On This Day May 12

North Korea declared a country-wide lockdown after a number of positive Covid-19 cases, the first time Pyongyang had publicly acknowledged the existence of Covid-19 in the country

A ransomware attack by the WannaCry cryptoworm infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries, causing severe disruption around the world

Brazil’s Senate voted to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff and suspend her from office. She was accused of manipulating government accounts to secure election in 2014

Eight people were killed when an Amtrak train heading from Washington to New York derailed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More than 200 people were injured, 11 critically. The train was travelling around a curve at 102mph in a 50mph zone when it jumped the tracks

Pablo Picasso’s vibrant, multi-hued Women of Algiers (Version O) smashed the world record for a painting sold at auction, fetching $179.4 million in New York

A major earthquake struck eastern Nepal two weeks after more than 8,000 people died in a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake. At least 66 people were killed, including 17 in India and one in Tibet, in the latest quake, which measured 7.3 and hit near the town of Namche Bazaar, close to Mount Everest. More than 1,000 people were injured

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party trounced the governing Indian National Congress Party in India’s general election, winning an outright majority in parliament. BJP leader Narendra Modi became prime minister

Britain’s new prime minister, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and his deputy, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, addressed the nation from the garden of 10 Downing Street as they revealed the terms of Britain’s first coalition government since World War II

An Afriqiyah Airways flight from South Africa en route to London crashed while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 103 people; a 10-year-old child was the sole survivor

Seven children and two women were hacked to death with a meat cleaver at a kindergarten in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province

Fighting between government troops and the Islamic Courts Union killed at least 123 people in Mogadishu, Somalia

General Stanley McChrystal, a commander with experience of special forces, was appointed the top U.S. general in Afghanistan

Alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk, 89, was deported to Germany from the U.S. to face charges of being an accessory in the deaths of 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor extermination camp during World War II

Heavy fighting restarted in the Lebanese city of Tripoli between supporters of the western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran. At least 50 people had been killed in five days of violence

A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan, killing around 87,000 people and leaving five million homeless. It was the deadliest and strongest quake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000 people