2006 Banquet 400, Race
The race started at 2:22 p.m. Kahne maintained his pole position advantage, and led the first lap. Kenseth moved in front of Bowyer for fifth position on the third lap, and passed Vickers for fourth place four laps later. The first caution of the race was prompted on lap ten when Robby Gordon spun after leaving turn four but avoided damaging his car. During the caution, most of the field (including Kahne) made pit stops. Jamie McMurray ran into the grass near the pit road entry at turn four after contact with Sadler.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Joe Nemechek and Riggs made contact on pit road which resulted in Nemechek spinning and hit the wall with his front-end. Ryan Newman chose not to pit and led the field at the lap-14 restart. Shortly afterward, he was passed by Johnson for the first position. Newman experienced oversteer one lap later in front of the leading drivers, and went up the track before he spun in turn four, which triggered the second caution. Johnson led at the lap-19 restart, followed by Kahne and Riggs. That lap, the third caution was issued when Sorenson's tire went down and had oversteer, causing him to hit the wall between turns three and four.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Johnson maintained the first position at the lap-25 restart; he was followed by Kahne. Riggs moved ahead of teammate Kahne for second on the following lap. On lap 28, Johnson was passed by Riggs for the lead. Bowyer moved up into second place after he passed Johnson on lap 32, and took the lead from Riggs before crossing the start-finish line at the start of the 35th lap, before Riggs reclaimed the position shortly afterward. Bowyer retook the first position two laps later, and pulled away from the rest of the field.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
After starting from twelfth, Earnhardt had moved up to third position by lap 45. Johnson lost sixth position after he was overtaken by Kyle Busch on lap 48. Riggs fell to fifth place when Kyle Busch and Johnson passed him. On lap 59, debris was spotted on the backstretch, which caused the fourth caution. The leaders, including Bowyer, made pit stops for tires and adjustments under caution. Earnhardt led the field back up to speed on the lap-64 restart. Bowyer passed teammate Burton for fourth one lap later. After he drove up the track, David Gilliland spun while leaving turn four but avoided hitting the wall, causing the fifth caution to be shown on lap 68.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Earnhardt maintained the first position at the lap-73 restart, followed by Kyle Busch and Johnson. Bowyer was passed by Kahne for fourth place three laps later. Kyle Busch moved in front of Earnhardt for the lead heading into the first turn on the 80th lap, and started to pull away from the field. Earnhardt reported his car had smoke emitting out of his cockpit on lap 93, but later reported the problem had stopped.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
The gap between Kyle Busch and Earnhardt had reduced to 0.612 seconds by lap 100, however he increased the gap back to 1.694 seconds by the 110th lap. Green-flag pit stops began on lap 121 when Harvick stopped for four tires and car adjustments; Kenseth and teammate Biffle made their pit stops one lap later. Kyle Busch made his pit stop on lap 126; Johnson took over the lead for one lap before his pit stop on the following lap, handing it to Newman. After the pit stops, Kyle Busch regained the lead. McMurray spun and hit the turn two outside wall on lap 131, which caused the sixth caution to be shown. During the caution, some drivers elected to make pit stops.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Kyle Busch remained the leader at the lap-137 restart, followed by Earnhardt, Bowyer, Johnson and Tony Stewart. Johnson lost fourth position when he was passed by Stewart on lap 141, while Bowyer moved ahead of Earnhardt for second on the following lap. Earnhardt had a hole in the center his car's front valance by lap 142 which was caused by running over debris beforehand. On lap 145, Kenseth spun off turn four which caused Sadler to spin in avoidance, triggering the seventh caution. During the caution, the leading drivers (including Kyle Busch), made pit stops.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Earnhardt had his car's damage repaired, while Johnson, Kyle Busch and Burton had new tires fitted. Bowyer led the field at the lap-150 restart. The eighth caution was prompted two laps later when Hamlin lost control of his car and drifted up the track at turn four, which caused him to make light contact with the wall and spin. The race restarted on lap 157 with Bowyer leading teammate Burton. Bowyer drove to the side of the track and allowed Burton to lead. Burton ceded the first position back to Bowyer on the next lap.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Burton fell to third when he passed by Johnson on lap 159 who started to draw near Bowyer. Kyle Busch moved ahead of Burton for third on the following lap. Johnson reclaimed the lead from Burton on the 166th lap. Seven laps later, Bowyer had oversteer in the third turn which caused him to heavy contact with the wall and spun while attempting to get ahead of Riggs, triggering the ninth caution. Most of the leaders, including Johnson, chose to make pit stops.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Johnson had an air pressure adjustment after reporting his car had oversteer, and Kyle Busch had four tires fitted and an chassis adjustment to increase the grip available. Edwards elected to install two tires and took over the lead for the lap-177 restart, followed by Stewart. Kyle Busch temporarily moved in front of Stewart for second, but Stewart retook the position because Kyle Busch slid up the track. He took second from Stewart on the following lap with assistance from teammate Johnson. On lap 180, Johnson moved back into the first position after he passed Kyle Busch and Edwards. Newman spun in turn two on lap 181 but avoided damage to his car, prompting the tenth caution.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Johnson remained the leader at the lap-186 restart. Edwards fell to fifth by lap 189 after Kyle Busch, Stewart and Biffle overtook him. The eleventh (and final) caution was necessitated on lap 195 when David Stremme went up the track and hit the turn two wall; Yeley spun shortly afterward and hit the outside wall with his rear-end. All of the leaders elected to make pit stops under caution. Kyle Busch was observed speeding, and was required to drop to the end of the nearest longest line. Johnson led the field at the lap-200 restart, followed by Biffle.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
On the same lap, Biffle got ahead of Johnson to take over the first position. Three laps later, Johnson retook the lead from Biffle. Earnhardt experienced a large amount of oversteer on lap 205; he regained control of his car and dropped to seventh. Hamlin drove to pit road for an unscheduled pit stop on lap 213 to rectify a vibration; he also had a chassis change and four new tires. Fuel became the teams' primary concern by lap 220 as most drivers did not have enough fuel to reach the race's conclusion. Biffle was passed by Burton for second ten laps later.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Gordon slowed on lap 239 with a broken fuel-pump and stalled on the backstretch. His teammate Terry Labonte pushed Gordon back to his pit stall. Johnson had a five-second lead by lap 242. The second round of green-flag pit stops commenced on lap 249 when Biffle made a pit stop for four tires and fuel, and Burton made a similar pit stop nine laps later. Stewart and Edwards avoided making contact while battling for second position on the 259th lap.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Kahne spun while entering pit road and stalled after he ran out of fuel on lap 262; a caution was not needed. Johnson slowed to avoid a collision but missed entering pit road and was required to take another lap at racing speed. After taking his pit stop on the next lap, Johnson was observed exceeding the speed limit upon leaving pit road. After the pit stops, Stewart took over the lead.


2006 Banquet 400, Race
Stewart reduced his speed on the final lap as he ran out of fuel after leaving turn two; he placed his car into neutral gear and avoided the use of his brakes by lifting early. Second place driver Mears also ran out of fuel when he reached the final turn, allowing Stewart to win the race. Martin finished third, Dale Jarrett took fourth, and Burton fifth. Edwards, Kyle Busch, Vickers, Bowyer and Earnhardt rounded out the top ten finishers. The race had a total of eleven cautions and twenty lead changes by thirteen different drivers. Johnson led five times for a total of 105 laps, more than any other competitor. Stewart led once for a total of five laps.


2006 Banquet 400, Race, Post-race comments
Stewart appeared in victory lane to celebrate his third win of the season in front of the crowd; the win earned him $346,361. Stewart said it was not performance but strategy by his crew chief Greg Zipadelli that helped him to win the race: "It's not typically the way race-car drivers like to win races by any means. But in this business, you take them any way you can get them." Second-place finisher Mears said: "Donnie (crew chief Donnie Wingo) made a good call at the beginning of the last run.


2006 Banquet 400, Race, Post-race comments
He told me to go ahead and save fuel in case we go green the rest of the way and that's what happened." Martin, who finished third, stated: "Everybody tried to make it. But a lot of them didn't. We put a little bit of gas in the bank, and it was a great strategy based on not having the sheer speed to get up there and race with the leaders."


2006 Banquet 400, Race, Post-race comments
Gordon was disappointed not to finish the race: "We are just going to have to fight really hard. We put out a great fight today. We really came up through there." Burton revealed that he was afraid he would not finish in the top ten finishing positions, but praised his team for the way he ran the race. Johnson was upset over his speeding penalty: "I was just trying to get off and get on and get back in the race, and I got a speeding violation. I wasn’t doing anything differently.”


2006 Banquet 400, Race, Post-race comments
He also said he disliked missing an opportunity to score more points and stated he needed more luck. Bowyer (who led 43 laps) admitted that he was a fault for his lap-173 crash, saying he was trying very hard to win the race. Riggs said he was attempting to give Bowyer more room, and acknowledged that Bowyer was unhappy. Earnhardt stated he was not pleased with his tenth-place finish, but was happy to run with the leaders despite the problems with his car: "It was a good day – a good car. And great pit stops all day. Those guys are really on their game. I am so proud of the effort of my guys. We were better than a 10th-place car and they deserve to finish in the top-three, but the scoreboard doesn't always show how good your team is."


2006 Banquet 400, Race, Post-race comments
The result kept Burton in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 5,511 points, ahead of Hamlin on 5,442. Martin moved into third with 5,441, fourteen points ahead of Kenseth who fell to fourth. Harvick remained in fifth, while Gordon fell four positions to sixth. Earnhardt, Johnson, Kyle Busch and Kahne rounded out the top ten. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained the lead with 222 points. Ford remained in second with 175, one point ahead of Dodge. The race took three hours, seventeen minutes and twenty-two seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 12.422 seconds.


2006 Barbarians end of season tour
The 2006 Barbarians rugby union tour  was a series of matches played in May–June 2006 in by Barbarians F.C.. They played against Scotland, England and, for the first time, against Georgia.


2006 Barbarians end of season tour, Results
England XV: 15. Mark Van Gisbergen; 14.James Simpson-Daniel (Armitage from 77'), 13.Mathew Tait, 12.Mike Catt; (Stuart Abbott from 55'), 11.Iain Balshaw; 10.Olly Barkley, 9.Peter Richards(Scott Bemand from 75'); 8. Pat Sanderson (capt) 7.Michael Lipman(James Haskell from 75'), 6.James Forrester, 5.Alex Brown, 4. James Hudson (Kieran Roche from 55'), 3. Duncan Bell, 2. Lee Mears (David Paice from 55'), 1.Tim Payne (David Barnes from 55') Barbarians: 15. Burke (Australia); 14.Reihana (New Zealand), 13. Castaignede (France), 12.Fe'aunati (Samoa) (Waters – England, from 66'), 11.Roff (Australia) ( Nacewa – Fiji from 41'); 10. Spencer (New Zealand) 9.


2006 Barbarians end of season tour, Results
Robinson (New Zealand) (Marshall - New Zealand from 50'); 8. Rush (New Zealand), 7.Magne (France), 6.Kefu (Australia), ( Harding - New Zealand from 66'), 5.Palmer (England), 4.Casey (Ireland) (Leo, Samoa from 73'), 3.Califano (France), 2.Ibanez (France - capt. );( Regan - England from 66'), 1. Lo Cicero (Italy) (Bracken – England from 66'),


2006 Barbarians end of season tour, Results
Scotland XV:  15.Hugo Southwell, 14. Chris Paterson, 13.Marcus Di Rollo, 12.Andrew Henderson, 11.Lamont, 10.Dan Parks, 9.Mike Blair, 8.Derek White, 7. Brown, 6. Hogg 5.Scott Murray, 4.Alastair Kellock, 3. Craigh Smith, 2.Scott Lawson, 1. Gavin Kerr – Replacements: Hall, Douglas, MacLeod, MacFadyen, Pinder, Ross, Webster. Barbarians: Hanley, Lloyd, Greenwood, Parker, L. Robinson, Malone, Spice, Tkachuk, Dixon, Davies, Hamilton, Louw, Dawson, Forster, Browne.- Replacements: Azam, Miall, Crompton, Skinstad, Rauluni, Maggs, Monye, Marsh.


2006 Barbarians end of season tour, Results
Georgia: 15.Paliko Jimsheladze (capt. ), 14.Otar Eloshvili, 13.Revaz Gigauri, 12.Irakli Giorgadze, 11.Irakli Machkhaneli, 10.Otar Barkalaia, 9.Bidzina Samkharadze, 8.Besso Udessiani, 7.Rati Urushadze, 6.Ilia Maissuradze, 5.Levan Datunashvili, 4.Mamuka Gorgodze, 3.Avto Kopaliani, 2.Akvsenti Giorgadze, 1.Mamuka Magrakvelidze,  – replacements: 16.Michael Sujashvili, 17.David Khinchagashvili, 18.Shalva Papashvili, 19.Zviad Maissuradze, 20.George Kacharava, 21.Lexo Gugava, 22.George Elizbarashvili Barbarians: 15.Neil Hallett, 14.Ugo Monye, 13.Tony Marsh, 12.Kevin Maggs, 11.Lee Robinson, 10.Chris Malone, 9.Jacob Rauluni, 8.Bobby Skinstad (capt. ), 7.Will Skinner, 6.Brad MacLeod-Henderson, 5.Simon Miall, 4.Jim Hamilton, 3.Darren Crompton, 2.Olivier Azam, 1.Justin Fitzpatrick,  – replacements: 16.Steve Hanley, 17.Leon Lloyd, 18.Pat Howard, 19.Pieter Dixon, 20.Kevin Tkachuk, 21.Hottie Louw, 22.Daniel Browne, 23.Ian Vass, 24.Jason Forster, 25.John Davies


2006 Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council election
Elections for Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council were held on Thursday 4 May 2006. The whole council was up for election. Barking and Dagenham is split up into 17 wards, each electing 3 councillors, so a total of 51 seats were up for election.


2006 Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council election
The Labour Party retained control of the council winning 38 seats and 41% of the popular vote. The BNP won 12 seats and formed the official opposition winning 17% of the popular vote. The Conservatives won 1 seat.


2006 Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council election, Background
115 candidates nominated in total. Labour again ran a full slate (51) and was the only party to do so. By contrast the Conservative Party ran only 23 candidates , whilst the Liberal Democrats ran 4 and the BNP ran 13.


2006 Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council election, By-elections between 2006 and 2010, Chadwell Heath
The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr. Sarah Baillie.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election
The 2006 Barnet Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Barnet London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, Background
The last election in 2002 saw the Conservatives gain a majority of seats after winning 33 seats, compared to 24 for Labour and 6 Liberal Democrats. In December 2005 the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in High Barnet from the Conservatives in a by-election, after having come third in the ward in 2002. This meant that before the election the Conservatives had 31 seats, the Labour party 24, Liberal Democrats 7 and 1, formerly Conservative, seat was vacant.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, Background
A total of 219 candidates stood in the election for the 63 seat being contested across 21 wards. These included a full slate from the Conservative and Labour parties, while the Liberal Democrats had 3 candidates in all but one ward. Other candidates included the Green party who stood at least one candidate in each ward, as well as 3 from the United Kingdom Independence Party, 1 Victory United candidate and 2 independents. 14 councillors did not stand for re-election and a further 1, Daniel Hope, stood in a different ward.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, Election result
The results saw the Conservatives increase their majority to 11 after winning 37 of the 63 seats. Overall turnout in the election was 41.65%, an increase on the 2002 election turnout of 34%. This turnout included 33,892 postal votes, a rise from 29,195 in 2002.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, Election result
Following the election the Conservative leader of the council, Brian Salinger, lost a vote of no confidence in the Conservative group by 21 votes to 16 and was replaced as leader by his deputy Mike Freer.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, By-elections between 2006 and 2010, East Barnet
Cllr. Olwen Evans died on 25 December 2006 after a long battle with cancer. She had served East Barnet Ward as a councillor for 24 years (1978-1994 and 1998-2006). Turnout was reasonable but lower than usual for this ward due to snowfall on the day of the election, which closed many schools and curtailed refuse collection.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, By-elections between 2006 and 2010, Hale
The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr Jane Ellison.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, By-elections between 2006 and 2010, Edgware
The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr. Richard F. Weider.


2006 Barnet London Borough Council election, By-elections between 2006 and 2010, Totteridge
The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr. Caroline S. Margo.


2006 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election
The 2006 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in South Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election, with an extra vacancy in Penistone East caused by a resignation, and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.


2006 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election, Background
The Barnsley Independent Group, which had been formed by independents on the council, were contesting an election for the first time. They put up candidates in 17 of the 21 wards which had seats up for election and 7 of their councillors were defending seats.


2006 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election, Election result
The results saw Labour stay in control of the council, making a net gain of 1 to hold 34 seats.


2006 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election, Ward results
+/- figures represent changes from the last time these wards were contested.


2006 Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council election
Elections to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council were held on 4 May 2006. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2006 proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001, augmented by a special election; the result was the largest class of inductees (18) in the Hall's history, including the first woman elected, Effa Manley.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from among recent players, voting Bruce Sutter into the Hall. On July 26, 2005, the Hall announced that its board of directors had approved a special election to be held in 2006, by the Committee on African-American Baseball, of Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues candidates. The Committee selected 17 players and executives for induction.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
The Veterans Committee did not hold an election; the 2001 rules changes provided that elections for players retired over 20 years would be held every other year, with elections of non-players (managers, umpires and executives) held every fourth year. The Committee voted in 2005 on players who were active no later than 1983; there was no 2005 election for non-players. Elections in both categories were held in 2007.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown were held July 30 with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1986 or later, but not after 2000; the ballot, announced on November 28, 2005, included candidates from the 2005 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 2000. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. Results of the 2006 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 10. The ballot consisted of 29 players; 520 ballots were cast, with 390 votes required for election. A total of 2933 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.64 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
Pete Rose, who last played in 1986, was again not included on the ballot due to his banishment from baseball in what was theoretically his final opportunity, as players retired over 20 years can not be considered by the BBWAA under current rules; however, Hall of Fame chair Jane Forbes Clark indicated prior to the ballot announcement that if Rose is ever reinstated by Major League Baseball, the Hall's board of directors might review the rules in light of the fact that Rose never had an opportunity to appear on a BBWAA ballot.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger (†). The candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*).


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
The newly eligible candidates included 18 All-Stars, six of whom were not on the ballot, representing 46 selections. Only two players were named to five or more All-Star Games: Will Clark (six times) and Albert Belle (five). Included in the class were three Rookie of the Year Award winners (Dwight Gooden, Ozzie Guillén and Walt Weiss) and two Cy Young Award winners (Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden).


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The BBWAA election
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Rich Amaral, Tim Belcher, Stan Belinda, Gerónimo Berroa, Sean Berry, Mark Clark, Dave Eiland, Kevin Elster, Eric Gunderson, Juan Guzmán, Carlos Hernández, Thomas Howard, Jeff Huson, Lance Johnson, Scott Kamieniecki, Roberto Kelly, Jim Leyritz, Mike Maddux, Mickey Morandini, Mike Munoz, Jaime Navarro, Charlie O'Brien, Steve Ontiveros, Luis Polonia, Jim Poole, Jeff Reed, Heathcliff Slocumb, Mike Stanley, Lenny Webster, and Mark Whiten.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball
In July 2000, the Hall was given a $250,000 grant from Major League Baseball to begin a comprehensive study on African Americans in baseball from 1860–1960, with the hope of enhancing the Hall's collections in these areas. In February 2001, the Hall selected three historians – Dr. Larry Hogan, Dick Clark and Larry Lester – to conduct the study, which involved over 50 other researchers and authors.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball
The resulting study was a narrative, bibliography, and statistical database, including 3,000 day-by-day records, league leaders and all-time leaders, collected from box scores in 128 newspapers of sanctioned Negro league games played from 1920–1954. The box scores reflect almost 100% of games of the 1920s, over 90% of the games played in the 1930s, and 50-70% of games in the 1940s and 1950s.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball
In February 2006, National Geographic published a book featuring material from the study, in conjunction with the Hall, called Shades of Glory; it covers not only the development of the game, but also its impact within the African American community. Pride and Passion, an exhibit focusing on the history of African American baseball, debuted at the Hall's museum in April 2006.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
In July 2005 the Hall's board of directors appointed two expert committees, a screening committee of five and a voting committee of twelve. Former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent served as the non-voting chairman of both committees and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson served as an advisor and assistant to Vincent and the committees. Written recommendations from fans and non-committee members were accepted through October 2005 (stage one). From the many candidates recommended, 94 were selected for consideration by the screening committee. These second-stage nominations were the first ones published (stage two).


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
Newt Allen – Walter Ball – Sam Bankhead – Bernardo Baró – John Beckwith – William Bell – Ed Bolden – Chet Brewer – Chester Brooks – Dave Brown – Larry Brown – Ray Brown – Willard Brown – Bill Byrd – Rev Cannady – Bill Cash – Phil Cockrell – Pancho Coimbre – Andy Cooper – Bingo DeMoss – Rap Dixon – John Donaldson – Frank Duncan – José Fernández – Bud Fowler – Jelly Gardner – Charlie Grant – Frank Grant – Gus Greenlee – Vic Harris – Pete Hill – Bill Holland – Sammy T. Hughes – Fats Jenkins – Sam Jethroe – Home Run Johnson – Oscar Johnson – Henry Kimbro – Frank Leland – Dick Lundy – Jimmie Lyons – Biz Mackey – Dave Malarcher – Abe Manley – Effa Manley – Max Manning – Oliver Marcell – J. B. Martin – Horacio Martínez – Verdell Mathis – Dan McClellan – Hurley McNair – José Méndez – Minnie Miñoso – Bill Monroe – Dobie Moore – Alejandro Oms – Buck O'Neil – Red Parnell – John Patterson – Jap Payne – Bruce Petway – Spottswood Poles – Alex Pompez – Cumberland Posey – Alex Radcliffe – Ted Radcliffe – Dick Redding – Neal Robinson – Nat Rogers – Louis Santop – George Scales – Chino Smith – Clarence Smith – George Stovey – Mule Suttles – Ben Taylor – C. I. Taylor – Candy Jim Taylor – Cristóbal Torriente – Juan Vargas – Moses Walker – Frank Warfield – Chaney White – Sol White – Frank Wickware – Wabishaw Wiley – J. L. Wilkinson – Clarence Williams – George Williams – George Wilson – Jud Wilson – Nip Winters – Bill Wright


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
Using statistics and other historical material from the Hall's earlier study, the  screening committee met in November at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida to create two ballots – one for Negro league players, managers, umpires and executives, and another for candidates whose careers mainly preceded the leagues—this is, before 1920. The committee members and listed areas of expertise were Adrian Burgos (Latin America), Dick Clark (Negro leagues), Larry Hogan (overall history), Larry Lester (Negro leagues) and Jim Overmyer (eastern teams and 19th century). They cut the 94 nominees to ten pre-Negro leagues and 29 Negro leagues candidates (stage three).


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
Newt Allen – John Beckwith – William Bell – Chet Brewer – Ray Brown – Willard Brown – Bill Byrd – Andy Cooper – Rap Dixon – John Donaldson – Sammy T. Hughes – Fats Jenkins – Dick Lundy – Biz Mackey – Effa Manley – Oliver Marcelle – Minnie Miñoso – Dobie Moore – Alejandro Oms – Buck O'Neil – Red Parnell – Alex Pompez – Cumberland Posey – George Scales – Mule Suttles – Candy Jim Taylor – C. I. Taylor – Cristóbal Torriente – J. L. Wilkinson – Jud Wilson


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
Frank Grant – Pete Hill – Home Run Johnson – José Méndez – Spottswood Poles – Dick Redding – Louis Santop – Ben Taylor – Sol White


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Screening process
According to Hall president Dale Petroskey, "The screening committee did a great job of handling the first step of narrowing the list of candidates to those who should be seriously considered for election to the Hall of Fame." Vincent added, "I'm very satisfied with the work done by the screening committee. The committee members had some difficult choices to make, but because they are extremely knowledgeable, had strong research at their disposal and spent a great deal of time reviewing all candidates thoroughly, they did a tremendous job. The final ballots represent players, managers, executives and builders who are top-tier candidates and worthy of review for consideration for election to the Hall of Fame."


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
The 39 candidates on the final ballots were announced on November 21. The voting committee met in Tampa, Florida on February 25 for two days of discussion, after which they cast paper ballots with a "yes" or "no" for every candidate. Those who received "yes" votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be elected.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
The seven additional voting committee members and listed areas of expertise were Todd Bolton (Latin America), Greg Bond (19th century), Ray Doswell (overall history), Leslie Heaphy (women's history, Negro leagues), Rob Ruck (Negro leagues eastern teams), Sammy Miller (eastern and western teams), and Robert W. Peterson (overall history). Ruck replaced Neil Lanctot, author of two books on Negro league baseball. Peterson died on February 11, but he had submitted an absentee ballot two days earlier and the other committee members voted unanimously to accept it.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
The results were announced February 27: seventeen new members had been elected to the Hall. All were deceased. The Newark-based executive Effa Manley would be the first woman in the Hall of Fame.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
Vote counts were not announced but the twelve-person committee evidently cast at least 153 "yes" votes (seventeen times nine) or at least 13 per voter on average. The inductees brought to 35 the number of Negro leagues and pre-leagues figures elected to the Hall, the first being Satchel Paige in 1971.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
According to the contemporary press release by the Hall of Fame ["Seventeen ..."], its chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark stated, "The Board of Directors is extremely pleased with how this project has evolved over the last five years – culminating in today's vote. Over the last two days, this committee has held discussions in great detail, utilizing the research and statistics now available to determine who deserves baseball's highest honor – a plaque in the Hall of Fame Gallery in Cooperstown." Major League Baseball had funded the prior scholarly study.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, The Committee on African-American Baseball, Final ballots
Its commissioner Bud Selig said, "I applaud the National Baseball Hall of Fame for conducting this special election of former Negro league stars, and I heartily congratulate those who were elected. ... Eighteen Negro league stars had been elected prior to today's vote, but previous committees had overlooked many who were deserving. Major League Baseball is proud to have played a part in a process that has corrected some of those omissions."


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, J. G. Taylor Spink Award
Tracy Ringolsby received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring a baseball writer. (The award was voted at the December 2005 meeting of the BBWAA, dated 2005, and conferred in the summer 2006 ceremonies.)


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, J. G. Taylor Spink Award
The Spink Award has been presented by the BBWAA at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1962. It recognizes a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing". The recipients are not members of the Hall of the Fame, merely featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum, but writers and broadcasters commonly call them "Hall of Fame writers" or words to that effect. Living recipients were members of the Veterans Committee for elections in odd years 2003 to 2007.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, J. G. Taylor Spink Award
Three final candidates, selected by a BBWAA committee, were named on July 12, 2005 in Detroit in conjunction with All-Star Game activities; the finalists were: Joe Goddard of the Chicago Sun-Times; the late Vern Plagenhoef, who covered the Detroit Tigers for Michigan's Booth Newspaper Group; and Tracy Ringolsby, who has covered the Colorado Rockies for the Rocky Mountain News since 1993 and has written on baseball for 30 years. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to cast ballots in voting conducted by mail in November.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, J. G. Taylor Spink Award
On December 7, Tracy Ringolsby was announced as the recipient, having received 225 votes out of the 429 ballots cast, with Goddard receiving 128 votes and Plagenhoef receiving 76.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, Ford C. Frick Award
Gene Elston received the Ford C. Frick Award honoring a baseball broadcaster.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, Ford C. Frick Award
The Frick Award has been presented at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1978. It recognizes a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". The recipients are not members of the Hall of the Fame, merely featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum, but writers and broadcasters commonly call them "Hall of Fame broadcaster" or words to that effect. Living honorees were members of the Veterans Committee for elections in odd years 2003 to 2007.


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, Ford C. Frick Award
On December 6, 2005, the ten finalists were announced. In accordance with guidelines established in 2003, seven were chosen by a research committee at the museum: Tom Cheek, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Gene Elston, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, and Graham McNamee. Three additional candidates – Bill King, Dave Niehaus, and Jacques Doucet – were selected through results of voting by fans conducted throughout November at the Hall's official website; more than 105,000 votes were cast. Photos and profiles of the ten candidates can be found at the .


2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, Ford C. Frick Award
On February 21, Gene Elston was announced as the 2006 recipient ; best known for his 25 years of broadcasting Houston Astros games from 1962 to 1986, he was selected in a January vote by a committee composed of the 14 living recipients, along with six additional broadcasting historians or columnists: Bob Costas (NBC), Barry Horn (The Dallas Morning News), Stan Isaacs (formerly of New York Newsday), Ted Patterson (historian), Curt Smith (historian) and Larry Stewart (Los Angeles Times). The ballots were cast prior to the death of Curt Gowdy on February 20. The members voted by mail, and based the selection on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.


2006 Basel hooligan incident
The 2006 Basel hooligan incident (often called "Disgrace of Basel") occurred on 13 May 2006 in Basel, Switzerland. On that day hooligans supporting the Swiss football club FC Basel 1893  stormed the field of the St. Jakob-Park after a championship-deciding match against the FC Zürich. FC Zürich scored in the dying moments of the match and won 2–1. The goal ended the dream of Basel winning the Swiss Super League a third time in a row. This resulted in property damage and riots between hooligans of both the FCB and their rival supporters after the match. This riot is considered one of the worst incidents involving hooliganism in Swiss sport to date.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Course of events
FC Basel and FC Zürich were practically neck and neck for the entire 2005–06 Swiss Super League season. It all came down to a last match between the last two championship competing teams on the 13 May in Basel. The situation was that Basel were in first position in the league table, three points ahead, and they had a home fixture in the sold out St. Jakob-Park against their sole remaining rivals for the championship title Zürich. Therefore, Basel needed one sole point to be Swiss champions, a draw would have been sufficient. Zürich, on the other hand, required a win to top Basel and win the championship.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Course of events
The game itself was fought fiercely with many fouls on both sides. In the 90th minute the score was 1-1 which would have meant that Basel would have been championship winners by three points. The Basel fans and the officials were already celebrating and preparing for the victory celebrations. During the last few minutes of the match Basel played very defensively, keeping the ball out of their half of the field. In the 93rd minute Zürich were awarded a throw-in from the right side of the field.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Course of events
The ball was thrown in, some twenty meters further forward from the correct point, to the right flank of the field, from where midfielder Florian Stahel crossed the ball into the Basel penalty area. The Basel defense failed to remove the ball from their penalty area and it came to Zürich defender Iulian Filipescu who shot the ball past Basel goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler into the left hand corner of the goal. Referee Massimo Busacca ended the match directly after the goal and Zürich were champions.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Course of events
The Zürich players immediately started celebrating with their team officials. Not even 30 seconds after the final whistle had been blown, dozens of Basel supporters stormed the pitch. These hooligans started attacking the Zürich players and officials who then tried to flee into the changing rooms. Filipescu was attacked numerous times. A flare was also thrown at him, but it narrowly missed its target. On the other end of the stadium the small group of Zürich fans who had travelled to the match started celebrating with their players, whilst police built a human wall near the center line to prevent the hooligans from advancing any further.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Course of events
The supporters of FC Zürich also invaded the field illegally. Whilst celebrating with their fans, Filipescu was attacked again by Basel hooligans. He and his team-mate Alhassane Keita furiously kicked the attackers out of their vicinity before the police detained them. The victory ceremony was held on the main stands instead of on the playing field because the hooligans were still clashing with the police. By this time the police were beginning to outnumber the vandals. The fighting and clashing did not end immediately after the match. Further battles were held between hooligans and police outside the stadium and this lasted until late into the night. The police used water cannons and rubber bullets to restore order.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Consequences
FC Basel made a statement regarding the events and distanced itself from the hooligans.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Consequences
FC Basel were punished because of their inability to control their own fans. The club was fined CHF 80,000. Additionally the first two home games of the 2006-2007 season were held completely without spectators, in so called "ghost matches". The following three games were to be held with just 3/4 of stadium capacity, with the  eastern corner (called the "Muttenzer Kurve") of the stadium unoccupied during the games.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Consequences
FC Zürich were also punished because of their inability to prevent their fans setting foot on the field. Zürich were fined CHF 30,000.


2006 Basel hooligan incident, Consequences
Many security procedures for the Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria were also rethought due to these events.


2006 Basildon District Council election
The 2006 Basildon District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Basildon District Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.


2006 Basildon District Council election, Election result
The results saw the Conservative party increase their majority to 12 seats after gaining 3 seats from Labour. The Conservatives gains came in the wards of Laindon Park, Pitsea North West and Pitsea South East enabling the party to win 11 of the 14 seats contested. Overall turnout in the election was 33.5%.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election
The 2006 Basingstoke and Deane Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Background
At the previous election in 2004 the Conservatives were the largest party on the council with 28 seats, but the council was run by an alliance between the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties who had led the council for the previous 11 years. Between them the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties had 28 seats, while the balance was held by 4 Independents.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Background
Between 2004 and 2006 one of the independent councillors, Ian Powney, joined the Liberal Democrats. However he resigned from the council before the election, along with his fellow Liberal Democrat Gill Nethercott. This meant 22 seats were contested in the 2006 election, with 2 by-elections in Popley East and Whitchurch.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Campaign
As well as the 2 councillors who had resigned from the council before the election, a further 3 Conservatives councillors stood down at the election, Alan Denness, Andy Hewitt and Michael Ross. Candidates in the election included candidates from the Green Party for the first time in Basingstoke and Deane, as well as the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties and 1 Independent.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Campaign
In the run up to the election the national Conservative leader David Cameron visited Basingstoke to campaign for his party in the local election.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Election result
The results saw the Conservatives gain 2 seats to hold half of the seats on the council. The Conservatives gained Basing from the Liberal Democrats and Winklebury from Labour. Meanwhile, Labour regained Popley East from the Liberal Democrats, after the former councillor Ian Powney stood down at the election. This meant the governing Liberal Democrat and Labour alliance was reduced to 27 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on 15 and Labour on 12, while independents remained on 3 seats.


2006 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council election, Election result
Following the election the Conservatives took control of the council after winning the vote for council leader by 30 votes to 26. Conservative John Leek became the new leader of the council after 2 of the 3 independents abstained, along with 2 Labour councillors, the new mayor Tony Jones and Sean Keating. One of the independents who abstained, David Leeks, became a member of the new council cabinet, while the third independent had backed the continuation of the previous Liberal Democrat and Labour administration.


2006 Basque Pelota World Championships
The 2006 Basque Pelota World Championships were the 15th edition of the Basque Pelota World Championships organized by  the FIPV.


2006 Basque Pelota World Championships, Events
A total of 14 events were disputed, in 4 playing areas.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
The 2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was the thirty-third stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and the seventh in the 10-round season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on October 29, 2006 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia before a crowd of 115,000 people. The 325-lap race was won by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Tony Stewart after starting from the eleventh position. Jimmie Johnson finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in third.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
Although Matt Kenseth was awarded the pole position after qualifying was rained out and the starting order was determined by owners' points, he was immediately passed by Kevin Harvick at the start of the race. Earnhardt became the leader on lap ten, and held it for the next 14 laps when Stewart passed him on lap 24. Earnhardt, Johnson, and Stewart assumed the lead through the various pit stop cycles and cautions waved for incidents over the course of the race.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
At the race's final restart on lap 315, Earnhardt led the field back up to speed, and remained the leader until Stewart moved past him on the run to turn four on the lap. Stewart maintained the first position for the last ten laps to win the event. There were nine cautions and 24 lead changes by seven drivers.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
Stewart's victory was his fourth of the season, and the 28th of his career. After the race, Matt Kenseth's lead in the Drivers' Championship over Johnson was lowered to 28 points. By finishing third, Earnhardt moved from eighth to fourth. Chevrolet maintained its unchallenged lead in the Manufacturers' Championship with 257 points, 72 ahead of Ford and 80 in front of Dodge with three races left in the season.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Background
The Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was the thirty-third of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the seventh in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on October 29, 2006 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, an intermediate track that holds NASCAR-sanctioned races. The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54 mi (2.48 km) four-turn quad-oval. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Background
Going into the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 5,848 points; his nearest rival Kevin Harvick thirty-six points behind in second, and Jimmie Johnson was a further five points adrift in third. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton were separated by one point in fourth and fifth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten drivers competing for the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet (with 246 points) were confirmed as champions six races prior to the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Dodge was second with 185 points, and Ford were eight points behind in the battle for the position. Carl Edwards was the race's defending champion.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Background
One driver made his debut appearance in the Nextel Cup Series at the race. Champ Car World Series driver A. J. Allmendinger replaced 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott in the No. 83 Red Bull Racing Team car. This was to help him acquaint himself with stock car racing, and for preparation for the team's full-time debut at the 2007 Daytona 500. Elliott was asked by the team to vacate the seat for Allmendinger, and he decided to join R&J Racing and drive its No. 37 car.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Background
Allmendinger spoke of his excitement over the switch to NASCAR, "To race against some of the best drivers in the world in front of fans that are as enthusiastic about racing as I am is going to be a pretty big thrill.” Elsewhere, David Ragan was not cleared by the NASCAR committee to run at Atlanta Motor Speedway because of his lack of experience driving on 11⁄2 mile tracks, and Roush Racing withdrew his entry.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were scheduled before the Sunday race: one on Friday and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second 60 minutes and the third 45 minutes. Constant heavy rain forced NASCAR officials to cancel all of Friday's scheduled activity, including that afternoon's qualifying session. Thus, the starting order for the race was determined by where the drivers were placed in the Owners Championship. This gave Kenseth the pole position. He was joined on the front row of the grid by his nearest rival Harvick.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Practice and qualifying
Johnson, Hamlin, Burton, Earnhardt, Martin, Kahne, Gordon and Kyle Busch completed the top ten starters. The four drivers who failed to qualify were Derrike Cope, Kirk Shelmerdine, Mike Skinner and Allmendinger due to them being outside the top 35 positions in the Owners' Championship. Kevin Lepage withdrew from the race prior to qualifying for undisclosed reasons but was later restored to the entry list. Afterward, Kenseth spoke of his happiness over being awarded the pole position, "That means I start up front, and I probably wouldn’t have been starting up there without the rain."


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Practice and qualifying
The first practice session was rescheduled by NASCAR to Saturday morning, and would run for an hour, while the final practice session of 45 minutes would take place as scheduled. In the first practice session, Edwards was fastest with a lap of 29.516 seconds. Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Johnson, Harvick, Greg Biffle, Kenseth, Robby Gordon, Joe Nemechek and Earnhardt occupied positions two through ten. The engines installed in Robby Gordon and Ken Schrader's cars failed, and their respective teams changed engines.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Practice and qualifying
Earnhardt spun on cold tyres after leaving pit road, but managed to avoid colliding against a wall beside the track. Terry Cook, substituting for Kenny Wallace who was competing in the Sam's Town 250 Busch Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park, had the No. 78 car's right-side window detach. Kahne was fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.512 seconds; Casey Mears was second, and Earnhardt placed third. Fourth position was taken by Nemechek, Kurt Busch was fifth-quickest, and David Gilliland sixth. Biffle was seventh-fastest, Johnson eighth, Burton ninth, and David Stremme tenth.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Live television coverage of the race on NBC began at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were clear and sunny. Bill Brannon, chaplain of Atlanta Motor Speedway, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Christian rock band DecembeRadio performed the national anthem, and television host Bill Dance led a group of conservationists and representatives from Bass Pro Shops in commanding the drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Robby Gordon and Schrader moved to the rear of the field because they had changed their engines, and Elliott did the same for changing his car's transmission.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
The race began at 3:08 p.m. Harvick got a better start as he accelerated faster than Kenseth off the line, and got past him around the outside to lead the field on the first lap. Earnhardt moved from sixth to third by the lap three. The first caution was displayed a lap later when the eighth-placed Kyle Busch lost control of his car in the outside of the track at turn three and spun. He slid down the track, and glanced Brian Vickers' car with the front of his vehicle. None of the leading drivers made pit stops.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Harvick led the back up to speed at the lap-eight restart, with Kenseth second, and Earnhardt third. Earnhardt caught Harvick, and made the pass on the outside of the track to gain the lead on the tenth lap. On lap 15, Kenseth was on the outside of the track with Jeff Gordon on the inside lane. Kenseth overtook Gordon for second on the lap. Tony Stewart overtook Harvick, Kenseth, and Gordon over the next three laps to move into second place. On the 24th lap, Stewart went past Earnhardt for first place. Earnhardt fell to fourth as Gordon and Harvick passed him on laps 25 and 30. He made an unscheduled pit stop on the 31st lap to correct a vibration that put him a lap behind the leader in 41st.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Hamlin was passed by Truex for fourth on lap 46. Three laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops began when Kahne drove to pit road earlier than scheduled to remove a coil spring from the right-rear corner of his car, and correct a vibration that was caused by a heavily worn tire. Stewart made his stop for an air pressure adjustment on lap 55, handing the lead to Gordon. His teammate Johnson led for one lap before his pit stop on the 57th lap.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
After the pit stops, Earnhardt gained the lead since he was on a different strategy than other drivers around him. Earnhardt led Gordon by 7.871 seconds, but this was reduced to 2.605 seconds by the time of the second caution's deployment for debris in turn two on lap 82. During the caution, all of the leaders made pit stops. At the lap-85 restart, Earnhardt held the lead with Hendrick Motorsport's Johnson and Gordon second and third. Three laps later, Johnson lost second place to Gordon.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Stewart steered onto the outside of the track on the backstretch to pass Truex for fourth . Gordon caught and overtook Earnhardt for the lead on lap 109. Earnhardt retook the lead from Gordon on the same lap. Continuous side-by-side racing enabled Gordon to claim the lead from Earnhardt on the outside five laps later.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Stewart moved past Earnhardt to take over second as Burton passed Johnson to move into fourth on the 125th and 126th laps respectively. Green flag pit stops were made from laps 133 and 150, with Gordon retaking the lead, and Stewart moving into second. Stewart gained on Gordon to lower the deficit to half a second, and was close enough to affect an overtake on lap 157. Gordon attempted to lap Nemechek, but the latter had an understeer that put Gordon into a wall, pushing his right-front fender in slightly.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Stewart used the incident to pass Gordon for the lead and pull away from him. On lap 170, the third caution was necessitated when Gordon had his right-rear tire go flat in turn two, and the rear of his car was rammed by Jamie McMurray, who was blinded by sunlight glare in his eyes. Gordon spun and made two pit stops to repair car damage. All drivers chose to make pit stops under caution. Stewart maintained the lead at the lap-178 but he lost it to Earnhardt on the following lap. Stewart attempted to retake the first position by drawing alongside Earnhardt on lap 187 but was unsuccessful. On lap 194, Burton was passed by Kahne for fifth. A fourth caution was given on the 197th lap when race officials located debris in turn one.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Most drivers again took the opportunity to make pit stops for fuel and tyres during the caution. Racing resumed on the 202nd lap with Stewart leading Earnhardt and Kenseth. Earnhardt had a loose car, and Johnson passed him for second six laps later. He lost a further place to Kurt Busch on lap 209. By lap 212, Gordon had moved into the top ten and got past Burton for ninth four laps later. Johnson moved in front of Kenseth to get into second on lap 218, and Kahne got ahead of Earnhardt to take over fourth on the 219th lap.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Johnson closed up to Stewart over the intervening laps, and overtook him for the lead in traffic on lap 238. As Johnson increased his advantage over Stewart to a half a second. the fifth caution was waved on lap 243 when Newman crashed into a wall on the backstretch, and scattered debris on the track. Johnson maintained the lead through another pit stop cycle, and held it at the lap-248 restart.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
On the next lap, Kahne steered right to go up the track on the run to the first turn, and went into the path of Stremme, causing the sixth caution. Both went into the wall heavily. Johnson again led at the restart on the 255th lap. He held it for the next five laps until Stewart passed him to reclaim the position.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
On lap 281, Burton made a pit stop to replace a cut right-hand side tire after glancing the wall 16 laps earlier. Harvick made his own stop for tires seven laps later. The seventh caution came out on the 292nd lap after a section of foam-rubber roll-bar padding was located on the backstretch. All of the leaders decided to make pit stops under the caution. The race restarted on lap 295 with Stewart maintaining his lead over Johnson. Kenseth lost third place to Earnhardt five laps later. On lap 301, Gordon was overtaken by Biffle for fifth position.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Four laps later, the front-right wheel bearing on Truex's car failed, causing him to clout the wall with the right-hand side of his car, and left fluid on the track, prompting the eighth caution. Most drivers, including Stewart, went down pit road for tires. The race resumed on lap 310, when the ninth (and final) caution was issued for a multi-car accident in turn two..Wallace drove onto the turn one apron, and made contact with Jeff Green. This caused Sterling Marlin to brake heavily; he was hit on the outside by Martin, who in turn, got rammed by Dale Jarrett. Mears and Clint Bowyer were also caught up in the accident.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race
Earnhardt led at the lap-315 restart, but lost the lead to Stewart heading into the fourth turn. Johnson moved into second place with overtakes on Edwards and Earnhardt over the following two laps. Kenseth lost fourth place to Edwards on the 318th lap. Bowyer drifted into a wall six laps later but no caution was given. Stewart held the lead for the remainder of the race to clinch his fourth victory of the season, and the twenty-eighth of his career. Johnson finished second, and Earnhardt repelled an late challenge by Kenseth to claim third by a margin of 0.007 seconds. Biffle took fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth, Edwards seventh, Hamlin eighth, Nemechek ninth and Robby Gordon tenth. The race had a total of nine cautions and 24 lead changes by seven drivers. Stewart led seven times for a total of 146 laps, more than any other competitor.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
Stewart appeared in victory lane in front of the crowd of 170,000 to celebrate his fourth win of the season, which earned him $373,286. Stewart was happy with the victory, saying not being in the chase helped ease the pressure placed upon him, and spoke of his feeling that he could not attained his recent successes had he been contenting for the championship, "Sometimes it gets you off your game a little bit. Sometimes it makes you be a little bit conservative. Sometimes, because of the pressure, you make mistakes.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
Those guys are in a totally different situation than we are. So it's easier for us to go out and just try to win races." Johnson said of his second-place finish, "We got off to a rough start, but we had the speed in the car and now we're getting the results. ' It was a fun race. You really had to challenge yourself and scare yourself on every lap. We're on a great roll right now.'' Third-placed Earnhardt stated that he was not prepared to make a pit stop during the eighth caution, "They were doing everything, swapping, and juking, and carrying on, I just kind of got left out there.''


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
Kahne had been favored to win due to his recent record of winning races at one-and-a half mile tracks, but admitted being at fault for causing the crash with Stremme, "I just drove into him. Had he kept going, it was just a matter of time until we were going to be leading. ... But, driver error. I screwed up." Hamlin, who finished eighth, had a poor-handling car that put him one lap down before regaining it with 75 laps remaining, and spoke of his fortune over avoiding the multi-car accident on lap 310, "We sucked real bad.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
I don't know, I can't get a grip on this race track. I haven't had and I don't know if I will in the foreseeable future. I've got to work on it." Kenseth revised his chances of winning the Drivers' Championship by half. Although he had more optimism, Kenseth said he would have felt more comfortable if his lead was larger, "At least we came close to running with them today. That feels good because other people’s troubles have kind of put us in the points lead. We had a 44th-place car on Saturday and finished fourth today, so the crew did a great job. This is how we need to run to have a shot at it."


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
After cutting his right-front tire on lap 268, Burton spoke of his anger with the roll bar padding that caused a caution 24 laps later. He called for NASCAR to stop all cars on pit road and penalize those lacking a roll bar, "It is starting to happen just too often and NASCAR gets on everybody when it happens. Well, they should find out who did it and penalize them.'' Television footage broadcast after the race appear to show Robby Gordon throwing a roll bar out of his car.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
He protested his innocence, and NASCAR did not initially penalize him as they deemed the footage "inconclusive". Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby stated that inspectors would search all cars as they were transported into their haulers to see whether any lacked a roll bar. Later, series officials investigated Robby Gordon after an initial search discovered nothing, and gathered all information regarding the incident to come up with a conclusion.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
Three days after the race, it was announced that after reviewing new television footage, and re-inspecting Robby Gordon's car, the driver was fined $15,000, and penalized 50 points in the Owners and Drivers' Championship. Both Gordon and his crew chief Greg Erwin  were put on probation until December 31, 2006, and Erwin received a $10,000 fine.


2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Race, Post-race
The result kept Kenseth in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 6,008 points. Johnson's second-place finish advanced him to second with 5,982 points. Hamlin moved to third, while Earnhardt progressed from sixth to fourth, but was tied with fifth-placed Burton on points (5,924). Harvick's poor finish dropped him to sixth. He, Gordon, Martin, Kahne and Kyle Busch were mathematically ruled out of contention for the Drivers' Championship. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet led with 255 points. Ford moved three points closer to Dodge in the battle for second position with three races left in the season. The race took three hours, 29 minutes and 23 seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 1.195 seconds.


2006 Bassetlaw District Council election
The 2006 Bassetlaw District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Bassetlaw District Council in Nottinghamshire, England. One third of the council was up for election.


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships
The 2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships was the 27th edition of that women's tennis tournament and was played on outdoor clay courts. The tournament was classified as a Tier II event on the 2006 WTA Tour. The event took place at the Racquet Park at the Amelia Island Plantation, in Amelia Island, Florida, U.S. from April 3 through April 9, 2006. Nadia Petrova won the singles title.


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships, Finals, Doubles
Shinobu Asagoe /  Katarina Srebotnik defeated  Liezel Huber /  Sania Mirza, 6–2, 6–4


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships – Doubles
The Women's Doubles Tournament at the 2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships took place between 3 April and 9 April on outdoor green clay courts in Amelia Island, Florida, USA. Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik won the title, defeating Liezel Huber and Sania Mirza in the final.


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships – Singles
Lindsay Davenport was the defending champion, but could not participate due to a back injury.


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships – Singles
Nadia Petrova won the title, defeating Francesca Schiavone 6–4, 6–4 in the championships match.


2006 Bausch & Lomb Championships – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds received a bye into the second round.


2006 Bavarian Cup
The 2006 Bavarian Cup was the ninth edition of this competition, organised by the Bavarian Football Association (BFV), which was started in 1998. It ended with the TSG Thannhausen winning the competition. Together with the finalist, SpVgg Bayreuth, both clubs were qualified for the DFB Cup 2006-07.


2006 Bavarian Cup
The competition is open to all senior men's football teams playing within the Bavarian football league system and the Bavarian clubs in the Regionalliga Süd (III).


2006 Bavarian Cup, Rules & History
The seven Bezirke in Bavaria each play their own cup competition which in turn used to function as a qualifying to the German Cup (DFB-Pokal). Since 1998 these seven cup-winners plus the losing finalist of the region that won the previous event advance to the newly introduced Bavarian Cup, the Toto-Pokal. The two finalists of this competition advance to the German Cup. Bavarian clubs which play in the first or second Bundesliga are not permitted to take part in the event, their reserve teams however can. The seven regional cup winners plus the finalist from last season's winners region are qualified for the first round.


2006 Bavarian Cup, Participating clubs
The following eight clubs qualified for the 2006 Bavarian Cup:


2006 Bavarian Cup, DFB Cup 2006-07
The two clubs, TSG Thannhausen and SpVgg Bayreuth, who qualified through the Bavarian Cup for the DFB Cup 2006-07 both were knocked out in the first round of the national cup competition:


2006 Bayern–Rundfahrt
The 2006 Bayern–Rundfahrt was the 27th edition of the Bayern–Rundfahrt cycle race and was held on 24 May to 28 May 2006. The race started in Gunzenhausen and finished in Cham. The race was won by José Alberto Martínez.


2006 Baylor Bears football team
The 2006 Baylor Bears football team (variously "Baylor", "BU", or the "Bears") represented Baylor University during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were represented in the Big 12 Conference in the South Division. They played their home games at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas. They were coached by head coach Guy Morriss.


2006 Baymed Cup
The Baymed Cup was a knockout cup competition for South Africa's 2nd-level football (soccer) clubs sponsored by Baymed Medical Scheme. The competition was to be played from August to October of each year and to include the 16 teams that make up the Mvela Golden League. The prize money for the winner was R1-million.


2006 Beach Handball World Championships
The 2006 Beach Handball World Championships are a ten-team tournament in both men's and women's beach handball, held in the Petrobras Arena at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 15 November and 19 November. This is the second edition of the event. Matches are played in sets, the team that wins two sets is the winner of a match. When teams are equal in points the head-to-head result is decisive. Brazil win the championship gold medal in both genders.


2006 Beijing Guoan F.C. season
The  2006 Beijing Guoan F.C. season  was their 3rd consecutive season in the Chinese Super League, established in the 2004, and 16th consecutive season in the top flight of Chinese football. They competed in the Chinese Super League and FA Cup.


2006 Beijing Guoan F.C. season, First team
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2006 Belarusian First League
2006 Belarusian First League was the sixteenth season of 2nd level football championship in Belarus. It started in April and ended in October 2006.


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Two best teams of the last season (Belshina Bobruisk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. They were replaced by two teams that finished at the bottom of 2005 Belarusian Premier League table (Zvezda-BGU Minsk and Slavia Mozyr).


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Two lowest placed teams of 2005 season (Orsha and Dnepr-DUSSh-1 Rogachev) relegated to the Second League. They were replaced by two best teams of 2005 Second League (Torpedo-SKA Minsk and Pinsk-900).


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Before the start of the season Smena Minsk was transformed into new club FC Minsk, which overtook Smena's First League allocation, bypassing the Second League. Newly promoted Torpedo-SKA Minsk was disbanded with some of its facilities being inherited by Minsk.


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Slavia Mozyr and ZLiN Gomel merged into Mozyr-ZLiN, a club became a successor of Slavia Mozyr (and was eventually renamed into such).


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev withdrew from the league and disbanded due to lack of financing. They were replaced by additionally promoted Polotsk, who finished 5th in last year's Second League. Two teams that finished above Polotsk and were also eligible for additional promotion (Spartak Shklov and Vertikal Kalinkovichi) refused the invitation due to insufficient financing. No other teams were promoted and the league was reduced from 16 to 14 clubs.


2006 Belarusian First League, Team changes from 2005 season
Granit Mikashevichi changed their name to FC Mikashevichi and Pinsk-900 to Volna Pinsk prior to the season.


2006 Belarusian Premier League
The 2006 Belarusian Premier League was the 16th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 18 and ended on November 4, 2005. Shakhtyor Soligorsk were the defending champions.


2006 Belarusian Premier League, Team changes from 2005 season
Two lowest placed in 2004 teams (Zvezda-BGU Minsk and Slavia) relegated to First League. They were replaced by the winners of 2005 First League Belshina Bobruisk and First League runners-up Lokomotiv Vitebsk. Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev shortened their name to Dnepr Mogilev.


2006 Belarusian Premier League, Overview
BATE Borisov won their 3rd champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up Dinamo Minsk and 2006–07 Cup winners Dinamo Brest qualified for UEFA Cup. Lokomotiv Minsk and Belshina Bobruisk, who finished on last two places, relegated to the First League.


2006 Belarusian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 19 March 2006. The result was a victory for incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who received 84.4% of the vote. However, Western observers deemed the elections rigged. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) declared that the election "failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections". In contrast, election observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) described the vote as open and transparent.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Candidates
On 17 February 2006, the Central Election Commission approved the following list of candidates:


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
Both the European Parliament and United States Congress issued warnings that more sanctions and similar punitive actions would be imposed if there were  human rights violations during the elections. The United States already had sanctions on Belarus due to past election issues, provided for in the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004, which also allowed the provision of assistance to political parties and NGOs. The CIS observer mission commented that "the negative statements made in the EU and the United States are attempts to create predetermined negative sentiments in the international community toward elections results in Belarus. Such actions towards a sovereign state hardly comply with standards of international law." The OSCE also sent monitors to Belarus to observe the elections and to make sure the elections were free from any irregularities.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
On 2 March 2006, opposition candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin attempted to enter the third meeting of the All Belarusian People's Assembly, which was hosted by President Lukashenko. Security officers arrested and beat Kazulin, who was charged with disorderly conduct, and then held in custody for eight hours.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
In the build-up to the elections, several Georgians who were part of the OSCE observer team were intercepted by the Belarusian Frontier Guard  and placed in custody. Lukashenko also announced that protests similar to those of the Orange, Rose and Tulip revolutions would not take place in Belarus and stated that "force will not be used" to claim the presidency.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Results
On 19 March 2006 exit polls showed Lukashenko winning a third term in a landslide, amid opposition claims of vote-rigging and fear of violence. The Gallup Organization has noted that the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organization is government-controlled and released their exit poll results before noon on election day, although voting stations closed at 8 p.m.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Results
Lukashenko was sworn in for his third term on 8 April 2006.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
Belarusian authorities initially vowed to crush unrest in the event of large-scale protests following the election. Later on, however, more subtle methods of attrition were used to subdue protesters. Lukashenko declared victory and defeat of "The Jeans Revolution", promising not to jail Milinkevich and Kozulin.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
On 23 March the Constitutional Court of Belarus rejected the opposition's appeals. Lukashenko was inaugurated five days later.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
On 24 March Belarusian police broke up days of protests in central Minsk against President Lukashenko's re-election, detaining about 460 demonstrators in an early hours sweep. The demonstrators had rejected police calls to leave the square, the focus of the protests. They had erected tents and kept protesting around the clock despite sub-zero temperatures at night. One of the detained protesters called Reuters by mobile phone and said they were being taken to a pre-trial detention centre in the capital.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
On 25 March riot police clashed with protesters, forcing demonstrators back and hitting several with truncheons. One of the protesters was killed in the fight. Four explosions were reported, apparently percussion grenades set off by police. Many protesters were detained, including one of the opposition leaders, Alexander Kozulin, Russian news agencies reported. The main opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, denied reports by Russian news agencies that he himself was detained.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
On 29 March Gazeta.ru reported that opposition leader Kozulin had been arrested and is facing up to 6 years in jail for organizing riots and hooliganism. Milinkevich faced 15 days for hooliganism.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian authorities
According to Moscow News,  two journalists of the Belarus state television were allegedly beaten by opposition forces during an unsanctioned rally in Minsk and were hospitalized with severe injuries. Reporter of First Belarusian State Channel Mikhail Kristin suffered a concussion, and cameraman Dmitry Chumak suffered a spine injury. The journalists were injured during the Saturday unrest in the Belarusian capital. Members of opposition called it a lie.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian opposition
After the results were announced, a mass rally assembled in October Square in Minsk, waving the banned white-red-white flag of independent Belarus, the flag of Europe, as well as flags of other countries such as Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Georgia, and even Armenia.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian opposition
The crowd of demonstrators rallying after the election - estimated at 5,000 to 10,000  - was the biggest the opposition had mustered in years. The next day a tent camp was erected on October Square in downtown Minsk. The number of participants in the opposition rally varied from 300 in the morning to 5,000 in the evening. The main opposition leaders had called for the protests to keep up until Saturday, when a major rally is expected, coinciding with the anniversary of the creation of first independent Belarusian Republic in 1918.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian opposition
Despite this, on Friday night riot police were dispatched to the site of the protest and 377 (460, according to other sources) participants and journalists were arrested, effectively dismantling the demonstration. Most of the arrested people were sentenced to between 5 and 15 days in prison. There were Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Canadian, and Georgian citizens among the arrested. The protests were documented in the movie "Kalinovski Square" by filmmaker Jury Chaščavacki.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Belarusian opposition
On Saturday tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as the police had closed off October Square. Opposition leader Alyaksandr Kazulin was arrested. One of the demonstrators was killed when the riot police dispersed the crowd.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
The official OSCE report released on March 20, 2006, concluded that the presidential election failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections. The OSCE, of which Belarus is a member, stated that Lukashenko permitted State authority to be used in a manner which did not allow citizens to freely and fairly express their will at the ballot box, and a pattern of intimidation and the suppression of independent voices was evident.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
On 21 March the United States stated that it believed that the election was rigged. In the words of White House spokesman Scott McClellan, "The United States does not accept the results of the election. We support the call for a new election."


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
Czech President Václav Klaus decided not to congratulate Lukashenko on re-election as president as "the course of the presidential elections on Sunday confirmed his fears for democracy in Belarus". Klaus previously criticized "very disputable circumstances of the parliamentary elections and the changes in the constitution that allowed Lukashenko to run for the post again after two election terms" in his open letter to Lukashenko last year. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda proposed inviting opposition leader Alyaksander Milinkevich to the EU summit. As his proposal did not succeed he initiated invitation of Milinkevich to the European People's Party meeting that will take place prior the EU summit.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
According to the Czech News Agency, Jan Rybar, reporter of the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes, was attacked and beaten up at the opposition demonstration in Minsk. He said in his opinion he had been beaten up by agents of the Belarusian secret police KGB, but has no direct piece of evidence to prove it.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
On 23 March American diplomats evacuated Vyacheslav Sivchik, one of the organizers of the opposition meeting, from Oktyabrskaya Square.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
On 24 March EU leaders agreed at a summit to impose sanctions on Belarus leaders, including a possible travel ban on Lukashenko, after his victory in a disputed presidential election on Sunday. Officials said Lukashenko had won more than 80% of the vote. A statement from the 25 leaders called the country "a sad exception ... on a continent of open and democratic societies" and said the election had violated democratic norms.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
"The European council has decided to take restrictive measures against those responsible for the violations of international electoral standards, including President Lukashenko," the Austrian foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, said after the EU summit. She gave no details, but EU officials said measures being considered included visa bans on those accused of allegedly rigging the poll and possible asset freezes, but not economic sanctions against the former Soviet republic.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Western countries
Lukashenko was banned from entering the 25 nations of the EU - including Belarus' neighbours, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania - and from the US. The EU Council has passed a list of Belarusian officials targeted by sanctions.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Russia
Russia considered the election results acceptable; the Russian Foreign Ministry declared the election fair, and Russian president Vladimir Putin called Lukashenko to congratulate him on his victory.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Russia
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned alleged OSCE bias, saying "The biased verdict of the OSCE, Europe's main election monitoring organization, on the presidential election in Belarus highlights the need to improve the process of observing polls, an official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. "We believe that the biased nature of the verdict of the monitoring mission has again confirmed the importance of beginning, at last, focused work to correct shortcomings in the election monitoring practice," Mikhail Kamynin said referring to a decision made by foreign ministers of the 55-nation security grouping in December last year.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Russia
On 24 March Sergey Lavrov accused OSCE of instigating tensions during the parliamentary election campaign in Belarus, claiming that "long before the elections, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights had declared that they (the elections) would be illegitimate and it was pretty biased in its commentaries on their progress and results, thus playing an instigating role." It was one of many Russian criticisms of the trans-Atlantic group's vote monitoring activities.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Russia
Pro -government press and organizations lauded the outcome as a defeat of "orange" political technologies, whereas the liberal opposition traditionally condemned Lukashenko's actions. On March 26,  about ten people from liberal movements and parties, joined by occasional passers-by, attempted to carry out an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Belarusian opposition near the building of the Ministry of International Affairs, but were quickly dispersed by authorities.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Russia
Reflecting a widespread belief among journalists, Russian commentator Piotr Parhomenko wrote in lenta.ru that Lukashenko's decision to allow the opposition demonstration was a move calculated to divide the opposition, as Kozulin wanted to stop the protests while Milinkevich called for them to go on indefinitely.


2006 Belarusian presidential election, Reaction, Lukashenko
According to a Belarusian news portal, Lukashenko himself stated that the "last Presidential elections were rigged; I already told this to the Westerners. [ ...] 93.5% voted for the President Lukashenko [sic]. They said it's not a European number. We made it 86. This really happened. And if [one is to] start recounting the votes, I don't know what to do with them. Before the elections they told us that if we showed the European numbers, our elections would be accepted. We were planning to make the European numbers. But, as you can see, this didn't help either."


2006 Belgian Cup Final
The 2006 Belgian football Cup Final, took place on 13 May 2006 between Zulte Waregem and Mouscron. It was the 51st Belgian Cup final and was won by Zulte Waregem due to an injury time winner by Tim Matthys.


2006 Belgian Figure Skating Championships
The 2006 Belgian Figure Skating Championships (Dutch: Belgisch Kampioenschap 2006; French: Championnat de Belgique 2006) took place between 25 and 26 November 2005 in Leuven. Skaters competed in the discipline of ladies' singles.


2006 Belgian Super Cup
The 2006 Belgian Supercup was a football match between the winners of the previous season's Belgian First Division and Belgian Cup competitions. It was played and abandoned at halftime on 22 July 2006, due to excessive rain and later replayed from the beginning on 20 December 2006. The match was contested by Cup winners Zulte Waregem, and 2005–06 Belgian First Division champions, Anderlecht. Both matches were played at the ground of the league champions as usual, in this case the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.


2006 Belgian Super Cup
Anderlecht won its seventh Supercup title, as it beat Zulte Waregem in the (replayed) match by a score of 3–1 through goals from Ahmed Hassan, Juhász and Siani.


2006 Belgian Super Cup, Abandoned Match Details
Originally, the match was to be played on 22 July 2006, but stopped at halftime due to excessive rain and thunderstorms 25 °C (77 °F). At that point, no goals had been made.


2006 Belgian local elections
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2006 took place on Sunday 8 October 2006. The electors have elected the municipal councillors of 589 cities and towns (308 in the Flemish Region, 262 in the Walloon Region and 19 in the Brussels-Capital Region) as well as the ten provincial councils. The voters in the town of Antwerp have also been able to vote for the city's district councils. In seven Flemish municipalities with a special language statute (Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel, Wezembeek-Oppem and Voeren) and in the Walloon municipality of Comines-Warneton the aldermen and the members of the OCMW/CPAS council have also been directly elected.


2006 Belgian local elections
It was the first municipal and provincial elections since the transfer of the competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces to the regions, also residents without E.U. citizenship could vote for the first time if they had registered to vote. The previous municipal and provincial elections took place on Sunday 8 October 2000.


2006 Belgian local elections
City and provincial councillors are elected to a six-year term. Newly elected councillors will take office in January 2007, with a term ending in 2013.


2006 Belgian local elections
Points of notice are the result of the governing federal government coalition (liberal/social-democrat) - for whom a bad result could spell defeat in the federal general elections to be held no later than June 2007 - and the result of the Vlaams Belang party in Antwerp and the other Flemish towns.


2006 Belgian local elections, Organisation
The municipal and provincial elections of 2006 were the first of its kind to be organized by the Regions instead of the federal government. The competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces was transferred from the federation to the Regions by special law of 13 June 2001.


2006 Belgian local elections, Organisation
The Flemish minister of the Interior Marino Keulen announced that the results of the elections held in the Flemish Region would be available in real time on the official dedicated government website .


2006 Belgian local elections, Municipal elections
These have taken place in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels Capital Region. The municipal councils were elected by a very rare form of party-list proportional representation, the Imperiali highest averages method.


2006 Belgian local elections, Municipal elections
The parties presented themselves with lists of candidates. The number of candidates on the list usually was the total number of seats to be taken in the council. Each list received a random number, which was assigned by a lottery. Parties that had representatives in the regional parliaments, could receive a number that is the same in the entire region. Other parties' numbers varied from municipality to municipality. These numbers started after the regional numbers (8 and higher in Flanders, 14 and higher in Brussels, 6 and higher in Wallonia).


2006 Belgian local elections, Provincial elections
These have taken place in Flanders and Wallonia. In the Brussels Capital Region no provincial elections were held as Brussels is not part of any Belgian province, the provincial competences almost entirely being assumed by the Region, the Agglomeration and the Community Commissions.


2006 Belgian local elections, Provincial elections
The list numbers used were the same as for the municipalities.


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Flemish region, Het Laatste Nieuws
The polls conducted by the Stemmenkampioen site of Het Laatste Nieuws and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, yielded the following overall result for Flanders, compared to the 2004 regional elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Flemish region, Het Laatste Nieuws
The last poll not taking into account alliances dates from September 2006 and showed these results:


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Flemish region, Standaard - VRT
The latest poll by De Standaard and VRT yielded the following overall results for Flanders, compared to the 2004 regional elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Flemish region, Antwerp
Poll by the Gazet van Antwerpen and VRT, taken between 31 January and 23 February 2006, compared to the 2000 municipal elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Flemish region, Antwerp
July and September 2006 polls conducted by the Stemmenkampioen site of Het Laatste Nieuws and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, yielded the following result for Antwerp, compared to the 2000 municipal elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):


2006 Belgian local elections, Polls, Walloon Region
A poll conducted by the RTBF and the Sud Presse in June 2006 showed the following results, compared to the 2000 municipal elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):


2006 Belgian local elections, Results, Flanders, Provinces
The provincial elections are the only 2006 elections that allow for a national comparison, since in municipal elections not all parties run in all municipalities.


2006 Belgian local elections, Results, Flanders, Municipalities
Most important conclusions are that Vlaams Belang achieves status quo in large cities as Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent but advances strongly in the countryside. The CD&V-N-VA gains nearly everywhere, VLD and Groen! lose nearly everywhere. The VLD was able to consolidate where they put forth nationally known candidates, like Guy Verhofstadt in Ghent and Vincent Van Quickenborne in Kortrijk. The SP.A-Spirit puts strong results in cities like Antwerp, Ghent and Ostend but has mixed results in other places.


2006 Belgian local elections, Results, Flanders, Municipalities
Most coalitions before the elections can continue with a stronger backing, most notably in Ghent and Mechelen. An exception to this general 'rule' is Vilvoorde, where former prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene loses his majority.


2006 Belgian local elections, Results, Flanders, Districts (Antwerp)
Heavily anticipated were the results for Merksem, Deurne and Hoboken, where it was believed Vlaams Belang could obtain an absolute majority. This however did not turn out to be the case, even though the party does advance in all but two districts (Antwerp and Borgerhout). Most notably, in Hoboken a majority without Vlaams Belang will only be possible by including the extreme left PVDA, although another party, N-VA, has already ruled out such a coalition.


2006 Belgian local elections, Results, Wallonia, Municipalities
In Namur, the capital of Wallonia, the Socialist Party (PS) lost 7.4% of its votes, enough for the local Christian-democrats (cdH), Liberals (MR) and Greens (Ecolo) to start a coalition, breaking with the 30-year Socialist hegemony there. Jacques Etienne of chH will become the new mayor.


2006 Belizean municipal elections
Belize municipal elections, 2006 were a series of local elections held on March 1, 2006, to fill vacancies for town councils in Corozal, Orange Walk, San Pedro, San Ignacio, Benque Viejo, Dangriga, Punta Gorda, Belize City and Belmopan. All the councils except Belize City elected one mayor and six councillors; Belize City elected one mayor and ten councillors.


2006 Belizean municipal elections
Sixty-seven seats were available, contested by 153 persons representing four political parties. There were four independent candidates, not counting the entrants from the independent political parties VIP and WTP. The United Democratic Party (UDP) won sixty four seats, the People's United Party (PUP) three, and all other parties and independents none.


2006 Belizean municipal elections
This was the second straight combined municipal election, following the one conducted in 2003. Previous to this date, elections were within a year to eighteen months of each other. Future elections will also likely be held together, starting with the 2009 election.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, Background
Belizeans protested for most of 2005 over the conditions of the country and the seeming ignorance of the ruling People's United Party toward these conditions. Toward the end of 2005 the PUP and the Opposition UDP turned their attention to preparing for the municipal elections in 2006.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, UDP preparations
The UDP held their convention to select candidates in Belize City on October 23, 2005, with winner Zenaida Moya doubling up her three male competitors, Bernard Watler, Rudolph "Sir Andie" Anderson, and Ernesto Torres in the mayoral race, and a field of 22 councillor candidates being narrowed to ten, those ten being: Laura Esquivel, Hyacinth Latchman, Leila Peyrefitte, Anthony Michael, Phillip Willoughby, Dean Samuels, Mark King, Calvert Quilter, Gilroy Middleton, and Wayne Usher. (Channel 5, October 24) Moya possessed a strong resume and support from various sectors of society which pushed her over the top.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, UDP preparations
The UDP subsequently selected candidates for the other councils between mid-November 2005 and February 2006. One convention of note happened in Benque Viejo, where sitting Mayor Said Badi Guerra was unseated in conventions in December in favour of former Mayor Marconi Sosa. (Channel 5, December 12) Another incident came on February 10, when Dangriga mayoral nominee Frank Mena was injured in a freak accident and confined to his hospital bed through election day. Mena was nominated on and won election from his hospital bed for the UDP.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, UDP preparations
The UDP released its manifesto for Belize City and the other municipalities on January 4, 2006. Its adopted slogan was "Life Haad Out Ya! Vote UDP 7/11 for Change Now!"


2006 Belizean municipal elections, PUP preparations
In Belize City, the slate of eleven was selected on November 12, 2005. Sitting councillor Marshall Nunez was elevated to Mayoral aspirant and joined by three other sitting councillors and seven new ones as follows: Marshall Nunez (Mayor), Eloisa Trujeque, Jacqueline Welch, Yasmin Shoman, Anthony Mahler, Keith Acosta, Sharrett Yearwood, Oscar Rosado, Albert Vaughan, Shanine Campbell, and Carolyn Trench-Sandiford. Two term mayor David Fonseca declined re-election. The PUP campaigned on the slogan "There for You", signifying their long association with Belize City government. Manifestos were released on February 6. Other council selections were announced prior to Nomination Day on February 14, 2006.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, PUP preparations
One humorous incident occurred featuring campaigners from the ruling party. News 5 reported on February 13 that a house on Sarstoon Street collapsed while the owner was visited by the PUP 11, their campaign team and even Prime Minister Said Musa. No one was hurt and the owner would get a new house on the site-as soon as the old one was knocked down.


2006 Belizean municipal elections, Independent/third party nominations
Independent candidates contesting the elections, from north to south, included: