What happened in 2006

48 events　World 8, Japan 2, North America 6, Europe 11, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 6, Middle East 7, Latin America 2, Africa 2, Oceania 3

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Highlights of 2006

World8

  • Mar 15The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the United Nations Human Rights Council.
  • Aug 10News was revealed of a thwarted terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks, aboard multiple transatlantic air flights.
  • AugPluto becomes a dwarf planetThe International Astronomical Union defined what a planet is, and Pluto was dropped from the list. The discovery of Eris, a body about the same size as Pluto, prompted the decision. The Solar System now had eight planets.
  • Sep 7Partial lunar eclipse, visible over most of Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.
  • Sep 22Annular solar eclipse, visible in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, parts of Brazil, and the southern Atlantic.
  • Nov 8Microsoft releases Windows Vista for manufacturing.
  • Nov 11Sony releases the PlayStation 3.
  • Dec 30Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, was executed by hanging.

Japan2

  • AugiPS cellsYamanaka Shinya and colleagues at Kyoto University put four genes into cells such as skin cells and turned them back into a state that can become many kinds of cells. They succeeded with mice in 2006 and with humans the next year, and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012.
  • Nov 19Nintendo releases the Wii.

North America6

  • Jan 19NASA launches the first interplanetary space probe to Pluto, the New Horizons.
  • Mar 10NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters orbit around Mars.
  • Mar 21Microblogging and social networking service website Twitter(now known as X) was launched.
  • Aug 27Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky, killing all 47 passengers and two of three crew members.
  • Oct 24Taylor Swift releases her debut album,Taylor Swift.
  • Nov 3Microsoft releases Office 2007 for manufacturing.

Europe11

  • Jan 29The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair collapsed in Katowice, Poland, killing 65 and injuring 170.
  • Feb 10The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy.
  • Apr 11The European Space Agency's Venus Express space probe enters Venus' orbit.
  • May 18The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 takes place in Athens, Greece, and is won by Finnish band entrant Lordi with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
  • Jun 3Montenegro 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 countries and leaving Serbia as the successor country to the union.
  • JunJune 9 to July 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup takes place in Germany; Italy defeats France in the final.
  • Aug 22Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.
  • Aug 24The 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.
  • Oct 11St Andrews Agreement is held in Scotland between the British and Irish governments on devolution in Northern Ireland.
  • Nov 12The breakaway state of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
  • Dec 21The Juraj Dobrila University of Pula is established.

USSR / Russia1

  • Nov 1Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko: Litvinenko, former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service and critic of the Putin administration, is poisoned with Polonium-210. He dies of acute radiation syndrome on 23 November, causing widespread accusations that the Russian government was behind the poisoning.

Asia6

  • Feb 17A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines killing an estimated 1,126 people.
  • May 27The 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.
  • Jul 11A series of seven bomb blasts hits the city of Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.
  • Sep 19The Royal Thai Army overthrows the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup.
  • Sep 28Typhoon Xangsane passed Manila on its way to causing more than 300 deaths, mostly in the Philippines and Vietnam.
  • Oct 9North Korea claims to have conducted its first-ever nuclear test.

Middle East7

  • Jan 12A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 pilgrims.
  • Feb 222006 al-Askari mosque bombing: Explosions occur at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, causes the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq into a full-scale war (the Iraqi Civil War of 2006–2008).
  • Jun 7Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed by a US airstrike.
  • Jun 28Israel launches an offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to rocketfire by Hamas into Israeli territory.
  • Jul 122006 Lebanon War: 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.
  • Nov 5Former 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.
  • Nov 23A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kills at least 215 people and injure 257 other people.

Latin America2

  • Sep 29Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, a Boeing 737-800, collides with an Embraer Legacy 600 over the Amazon rainforest, killing all 154 occupants on board the 737 whereas all 7 on board the Legacy survive.
  • Dec 11Mexican drug war: Felipe Calderón sends the Mexican military to combat the drug cartels and put down the violence in the state of Michoacán, initiating Mexico's drug war.

Africa2

  • Nov 22A 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.
  • Dec 24War in Somalia (2006–09): Ethiopia admits its troops have intervened in Somalia.

Oceania3

  • Sep 4Australian conservationist Steve Irwin is fatally stung in the heart by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary.
  • Dec 1WikiLeaks leaks Hassan Dahir Aweys' conspiracy to assassinate Somali government officials.
  • Dec 5The military seizes power in Fiji, in a coup d'état led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama.