- February 15
- Prison fire in Comayarua, Honduras kills over 350, with about 500 escaping. [854.40]
- February 19
- Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January. [1014]
- February 21
- Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, 130-billion euro Greek bailout. [1014]
- February 27
- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is succeeded by Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi. [1014]
- March 4
- In the Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin wins with 64 percent of the vote. [853.12]
- A series of explosions are reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, with at least 250 people dead. [1014]
- March 5
- India's commerce ministry bans exports of cotton; India is the world's second-largest exporter of cotton. [853.78]
- March 8
- In New York City, Heritage Auctions conducts a coin auction. Some highlights:
- Jewish silver shekel prototype coin, circa 66 C.E., one of two known, Good Extremely Fine, US$1,105,375;
- Jewish silver quarter shekel coin, circa 66 C.E., one of two known, Choice Very Fine, US$896,250.
[816.1]
- March 13
- After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopedia Britannica discontinues its print edition. [1014]
- March 15
- CH. Karnchang construction company of Thailand begins construction of US$3.8 billion dam at Xayaburi on the Mekong River in northern Laos. [862.43]
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- March 22
- The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices. [1014]
- March 31
- Car bombs in Yala, Thailand, shophouses kill 11 people and injure 100. [862.41]
- April 6
- The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally declares the independence of Azawad from Mali. [1014]
- April 12
- Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup d'état and take control of the capital city, Bissau. They arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a presidential election campaign. [1014]
- April 13
- Kwangmyongsong-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite, explodes shortly after launch. The United States and other countries had called the impending launch a violation of United Nations Security Council demands. The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the republic. [1014]
- April 16
- A check that Detective Comics wrote to acquire the exclusive rights to the comic character "Superman" in 1938 for $130 sells at auction for $160,000. [837.36]
- April 26
- Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War. [1014]
- Supreme Court of Pakistan convicts Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt of court, for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to re-open money-laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. [862.42]
- April 27
- Romanian government of Mihai Razvan Ungureanu loses vote of confidence. [862.52]
- May 1
- Bolivian President Evo Morales announces nationalization of Transportadora de Electricidad, the Spanish-owned national power-grid company. [862.38]
- May 2
- A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for US$120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art. [1014]
- May 5
- The last of Japan's 54 nuclear power reactors is switched off, first time in half century, for routine maintenance or permanently disabled in the Fukushima disaster in 2011. [862.40]
- May 12
- (to August 12) The 2012 World Expo takes place in Yeosu, South Korea. [1014]
- May 21
- In Beijing, China, China Guardian auctions a People's Republic of China 1968 8-fen "Long Live Complete Victory of the Great Cultural Revolution" postage stamp, with Taiwan in white, unused, for 7.3 million yuan (US$1.15 million). [1023.28]
- May 22
- Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 634 metres high, is opened to public. [1014]
- June 24
- Shenzhou 9, a Chinese spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts, docks manually with orbiting module Tiangong 1, first time for the country, making them as the third country to successfully perform the mission. [1014]
- The last known individual of the Pinta Island Tortoise subspecies, dies at Galapagos National Park, thus making the subspecies extinct. [1014]
- July 4
- CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. [1014]
- July 27
- (to August 12) The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, England, United Kingdom. [1014]
- July 30
- (to July 31) In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India blackouts leave 620 million people without power. [1014]
- August 6
- Curiosity, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully lands on Mars. [1014]
- August 16
- Liechtenstein Post AG, at the LIBA 2012 Stamp Exhibition, produces a postage stamp in record time of 57 minutes and 50 seconds, verified by Guiness World Records. [1001.10]
- August 31
- Researchers successfully perform the first implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes. [1014]
- Armenia severs diplomatic relations with Hungary, following the extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardoning of Ramil Safarov, who was convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004. [1014]
- September 7
- Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran and ordering the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa. [1014]
- September 11
- Garment factory fires in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore kill 315 and seriously injure more than 250. [1014]
- (to September 27) A series of attacks are directed against United States diplomatic missions worldwide, as well as diplomatic missions of Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In Libya, among the dead is US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. [1014]
- September 27
- Baldwin's in London, England, auctions the second part of the Bentley Collection. An Australian gold sovereign of 1920 sells for 780,000 pounds (US$1.5 million), a record price for an Australian coin. [990.7] [1069.1]
- October 9
- Sincona AG conducts an auction of coins from the Sincona Collection. Some highlights:
- Russia 1740 silver pattern ruble, one of five known: 3.6 million Swiss francs (US$3.86 million), a record price for a Russian coin;
- Russia 1836 Family Ruble 1.5-ruble coin, finest known: 600,000 Swiss francs (US$643,149);
- Russia 1760 Saint Petersburg Mint pattern ruble: 450,000 Swiss francs (US$482,362);
- Russia 1704 Red Mint silver ruble, one of possibly three known: 750,000 Swiss francs (US$803,936);
[1074.1]
- October 14
- Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without any machine assistance during a record space dive out of the Red Bull Stratos helium-filled balloon from 24 miles (39 kilometers) over Roswell, New Mexico in the United States. [1014]
- October 24
- (to October 30) Hurricane Sandy kills at least 209 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption to the eastern seaboard of the United States. [1014]
- November 14
- Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. [1014]
- November 25
- (to December 9) Typhoon Bopha, known as "Pablo" in the Philippines, kills at least 1,067 with around 838 people still missing. The typhoon causes considerable damage in the island of Mindanao. [1014]
- November 29
- The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status. [1014]
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