2006

Stuff of interest from 2006. Eventually "Timeline" events will make it in here, too
==January==
January 15 – NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.[6]
January 16 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf assumes office as President of Liberia, the first female elected head of state in Africa.
January 19 – NASA launches the first space mission to Pluto as a rocket hurls the New Horizons spacecraft on a 9-year journey.[7]
January 27 – Celebrations are held in Salzburg and around the world, for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[9]
==February==
February 10–26 – The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy.
==March==
March 4 – The final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 receives no response.[14]
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.[15]
March 10 – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters orbit around Mars.[16][17]
March 16 – The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the United Nations Human Rights Council.
March 21 – Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams found the popular social-networking service Twitter. They officially launch the site later in the year.
March 28 – A scramjet jet engine, HyShot III, designed to fly at 7 times the speed of sound, is successfully tested at Woomera, South Australia.[18][19]
==April==
April 5 – A swan with Avian flu is discovered in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland (the first case in the United Kingdom).[20]
April 11 - The European Space Agency's Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus' orbit.[22]
==May==
May – The Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence, in Nature.
May 27 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
May 29 – Sidoarjo mud flow: The world's biggest mud volcano is created by the blowout of a natural gas well being drilled in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia. This results in displacement of more than 11,000 persons from 8 villages, as well as damage to road and power infrastructures. Several (Twenty-five) factories are also abandoned.[27]
==June==
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.[28][29]
June 9 – July 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup begins in Germany.
June 18 - The first Kazakh space satellite KazSat-1 is launched.[30]
June 28 - The United States Armed Forces withdraws its forces in Iceland, thereby disbanding the Iceland Defense Force.
==July==
July 1 – The Qinghai–Tibet Railway launches a trial operation, making Tibet the last province-level entity of China to have a conventional railway.[32]
July 6 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.[33]
July 9 - Italy wins its fourth FIFA World Cup title.
July 15 – Twitter is launched.
July 17 – The 7.7 Mw Pangandaran tsunami earthquake severely affects the Indonesian island of Java, killing 668 people, and leaving more than 9,000 injured.
July 18 – The SS Nomadic, the last floating link to Titanic, returns home to a large reception in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[38]
==August==
August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at its 26th General Assembly, demoting Pluto to the status of 'dwarf planet' more than 70 years after its discovery.[42]
==September==
September 6 – the birth of Prince Hisahito of Akishino of Japan, son of Kiko, Princess Akishino and Prince Akishino
September 13 – Dawson College shooting in Montreal: One killed, nineteen injured.
September 19 – Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand declares a state of emergency in Bangkok as members of the Royal Thai Army stage a coup d'état. The army announces the removal of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power.[43]
==October==
October 17 – The population of the United States exceeds 300 million.
==November==
November 8 – Mercury transits the sun. It is visible from the Americas, Eastern China, Japan, Australia, and Polynesia.
==December==
December 8 - The Wii is released in Europe
December 13 – The Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji becomes extinct.[57]
December 24 – Ethiopia admits its troops have intervened in Somalia.[58]
Category:2006
Category:Timelines