2006

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2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. It corresponds to the years 5766-5767 in the Hebrew Calendar, 5107-5108 in the Hindu Calendar, 1426-1427 in the Islamic Calendar, and 2759 a.U.c. It has been designated:

• The International Year of Deserts and Desertification
• The Rembrandt Year, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Netherlands' greatest 17th-century painter.
• The Mozart Year, celebrating the 250th birthday of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• The Tesla Year, celebrating the 150th birthday of the world known electrotechnician Nikola Tesla.
• The International Asperger's Year, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Hans Asperger, discoverer of Asperger's Syndrome.
• The year of the dog in Chinese Astrology.

Events

January

• January 1
  • Royal Mail loses its 350-year monopoly in the UK.
  • Redenomination of the Azerbaijani manat
  • Thirty cities across the Canadian province of Quebec are reconstituted, as the result of a referendum held on June 20, 2004.
  • Tropical Storm Zeta becomes the second Atlantic tropical cyclone to span two calendar years.
  • Russia cuts gas supplies to Ukraine over price dispute
• January 2: Fifteen are killed when a German ice rink collapses after heavy snowfall in the Bavarian Alps.
• January 3: Twelve coal miners are discovered dead in the Sago Mine Disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia in the United States. A single survivor was rescued early the following morning in critical condition.
• January 4: Powers are transferred from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his deputy, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, after Sharon suffers a large stroke.

Predicted and scheduled events

January

• January 5 - US based low fare airline Independence Air ceases all operations and suspends all flights.
• January 10 - Islamic festival of Eid ul-Adha begins (ends on January 13)
• January 14 - Mahayana Buddhist New Year.
• January 15 -
  • First round of the Finnish presidential election
  • Second round of the Chile presidential elections
• January 16 - Mordechai Vanunu to appear in Israeli court, charged with meeting foreigners.
• January 17 - NASA will launch the New Horizons spacecraft on its first mission to Pluto.
• January 21 - baptism of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark's baby boy (expected to be named Prince Christian of Denmark).
• January 22 - Evo Morales inaugurated as president of Bolivia.
• January 23 - 39th Canadian federal election
• January 25 - Palestinians vote in the Parliamentary Elections.
• January 27 - Manuel Zelaya will become the next President of Honduras.
• January 29 - Chinese New Year
  • Second round (if needed) of the Finnish presidential election.
• January 31 - Anticipated retirement date of Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States.

February

• February 5 - Super Bowl XL played at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan
• February 10 to 26 - Torino 2006 Winter Olympics
• February 12 International Day of Prayer for Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
• February 16 - Kobe Airport, a controversial offshore airport in Kobe, Japan, is scheduled to open for airline service.
• February 19 - 48th running of the Daytona 500.
• February 20 to 21 - Solidarity conference in Bil'in in Palestine.

March

• Elections in Israel.
• Local government elections in South Africa.
• Al Jazeera will launch its new satellite service, Al Jazeera International, in Europe, Asia, and North America.
• March 14 - Sikh New Year.
• March 18 - South Australia to vote in a Parliamentary State Election.
• March 20 - Spring begins officially in the northern hemisphere, autumn in the southern hemisphere.
• March 21 - Bahai New Year.
• March 26 - The ban on smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants comes into effect in Scotland.
• March 28 - Probable date for Israeli Parliamentary elections.
• March 29 -
  • Total solar eclipse (Brazil, Mid Atlantic ocean, Sahara, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia).
  • Attack Submarines USS Groton to start to be deactivated. Los Angeles class submarines USS Indianapolis, USS-Birmingham, USS-New York City and USS-Atlanta also begin to be deactivated.
• March 30 - Hindu New Year.
• March 31 - The BBC World Service is to end broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian and Thai by this date.

April

• April 2 Former Connecticut governor John Rowland is scheduled to be released from the federal prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania.
• April 7 - EU citizens are now able to register .eu domain names, which replaced the old eu.int TLD on December 7 2005.
• April 9 - Peruvians will elect the successor of Alejandro Toledo in the Peruvian national election, 2006
• April 9 - Italians will vote for new Parliament and elect the successor of Silvio Berlusconi in the Italian general elections, 2006
• April 13 - Theravada Buddhist New Year.

May

• May 3 - Unofficial launch date for Space Shuttle STS-121 Discovery (ISS-18) Pad B, (ISS-18-ULF1.1: Return-To-Flight Test, MPLM, Logistics)
• May 4 - UK local elections, 2006 - Local elections to be held across England.
• May 20 - Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Athens, Greece.
• May 28- 90th running of the Indianapolis 500.

June

• June 9 - Football World Cup 2006 in Germany starts with opening ceremony and the first game (Germany x Costa Rica)

July

• July 1 -
  • Electronic equipment imported to or sold in the European Union will have to be lead free soldered, to comply with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive.
• July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico.
• July 9 - Football World Cup 2006 Final Game.
• July 29 to August 5 - World Congress of Esperanto in Florence, Italy.

August

• August 13 to August 18 - The XVI International AIDS Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada.
• August 14 to August 25 - The 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Prague, Czech Republic.

September

• September 17 - Sweden general election, 2006: Sweden holds elections for the Riksdag.
• September 22 - Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown. Continues until nightfall of the 24th.

October

• October 1 - Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur begins at sundown. Ends at nightfall of the 2nd.
• October 2 - Brazilian General Elections, 2006: Presidential election, Legislative: full renewal of the Chamber of Deputies and renewal of one third of the Federal Senate (one of each state's three seats); State sphere: Gubernatorial elections, renewal of the State Legislative body (State Assembly) in all states.
• October 24 - Islamic festival of Eid ul-Fitr
• October 24 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury makes the first of two Venus flybys.
• October 26 - Hindu festival of Diwali

November

• November 7 - US Mid-term Election which includes:
  • all 435 seats of the US House of Representatives (outlook)
  • 33 of the 100 seats in the US Senate (outlook)
  • Gubernatorial elections in 36 of the 50 states (outlook)
  • Many other state-wide offices in those states such as attorneys general and state auditors
• November 8 - Transit of Mercury.

December

• December 31 - Islamic festival of Eid ul-Adha begins (ends on January 3, 2007)

Unknown/undecided dates

• NATO Summit 2006 will take place in Latvia.
• White House proposed Plebiscite to decide whether Puerto Rico will mantain its territorial status or change to another status (to be decided then in other referendum)
• The third Chinese manned space mission Shenzhou 7 is scheduled with the first Chinese space walk ever to be performed.
• Airbus plans to release into service Airbus A380, the biggest commercial airliner in the world.
• The European Space Agency plans to launch the KEO space time capsule
• Irish referendum on the European Constitution: The Republic of Ireland is expected to hold a referendum on the European Constitution.
• Manuel Noriega becomes eligible for parole.
• Wembley Stadium expected to open after renovations.
• A bridge linking Savannakhet, Laos, over the Mekong, to Mukdahan, Thailand is expected to be completed late in the year.
• Windows Vista to be released in late 2006.

Deaths in 2006

Main article: Deaths in 2006

January

• January 1 - Henry Magdoff, American socialist commentator (b. 1913)
• January 2 - Steve Rogers, Australian Rugby League player (b. 1954)
• January 3 - Bill Skate, former Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
• January 4 - Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, former Prime Minister, United Arab Emirates; former emir, Dubai (b. 1946)

2006 in Fiction

• March 28 to March 29 - The events of the Doctor Who episodes Aliens of London and World War Three take place.
• September - The events of Doctor Who episode Boom Town take place.
• December 24 to December 25 - The events of Doctor Who episode The Christmas Invasion take place.
• The events of the third season of the Transformers cartoon take place.