page_title: 2012
section_title: May
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 / Events / May
caption_attribution_description: English: Solar Eclipse 2012 seen from San Juan Capistrano
context_page_description: 2012 was a leap year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar.
  The year 2012 was the International Year of Cooperatives and the Alan Turing Year.
context_section_description: May 2 – Edvard Munch's The Scream sells for 120 million US dollars, a record price for a work of art at auction.
  May 6 – Second round of the French Presidential Election: Francois Hollande is elected President of France, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy.
  May 6 – The Parliamentary election in Greece ends in an inconclusive result. A re-run is scheduled for June 17.
  May 7 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia for a second time, swapping places with Dmitry Medvedev, who becomes Prime Minister.
  May 12 – The 2012 World Expo begins in Yeosu, South Korea. It is due to last until August 12.
  May 15 – Francois Hollande becomes President of France.
  May 18-20 – The G8 Summit is held at Camp David, near Washington, DC after a last minute switch of location. Chicago was originally the host city of the G8 summit prior to the NATO Summit.
  May 20 – Taur Matan Ruak becomes President of East Timor.
  May 20-21 - The first NATO Summit in the United States outside of Washington, D.C. is held in Chicago, Illinois.
  May 20 – A magnitude 6 earthquake strikes northern Italy, killing at least 7 people and destroying many historic buildings.
  May 20 – Annular solar eclipse: Path of annularity runs through the Pacific Ocean from East Asia to the Western and Midwestern United States.
  May 22 - The Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo, Japan, opens to the public. It is the tallest self-supporting tower in the world, at a height of 634 metres.
  May 26 – Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is won for Sweden by Loreen.
  May 29 - Mitt Romney secures the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.
caption: The solar eclipse as seen from San Juan Capistrano, California
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