May 18, 2012 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Mexican Drug War:
- Masked gunmen kidnap and kill Marcos Antonio Avila Garcia, a journalist who often wrote about organized crime. His corpse was found inside a plastic bag in the Mexican city of Empalme. (Associated Press)
- Three roadside bombs explode at an outdoor pet market in Baghdad, Iraq, killing five people. (CNN)
Arts and culture
- German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau dies at the age of 86. (BBC)
Business and economy
- The social network Facebook holds an initial public offering and closes nearly flat at $38.23 a share. (CNBC) (Los Angeles Times) (The New York Times)
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 close at their lowest levels of 2012. (CNBC)
International relations
- 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)
Politics
- Sybrand van Haersma Buma is elected as the new party leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and becomes the lijsttrekker (top candidate) for the Dutch general election of 2012. (DutchNews)
Sport
- 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)