2006

2006 ( MMVI ) was a common year that started on a Sunday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 2006th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 6th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 7th of the 2000s decade.

2006 has been designated as:

• International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
• International Asperger's Year.
• Year of Mozart, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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 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 seven and injures five 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, seriously injuring one.
• 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 27 – Manuel Zelaya becomes President of Honduras.
• January 28 – Trade hall roof collapses in Katowice, Poland, killing 66 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.
• February 4 – The Wowowee stampede at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, Philippines kills 74 people and leaves 600 injured.
• February 5 – Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Seattle Seahawks 21–10
• February 6 - Stephen Harper is sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister. He is the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
• 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 – 20 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 14 - Penumbral lunar eclipse
• March 15 –26 – The 2006 Commonwealth Games take place in Melbourne, Australia.
• March 16 – The Blu-ray Disc format is released in the United States
• 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 29 - Total solar eclipse
• 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 56 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 at least 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