September 18, 2006 (Monday)
- New laws come into force across England, Wales and Scotland making the use of child seats in cars compulsory for all children under the age of 12 who are less than 4ft 5in (135cm) tall. (BBC)
- Taliban insurgency:
- A suicide bomber has killed at least four Canadians in an attack on a NATO patrol in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, Canada's military says. (BBC)
- 11 killed in a suicide bombing in Herat, Afghanistan. (La Repubblica)[permanent dead link]
- Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf survives an assassination attempt when two bombs explode near the parliament building, killing 11 people. (BBC)
- A chemical spill is reported on the International Space Station and a fire is feared, although this latter report proves to be unfounded. (CNN)
- 2006 referendum in Transnistria: The vast majority of the population of Transdniestr, a self-proclaimed republic in Moldova, voted for independence and future accession to Russia, the central election committee said. (RIA Novosti)
- Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy:
- Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemns the recent speech by Pope Benedict, claiming it is the "latest link" in "the chain of a conspiracy to set in train a crusade against Islam". (BBC)
- Al Qaeda in Iraq calls for war against what it calls "worshippers of the cross" in response to the Pope's remarks. (Reuters)
- An influential Egyptian cleric, Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, called for peaceful protests after weekly prayers on Friday. (AP)
- Manasseh Sogavare, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, accuses Australia of "heavy-handed" interference in his country's domestic affairs. (BBC)
- Soyuz TMA-9 has launched at 04:08 UTC from Baikonur in Kazakhstan onboard with two member of ISS Expedition 14 Mikhail Tyurin, Michael Lopez-Alegria and with Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist. (BBC) (NASA)
- 2006 protests in Hungary:
- Peaceful demonstrations began in Budapest and several cities of the countryside against the government in Hungary. On September 17th, 2006, an audio recording surfaced from a closed floor meeting after the Hungarian Socialist Party won the elections and before they announced several restraints on which Prime Minister Gyurcsány said, that "[...] Evidently, we lied throughout the last year-and-a-half, two years. It was totally clear that what we are saying is not true. [...]" Demonstrators demand a new election. (BBC) (Index.hu)
- Overnight, anti-government protests in Budapest turn violent. Protesters besieged the headquarters of state television and broke down the front doors. The station was taken off the air. Violence broke out as police used water cannons and tear gas against the crowd. By morning, the streets are calm and the PM vows to stay on in office, and to crack down on any further disorder. (Reuters) (HVG)
- New Brunswick general election, 2006: New Brunswickers oust Bernard Lord's Tories and elect a Liberal majority government under Shawn Graham. (CBC)
- The CW launches their network in the US