May 12, 2013 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- Four Filipino UN peacekeepers that had been taken captive by Syrian rebels on May 7 are released. (Los Angeles Times)
Disasters and accidents
- 2013 Savar building collapse:
- The death toll reaches 1,126 with many people still missing; the accident is now the third worst industrial disaster in history. (Xinhua)
- At least 28 people are killed in a mining accident in China's Sichuan Province. (CNN)
Health and environment
- The first group of what is an expected to be more than a trillion 17-year cicadas to emerge in the eastern United States is spotted in North Carolina. (Design & Trend)
- WHO says that it appears likely the novel coronavirus can be transmitted from close person-to-person contact. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Nineteen people are injured during a shooting at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. (NOLA.com)
- Four people are found fatally shot in Waynesville, Indiana, United States. (CNN)
- A 12-year-old boy is arrested in connection to the April 27 Valley Springs, California, United States, stabbing of his 8-year-old sister. (FOX News)
- Andrew Moran, one of Britain's most wanted criminals, is arrested in Costa Blanca, Spain. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- 2013 Pakistani general election:
- Partial results reveal former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to be the winner, though no party manages to obtain an absolute majority in the 342-seat National Assembly. (Al Jazeera)
- Voters in Bulgaria go to the polls for a parliamentary election. Boyko Borisov's GERB party wins between 30% and 32% of the votes, closely followed by Sergey Stanishev's resurgent BSP with 26 to 28 percent. No party manages to obtain a majority, while analysts predict a political deadlock amid low voter turnout and economic woes. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- The Murrawarri Republic begins a sovereignty campaign with the UN. (SBS)
Religion
- Pope Francis canonizes a record-breaking 800+ new Catholic Church saints - Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had submitted the 813 "Martyrs of Otranto" who had been beheaded by Ottoman soldiers for refusing to convert to Islam. (Atlantic Wire), (Cleveland Leader)
Science and technology
- In a study by SUNY Buffalo, it is discovered that Utricularia gibba, a carnivorous bladderwort plant, has the shortest known DNA sequence of any multicellular plant and that it lacks "junk DNA", sequences of code that do not encode proteins. (Design & Trend)
Sport
- In association football:
- Paris Saint-Germain wins the French Ligue 1 championship, their third Ligue 1 title and first since 1994. (BBC)
- Manchester United win 2–1 at home to Swansea City in Sir Alex Ferguson's last game at Old Trafford as club manager, with the coach lifting the record 20th Premier League trophy at the end of the game. (Al Jazeera)
- Veteran midfielder Paul Scholes announces his second retirement from football after the end of the current season. (Al Jazeera)
- In American football, Hall of Fame member Jack Butler dies at the age of 85. (The New York Times)