The events happened on 12th May are :



1846 : U.S. declaration of war on Mexico approved : Tensions between Mexico and the United States—stemming from the U.S. annexation of Texas (1845)—led the U.S. Congress on this day in 1846 to approve overwhelmingly a declaration of war against its southern neighbour.



1993 : A methane gas explosion in a coal mine in Secunda, South Africa, claimed the lives of 50 miners.



1981 : Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in Vatican City, in which he was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish national.



1960 : A Swiss expedition led by Max Eiselin reached the summit of Dhaulagiri in the Himalayas.



1950 : American musician Stevie Wonder, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century, was born in Saginaw, Michigan.



1943 : The Somali Youth Club—a precursor to the Somali Youth League, which in 1960 helped to form Somalia's first independent government—was formed in Mogadishu.



1917 : Three children—Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto—reported seeing the Virgin Mary near Fátima, Portugal.



1871 : With the Law of Guarantees, the Italian government attempted to settle the question of its relationship with the pope, who had been deprived of his lands in the process of Italian national unification.



12th May | 14th May