* Markus Weimer, The Peace Dividend: Analysis of a Decade of Angolan Indicators, 2002 – 2012

* 2012 – The Independent State of Azawad is declared.

* 1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer ( d. 2012 )

* 1983 – Anthony Sedlak, Canadian chef ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.

* 1916 – Dom Mintoff, Maltese politician and journalist, 8th Prime Minister of Malta ( d. 2012 )

* 1935 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal ( d. 2012 )

* 1942 – Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist ( d. 2012 )

* 1945 – Aleksandr Gorelik, Russian figure skater ( d. 2012 )

* 1963 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer ( d. 2012 )

* 1914 – Big Walter Price, American singer-songwriter and pianist ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – Ekrem Bora, Turkish actor ( b. 1934 )

* 2012 – Lionel Bowen, Australian politician ( b. 1922 )

* 2012 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian footballer ( b. 1947 )

* 2012 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican politician, President of Mexico ( b. 1934 )

* 2012 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician ( b. 1898 )

* 2012 – Jamaa Fanaka, American director, producer, and screenwriter ( b. 1942 )

* 2012 – Jerry Lynch, American baseball player ( b. 1930 )

* 2012 – N. K. P. Salve, Indian politician ( b. 1921 )

* 1933 – Pierluigi Vigna, Italian magistrate ( d. 2012 )

* 1921 – Richard Adler, American songwriter and composer ( d. 2012 )

* 1923 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria ( d. 2012 )

* 1928 – Henning Moritzen, Danish actor ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – John Berry, English motorcycle racing promoter and manager ( b. 1944 )

* 2012 – Martin Fleischmann, Czech-English chemist ( b. 1927 )

Ronaldo also captained Portugal to the semi-finals at Euro 2012 and finished the competition as the joint best scorer with three goals.

On 22 January 2012, Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4 – 1 win over Athletic Bilbao, and on 28 January scored Real Madrid's second and winning goal in a 3 – 1 win against Zaragoza.

On 12 February 2012, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, his thirteenth in La Liga and fourteenth for Real Madrid, in a 4 – 2 home win over Levante.

On 24 March 2012, Ronaldo reached more than 100 goals in La Liga in just three season at Real Madrid when he scored the first of his two goals in the match against Real Sociedad, the second quickest La Liga player to reach that milestone in the league after Isidro Lángara, reaching the milestone in 92 matches and breaking the previous club record held by Puskás.

As of 24 March 2012, Ronaldo had averaged 1. 01 goals per game in La Liga.

On 13 May 2012, the last matchday, Ronaldo scored against Mallorca which made him the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga.

On 23 August 2012, Ronaldo scored his first goal of the season against Barcelona in the first leg of the 2012 Supercopa de España at Camp Nou, which made him the first Madrid player in the history of El Clásico to score for the fourth game in a row at the Camp Nou.

On 2 September 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first league goal of the season in a 3 – 0 win over Granada, which was also his 200th career goal in league matches played in England, Spain and Portugal.

Ronaldo playing against Germany at Euro 2012

Ronaldo scored seven goals in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, behind Germany's Miroslav Klose and the Netherlands ' Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

" Ronaldo was included in the UEFA Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament, the second time after 2004, and finished the competition as the joint best scorer with three goals, along with five other players, although Spain's Fernando Torres claimed the Golden Boot.

" On 9 June 2012, Argentinian legend Diego Maradona declared that he felt that Ronaldo was " the best player on the planet.

In May 2012, Ronaldo and his agent, Jorge Mendes, decided to fund a pioneering treatment for a nine-year-old boy when it seemed that there was no hope left for the child, who has been battling cancer since before his second birthday.

In June 2012, SportsPro rated Ronaldo as the 5th most marketable athlete in the world.

In May 2011, Ronaldo was confirmed as the new face of FIFA's rival football series PES with his debut as a cover star of the series Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and is also involved in promotional campaigns for the game.

According to Forbes, Ronaldo had the 5th highest social rank in the world in 2012, bettered only by Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry.

On 17 May 2012, Ronaldo and Castrol EDGE launched a live-streamed football challenge against fans through Facebook.

In July 2012, Ronaldo was revealed by computer security company McAfee as the most " dangerous " footballer online in cyberspace.

On 31 August 2010, Quaresma was called to play in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Cyprus and Norway to replace the injured Cristiano Ronaldo.

As of 2012, only Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the award on two occasions, and only Henry and Ronaldo have won the award in consecutive seasons.

In 2012, as part of the FA Premier League 20 Seasons Awards, Steve McManaman was named on the shortlist for the award of best right midfielder, which was eventually won by Cristiano Ronaldo.