Greek island of Kythera, shakes much of Greece and is felt throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin.
- January 9 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 (11,011.90) for the first time since June 7, 2001.
- January 11 - The Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts twice, marking its first major eruption since 1986.
- January 12 - A stampede during the Stoning of the devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 362 pilgrims.
- January 14 - A natural gas explosion in a coal mine kills eight in Romania.
- January 15 - NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.
- January 19 - A suicide bomber in Tel Aviv, Israel injures 20, one of them seriously.
- January 23 - Stephen Harper wins the federal election in Canada, forming a minority government.
- January 25 - Hamas wins the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections.
- January 25 - Pope Benedict XVI issues his first encycylical, Deus Caritas Est.
- January 27 - Celebrations are held in Salzburg and around the world, for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- January 28 - A trade hall roof collapses in Katowice, Poland, killing 65 people.
- January 31 - Samuel Alito is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
February
- February 1 - UAL Corporation, United Airlines' parent company, emerges from bankruptcy after being in that position since December 9, 2002, the longest such filing in history.
- February 3 - An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying more than 1,400 people sinks in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast.[citation needed]
- February 4 - The Wowowee stampede at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, Philippines kills 71.
- February 8 - 2006 East Timor crisis: 404 soldiers desert their barracks in East Timor.
- February 10 26- The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy.
- February 17 - A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
- February 19 - Pasta de Conchos mine disaster: Sixty-five miners die after becoming trapped underground, following an explosion in Nueva Rosita, Mexico.
- February 22 - A bomb heavily damages the Al Askari Mosque, a Shiite holy site in Samarra, Iraq.
- February 22 - Over £53.1 million is stolen during the Securitas depot robbery, the largest ever cash robbery in the United Kingdom.
- February 23 - A roof collapses on a Moscow market, killing 56 people.
- February 24 - A state of emergency is declared in the Philippines, after an alleged coup d'état against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is foiled.
- February 25 - Police officers and protesters in Dublin, Ireland are injured when a protest prior to the Love Ulster parade turns into a major riot.
- February 25 - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wins his second re-election, sparking riots in Kampala by opposition supporters.
March
- March 4 - The final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 receives no response.
- March 6 - 20 - The first World Baseball Classic is held in San Diego, California, U.S.A..
- March 7 - Fifteen people die and many others are injured in 3 blasts throughout Varanasi, India.
- March 9 - NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water.
- March 10 - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit.
- March 11 - Slobodan Milošević is found dead in his cell in the UN war crimes tribunal's detention centre, located in the Scheveningen section of The Hague.
- March 15–26 - The 2006 Commonwealth Games take place in Melbourne, Australia.
- March 17 - The United States strikes its 2 remaining Iowa-class battleships from the Naval Vessel Register, ending the age of the battleship.
- March 22 - ETA declares a permanent ceasefire in their campaign for Basque independence from Spain.
- March 22 - The Federal Reserve stops the publishing of M3 money supply data.
- March 25 - A scramjet jet engine, Hyshot III, designed to fly at 7 times the speed of sound, is successfully tested at Woomera, South Australia.
- March 25 - Seven die in the Capitol Hill Massacre in Seattle, Washington.
- March 30 - The first Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes, goes into space in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-8, at 2:29:00 CET.
- March 30 - The al-Dana capsizes off the coast of Bahrain, killing at least 48 people.
April
- April 5 - A swan with Avian Flu is discovered in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland (the first case in the United Kingdom).
- April 8 - The bodies of 8 murdered men are found in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario.
- April 9 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is removed from office after 4 months in a coma.
- April 10 - The Brand India Fair Victoria Park fire at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, kills 100.
- April 11 - The European Space Agency's Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit.
- April 11 - President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of low-grade enriched uranium.
- April 16 - Albert II, Prince of Monaco, reaches the North Pole, becoming the first reigning monarch ever to do so.
- April 16 - Ireland commemorates the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising for the first time since 1971.
- April 17 - An Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv kills 9 people and injures dozens.
- April 20 - Iran announces a deal with Russia, involving a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil; 9 days later Iran announces that it will not move all activity to Russia, thus leading to a de-facto termination of the deal.
- April 22 - Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometers north of Kandahar, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb (the worst one-day combat loss for the Canadian army since the Korean War).
- April 24 - Three explosions in a tourist section of Dahab, Egypt kill 30 and injure over 115.[citation needed]
- April 25 - The Beaconsfield mine collapse occurs in Tasmania, Australia.
- April 29 - Massive anti-war demonstrations and a march down Broadway in New York City mark the third year of war in Iraq.[citation needed]
- April 29 - The Global Night Commute takes place in over 130 cities around the world, to promote the visibility of the Invisible Children in Uganda.
May
- May 1 - Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalizes his nation's gas fields.
- May 1 - The Great American Boycott takes place across the United States as marchers protest for immigration rights.
- May 5 - Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne announces that the Alfa Romeo automobile brand will return to the United States in 2008, after a 13-year hiatus.
- May 9 - Beaconsfield mine collapse: After 14 days trapped underground, miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb are rescued in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
- May 24 - East Timor's Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta officially requests military assistance from the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal.
- May 27 - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes central Java in Indonesia, killing more than 6,000, injuring at least 36,000 and leaving some 1.5 million people homeless.
- May 27 - The first demonstration for gay rights in Moscow is broken up by the police.
June
July
- July 1 - The Qinghai-Tibet Railway launches a trial operation, connecting China proper and Tibet for the first time.
- July 4 - STS-121: Space Shuttle Discovery is launched to the International Space Station. It returns safely on July 17. It is the second return to flight mission after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
- July 5 - North Korea test fires missiles, timed with the liftoff of Discovery, preceding the fireworks celebrations that night in America. The long range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails shortly after takeoff.
- July 6 - The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
- July 9 - S7 Airlines Flight 778 crashes into a concrete barrier shortly after landing, killing at least 122 people and leaving many injured.
- July 10 - Pakistan International Airlines Flight 688 crashes in Multan, Pakistan shortly after takeoff.
- July 11 - A series of coordinated bomb attacks strikes several commuter trains in Mumbai, India during the evening rush hour.
- July 12 - 2006 Lebanon War: Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing 3. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel 2 days later.
- July 18 - The SS Nomadic, the last floating link to Titanic, returns home to a large reception in Belfast.
- July 31 - Cuban president Fidel Castro temporarily relinquishes power to his brother Raúl before surgery.
August
- August 10 - London Metropolitan Police make 21 arrests in connection to an apparent terrorist plot that involved aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States. Liquids and gels are banned from checked and carry-on baggage.
- August 11 - A resolution to end the 2006 Lebanon War is unanimously accepted by the United Nations Security Council.
- August 14 - A UN cease fire takes effect in the 2006 Lebanon War.
- August 22 - Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing 171 people, including 45 children.
- August 22 - The ICM awards Grigori Perelman the Fields Medal for proving the Poincare conjecture, one of 7 Millennium Prize Problems; Perelman refuses the medal.
- August 23 - In Austria, Natascha Kampusch manages to escape after being kidnapped 8 years ago by Wolfgang Priklopil, who locked her up in his cellar. Priklopil commits suicide by throwing himself in front of a train.
- August 24 - The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at its 26th General Assembly, demoting Pluto to the status of 'dwarf planet' more than 70 years after its discovery.
- August 27 - Comair Flight 5191, carrying 50 people, crashes shortly after take off from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky.
- August 28 - A Greyhound Lines bus from New York City to Montreal, carrying 52 people, crashes at mile 115 on Interstate 87 near Elizabethtown, killing 5 people (including the driver) and seriously injuring others.
- August 31 - Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna are recovered in a police raid in Oslo, Norway.
September
- September 1 - A fire kills 29 of 148 aboard an Iran Air Tours Tu-154M aircraft after the plane lands in Mashhad, Iran.
- September 2 - A Nimrod MR2 based at RAF Kinloss, Scotland, crashes in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, due to a technical fault. All 14 crew onboard are killed.
- September 12 - A stampede at a rally in Yemen leaves 41 dead.[citation needed]
- September 12 - Pope Benedict XVI gives a lecture in Germany; he quotes a criticism of the Islamic faith, sparking mass protests.
- September 13 - The solar system's largest dwarf planet, designated until now as 2003 UB313, is officially named "Eris"; its satellite is now known as "Dysnomia".
- September 15 - Spinach contaminated with E. coli kills 2 and poisons over 100 others in 20 states of the United States.
- September 16 - Five churches are attacked in Palestinian areas following the Pope's comments on Islam.[citation needed]
- September 17 - Protests start near the Hungarian Parliament.
- September 19 - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand declares a state of emergency in Bangkok as members of the Royal Thai Army stage a coup d'état. The army announces the removal of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power.
- September 22 - A Transrapid Maglev train crashes into a maintenance vehicle on a test track in Germany, killing 23 and injuring 10; it is the first recorded fatal accident involving a Maglev.
- September 29 - Gol Flight 1907 (Boeing 737-800) collides with a business jet over the Amazon Rainforest, killing all 154 onboard.
October
North Korean nuclear test
November
- November 5 - Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein and 2 of his senior allies are sentenced to death by hanging, after an Iraqi court finds them guilty of crimes against humanity.
- November 8 - Margaret Chan is elected as the Director-General of the World Health Organization.
- November 8 - A transit of Mercury occurs.
- November 12 - The former Soviet republic of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
- November 15 - Al Jazeera launches its English language news channel, Al Jazeera English.
- November 16 - Rioting in Nukuʻalofa, the capital of Tonga, destroys approx. 80% of the CBD; 8 bodies found and foreign forces requested.
- November 20 - Iran and Syria recognize the government of Iraq, restore diplomatic relations, and call for a peace conference.
- November 21 - Pierre Amine Gemayel, Lebanon's Minister of Industry, is assassinated in Beirut.
- November 21 - A gas explosion in the coal mine Halemba in Ruda Slaska, Poland, kills 23 miners approximately 1,000 meters below ground.
- November 22 - The Kolkata leather factory fire traps and kills 10 in India.
- November 23 - A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kill at least 215 people and injure 257 others.
- November 30 - Typhoon Durian triggers a massive mudslide and kills at least 720 people in Albay province on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
December
- December 1 - Felipe Calderón takes office as President of Mexico.
- December 1 - The 15th Asian Games start in Doha, Qatar; the closing ceremony takes place on December 15.
- December 2 - In Rome, about 2 million people, led by opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi, demonstrate against Romano Prodi's government.
- December 2 - Stéphane Dion is elected the new Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, on the fourth ballot.
- December 3 - Ed Stelmach is elected the new Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Alberta, after the second ballot results, and second choice votes for Ted Morton have been added up. Ed becomes the Premier-designate of Alberta.
- December 3 - Hugo Chávez is re-elected President of Venezuela.
- December 3 - Germany's tallest chimney is demolished by explosion at the former Westerholt Power Station.
- December 5 - The military seizes power in Fiji, in a coup d'état led by Commodore Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama.
- December 7 - Smoking is banned in all Ohio bars, restaurants, workplaces, and other public places.
- December 9 - The Moscow hospital fire kills 45 people.
- December 10 - Space Shuttle Mission STS-116: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on the first night launch since the 2003 loss of Columbia.
- December 10 - Christer Fuglesang becomes the first Swede in space.
- December 11 - The Holocaust conference is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
- December 12 - Peugeot produces their last car at the Ryton Plant, signalling the end of mass car production in a city that was once a major centre of the British motor industry; Coventry.
- December 13 - The Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji becomes extinct.
- December 13 - U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) suffers a stroke during a radio interview.
- December 14 - U.S. Spy Satellite USA 193, also known as NRO Launch 21 (NROL-21 or simply L-21), is launched and malfunctions soon
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