WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JUNE 2012
Find out what all happened January to June 2012

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people. (29. May 2012)

A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board. (7. January 2012)

The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. (13. February 2012)

The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI. (19. January 2012)

The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize. (16. April 2012)

The Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station. (25. May 2012)

A Moldovan civilian is fatally wounded by a Russian peacekeeper in the Transnistrian security zone, leading to demonstrations against Russia. (1. January 2012)

The trial for Anders Behring Breivik begins in Oslo, Norway. (16. April 2012)

A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction. (2. May 2012)

A 8.2 magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia, off northern Sumatra at a depth of 16.4 km. A tsunami hits the island of Nias at Indonesia. (11. April 2012)

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco. (22. June 2012)

The Damascus bombings were carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people and injuring 400 others (10. May 2012)

A Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 crashes into a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing 163 people. (3. June 2012)

The former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. (2. June 2012)

A Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter plane is shot down by the Syrian Armed Forces, killing both of the plane's pilots and worsening already-strained relations between Turkey and Syria. (22. June 2012)

The Pirate Party of Greece is founded, on the model of the Swedish Pirate Party. (14. January 2012)

A boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 other missing. (21. June 2012)

Tokyo Skytree is opened to public. It is the tallest tower in world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth, after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m). (22. May 2012)

A group of Gaddafi loyalists take control of part of the town of Bani Walid and fly the green flag after a battle with NTC forces left 5 dead and 20 injured. (23. January 2012)

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. (18. June 2012)