February 23, 2006 (Thursday)
- Uganda holds a general election, the first multiparty election in 25 years. (Times Online) (BBC)
- Al Askari Mosque bombing: In Iraq over 100 people are killed in violence following yesterday's bombing of the Al Askari Mosque:
- 47 factory workers are forced off buses and shot at Nahrawan, near Baghdad.
- About 50 bullet-riddled bodies are found in Baghdad overnight.
- Al-Arabiya TV reporter Atwar Bahjat and her two crew are killed in Samarra.
- At least 11 people are abducted from jail in Basra by gunmen dressed as police, and shot.
- One person is killed in a Sunni mosque in Baquba, where a bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol also kills 12 people. (BBC)
- A roof at a marketplace in Moscow collapses under heavy snow at approximately 4:50 am local time (0150 UTC), killing at least forty-nine people. The 1970s-built building had the same architect as the Transvaal Water Park, whose roof collapsed in 2004 killing 28 people. (BBC) (CNN)
- A magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred at 12:19 am local time (Feb.22, 2219 UTC) in southern Mozambique, 140 miles (230 km) southwest of the coastal city of Beira, centered near Espungabera, a small farming town in a remote and sparsely populated area near the border with Zimbabwe. (USGS), (AP)
- An ancient Egyptian sun temple has been discovered beneath a flea market in the Ein Shams suburb of Cairo, which is built on top of the ancient city of Heliopolis. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (MSNBC)