Imprisoned journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega is awarded the PEN America's "Freedom to Write" annual prize for publishing articles critical of Ethiopia's human rights record.
May 2, 2012, Edvard Munch's
The Scream sells for a record $US119,922,500 in an auction in New York City.
(AP via Sydney Morning Herald)
May 2, 2012, A court in the German city of Mannheim rules that Microsoft has infringed Motorola Mobility's patents and bans Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Windows 7 operating system software from sale in Germany.
(Reuters via Yahoo News)
May 2, 2012, The News Corporation board expresses its "full confidence" in Rupert Murdoch following a UK government media committee's conclusion yesterday that Murdoch is "not a fit person" to run a major international business.
(BBC)
May 2, 2012, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Beijing for high-level talks with the government of China. She also contacts dissident Chen Guangcheng.
(AP via MSNBC)
May 2, 2012, A man, believed by the media (but not confirmed) to be J. T. Ready, a Neo-Nazi, and a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, is among five individuals in Gilbert, Arizona, found dead with gunshot wounds. It is unclear what role he may have played in the apparent shootings, and what precise type they were, but he is believed to have shot the others and then himself in a possible murder-suicide.
(MSNBC)
May 2, 2012, United States presidential election, 2012: Newt Gingrich suspends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination. Mitt Romney is declared the presumptive nominee.
(CBS News)
May 3, 2012,
May 3, 2012,
May 3, 2012,
May 3, 2012,
May 3, 2012,
May 3, 2012, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng telephones the U.S. Congress for help in his attempts to leave China with his family.
(BBC)
May 3, 2012, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and United States urge Iran to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AFP via Google News)
May 4, 2012, Mexican Drug War: 23 bodies—14 of them decapitated and 9 of them hanged from a bridge—were found in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo; those killed were reportedly members of the Gulf Cartel who were killed by Los Zetas, a rival cartel.
(Yahoo! News)
May 4, 2012, Adam Yauch, founding member of the influential hip hop group the Beastie Boys, dies aged 47.
(BBC)
May 4, 2012, Chinese official
Beijing Daily describes dissident Chen Guangcheng as a "tool and a pawn of American politicians".
(Reuters via MSNBC)
May 4, 2012, The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, starts at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
(CNN)
May 4, 2012, Five prisoners of the United States at Guantanamo Bay, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (a reported subject of torture by U.S. authorities), appear before a military judge.
(Al Jazeera)
May 5, 2012,A super moon is formed as the moon gets closest to the earth for the year.
(Herald Sun)
May 5, 2012, Japan shuts down its last nuclear reactor, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970.
(Reuters)
May 5, 2012, In US horse racing, I'll Have Another wins the 2012 Kentucky Derby.
(NBC Sports)
May 6, 2012,
May 6, 2012,
May 6, 2012, Hundreds of dolphins and more than 1,000 birds, mostly pelicans, die without explanation on the coast in the north of Peru.
(BBC)
May 7, 2012, South Korea seizes thousands of smuggled drug capsules from Northeastern People's Republic of China filled with powdered human flesh.
(IOL)
May 7, 2012, The CIA announces it had foiled a plot by Fahd al-Quso, a Yemeni affiliate of al-Qaida, to have a suicide bomber, using an improved version of the underwear bomb used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in 2009, to blow up an American-bound airliner; no lives were ever at risk.
(MSNBC)
May 7, 2012, Vladimir Putin is sworn in for a third six-year term as President of Russia.
(BBC)
May 8, 2012,
May 8, 2012,The U.S. state of Nevada approves the country's first self-driven vehicle licence.
(BBC)
May 8, 2012, A CIA double agent was involved in a foiled bomb plot by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up an U.S.-bound flight, according to government officials.
(CNN)
May 8, 2012, The U.S. state of North Carolina bans same-sex marriage.
(BBC)
May 9, 2012, United States President Barack Obama officially states that he supports the right for same-sex partners to marry.
(CNN)
May 9, 2012,
May 9, 2012, Mark Rothko's
Orange, red, yellow sells at auction for $86.9 million at Christie's.
(BBC)
May 10, 2012,
May 10, 2012,
May 10, 2012, British public sector protests: As many as 400,000 public sector workers in the United Kingdom resolve to stage a 24-hour mass strike in protest against planned pension cuts.
(BBC)
May 11, 2012, Series Premiere of Common Law
May 11, 2012,
May 11, 2012,
May 11, 2012,
May 11, 2012,
May 11, 2012, The United States Armed Forces is embroiled in controversy over a training course for officers which taught that Islam is America's irreconcilable enemy.
(AP via The Guardian)
May 11, 2012, William Balfour has been found guilty of the murder of American entertainer Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.
(ABC News America)
May 11, 2012,Chinese scientists use quantum teleportation to transmit photons over a distance of 97 kilometres (60 mi) – a world record for quantum teleportation.
(PopSci)
May 11, 2012, American researchers report that preventable infections are the leading cause of child mortality worldwide. Of the 7.6 million children who died before their fifth birthday in 2010, over 60% died of infections such as pneumonia.
(BBC)
May 11, 2012, Thousands of fans attend a memorial service for the late San Diego Chargers linebacker Junior Seau at Qualcomm Stadium. Team president Dean Spanos announces that Seau's #55 will be retired by the team.
(ESPN)
May 12, 2012,
May 12, 2012,
May 12, 2012, Three Boston University students are killed and another five are injured in a minivan crash during a weekend trip to New Zealand.
(Boston Herald)
May 12, 2012, Two Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are reportedly close to death, having refused to eat for 74 days. A further 1,600 prisoners have been on hunger strike since 17 April.
(Daily Telegraph)
May 12, 2012, The discovery of a missing piece of the Mayan calendar appears to render the 2012 phenomenon obsolete, by proving that the Maya did not believe 2012 to be the end of the world.
(WBRC)
May 13, 2012,
May 13, 2012,
May 13, 2012, Scientists claim that there is a visible link between the loss of biodiversity and the disappearance of endangered languages and cultures.
(BBC)
May 14, 2012, Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, and her husband Charlie Brooks are charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the alleged destruction of evidence associated with the News International phone hacking scandal.
(The Daily Telegraph)
May 14, 2012,
May 14, 2012, A 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes the Peruvian–Chilean border, causing power cuts but no serious immediate damage. No casualties have been reported.
(AFP via Google)
May 14, 2012, American Republican politician Ron Paul states he will be ending his active presidential campaign bid. However, he will still try to secure delegates before the Republican National Convention in August.
(CNN)
May 14, 2012, Scientists at California's Stanford University invent a working bionic eye powered only by focused light.
Though currently a prototype, the device could eventually restore the
sight of millions of people suffering from eye diseases such as macular degeneration and retinal pigmentosa.
(BBC)
May 15, 2012,
May 15, 2012,
May 15, 2012, The combined economy of the 17 eurozone nations narrowly avoids a recession, largely due to relatively high economic growth in Germany. However, overall growth in the eurozone was zero in the first quarter of 2012.
(The Daily Telegraph)
May 15, 2012, A man sets himself on fire outside the Oslo courthouse where mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for the 2011 Norway attacks.
(The Guardian)
May 15, 2012, Thousands of Palestinians demonstrate on the 64th anniversary of their
Nakba (
"Catastrophe"), in remembrance of their exodus from the former Mandate of Palestine after Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. Demonstrators and Israeli policemen are lightly injured in several clashes.
(BBC)
May 15, 2012, A free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia takes effect.
(BBC)
May 15, 2012, The United States announces a national plan to develop an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease by 2025.
(BBC)
May 15, 2012, American scientists develop a device which uses genetically-engineered viruses to generate electricity. The invention could allow the development of ubiquitous piezoelectric micro-generators which gather energy from everyday vibrations such as closing doors.
(BBC)
May 16, 2012,
May 16, 2012,
May 16, 2012, China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing is completed, a decade after its design by OMA. (
(The Guardian)
May 17, 2012, Pop singer Donna Summer dies of lung cancer at the age of 63.
(Newsday)
May 17, 2012,
May 17, 2012, Daniel B. Shapiro, United States ambassador to Israel, says that the United States "is ready" to attack Iran to prevent the development of nuclear weapons within Iran.
(CBS News)
May 17, 2012, The U.S. Senate confirmed two of the President's nominees to the Federal Reserve,
bringing board membership up to the statutory complement of seven. This
is the first time all seven seats have been filled in six years.
(Reuters)
May 18, 2012,
May 18, 2012, The Olympic Flame arrives in the United Kingdom on board a flight from Athens, Greece, ready for the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in July.
(BBC)
May 18, 2012, The social network Facebook holds an initial public offering and closes nearly flat at $38.23 a share.
(CNBC)
May 18, 2012,
May 18, 2012,
May 18, 2012, The Group of Eight meets in the United States at Camp David with the Greek debt crisis and associated Eurozone problems on the agenda.
(The Washington Post)
May 19, 2012,
May 19, 2012,
May 19, 2012,
May 19, 2012, Ethologist, evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins announces his support for British education secretary Michael Gove's plan to send free King James Bibles to every state school.
(The Guardian)
May 19, 2012, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife and children arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, after boarding a flight from Beijing.
(CNN)
May 19, 2012, In horse racing, I'll Have Another wins the 2012 Preakness Stakes giving him the chance to become the first horse to win the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing since Affirmed in 1978.
(AP via Yahoo Sports)
May 20, 2012,
May 20, 2012, At least 6 people are killed and dozens injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
(BBC)
May 20, 2012,Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb dies at the age of 62.
(BBC)
May 20, 2012, Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells his cabinet that hundreds of thousands of iIllegal mmigrants from Africa would threaten Israel's identity.
(The Guardian)
May 20, 2012, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, dies at his home in the Libyan capital of Tripoli at the age of 60.
(BBC)
May 20, 2012, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano heads for Tehran to convince the Iranian government to co-operate with the agency.
(The Guardian)
May 21, 2012,
May 21, 2012, US President Barack Obama speaks at a NATO summit concerning the future of war-ravaged Afghanistan.
(BBC)
May 22, 2012, After months of delays, American company SpaceX successfully launches its unmanned Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a test mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
(BBC)
May 22, 2012,British naval officer Commander Sarah West is appointed commander of the Royal Navy frigate HMS
Portland, becoming the first female officer to take command of a major British warship.
(The Scotsman)
May 24, 2012,
May 25, 2012,
May 25, 2012, A SpaceX Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft ever to dock with the International Space Station, completing docking at 12:02pm EDT (1602 UTC).
(CNN.com)
May 25, 2012,
May 26, 2012,
May 26, 2012,
May 26, 2012,The Vatican confirms that the butler to Pope Benedict XVI has been arrested for allegedly leaking confidential documents.
(AP via Washington Post)
May 26, 2012,Swedish pop music singer Loreen wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with her song
Euphoria.
(Reuters via ABC Online)
May 27, 2012,
May 27, 2012,
May 27, 2012,Scottish driver Dario Franchitti wins the 2012 Indianapolis 500 making it his third victory in the event.
(AP via Yahoo Sports)
May 27, 2012,Michael Haneke scoops the Palme d'Or for
Love at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
(BBC)
May 27, 2012, Tropical Storm Beryl makes landfall near the US city of Jacksonville with northern Florida and southern Georgia
(New York Times),
May 28, 2012,
May 28, 2012,
May 28, 2012,
May 28, 2012,
May 28, 2012,
May 28, 2012,U.S. president Barack Obama gives out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 13 recipients, including Israeli president Shimon Peres, astronaut John Glenn and musician Bob Dylan, at the White House.
(BBC)
May 29, 2012,
May 29, 2012, A 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocks northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.
(Al Jazeera)
May 29, 2012,
May 30, 2012,The winner of the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction is announced.
(The Guardian)
May 30, 2012, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange loses his appeal in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom against extradition to Sweden on rape charges.
(BBC)
May 30, 2012,The former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, is sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague for aiding and abetting war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war.
(BBC)
May 30, 2012,Doctors in the United Kingdom agree to stage a day of industrial action
on 21 June, the first such action by the British medical profession
since 1975. The strike will lead to cancellations of routine medical
appointments, but will not affect emergency care.
(BBC)
May 31, 2012, SpaceX's Dragon capsule successfully returns to Earth following its demo mission to the International Space Station.
(AP via Google)
May 31, 2012,
May 31, 2012,
May 31, 2012,
May 31, 2012, BBC Radio 4 announces a five-and-a-half-hour celebration of James Joyce's
Ulysses on this coming Bloomsday, claiming it as the novel's first full-length dramatisation in Britain.
(The Guardian)
May 31, 2012, The 2012 Bilderberg Conference begins in Chantilly, Virginia.
(The Guardian)
May 31, 2012, A jury clears former Democratic Party candidate for Vice-President of the United States John Edwards on one count of corruption, with the judge ordering a mistrial on the other counts.
(The Guardian)
May 31, 2012, Egypt's 31-year state of emergency, which gave security forces broad powers to suppress civil unrest and detain dissenters, is formally ended.
(BBC)
May 31, 2012, Defenseman Nicklas Lidström of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings announces his retirement from professional ice hockey after a 20-year career in Detroit, including six years as Detroit's captain.
(Houston Chronicle)
