Year 2012 In Review.


February 6 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand,
and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.

February 27 – Arab Spring: As a result of ongoing protests, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is succeeded by Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi.

March 13 – After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition.

March 22 – The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices.

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.

May 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo takes place in Yeosu, South Korea.

July 4 – CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.

July 27 – August 12 – The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, England, United Kingdom.

July 30–31 – In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India blackouts leave 620 million people without power.

August 6 – Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully lands on Mars.

September 7 – Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran.

September 11 – Garment factory fires in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore kill 315 and seriously injure more than 250.

October 14 – Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without any machine assistance.

October 24 – 30 – Hurricane Sandy kills at least 209 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada.

November 14 – 21 – Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari.

November 25 – December 9 – Typhoon Bopha, known as "Pablo" in the Philippines, kills at least 1,067 with around 838 people still missing.

November 29 – The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status.

December 8 – In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020.