April 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →
| Elections |
- 2: Thailand, Legislative (Lower house)
- 9: Peru, President (1st Round) and legislature
- 9 and 10: Italy, Parliament
- 9: Hungary, Parliament (1st Round)
- 17: India, State legislature
- 19: Thailand, Legislature (Upper house)
- 21: Haiti, Parliament (2nd Round)
- 23: Hungary, Parliament (2nd Round)
- 27: Scotland, Moray by-election
- 30: Laos, Parliamentary
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Events
- In Thailand, the 2006 legislative election is held. All three major opposition parties have announced they are boycotting the election. (Indep. UK)
- An outbreak of tornadoes, the April 2, 2006 Tornado Outbreak, hits northeastern Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, and West Tennessee killing 27.
- Lucent Technologies announced its merger agreement with Alcatel. (BBC)
- The Human Rights Protection Party wins Samoa's general election. The HRPP was already the ruling party, and its leader Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi the Prime Minister, but the party did better in the election than polls had indicated. (Radio NZ)
- After about 3 months captivity as a hostage in Iraq, American journalist Jill Carroll returns to American soil in Boston, Massachusetts. (CNN)
- An earthquake of 5.5 magnitude is reported in Western Gujarat in India.
- The World Meteorological Organization has announced the retirement of a record five storm names from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Retired names include Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma. (CNN)
- The National Geographic Society unveils the restored Gospel of Judas in Washington D.C. Written in Coptic, the document is thought to have come from the 2nd Century. It had been deteriorating rapidly when found. (NPR)
- A 1,500 year old pyramid called the Hill of the Star has been found in Mexico City. (Guardian Unlimited) (BBC)
- Orthodox Jews in Boro Park in New York City continue to protest after a 75-year-old Hasidic man was beaten and arrested by police for talking on a cell phone while driving. NYPD Chief Joseph Esposito allegedly cursed out the protestors in anti-Semitic terms, resulting in condemnations and calls for him to step down. (FOX news) (New York Sun)
- Palaeontologists announce the discovery of the Tiktaalik genus, an important fossil link between fish and land animals. (BBC)(Guardian)(New York Times)
- Israeli police arrest and release Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs in the new Hamas-led government of the Palestinian Authority. (Associated Press)
- The New Zealand Parliament passes a bill that on receiving Royal Assent will make New Zealand Sign Language the third official language of New Zealand, alongside English and Māori. (TVNZ)
- Health experts announce that a dead swan found in Scotland has tested positive for bird flu. (BBC). It has been further confirmed that the bird had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus (Bloomberg). Scotland and the UK confirm H5N1 virus, but say a GB-wide poultry housing requirement would be "disproportionate." (Farmers Weekly).
- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticizes Israel in a three-day conference attended by Palestinian Hamas officials. He calls the Israeli regime "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm." (Washington Post)
- Chad severs diplomatic ties with Sudan following an attempted coup by Chadian rebels in which around 350 died. Chad accuses Sudan of sponsoring the rebels. (AP)
- Burundi lifts a midnight-to-dawn curfew that has been in place for 34 years. (BBC)
- 2006 European floods: The Danube, swollen by heavy rain and melting snow, rises to record levels, and floods hundreds of homes in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. (BBC)
- In Delhi, India, two explosions inside the 16th century mosque Jama Masjid injure at least nine people. (BBC) (VOA)
- An editorial in The Lancet, an influential medical journal, says that researchers should study the effects of drugs by using them themselves, and thereby weakening the force of the social demonization of such substances. (Guardian)
- An accident occurs on the Yurikamome rail line in Tokyo, Japan when a damaged axle causes a rubber traction tire on a train to fall off, forcing the cancellation of all weekend train services. (Kyodo News)
- Suspected militants kill at least four civilians in a series of grenade attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir. A fifth civilian dies after police opens fire on the suspected militants. At least 17 others are injured. (BBC)
- A man disfigured in a bear attack becomes the first in China to have a face transplant. (BBC)
- Famous Bangladeshi social worker and human rights activist Nasreen Pervin Huq died at his own house in Dhaka, Bangladesh by a tragic accident. She had been the country director of the ActionAid Bangladesh (ActionAid) since 2003 up until her death.
- Former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, and current Leader of the Opposition, Basdeo Panday, is convicted on three counts of failing to declare a London bank account in 1997, 1998, and 1999. He is sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour, fined TT$20,000 on each count, and ordered to forfeit approximately TT$1,600,000 (the accumulated year-end balances of the account in question). He intends to appeal the sentence, but resigned as Leader of the Opposition. (T&T Express), (Radio Jamaica)
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unexpectedly lifts a 27-year ban on female attendance of public sporting events in Iran. They still need permission of the male head of the household to attend and they will sit in a special female-only section. (AP) (Guardian) (BBC)
- 2006 Democracy movement in Nepal: Hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed the town of Chautara, attacking government offices and a prison. (BBC). King Gyanendra orders the recall next Friday of the parliament which he suspended in 2005 – a key demand of the protestors. (BBC)
- 2006 Dahab bombings: Witnesses reporting hearing three explosions in the Egyptian Sinai resort town of Dahab at about 1715 UTC. Dr. Said Essa, who runs the Sinai Peninsula rescue squad, estimates there were at least 100 dead or wounded. (CTV)
- Pope Benedict XVI is reported to have agreed to a relaxation of rules for the use of condoms. (BBC)
- Dubai International Finance Centre, owner of the Dubai stock exchange, announces that it has increased its equity stake in Euronext NV, which runs stock exchanges in four European capitals. There are rumors of an impending take-over bid. (MSN)
- Sri Lankan Civil War: Two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels are shot dead in Batticaloa while being caught planting mines, after rebels reportedly hacked a young mother to death. In the eastern part of the island, two Sinhalese guards are killed as they returned from a funeral and one Tamil is shot dead by unidentified gunmen. (BBC)
- Ken Lay, former chairman of the board of defunct Enron Corporation, took the stand in his own defense in his criminal trial in Houston, Texas. (Houston Chronicle)
- A collision between a passenger bus and a truck kills 10 people, members of two different families, in Marcos Paz, Argentina. (Telefe video, in Spanish)
- Sri Lankan Civil War: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber attacks the Sri Lankan Army headquarters in the capital, Colombo, killing 8. Twenty-seven have been injured, including the army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, as the female suicide bomber, pretending to be pregnant to conceal explosives, detonates her bomb near the military's hospital. The Sri Lankan military has begun aerial assaults on rebel positions in the north-eastern part of the island nation. (BBC), (MumbaiMirror), (Reuters)
- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appears unmasked in a newly released video taunting the "crusade" by the American-led coalition and Iraqi authorities. At one point, he addresses U.S. President George W. Bush. (BBC), (CNN)
- The UN Security Council votes to impose sanctions on four Sudanese citizens involved in the Darfur conflict: Maj.-Gen. Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan of the Sudanese Air Force; Sheikh Musa Hilal, paramount chief of the Jalul Janjaweed tribe in North Darfur; Commander Adam Yacub Shant of the Sudanese Liberation Army; and Commander Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri of the National Movement for Reform and Development. The vote marks the first time UN sanctions have been adopted against individuals involved in this conflict. (CBC), (BBC)
- In the Philippines, 49 people are charged with rebellion over an alleged plot to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in February 2006. (CBC), (BBC)
- The Communist Party of Vietnam announces at the closing of the Tenth National Congress that Nông Ðức Mạnh will be re-appointed as its general secretary for another five year term. Other key positions, such as those of prime minister and president, are yet to be appointed. New faces are expected. (BBC)
- Darwin, Australia is spared a projected direct hit by Cyclone Monica. (BBC)
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