- January 5
- A hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia collapses, killing 76 pilgrims visiting to perform hajj. [27]
- January 6
- The record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially draws to a close as Tropical Storm Zeta dissipates. [27]
- January 7
- United Kingdom Liberal Democratic leader Charles Kennedy resigns after revelations that he has a drinking problem. [27]
- January 8
- A powerful, 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. [27]
- January 9
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time since June 7, 2001, closing at 11,011.90. [27]
- January 10
- Apple Computer releases its first Macintosh (iMac) computer with an Intel processor. [4]
- January 11
- The Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts twice, marking its first major eruption since 1986. [27]
- 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. [27]
- January 14
- A natural gas explosion in a coal mine kills eight in Romania. [27]
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- January 15
- Death of Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (born 1926). [27]
- NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet. [27]
- January 16
- NASA launches the New Horizons spacecraft from Florida, on a mission to rendezvous Pluto and its Moon Charon. [455.4]
- January 17
- In Scottsdale, Arizona, the 30th Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction is held, over six days. The #003 1953 Corvette sells for US$1 million; this is the first existing production Corvette. A 1967 convertible, with 427 ci 435 hp engine sells for US$350,000. [8]
- January 23
- Stephen Harper wins the federal election in Canada, forming a minority government. [27]
- January 24
- The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation Studios merge in a US$7.4 billion deal. [457]
- January 25
- Hamas wins the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. [27]
- Deus Caritas Est, the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, is promulgated. [27]
- January 28
- A trade hall roof collapses in Katowice, Poland, killing 65 people. [27]
- February 1
- In Calgary, Alberta, Canada, an exceptionally bright meteor is seen streaking across the sky, lasting for several seconds before breaking up into fragments. It is estimated that remnants of the meteorite land about 400 km south of Calgary, in Montana, USA. [521]
- A meteor falls in a field in Singpara village, Bangladesh; a hot, lead-like black material three feet below the earth is dug up, weighing 2.5kg. [521]
- February 7
- An aging Egyptian passenger ferry carrying more than 1,400 people sinks in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast. [27]
- February 10
- (to February 26) The XX Olympic Winter Games take place in Turin, Italy. [27]
- February 11
- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his friend and lawyer, Harry Whittington, in the face with a shotgun on a south Texas ranch. [27]
- February 15
- Death of Sun Yun-suan, Premier of the Republic of China (born 1913). [27]
- February 16
- Kobe Airport, a controversial offshore airport in Kobe, Japan, opens for airline service. [27]
- February 17
- As many as 1,800 people die when a mudslide occurs on Leyte Island in the Philippines. [27]
- A ball of fire is reported falling in the area of Stirling Castle in Scotland. [521]
- February 19
- Sixty-five miners become trapped underground after an explosion in Nueva Rosita, Mexico; all 65 die. [27]
- February 20
- A second ball of fire is reported falling in the area of Stirling Castle in Scotland. [521]
- February 22
- A bomb heavily damages the Al Askari Mosque, a Shiite holy site in Samarra, Iraq. [27]
- Over 53.1 million British pounds is stolen during the Securitas depot robbery, the largest ever cash robbery in the United Kingdom. [27]
- The one billionth song is purchased from the Apple iTunes Store. [27]
- February 23
- A roof collapses on a Moscow market, killing 56 people. [27]
- February 24
- A state of emergency is declared in the Philippines, after an alleged coup d'état against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is foiled. [27]
- February 25
- Police officers and protesters are injured when a protest prior to the Love Ulster parade turns into a major riot. [27]
- Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wins his second re-election, sparking riots in Kampala by opposition supporters. [27]
- February 26
- The world's estimated population reaches 6.5 billion. [5]
- March 4
- The final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 receives no response. [27]
- Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway is christened by Bishop Ole Christian Kvarme at the chapel inside The Royal Palace in Oslo. [27]
- March 5
- The 2006 Academy Awards are held, with film Crash winning Best Picture. [27]
- March 7
- Fifteen people die and many others are injured in three blasts throughout Varanasi, India. [27]
- Apple Inc. is granted the patent to the iPod. [5]
- 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. [27]
- March 10
- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit. [27]
- March 11
- Michelle Bachelet is sworn in as the first female President of Chile. [27]
- Slobodan MiloÜevic is found dead at age 64 from an apparent heart attack in his prison cell in the United Nations war crimes tribunal's detention centre, located in the Scheveningen section of The Hague. [27] [129]
- March 14
- Death of Lennart Meri, President of Estonia (born 1929). [27]
- March 17
- The United States strikes its two remaining Iowa-class battleships from the Naval Vessel Register, ending the age of the battleship. [27]
- March 20
- Tropical Cyclone Larry makes landfall in Queensland, Australia. [27]
- March 21
- Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Laila Freivalds resigns after over a year of criticism. [27]
- March 22
- ETA declares a permanent ceasefire in their campaign for Basque independence from Spain. [27]
- March 25
- An estimated 500,000 people take to the streets in downtown Los Angeles to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration. [27]
- A revolutionary scramjet jet engine, Hyshot III, designed to fly at seven times the speed of sound, is successfully tested at Woomera, South Australia. [27]
- Seven people die in the Capitol Hill Massacre in Seattle, Washington. [27]
- March 26
- The ban on smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants comes into effect in Scotland. [27]
- March 28
- Square Enix releases the Kingdom Hearts II video game for the PlayStation 2 in the USA. [9]
- March 30
- The first Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes, goes to space in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-8, at 2:29:00 CET. [27]
- The al-Dana capsizes off the coast of Bahrain, killing at least 48 people. [27]
- April 5
- A swan with avian flu is discovered in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland (the first case in the United Kingdom). [27]
- April 8
- The bodies of eight murdered men are found in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. [27]
- Bristol, United Kingdom celebrates the 200th birthday of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (actually April 9) by relighting the Clifton Suspension Bridge. [27]
- Bloc 8406 publishes their Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Viet Nam in Viet Nam; their name comes from this date. [27]
- April 9
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is removed from office after four months in a coma. [27]
- April 10
- Romano Prodi narrowly defeats Silvio Berlusconi in the Italian parliamentary elections. [27]
- April 11
- The European Space Agency's Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit. [27]
- President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of low-grade enriched uranium. [27]
- Death of Shin Sang Ok, South Korean film director kidnapped to North Korea (1979-86) to make propaganda movies. [246.63]
- April 15
- New York City officially opens the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Cost of construction was US$56 million. [73.39]
- April 16
- Prince Albert II of Monaco reaches the North Pole, becoming the first reigning monarch ever to do so. [27]
- April 17
- A suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad in Tel Aviv, Israel, kills nine people and injures dozens. [27]
- April 19
- Han Myeong Sook becomes the first female Prime Minister of South Korea. [27]
- April 20
- Iran announces a uranium enrichment 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. [27]
- April 22
- Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometres north of Kandahar, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb - the worst one-day combat loss for the Canadian army since the Korean War. [27]
- Jalal Talabani re-elected for a second term as President of Iraq. [27]
- April 24
- Royal Caribbean International takes delivery of Freedom of the Seas cruise ship (160,000 gross tons, 3634 passengers), the world's largest, at a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany. [79]
- In Panama, a referendum on the Third Set of Locks Project is approved by 76.8 percent. [150.64]
- Three explosions in a tourist section of Dahab, Egypt kill 30 and injure over 115. [27]
- April 25
- The Beaconsfield mine diaster occurs in Tasmania, Australia. [27]
- April 29
- Massive anti-war demonstrations and a march down Broadway in New York City mark the third year of war in Iraq. [27]
- The Global Night Commute takes place in over 130 cities around the world to promote the visibility of the Invisible Children in Uganda. [27]
- May 1
- The Great American Boycott takes place across the United States as marchers protest for immigration rights. [27]
- Bolivian president Evo Morales orders military to occupy oil and gas fields in country, placing them under state control. [27] [528.46] (May 2 [240.142])
- May 4
- A new coalition government takes office in Israel; its four political parties hold 67 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. [27]
- A large meteor shower crosses over El Paso, Texas, USA. [521]
- May 5
- NASA astronomers announce the discovery of a storm system in the Jovian atmosphere, dubbed the Red Spot Junior. [27]
- Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne announces that the Alfa Romeo automobile brand will return to the United States in 2008, after a 13-year hiatus. [27]
- May 6
- Death of Lillian Asplund, last American survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster (born 1906). [27]
- May 9
- After 14 days trapped underground, miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb are rescued in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia. [27]
- May 13
- In New York City, USA, Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries sells at auction a strip of six USA 1847 10-cent Washington stamps on 1848 cover for US$1,380,000. [798.3]
- May 16
- Nintendo releases the New Super Mario Bros. video game for the Nintendo DS in the USA. [9]
- May 20
- Finland's Lordi wins the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest held in Athens, Greece. [27]
- May 21
- National referendum in Montenegro; citizens vote for independence. [1367.1100]
- May 24
- East Timor's Foreign Minister Horta officially requests military assistance from the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal. [27]
- May 26
- In Java, Indonesia, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurs. At least 5,749 people killed, 38,568 injured and as many as 600,000 people were displaced in the Bantul-Yogyakarta area. Total loss estimated at approximately US$3.1 billion [27] [53]
- May 27
- The first demonstration for gay rights in Moscow is broken up by the police. [27]
- May 28
- President Alvaro Uribe Velez is re-elected in Colombia for a second term. He becomes the first president in over a century to serve consecutive terms. [27]
- June 2
- A fireball is reported crossing Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Canada, estimated to be 20 miles above the Earth's surface. A sonic boom is heard over Minnesota. [521]
- 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.) [27] [278.1076] [1367.1100]
- In Ontario, Canada, seventeen men are arrested in the Greater Toronto Area for alleged ties to a terrorist plot to blow up targets in the region. [27]
- June 6
- The Union of Islamic Courts gains control of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, ending warlord rule of the city. [27]
- June 7
- Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and seven of his aides are killed in a U.S. air raid just north of the town of Baqouba, Iraq. [27]
- Serbia recognizes the independence of Montenegro. [1367.1100]
- June 9
- An explosion kills eight Palestinian civilians on a Gaza beach. Israel denies responsibility for the blast. [27]
- June 10
- President Mahmoud Abbas sets July 26 as the date for a national referendum in the Palestinian National Authority. [27]
- June 11
- Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS Lite handheld video game system in the USA. Case color is Polar White. Price is US$129.99. [9]
- June 13
- Death of Charles Haughey, Prime Minister of Ireland (born 1925). [27]
- June 14
- Princess Cruises holds a ship naming ceremony in New York, hosted by Martha Stewart, for the cruise ship Crown Princess (113,000 gross tons, 3080 passengers). [73.10] [91.42] [92.58]
- June 15
- Bill Gates announces he will ease away from Microsoft duties over the next two years. Ray Ozzie is immediately shifted from chief technology officer to chief software architect. [4]
- June
- Spink in London sells at auction a British 1344 Edward III double-florin for 460,000 pounds (US$841,800), a record price for a British coin. [455.84] [464.10]
- June 18
- The first Kazakh space satellite "KazSat" is launched. [27]
- June 19
- A meteor show is observed in various places in Pennsylvania, USA. [521]
- IBM announces it has built a transistor that runs at 500 GHz when cooled to near absolute zero, about 100 times faster than current chips. The transistor is built from silicon laced with germanium. [4]
- June 22
- The Magen David Adom and Palestine Red Crescent Society are officially recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross. [27]
- June 23
- In Miami, Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests seven men, accusing them of planning to bomb the Sears Tower and other attacks in Miami. [27]
- June 25
- Warren Buffett donates over US$30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [27]
- June 28
- Israel launches Operation Summer Rains, an offensive against militants in Gaza. [27]
- June 29
- The Dutch cabinet Balkenende II resigns after the political party of D'66 drops its support. [27]
- Women vote for the first time in elections for the National Assembly of Kuwait. [27]
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