May 12, 2008 (Monday)
- 2008 Sichuan earthquake: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits China's Sichuan province, killing at least 22,000 people. (BBC News)
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "immensely frustrated" at the State Peace and Development Council's slow response to the cyclone. (BBC News)
- 2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- Hezbollah clash with forces loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in the Shouf mountains, and with Sunni supporters of the government in Tripoli. (BBC News)
- United States President George W. Bush offers to help improve the Lebanese Armed Forces. (BBC News)
- 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
- Shootings are reported in Khartoum, Sudan, one day after the rebel attack. Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi is released from custody after being interrogated by police. (BBC News) (BBC News)
- Chad closes its border with Sudan and severs economic relations after being accused of backing the attack. (BBC News)
- Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) announces it has decided to leave the governing coalition because of differences over how to restore around 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007. (BBC News) (BBC News)
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez nationalises steel firm Ternium-Sidor, which is mainly owned by Argentina's Techint. (BBC News)
- Israeli police raid the Jerusalem city hall to seize documents related to alleged bribes received by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
- The President of Bolivia Evo Morales approves recall elections for himself and the governors of the nine departments on August 10, 2008. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Russia's new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces his cabinet. (BBC News)
- United States federal authorities start sending aid to Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia as the total death toll from the May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence reaches 23. (BBC News)