2006

File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany is won by Italy; Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 crashes in the Amazon rainforest after a mid-air collision with an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet; The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake kills over 5,700 people; The IAU votes on the definition of "planet", which demotes Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects and redefines them as " dwarf planets"., 300x300px, thumb
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2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.

Events

January

* January 1–January 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 pilgrims.
* January 15 – NASA's ''Stardust'' mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.
* January 19 – NASA launches the first interplanetary space probe to Pluto, the ''New Horizons''.
* January 25 – Hamas wins the 2006 Palestinian legislative election.

February

* February 4 – Egyptian passenger ferry, , sinks in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, killing over 1,000 people.
* February 6 – Stephen Harper is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Canada.
* February 10– 26 – The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy.
* February 17 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines killing an estimated 1,126 people.
* February 22 – 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing: Explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samara, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq into a full-scale war (the Iraqi Civil War of 2006-2008).

March

* March 9 – NASA's ''Cassini–Huygens'' spacecraft announces a geyser-like emission of vapor, dust, and small ice crystals on Saturn's moon Enceladus, possibly indicating the presence of water.
* March 10 – NASA's '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' enters orbit around Mars.
* March 10 – Michelle Bachelet becomes the first female president of Chile.
* March 15 – The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the United Nations Human Rights Council.
* March 21 – Microblogging and social networking service website Twitter launched.

April

* April 4 – The Faddoul Brothers, kidnapped on 23 February 2006 in Caracas, Venezuela, are found dead, causing outrage and mass protests against insecurity in the country.
* April 11
** The European Space Agency's '' Venus Express'' spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit.
** President 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; nine 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 17 – The Human Genome Project publishes the final chromosome sequence, in ''Nature''.
* May 18– 20 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 takes place in Athens, Greece, and is won by Finnish band entrant Lordi with the song " Hard Rock Hallelujah".
* May 27 – The 6.4 Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java in Indonesia with an MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.

June

* June 3 – Montenegro declares its independence from Serbia and Montenegro after a May 21 referendum and becomes a sovereign state. Two days later, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro officially disbands after Serbia declares its independence as well, ending an 88-year union between the two states and leaving Serbia as the successor country to the union.
* June 9 – July 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup takes place in Germany; Italy defeats France in the final.
* June 28
** Israel launches an offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to rocketfire by Hamas into Israeli territory.
** The United States Armed Forces withdraws its forces in Iceland, thereby disbanding the Iceland Defense Force.

July

* July 1 – The Qinghai–Tibet railway begins operation, making Tibet the final province-level entity of China to establish a conventional railway.
* July 6 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
* July 11 – A series of seven bomb blasts hits the city of Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.
* July 12 – Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing three others. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel two days later.

August

*August 10 - News was revealed of a thwarted terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks, aboard multiple transatlantic air flights.
*August 14 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one female students are killed by Sri Lankan Air Force in an air strike.
* August 22 – Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.
* August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines ' planet' at its 26th General Assembly, removing Pluto's status as a planet and reclassifying it as a dwarf planet 76 years after its discovery. Ironically, this was in the same year when NASA sent its first probe to the celestial body.

September

* September – The MP4 Watch is available to consumers in America.
* September 7 – In the face of falling approval ratings and internal pressure from his government and party, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces his intention to resign by the end of 2007.
* September 7 – Partial lunar eclipse, visible over most of Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.
* September 19 – The Royal Thai Army overthrows the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a '' coup''.
* September 22 – Annular solar eclipse, visible in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, parts of Brazil, and the southern Atlantic.
* September 28 – Typhoon Xangsane passed Manila on its way to causing more than 300 deaths, mostly in the Philippines and Vietnam.
* September 29 – Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collides with a business jet over the Amazon rainforest, killing all 154 on board the former.

October

* October 6 – Fredrik Reinfeldt replaces Göran Persson as Prime Minister of Sweden.
* October 9
** North Korea claims to have conducted its first-ever nuclear test.
**Google purchased YouTube for US$1.65 billion.
* October 11–13 – St Andrews Agreement is held in Scotland between the British and Irish governments on devolution in Northern Ireland.
* October 13 – South Korean Ban Ki-moon is elected as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, succeeding Kofi Annan.
* October 22 – Fernando Alonso wins his second World Drivers Championship
* October (date unknown) - The Offshore MPA project is initiated.

November

* November 2 – '' No. 5, 1948'' by Jackson Pollock becomes the most expensive painting after it is sold privately for $140 million.
* November 3 – Microsoft released Office 2007 for manufacturing.
* November 5 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He is later executed by hanging for crimes against humanity on December 30.
* November 12 – The breakaway state of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
* November 18 – Gulli, a children's channel launched.
* November 22 – A toxic waste dumping incident occurs in Côte d'Ivoire by a Panama ship sent by Singaporean oil company, causing 3 deaths and the poison treatment of 1500 people.
* November 23 – A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kills at least 215 people and injure 257 other people.

December

* December 1 – WikiLeaks leaks Hassan Dahir Aweys' conspiracy to assassinate Somali government officials.
* December 5 – The military seizes power in Fiji, in a coup d'état led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
* December 11 – Felipe Calderón sends the Mexican military to combat the drug cartels and put down the violence in the state of Michoacán, initiating the Mexican Drug War.
* December 24 – Ethiopia admits its troops have intervened in Somalia.
* December 29 – UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt.
* December 30 – Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, was executed by hanging.

Undated

* Palestinian National Interest Committee is founded.

Births

* April 20 - Dean Berta Viñales, Spanish motorcycle rider (d. 2021)
* April 26 - Kamila Valieva, Russian figure skater
* April 29 – Xochitl Gomez, American actress
* June 25 – Mckenna Grace, American actress
* September 6 – Prince Hisahito of Akishino, Japanese prince
* October 5 – Jacob Tremblay, Canadian actor

Deaths

January

* January 2 – Lidia Wysocka, Polish actress (b. 1916)
* January 3 – Bill Skate, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1953)
* January 4
** Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1943)
** Milton Himmelfarb, American essayist (b. 1918)
**Nel van Vliet, Dutch swimmer (b. 1926)
* January 6 – Lou Rawls, American singer, songwriter, actor, voice actor and record producer (b. 1933)
* January 7 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, explorer and author (b. 1912)
* January 8 – Prince George, William of Hanover, German aristocrat (b. 1915)
* January 11 – Eric Namesnik, American Olympic swimmer (born 1970)
* January 14 – Shelley Winters, American actress (b. 1920)
* January 15 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, 13th Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
* January 19
** Anthony Franciosa, American actor (b. 1928)
** Wilson Pickett, American singer (b. 1941)
* January 21 – Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovar writer, scholar and political leader (b. 1944)
* January 23
** Savino Guglielmetti, Italian gymnast (b. 1911)
* January 24 – Chris Penn, American actor (b. 1965)
* January 25 – Sudharmono, 5th Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1927)
* January 27 – Johannes Rau, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
* January 29 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-born American artist (b. 1932)
* January 30 – Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist (b. 1927)

February

* February 2 – Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, prime minister of Bangladesh (b. 1928)
* February 3 – Lou Jones, American Olympic runner (b. 1937)
* February 4 – Betty Friedan, American feminist, activist, and writer (b. 1921)
* February 6 – George Millay, American businessman and founder of SeaWorld, (b. 1929)
* February 8 – Larry Black, American track and field medalist (b. 1951)
* February 9 – Ibolya Csák, Hungarian athlete (b. 1915)
* February 12 – Peter Benchley, American writer (b. 1940)
* February 13 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher (b. 1919)
* February 15 – Sun Yun-suan, 10th Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1913)
* February 18 – Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa, 5th Prime Minister of Sudan (b. 1919)
* February 21 – Mirko Marjanović, 63rd Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1937)
* February 22
** S. Rajaratnam, Singaporean politician, 1st Senior Minister of Singapore (b. 1915)
** Said Mohamed Djohar, 2-Time President of the Comoros (b. 1919)
* February 23
** Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1912)
** Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
* February 24
** Octavia E. Butler, American author and writer (b. 1947)
** Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)
** Dennis Weaver, American actor (b. 1924)
* February 28 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)

March

* March 1 – Johnny Jackson, American singer and musician, former drummer of The Jackson 5, (b. 1955)
* March 6 – Dana Reeve, American actress (b. 1961)
* March 7 – Gordon Parks, American photographer (b. 1912)
* March 9
** Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (b. 1932)
** John Profumo, British politician (" Profumo affair") (b. 1915)
* March 11 – Slobodan Milošević, 3rd President of Serbia (b. 1941)
* March 13
** Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
** Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
** Roy Clarke, Welsh footballer for Manchester City & Wales (b. 1925)
* March 14 – Lennart Meri, 2nd President of Estonia (b. 1929)
* March 15 – Georgios Rallis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918)
* March 23 – Desmond Doss, American combat medic (b. 1919)
* March 25
** Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1944)
** Richard Fleischer, American film director (b. 1916)
* March 27 – Stanisław Lem, Polish writer (b. 1921)
* March 28 – Caspar Weinberger, 15th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1917)

April

* April 1 – In Tam, Prime Minister of the Khmer Republic (b. 1916)
* April 5 – Gene Pitney, American singer (b. 1941)
* April 11
**Proof, American rapper, member of D-12, (b. 1973)
** June Pointer, American singer, former member of The Pointer Sisters, (b. 1953).
* April 12 – Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer (b. 1929)
* April 13 – Muriel Spark, Scottish-born novelist (b. 1918)
* April 14
** Miguel Reale, Brazilian philosopher of law, (b. 1910)
** Eberhardt Rechtin, American electrical engineer and telecommunications expert, (b. 1926)
* April 15 – Louise Smith, American NASCAR racer, (b. 1916)
* April 21 – Telê Santana, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1931)
* April 23 – Alida Valli, Italian actress (b. 1921)
* April 25 – Jane Jacobs, American-born Canadian writer and activist (b. 1916)
* April 26 – Yuval Ne'eman, Israeli theoretical physicist, military scientist, and politician (b. 1925)
* April 29 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (b. 1908)
* April 30 - Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesian literaturer, writer (b. 1925)

May

* May 1 – Wilfrid Butt, (b. 1922) English biochemist and reproductive endocrinologist
* May 3
**Karel Appel, Dutch painter (b. 1921)
**Franco Lavoratori, Italian water polo player, Olympic Champion (b. 1922)
* May 5 – Naushad Ali, Indian musician (b. 1919)
* May 6 – Shigeru Kayano, Japanese activist (b. 1926)
* May 11 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer (b. 1935)
* May 12 – Hussein Maziq, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1918)
* May 13 – Peter Viereck, American historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (b. 1916)
* May 14
** Robert Bruce Merrifield, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
** Stanley Kunitz, American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (b. 1905)
* May 15 – Bill Strode, American Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer (b. 1937)
* May 17 – Mieczysław Nowak, Polish weightlifter (b. 1936)
* May 22 – Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization (b. 1945)
* May 23 – Lloyd Bentsen, American politician, vice presidential candidate (b. 1921)
* May 25 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican singer and songwriter (b. 1941)
* May 30 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (b. 1926)
* May 31 – Raymond Davis Jr., American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)

June

* June 1
** Radu Bălescu, Romanian scientist (b. 1932)
**Rocío Jurado, Spanish singer (b. 1946)
* June 3 – Brian Duke, Ugandan-born tropical disease expert (b. 1926)
* June 6 – Billy Preston, American artist and musician (b. 1946)
* June 7
**Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordanian militant and founder of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (now ISIS) (b. 1966)
**Louis B. Sohn, Ukrainian-born scholar of international law (b. 1914)
* June 10 – Qadi Abdul Karim Abdullah Al-Arashi, Yemeni politician, former President of North Yemen (b. 1934)
* June 12 – György Ligeti, Hungarian composer (b. 1923)
* June 13 – Charles Haughey, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1925)
* June 14 – Surinder Kaur, Indian Punjabi folk and classical singer known as the "nightingale of Punjab" (b. 1929)
* June 23 – Aaron Spelling, American television producer (b. 1923)

July

* July 1
** Ryutaro Hashimoto, 53rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
** Fred Trueman, English and Yorkshire cricketer (b. 1931)
* July 5 – Gert Fredriksson, Swedish kayaker (b. 1919)
* July 7
** Syd Barrett, English singer, songwriter, and guitarist (b. 1946)
** Elias Hrawi, 9th President of Lebanon (b. 1925)
** John Money, psychologist and author known for his research in gender identity (b. 1921)
* July 8 – June Allyson, American actress (b. 1917)
* July 13 – Red Buttons, American comedian and actor (b. 1919)
* July 17 – Mickey Spillane, American writer (b. 1918)
* July 19 – Jack Warden, American actor (b. 1920)
* July 21 – Mako, Japanese-American actor and singer (b. 1933)
* July 30 – Murray Bookchin, American social theorist and philosopher (b. 1921)

August

* August 3 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-born soprano (b. 1915)
* August 9 – James Van Allen, American physicist (b. 1914)
* August 15
** Te Atairangikaahu, Maori queen (b. 1931)
** Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer (b. 1923)
* August 16 – Alfredo Stroessner, 42nd President of Paraguay (b. 1912)
* August 19 – Óscar Míguez, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1927)
* August 20 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911)
* August 21 – Bismillah Khan, Indian musician (b. 1916)
* August 23 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian musician and bandleader (b. 1928)
* August 25 – Noor Hassanali, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1918)
* August 26 – Rainer Barzel, German politician (b. 1924)
* August 28 – Melvin Schwartz, American physicist (b. 1932)
* August 30
** Glenn Ford, Canadian actor (b. 1916)
** Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian Nobel writer (b. 1911)

September

* September 2 – Bob Mathias, American athlete (b. 1930)
* September 4
** Giacinto Facchetti, Italian footballer (b. 1942)
** Steve Irwin, Australian environmentalist and television personality (b. 1962)
* September 10 – Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, 4th King of Tonga (b. 1918)
* September 11 – Joachim Fest, German historian and journalist (b. 1926)
* September 14 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian-born actor and bodybuilder (b. 1926)
* September 15 – Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist (b. 1929)
* September 16 – Zsuzsa Körmöczy, Hungarian tennis player and coach (b. 1924)
* September 17 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American socialite (b. 1924)
* September 22 – Edward Albert, American actor (b. 1951)
* September 23 – Malcolm Arnold, English composer (b. 1921)
* September 26
** Byron Nelson, American golfer (b. 1912)
** Audrey Stuckes, English material scientist (b. 1923)
* September 28 – Jan Werner Danielsen, Norwegian pop singer (b. 1976)

October

* October 2 – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-born American mathematician and statistician (b. 1916)
* October 7 – Anna Politkovskaya, American-born Russian journalist (b. 1958)
* October 16 – Valentín Paniagua, President of Peru (b. 1936)
* October 20 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (b. 1910)
* October 22 – Choi Kyu-hah, 4th President of South Korea (b. 1919)
* October 27 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani civil servant and 7th President of Pakistan (b. 1915)
* October 28
** Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and official (b. 1917)
** Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (b. 1954)
* October 30 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (b. 1926)
* October 31 – P. W. Botha, former State President of South Africa (b. 1916)

November

* November 1 – William Styron, American writer (b. 1925)
* November 3 – Paul Mauriat, French musician and bandleader (b. 1925)
* November 5
** Bülent Ecevit, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1925)
** Pietro Rava, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1916)
* November 6 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish ski racer (b. 1950)
* November 7 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist (b. 1924)
* November 9 – Ed Bradley, American journalist (b. 1941)
* November 10 – Jack Palance, American actor (b. 1919)
* November 11 – Esther Lederberg, American microbiologist (b. 1922)
* November 16 – Milton Friedman, American Nobel economist (b. 1912)
* November 17
** Ruth Brown, American singer (b. 1928)
** Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer (b. 1927)
* November 20
** Robert Altman, American film director (b. 1925)
** Zoia Ceaușescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1949)
* November 21
** Pierre Amine Gemayel, Lebanese politician (b. 1972)
** Hassan Gouled Aptidon, 1st President of Djibouti (b. 1916)
* November 22 – Asima Chatterjee, Indian chemist (b. 1917)
* November 23
** Alexander Litvinenko, Russian-born spy (b. 1962)
** Philippe Noiret, French actor (b. 1930)
** Anita O'Day, American singer (b. 1919)
* November 25 – Valentín Elizalde, Mexican singer (b. 1979)
* November 26 – Isaac Galvez, Spanish racing cyclist (b. 1975)

December

* December 1 – Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
* December 2 – Mariska Veres, Dutch singer (b. 1947)
* December 5 – David Bronstein, Soviet Union chess grandmaster (b. 1924)
* December 6 – Han Ahmedow, 1st Prime Minister of Turkmenistan (b. 1936)
* December 7
** Lyuben Berov, 43rd Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1925)
** Jeane Kirkpatrick, American political theorist and U.N. ambassador (b. 1926)
* December 9 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (b. 1919)
* December 10 – Augusto Pinochet, Dictator of Chile (b. 1915)
* December 12
** Paul Arizin, American basketball player (b. 1928)
** Peter Boyle, American actor (b. 1935)
* December 14 – Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish record executive (b. 1923)
* December 15 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss racing driver (b. 1939)
* December 18 – Joseph Barbera, American animator (b. 1911)
* December 21 – Saparmurat Niyazov, 1st President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
* December 22 – Elena Mukhina, Soviet artistic gymnast (b. 1960)
* December 25 – James Brown, American singer (b. 1933)
* December 26 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
* December 30 – Saddam Hussein, 5th President of Iraq (executed) (b. 1937)
* December 31 – Ya'akov Hodorov, Israeli footballer (b. 1927)

Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Roger D. Kornberg.
* Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Economics – Edmund Phelps.
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Orhan Pamuk.
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – John C. Mather, and George F. Smoot.
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Andrew Z. Fire, and Craig C. Mello.

New English words and terms

*Wish list, bucket list
*''crowdfunding''
*''crowdsourcing''
*Eris (dwarf planet), Eris
*hypermiling
*mumblecore
*Showreel, sizzle reel
*ski cross

References

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