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 Anno Domini designation, the 6th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 7th of the 2000s decade.

2006 was designated the:

• 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 – Russia cuts natural gas to Ukraine over a price dispute.
• January 4 - Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel, suffers a severe stroke and cerebral hemorrhage; he is rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
• January 5 – A hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia collapses, killing 76 pilgrims visiting to perform Hajj.
• 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 15 – NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.
• 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.

February

• 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 10–February 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.

March

• March 4 – The final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 receives no response.
• 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 28 – A scramjet jet engine, Hyshot III, designed to fly at 7 times the speed of sound, is successfully tested at Woomera, South Australia.

April

• April 5 – A swan with Avian Flu is discovered in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland (the first case in the United Kingdom).
• April 10 – A fire at the Brand India Fair, Victoria Park, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, kills at least 100.
• April 11
  • The European Space Agency's Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit.
  • President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of low-grade enriched uranium.
• 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.

May

• May – Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence, in Nature .
• 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 29 - Sidoarjo mud flow - World's biggest mud volcano was created by the blowout of a natural gas well being drilled in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia. This has resulted in displacement of more than 11,000 persons from eight villages as well as damage to road and power infrastructures. Several (Twenty-five) factories were also abandoned.

June

• June 3 – Montenegro declares independence after a May 21 referendum. The state union of Serbia and Montenegro is dissolved on June 5, leaving Serbia as the successor state.
• June 9 – July 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup begins in Germany.
• June 18 – The first Kazakh space satellite KazSat is launched.
• June 28 – Operation Summer Rains: Israel launches an offensive against militants in Gaza.

July

• July 1 – The Qingzang railway launches a trial operation, making Tibet the last province-level entity of China to have a conventional railway.
• July 6 – The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
• July 9
  • Italy wins their fourth FIFA World Cup title.
  • 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.

August

• August 11 – A resolution to end the 2006 Lebanon War is unanimously accepted by the United Nations Security Council.
• August 22
  • Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing 171 people, including 45 children.
  • The ICM awards Grigori Perelman the Fields Medal for proving the Poincare conjecture, one of 7 Millennium Prize Problems; Perelman refuses the medal.
• 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.

September

• 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 29 – Gol Flight 1907 (Boeing 737-800) collides with a business jet over the Amazon Rainforest, killing all 155 onboard.

October

• October 9 – North Korea claims to have conducted its first-ever nuclear test.
• October 13 – South Korean Ban Ki-moon is elected as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• October 29 – Aviation Development Company Flight 53 crashes shortly after takeoff in Nigeria killing 96 people.

November

• November 2 – No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock becomes the most expensive painting after it was sold privately at $140 million.
• November 5 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
• November 8 - Mercury transits the sun. It is visible from the Americas, Eastern China, Japan, Australia, and Polynesia.
• 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 23 – A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kill at least 215 people and injure 257 other people.
• 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 5 – The military seizes power in Fiji, in a coup d'état led by Commodore Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama.
• December 13 – The Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji becomes extinct.
• December 24 – Ethiopia admits its troops have intervened in Somalia.
• December 26 – An oil pipeline explodes in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, killing at least 200 people.
• December 30 – Basque nationalist group ETA detonates a van bomb at Madrid-Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, ending a nine-month ceasefire.

Births

• September 6 – Prince Hisahito of Akishino, son of Kiko, Princess Akishino and Prince Akishino

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2006

January

• January 3 – Bill Skate, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
• January 4 – Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1946)
• January 6 – Lou Rawls, American singer (b. 1933)
• January 7 – Heinrich Harrer, mountaineer, explorer and author (b. 1912)
• January 14 – Shelley Winters, American actress (b. 1920)
• January 15 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
• January 19 – Wilson Pickett, American singer (b. 1941)
• January 21 – Ibrahim Rugova, first President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
• January 24 – Chris Penn, American actor (b. 1965)
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