WORLD NEWS

  • 1. North Korea's nuclear test
  • 2. Indonesia suffered another major earthquake, this time killing about 6,000 residents of central Java
  • 3. In July, North Korea launched seven missiles, including the Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile, toward the Sea of Japan.
  • 4. The demotion of Pluto
  • 5. Democratic Party succeeded in obtaining majorities in both houses of Congress
  • 6. November's death sentence for Saddam Hussein,
  • 7. The price of crude oil continued its rise from the previous year
  • 8. Human deaths from bird flu topped 100 in March and 150 by the end of October
  • 9. Alexander Litvinenko--critic of President Vladimir Putin--died in London in November
  • 10. In Mumbai, the almost-simultaneous bombings of seven trains and stations killed 179 people in July

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20061229TDY04004.htm

DOMESTIC NEWS

  • 1. birth of Prince Hisahito
  • 2. Shizuka Arakawa's gold medal performance at the Turin Winter Olympic Games
  • 3. Team Japan, led by Sadaharu Oh, won the first World Baseball Classic
  • 4. The launch of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
  • 5. victory of Waseda Jitsugyo High School in the final of the National High School Baseball Championship
  • 6. Livedoor and Horie arrest
  • 7. reports about suicides by children who were bullied at school
  • 8. Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' first victory in 44 years in baseball's Japan Series
  • 9. children were victimized by adults who lacked basic human qualities
  • 10. drunk driving by a Fukuoka municipal government employee in August