- October 10
- Google buys YouTube for US$1.65 billion. [27]
- An arc of blazing light is witnessed crossing the sky in Germany, resulting in a fire destroying a cottage in Siegburg, near Bonn, Germany and injuring a 77-year-old man. [521]
- October 13
- Ban Ki-moon (of South Korea) is elected as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations. [27]
- 38 Muslim scholars create a statement appealing for a strategic dialog with Christian leaders, mainly the Pope. [189.65]
- October 15
- In Hawaii, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs. Power outages occur throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Damage estimated at US$73 million. [53]
- The United Nations agrees to sanction North Korea over nuclear testing issue. [27]
- Chief Justice of Japan Akira Machida retires upon reaching the age of 70. [27]
- Declaration of the etablishment of the Islamic State of Iraq. [27]
- October 16
- The last MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is decommissioned. [27]
- October 17
- The United States population reaches 300 million based on a United States Census Bureau projection. [27]
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- October 18
- Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 7 Web browser. [4]
- October 19
- On the 19th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 12,000 for the first time, at 12,011.73. [27] [227]
- October 23
- Jeffrey Skilling is sentenced to 24 years and four months in US federal prison on charges of fraud and insider trading relating to the financial collapse of Enron. [27] [527.75]
- October 29
- Aviation Development Company Flight 53 (Boeing 737) crashes shortly after take-off from Abuja, Lagos, Nigeria, killing 96 including Muhammadu Maccidio, spiritual head of Nigeria's Muslims. The crash is blamed on a storm. [27] [528.46]
- Luis Inácio Lula da Silva is re-elected President of Brazil with 61 percent of the vote in the run-off election. [27] [528.10]
- October 30
- Former President of Chile Augusto Pinochet is placed under house arrest for crimes committed at the Villa Grimaldi detention centre. [27]
- An airstrike on a madrasah in Bajaur kills dozens of suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. [27]
- The Esperanza Fire burns over 61 square miles of Cabazon, California mountain territory. [27]
- October 31
- Square Enix releases the Final Fantasy XII video game for the PlayStation 2 in the USA. [9]
- November 1
- The Stardust Resort & Casino closes after 48 years of business in Las Vegas. [27]
- November 3
- Iran successfully test-fires three new models of sea missiles in a show of force to assert its military capacities in the Gulf. [27]
- November 5
- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and two of his senior allies are sentenced to death by hanging after an Iraqi court finds them guilty of crimes against humanity. [27] (November 6 [129])
- November 7
- U.S. Midterm elections: Democrats win control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994. [27]
- In the U.S. congressional elections, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison becomes the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives. [27]
- The Japanese town of Saroma, Hokkaido is struck by a tornado, killing nine. It is the deadliest tornado in Japan since 1941. [27]
- Microsoft releases the Gears of War video game for the Xbox 360 in the USA. Total worldwide sales in the first three weeks: 1 million units. [9]
- November 8
- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigns; President Bush nominates Robert Gates, a former Central Intelligence Agency director, as his replacement. [27]
- Margaret Chan is elected as the Director-General of the World Health Organization. [27]
- A transit of Mercury occurs. [27]
- November 11
- Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier, Hong Kong, completes the last journey of its 49-year operation. [27]
- Sony releases the PlayStation 3 video game system in Japan. Total sales in the first nine days: 133,000. [9]
- November 12
- Gerald Ford surpasses Ronald Reagan as the longest lived President of the United States. [27]
- The former Soviet republic of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia. [27]
- November 14
- Microsoft launches the Zune portable music player. It features 30 GB hard drive, 3-inch display, FM radio, playback of unprotected audio and video files and protected files from the Zune Marketplace. Case colors are black, brown, or white. Price is US$249. [4]
- November 15
- Al Jazeera launches its new English language news channel, Al Jazeera English. [27]
- Start of the Sales and Use Tax in Puerto Rico; a response to the Puerto Rico budget crisis of May 2006. [27]
- The State of Hawaii bans smoking in all enclosed public places. [27]
- In the Kuril Islands, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurs. A tsunami with a recorded wave height of 176 cm damages a dock at Crescent City, California. [53]
- November 16
- Rioting in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga, destroys about 80 percent of the CBD; eight bodies found and foreign forces requested. [27]
- November 17
- Sony releases the PlayStation 3 video game system in the USA. [9]
- November 19
- Nintendo releases the Wii video game system in North and South America. It includes a wireless Wii remote controller, a Nunchuk controller attachment, and video game Wii Sports. Price is US$249.99 in the USA. Total sales in first 8 days: 600,000. [9]
- November 20
- Iran and Syria recognize the government of Iraq, restore diplomatic relations, and call for a peace conference. [27]
- Lee High School bus crash kills four students in Huntsville, Alabama. [27]
- November 21
- Pierre Amine Gemayel, Lebanon's Minister of Industry, is assassinated in Beirut. [27]
- Israel's Supreme Court finds that Israel must recognize and register same-gender marriages celebrated in other countries. [27]
- A gas explosion in the coal mine Halemba in Ruda Slaska, Poland, kills 23 miners approximately 1,000 metres below ground. [27]
- November 22
- The Christian Democratic Appeal wins a plurality of seats in The Netherlands. [27]
- A General Election is held for the House of Keys in the Isle of Man. [27]
- Ten people are trapped and killed in the Kolkata leather factory fire in India. [27]
- November 23
- Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian KGB agent, is killed by Polonium-210 in a London sushi bar. [27]
- A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kill at least 215 people and injure 257 others. [27]
- November 25
- Steve Bracks wins the Victorian state election. [27]
- November 26
- US Judge James Robertson orders the US Treasury to change the dollar bill. [27]
- November 28
- (to November 29) The NATO Summit 2006 takes place in Latvia. [27]
- November 30
- South Africa becomes the fifth nation to legalize gay marriage. [27]
- Typhoon Durian triggers a massive mudslide and kills hundreds of people in the Philippines. [27]
- Microsoft releases the Windows Vista operating system to corporate clients. [4]
- December 1
- Felipe Calderón is sworn in as the President of Mexico by the Congress in Mexico. [27]
- December 2
- In Rome, about two million people, led by opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi, demonstrate against Romano Prodi's government. [27]
- Stephane Dion is elected the new Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, on the fourth ballot. [27]
- December 3
- Ed Stelmach is elected the new Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Canada, after the second ballot results, and second choice votes for Ted Morton have been added up. Ed becomes the Premier-designate of Alberta. [27]
- Hugo Chávez is re-elected President of Venezuela. [27]
- Explosive demolition of Germany's tallest chimney at former Westerholt Power Station. [27]
- December 4
- An adult giant squid is caught on video near the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo. [5]
- December 5
- The military seizes power in Fiji by means of a coup d'état led by Commodore Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama. [27] [375.46]
- December 9
- A fire at a hospital in Moscow kills 45 people. [27]
- December 10
- NASA space shuttle Discovery lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on the first night launch since the 2003 loss of Columbia. [27]
- Christer Fuglesang becomes the first Swede in space. [27]
- December 11
- The Holocaust conference is opened in Tehran, Iran by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. [27]
- December 12
- Peugeot produce their last car at the Ryton Plant in Coventry signalling the end of mass car production in a city that was once a major centre of the British motor industry. [27]
- December 13
- The Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji becomes extinct. [27]
- December 15
- Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter successfully flies for the first time. [27]
- An alleged assassination attempt on the Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh sparks inter-Palestinian clashes. [27]
- Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, abdicates in favour of his son Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck a year earlier than expected. [27]
- The Japanese government passes a bill to upgrade the Japan Defense Agency to a Ministry. [27]
- December 19
- A Libyan court sentences five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for knowingly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. [27]
- December 20
- In Somalia, Islamic Courts Union fighters begin attacking the government-held town of Baidoa. [27]
- December 21
- Death of Saparmurat Niyazov of heart failure in Turkmenistan; first secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party (1985-1991), first president of Turkmenistan (1991-2006). [27] [1113.54]
- December 22
- The NASA space shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center, concluding a two-week mission to the International Space Station. [27]
- December 24
- Ethiopia admits its troops have intervened in Somalia. [27]
- December 26
- An oil pipeline is blown up in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, killing at least 200 people. [27]
- The Hengchun earthquake in Taiwan kills two people, damages about 15 historical buildings and several undersea cable, disrupting Internet and IDD telecommunication services in Asia. [27]
- December 29
- In Somalia, Ethiopian and Transitional government troops capture Mogadishu without resistance. [27]
- December 30
- Saddam Hussein, former Iraq president, is executed in Baghdad. [27] [129]
- The MV Senopati Nusantara sinks off Indonesia with several hundred casualties. [27]
- December 31
- At least eleven bombs go off in Bangkok, Thailand, hours before the new year. [27]
- The U.S. soldier death toll in Iraq reaches 3,000. [27]
- Year
- According to the Met Office, England experienced its warmest year since records began in 1659 with an average temperature of 10.82 degrees C. [27]
- US casino gambling revenue: US$32 billion. [53]
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