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