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Top Song(s)
• Madonna - Hung Up
• The Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha
• James Blunt - You're Beautiful
• Akon - Lonely
• Mariah Carey - We Belong Together
Top Film(s)
• Batman Begins
• Serenity
• Sin City
• Brick
• Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Best Selling Book(s)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
• The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
• Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
Famous Deaths
• January 1 - Shirley Chisholm, 1st African American Congresswoman (Rep-D-NY) and presidential candidate
• February 3 - Zurab Zhvania, Prime Minister of Georgi
• March 8 - Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen separatist leader, President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
• April 11 - Maurice R. Hilleman, American microbiologist who developed over 36 vaccines
• May 7 - Peter W. Rodino, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey (1949-89)
• June 10 - J. James Exon, American Democratic politician (33rd Governor of Nebraska)
• July 27 - Swami Shantanand, Mahasamadhi Day, Indian Saint
• August 1 - Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia (1982-2005)
• September 16 - Gordon Gould, American physicist (inventor of the laser)
• November 9 - K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India (1997-2002)
Medical/Science/Technology
• Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is identified by the Palomar Observatory in California.
• Michael Kosfeld and colleagues publish their findings that oxytocin increases trust in humans.
• A first draft of the chimpanzee genome is published.
• The Spanish flu virus is reconstructed and shown to be closely related to the Avian influenza virus.
• The first video is uploaded to the online video hosting service YouTube established by Jawed Karim, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley.
• Dr. Bernard Devauchelle and colleagues perform the world's first partial face transplant on a living human.
• The Stitchbird is reintroduced to mainland New Zealand.
• Controversy over the discovery of Haumea: Discovery of dwarf planet Haumea is announced.
• Chinese paleontologists announce the discovery of fossils of Repenomamus robustus and Repenomamus giganticus.
• Physicists created a new state of matter using gluons and quarks.
Political
• January 1 – President George W. Bush delivers a radio address on the Indian Ocean tsunami relief efforts.
• January 3 – President George W. Bush is joined by former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the Roosevelt Room.
• January 20 – President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney begin their second term.
• February 2 – State of the Union Address.
• March 1 – The Supreme Court of the U.S. rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional for juveniles under 18.
• September 5 – John Roberts is nominated by President George W. Bush for Chief Justice of the United States.
• September 28 – United States House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy.
• October 3 - U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Harriet Miers to replace Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
• October 28 – Vice presidential adviser Lewis "Scooter" Libby resigns after being charged with obstruction of justice.
• December 23 – U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces the first in an expected series of troop drawdowns following the Iraqi elections.
National
• January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral by a Delta II rocket.
• February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia.
• May 8 – Two Denver Police Department officers are shot by a Mexican national, leading to an incident over the extradition of the shooter.
• May 13 - Serial killer Michael Bruce Ross becomes the first person executed in New England in 45 years.
• June 13 – Michael Jackson is found not guilty of child molestation.
• July 10 – Hurricane Dennis strikes near Navarre Beach, Florida as a Category 3 storm.
• August 9 – Space Shuttle Discovery returns to Edwards Air Force Base at 0814 EDT.
• September 1 – Oil prices rise sharply following the economic effects of Hurricane Katrina.
• October 2 - A tour boat capsizes on Lake George, New York killing 20 of 47 aboard.
• December 7 – A U.S. federal air marshal fatally shoots Rigoberto Alpizar on a jetway at Miami International Airport in Florida.
Worldwide
• January 9 – The Second Sudanese Civil War ends in Sudan.
• February 14 - Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut.
• March 14 – China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence.
• April 2 – Pope John Paul II dies; over four million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him.
• May 18 – English whisky is re-established in England.
• July 7 – Four coordinated suicide bombings hit central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700.
• August 16 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 160 passengers and crew.
• September 19 – North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.
• October 12 – The second crewed Chinese spacecraft, Shenzhou 6, is launched.
• November 28 – The United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Montreal.