Timeline July 2006

Events in July 2006 20

• 1917 – 2006 June Allyson (1917-2006) American actress and singer, MGM's girl next door of the 1940s and 1950s.
• 1942 – 2006 Ken Lay (1942-2006) Died 5 July 2006, aged 64 Kenneth Lay, founder and former chairman of Enron, died of a heart attack at his home in Colorado weeks before his scheduled sentencing. He had been convicted of fraud and conspiracy over the company's 2001 collapse. His conviction was later vacated because he died before sentencing.
• 1946 – 2006 Syd Barrett (1946-2006) Died 7 July 2006, aged 60 Syd Barrett, founding member and original guitarist of Pink Floyd, died of complications from diabetes at his home in Cambridge, England. He left the band in 1968 after struggles with mental health, becoming a reclusive figure. His early songwriting shaped the band's psychedelic sound.
• 2001 – 2006 Syd Barrett dies -- the ghost is finally at rest Syd Barrett dies on 7 July 2006 at his home in Cambridge, aged 60, from complications of diabetes. He has lived quietly in Cambridge since the early 1980s, painting, growing vegetables and living on his Pink Floyd royalties under his birth name Roger Barrett. His death is mourned worldwide. Pink Floyd releases a statement calling him 'the architect of our band.' His influence -- on Barrett-era Pink Floyd, on David Bowie, on the entire British psychedelic tradition -- is incalculable. His breakdown and its aftermath remain one of rock music's most haunting stories.
• 2006 2006 FIFA World Cup A Summer Fairytale Italy won their fourth title in a final remembered for Zidane’s headbutt. Winner: Italy.
• 2006 Germany 2006 World Cup A Summer Fairytale A major international event that showcased a modern, welcoming, and unified Germany to the world.
• 2006 AMD acquires ATI for $5.4 billion AMD acquires ATI Technologies — the second-largest graphics chip maker after Nvidia — for $5.4 billion in July 2006. The acquisition gives AMD a graphics chip division, the Radeon GPU brand and ATI's expertise in graphics, display technology and multimedia processors. The strategic vision is compelling: combining CPUs and GPUs on the same chip (the 'Fusion' concept, later called APU). But the acquisition price is too high, the integration is complex and slow, and it saddles AMD with debt just as Intel's Core 2 devastates AMD's CPU market share.
• 2006 Intel Core 2 Duo — AMD loses its performance lead Intel introduces the Core 2 Duo in July 2006 — using the efficient P6-derived architecture rather than the failed Pentium 4 — and immediately reclaims performance leadership from AMD across all segments. The Core 2 outperforms AMD's best Athlon 64 X2 by 20–40% in most benchmarks. AMD's pricing power evaporates overnight. The company is forced into massive price cuts to maintain market share. The combination of the ATI acquisition debt and Intel's Core 2 performance lead pushes AMD toward financial crisis.
• 2006 Intel Core 2 — the architecture reset Intel introduces the Core 2 Duo in July 2006 — abandoning the failed Pentium 4 NetBurst architecture and returning to the efficient P6 lineage of the Pentium III and Pentium M. The Core 2 delivers dramatically better performance per watt than the Pentium 4. Intel's Israeli design team, which had developed the Pentium M, leads the Core 2 development. The Core 2 restores Intel's performance leadership over AMD's Athlon 64 and establishes the Core architecture that Intel uses to this day.
• 2006 Wimbledon 2006 Men: Roger Federer · Women: Amélie Mauresmo
• 2006 Wins Open Championship and PGA Championship Dominance resumes after personal loss Just months after his father's death, Woods returned to win The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and the PGA Championship at Medinah, extending his major total to 12 and demonstrating extraordinary resilience during a period of personal grief.
• 2006 – 2007 Second prison sentence For leaving rehab Sentenced in July 2006 to two to four years in a New York State prison for violating a plea deal by leaving a drug rehabilitation centre — a sentence originally set to run until July 2009, though he was released earlier.
• 2006 June Allyson dies in Ojai June Allyson dies aged 88.
• 2006 2006 World Cup final: penalty and headbutt Zidane's final match ends in a red card as France loses on penalties In his last professional match, the 2006 World Cup final against Italy on 9 July 2006, Zidane opened the scoring with an audacious "Panenka" chipped penalty in the seventh minute. In extra time, he headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest after an exchange of words and was sent off; France went on to lose the final 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The incident became one of the most infamous moments in World Cup history and dominated global headlines for weeks.
• 2006 Italy wins the World Cup amid Zidane headbutt Final marked by Zidane's red card Italy defeated France on penalties in the World Cup final in Berlin to win its fourth title. The match is remembered for French captain Zinedine Zidane headbutting Marco Materazzi and being sent off in his final international appearance. It became one of the most replayed moments in football history.
• 2006 Retires from professional football Zidane ends his playing career after the 2006 World Cup Zidane had announced in April 2006 that he would retire from professional football at the end of the season, and his final match came in the World Cup final on 9 July 2006. He walked away from the game as a World Cup winner, European champion, Champions League winner, and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. His retirement closed one of the most decorated careers in football history.
• 2006 Wins the Golden Ball Zidane is named best player of the 2006 World Cup Despite his sending-off in the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the outstanding player of the 2006 World Cup, based on voting conducted before the final whistle. The decision proved controversial given the headbutt incident, but voters recognized his overall performances, including a standout display against Brazil in the quarterfinal. It stood as a fittingly complex final act to his international career.
• 2006 Mumbai train bombings Seven bombs on commuter trains Seven coordinated bomb blasts struck packed commuter trains on Mumbai's Western Railway line during evening rush hour. The attacks killed over 180 people and injured hundreds more. Indian authorities blamed Pakistan-based militant groups.
• 2006 2006 Lebanon War Israel-Hezbollah conflict Hezbollah's cross-border raid and rocket attacks triggered a 34-day war with Israel across southern Lebanon. Extensive Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion caused over a thousand deaths, mostly Lebanese civilians. A UN-brokered ceasefire ended the fighting in mid-August.
• 2006 Fidel Castro cedes power to Raúl Castro Temporary transfer after intestinal surgery Fidel Castro provisionally handed presidential powers to his brother Raúl after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. He did not appear in public for months, fueling speculation about his health. The transfer proved to be the beginning of a permanent succession.