2006

January 2006	Turkey [animal husbandry]	The first human deaths from bird flu outside East Asia are recorded in Turkey as four children die of the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus in early January.
January 2006	Iran [diplomacy]	After over two years of inconclusive negotiations with Western countries over its controversial nuclear development programme, Iran announces that it is resuming its uranium enrichment activities. At the end of the month the USA, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany agree to report Iran's actions to the United Nations Security Council, triggering the threat of international sanctions.
19 January 2006	[space exploration]	The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully launches the first ever mission to Pluto. The uncrewed probe called New Horizons will take until 2015 to reach the planet.
10 February - 26 February 2006	Italy [Olympic Games]	The 20th Winter Olympic Games are held in Turin, Italy, attended by 2,573 competitors representing 80 National Olympic Committees. Germany wins 11 gold medals, the USA and Austria each win 9, Russia wins 8, and Sweden and Canada each win 7. Great Britain wins one silver medal in the women's bob skeleton event.
14 February 2006	USA [photography]	Pond-Moonlight by Edward Steichen, taken on Long Island in the USA in 1904, breaks the world record price for a photograph as it sells for $2.9 million at auction in New York.
6 March 2006	UK [banking and finance]	HSBC, the UK's largest bank, announces pre-tax profits of £11.9 billion for 2005, a record for the European banking industry.
April 2006	UK [animal husbandry]	Bird flu reaches the United Kingdom as a dead swan in Fife, Scotland, tests positive for the virulent H5N1 strain of the disease. Later in the month, the less dangerous H7 strain of the virus is found to have infected poultry on farms in Norfolk, England, necessitating the culling of thousands of chickens.
4 April 2006	USA [physiology]	Successful bladder transplants into seven young patients, with organs engineered using live tissue in the laboratory, are announced by a team of US research scientists in Boston. The medical breakthrough could herald the regeneration of hearts and other human organs in the future.
6 April 2006	USA [painting]	A view of Venice, Italy, entitled Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio by J M W Turner fetches £20.5 million at auction in New York, a record sum for a painting by the English landscape artist.
11 April - 28 April 2006	Iran [diplomacy]	Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that his country has successfully enriched uranium in defiance of the United Nations Security Council's demands that Iran stop its suspected drive to acquire nuclear weapon technology. Later in the month, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms Iran's failure to comply with a 30-day deadline set in March to give up its enrichment programme.
11 April 2006	[space exploration]	The Venus Express space probe, the European Space Agency's first exploratory mission to Earth's neighbouring planet, reaches Venus and successfully goes into orbit after a five-month, 248-million mile trip.
24 April - 27 April 2006	Nepal [political events]	In Nepal, King Gyanendra concedes to weeks of violent street demonstrations against his autocratic regime and announces the reinstatement of parliament and restoration of democratic government. Three days later Maoist insurgents declare a three-month ceasefire.
22 May 2006	England [surgery]	A pioneering form of heart transplant, in which the donor heart is kept beating while it is transported to the patient, is carried out for the first time in Britain at a hospital in Cambridge, England.
27 May 2006	Indonesia [natural disasters]	An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale off the southern coast of Java in Indonesia near the city of Yogyakarta kills over 6,000 people.
30 May 2006	UK [business and economics]	British mobile phone company Vodafone announces an annual loss of £22 billion, the largest in European corporate history.
3 June - 5 June 2006	Montenegro Serbia [political events]	The small former Yugoslav republic of Montenegro officially declares its independence following the majority vote in the referendum the previous month to split from neighbouring Serbia. Two days later, Serbia acknowledges the end of the federal union, declaring itself its legal successor.
18 June 2006	USA [Protestantism]	Conservative opposition to women clergy in the worldwide Anglican communion resurfaces as the US Episcopal Church elects Katharine Jefferts Schori to be its next presiding bishop and first woman leader.
5 July 2006	UK [physiology]	Sixty-two-year-old Patricia Rashbrook becomes Britain's oldest mother as she gives birth to a son by Caesarean section after having fertility treatment.
17 July 2006	Indonesia [natural disasters]	An offshore earthquake south of Java in Indonesia triggers a tsunami (tidal wave) which devastates coastal settlements and kills more than 500 people.
29 July 2006	Sri Lanka [cricket]	During a Test match against South Africa in Colombo, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara score the highest partnership ever recorded – 624 runs – in first-class cricket.
30 July 2006	UK [television]	British television's weekly pop music chart show Top of the Pops comes to an end after 42 years.
1 August 2006	Cuba [political events]	For the first time in 47 years, President Fidel Castro of communist Cuba announces that he is handing over political power temporarily to his brother Raúl, the defence minister, following intestinal surgery.
24 August 2006	[space exploration]	The International Astronomical Union downgrades the status of Pluto from a ‘classical’ to a ‘dwarf’ planet, leaving Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as full planets in the Solar System.
31 August 2006	Iran [diplomacy]	Iran defies a United Nations Security Council ultimatum that it suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August to allay fears that it trying to develop nuclear weapons or face the possibility of punitive sanctions.
6 September 2006	[War on Terrorism (2001– )]	US President George W Bush confirms for the first time the existence of a secret US Central Intelligence Agency programme in the global war against terror for interrogating suspects in foreign prisons. The detention system is linked to controversial ‘rendition’ flights.
15 September 2006	Germany [Catholicism]	Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, delivers a lecture in Germany which includes a reference to a critical medieval text on Islam, provoking worldwide Muslim protests. The Vatican apologises for any unintentional offence.
9 October - 31 October 2006	North Korea [weapons]	North Korea carries out its first nuclear weapon test, threatening regional security and attracting worldwide condemnation. The United Nations Security Council votes to impose sanctions, which North Korea calls an act of war. At the end of the month, however, the country announces that it will rejoin multilateral talks (also involving the USA, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan) on ending its nuclear development programme.
18 October 2006	USA [business and economics]	The Dow Jones Industrial Average index, measuring the average share price and percentage change of 30 major US industrial companies, breaks briefly through the 12,000-point mark for the first time in its 110-year history.
14 November 2006	South Africa [social legislation]	South Africa becomes the first African country to legalise same-sex marriages as the National Assembly passes legislation endorsed by the ruling African National Congress.
30 November 2006	Philippines [natural disasters]	Typhoon Durian sweeps across the central Philippines causing flash flooding and mudslides. Over 1,000 people are feared dead in the disaster.
5 December 2006	[space exploration]	The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveils plans to build a permanent manned base on the Moon within 20 years, which will be used for missions to Mars and for monitoring the Earth.
23 December 2006	Iran [diplomacy]	The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution authorising sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment programme which has heightened international fears about the country's nuclear weapon ambitions.
30 December 2006	Iraq [births and deaths]	Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi dictator from 1979–2003, is executed for crimes against humanity in Baghdad, Iraq (69).