2012 LFL Canada season, Developments
On February 22, 2012, the LFL announced that Regina, Saskatchewan would be the next Canadian city to host a team in the League. Home games would be played at the Brandt Centre. On March 6, the LFL announced that the franchise will be named the Regina Rage after an online fan vote.


2012 LFL Canada season, Developments
Six days later, on February 28, the LFL announced that Saskatoon, Saskatchewan would join Regina as LFL Canada's second team in the Wheat Province. Home games would be played at the Credit Union Centre. Upon releasing the Saskatoon Sirens' logo and colours, the league announced that LFL Canada was set at four teams for the 2012 season, with the league playing an eight-game schedule, still scheduled to end with the Canadian Lingerie Bowl the day before the Grey Cup. The Canadian Lingerie Bowl was later rescheduled to start one week before the Grey Cup, due in part to a schedule conflict with the Vanier Cup, the Canadian college football championship.


2012 LFL Canada season, Schedule
The 2012 season featured eight games, all scheduled on Saturdays, with each team playing two home and two road games. As the LFL has done in the United States, the league scheduled a bye week on Thanksgiving weekend. In addition a second bye week was built into the schedule for the week of September 22, 2012.


2012 LFL Canada season, Standings
*  - clinched playoff berth   ^  - eliminated from playoffs


2012 LKL All-Star Game
The annual 2012 LKL All-star game, was held in Švyturys Arena, in Klaipėda, on March 3.


2012 LKL All-Star Game, Coaches
"Lietuviai" was coached by Lithuanian Antanas Sireika, of Šiauliai, who acquired 5,734 votes. "Time Team" was coached by Serbian Aleksandar Trifunović, of Žalgiris, who acquired 9,247 votes.


2012 LKL Slam Dunk Contest
The 2012 LKL Slam Dunk Contest, was an event that was a part of the LKL's All-Star Day, that took place in Klaipėda's Švyturys Arena, on March 3. The winner of this event was Sonny Weems, of Žalgiris.


2012 LKL Three-point Shootout
The 2012 LKL Three-point Shootout was an event part of the LKL All-Star Day that took place in Klaipėda's Švyturys Arena on March 2. The winner of this event was Žygimantas Šeštokas of BC Juventus.


2012 LKL Three-point Shootout, Results
This contest resembled the NBA Three-point Shootout. Five racks of basketball were set up at five different angles around the basket. Each contestant was given a minute to attempt 25 three-pointers. Each rack contained five basketballs. The first four basketballs in each rack, if made, were worth 1 point, while the last basketball was worth 2 points. The results of this contest are documented below:


2012 LPGA Championship
The 2012 LPGA Championship was the 58th LPGA Championship, held June 7–10 at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, a suburb southeast of Rochester. Known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, it was the second of four major championships on the LPGA Tour during the 2012 season. This was the third of four consecutive years the LPGA Championship was played at Locust Hill.


2012 LPGA Championship
The champion was Shanshan Feng, who won with a 282 (−6), two strokes ahead of four runners-up: Eun-Hee Ji, Stacy Lewis, Mika Miyazato, and Suzann Pettersen. Following the third round, Feng was tied for seventh and three strokes back. In the final round, she shot a bogey-free 67 (−5), the lowest round of the tournament, to secure her first LPGA Tour victory and move from tenth to fifth in the Women's World Golf Rankings. Her best finish in 16 previous majors was a tie for 22nd.


2012 LPGA Championship, Field
The field included 150 players from 25 countries, with the cut to the top 70 players and ties after the second round.


2012 LPGA Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
The cut was at 151 (+7) or better with 73 players advancing to play on the weekend. The cut line was five strokes higher than at the 2011 LPGA Championship.


2012 LPGA Tour
The 2012 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that began in Australia on February 9 and ended November 18 in Florida. The tournaments are sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).


2012 LPGA Tour, Season overview
There were 27 official tournaments on the 2012 LPGA Tour, four more than in 2011. Fifteen tournaments were held in the United States. Eleven other countries hosted the remaining twelve tournaments.


2012 LPGA Tour, Season overview
Stacy Lewis won the most tournaments, four, and won the Player of the Year award. Inbee Park won two tournaments and both the money title with earnings of $2,266,638 and the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. So Yeon Ryu won Rookie of the Year honors, winning one tournament, finishing sixth on the money list and second in scoring average.


2012 LPGA Tour, Season overview
Other players winning multiple tournaments were Yani Tseng with three wins and Na Yeon Choi, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, and Jiyai Shin with two wins each.


2012 LPGA Tour, Changes for 2012, Final major delayed
The Ricoh Women's British Open was moved from its usual late-July date to mid-September, to accommodate the 2012 Summer Olympics in London which were being held in London.


2012 LPGA Tour, Schedule and results
The number in parentheses after winners' names is the player's total number wins in official money individual events on the LPGA Tour, including that event.


2012 LPGA Tour, Schedule and results
1 Unofficial events* Lydia Ko was an amateur when she won the CN Canadian Women's Open; the winner's share went to the runner-up, Inbee Park.


2012 LPGA of Japan Tour
The 2012 LPGA of Japan Tour was the 45th season of the LPGA of Japan Tour, the professional golf tour for women operated by the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan. It consisted of 35 golf tournaments, all played in Japan. Jeon Mi-jeong of South Korea won four tournaments and was the leading money winner with earnings of ¥131,827,582.


2012 LPGA of Japan Tour, Schedule
The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number wins in official money individual events on the LPGA of Japan Tour, including that event.


2012 LPGA of Korea Tour
This is the schedule for the 2012 LPGA of Korea Tour.


2012 LPGA of Korea Tour, 2012 schedule
LPGA KEB- HanaBank Championship is co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour. Hyundai China Ladies Open is co-sanctioned with China LPGA Tour.


2012 LSU Tigers baseball team
The 2012 LSU Tigers baseball team represents Louisiana State University in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2012. The Tigers played their home games in the new Alex Box Stadium, which opened in 2009.


2012 LSU Tigers baseball team
The team was coached by Paul Mainieri who was in his sixth season at LSU. The Tigers' season ended at the hands of Stony Brook after a shocking upset in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.


2012 LSU Tigers baseball team, Schedule/Results
*Rankings are based on the team's current ranking in the Baseball America poll the week LSU faced each opponent.


2012 LSU Tigers baseball team, Ranking movements
^ Collegiate Baseball ranks 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. † NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. * New poll was not released for this week so for comparison purposes the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.


2012 LSU Tigers baseball team, LSU Tigers in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft
The following members and future members (denoted by *) of the LSU Tigers baseball program were drafted in the 2012 MLB Draft.


2012 LSU Tigers football team
The 2012 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tigers were led by eighth-year head coach Les Miles and played their home games at Tiger Stadium. They were a member of the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 10–3, 6–2 in SEC play to finish in a tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Chick-fil-A Bowl where they were defeated by Clemson.


2012 LZ1
2012 LZ1 is an asteroid classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Amor group, approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter. It passed within 5.4 million kilometers (14 lunar distances) of Earth on 14 June 2012. It was discovered during the night of 10–11 June 2012 by astronomer Robert H. McNaught and his colleagues using the 0.5-meter Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, just four days before its closest approach to Earth.


2012 LZ1, Overview
Arecibo radar observations on 19 June 2012 have shown that 2012 LZ1 is about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in diameter and that 2012 LZ1 has zero chance of impacting the Earth for at least the next 750 years.


2012 LZ1, Overview
A small change of trajectory caused by Earth's gravity was predicted from the 2012 passby. The Slooh Space Camera streamed live footage of the passby over the Internet. McNaught and Astronomy magazine columnist Bob Berman hosted the broadcast. "We love it when stuff like this happens, because it's fun to do and the public appreciates it", said Slooh president Patrick Paolucci. The asteroid was the same brightness as a 13th-magnitude star, too faint to be seen by the naked eye or a low-end telescope.


2012 LZ1, Overview
The next passby for 2012 LZ1 was 27 July 2016 at 0.5 AU (75,000,000 km; 46,000,000 mi) from Earth.


2012 La Flèche Wallonne
The 2012 La Flèche Wallonne was the 76th running of La Flèche Wallonne, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 18 April 2012 over a distance of 194 kilometres (120.5 miles) and was the twelfth race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 La Flèche Wallonne
The race was won by Team Katusha rider Joaquim Rodríguez – a former two-time runner-up in the race – after making a late-race attack on the Mur de Huy. Second place went to GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini, while defending race winner Philippe Gilbert rounded out the podium placings for BMC Racing Team.


2012 La Flèche Wallonne, Teams
As La Flèche Wallonne was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Seven other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 25-team peloton.


2012 La Manga Cup
The 2012 La Manga Cup was an exhibition international club football (soccer) competition featuring football club teams from Europe, which was held in February 2012. All matches were played in La Manga Stadium in La Manga, Spain. This was the fifteenth La Manga Cup. The tournament was won by FC Nordsjælland, who beat Vålerenga on goal differential after both clubs finished with identical records of two wins and one draw.


2012 La Manga Cup, Standings
With only six teams entered, the 2012 version of the Cup was contested in a Round Robin style format, wherein each participating team played against three of the other five teams entered in the competition, with the winner determined by points earned.


2012 Labour Party (Netherlands) leadership election
The 2012 Labour Party leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Labour Party after incumbent Job Cohen announced his retirement from national politics. Cohen had been the leader of the party since 25 April 2010 after the resignation of Wouter Bos. Diederik Samsom a Member of the House of Representatives beat former Minister of Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk, former Undersecretary for Justice Nebahat Albayrak, Member of the House of Representatives Martijn van Dam, and backbencher Member of the House of Representatives Lutz Jacobi with 54.0% of the votes.


2012 Ladies European Tour
The 2012 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world which took place from February through December 2012. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET).


2012 Ladies European Tour
The tour featured 24 official money events. Rookie Carlota Ciganda won the Order of Merit with earnings of €251,290. She was also named Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.


2012 Ladies European Tour, Schedule
The numbers in brackets after the winners' names indicate the career wins on the Ladies European Tour, including that event, and is only shown for members of the tour.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar
The 2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar was the third edition of the Ladies Tour of Qatar cycling stage race. It was rated by the UCI as category 2.1, and was held between 3 and 5 February 2012, in Qatar.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
Extremely windy conditions made stage 1 of the Ladies’ Tour of Qatar very eventful. After taking off early making the best of the tailwind, 7 riders battled it out for victory  in Al Khor. In the last kilometres title holder Ellen van Dijk tried her luck taking with her Loes Gunnewijk and Kirsten Wild. But the front group bunched together again for the final sprint. Wild eventually flew to victory beating Hosking and Van Dijk to the line and claiming the first stage of the 2012 edition.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
Straight from the start, just after noon, the pack broke up into several groups as soon as the first kilometres. Like on the previous day, a group of 11 and then 9 riders managed to power away. At km 28, the group including Van Dijk, white jersey Hosking, Worrack, Golden jersey Wild, Duster, Guderzo, Arndt, Gunnewijk and Bruins could enjoy a 28" lead over a first slim bunch of chasers. Eventually, as the riders entered the final circuit around Madinat Al Shamal, the leaders lost ground with the wind blowing sideways.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
At the second intermediate sprint (first passage on the line, km 78), won by Arndt ahead of Wild and Van Dijk, the gap had dropped down to 20". The leaders were finally caught at km 85 and over 40 riders were bunched together again. Despite several attempts, the pack remained together until the second passage on the line. At km 89, Worrack, Arndt, Wild and Visser managed to take off. Two kilometres later, the first two insisted and the gaps grew: 20" over Wild and Visser and 50" over the peloton. With just four kilometres left, Worrack and Arndt could enjoy a 1’15 advantage over the first two chasers and 1’35 over the pack. Victory finally went to Trixi Worrack outsprinting her day's rival and claiming her first success in Qatar while Judith Arndt captured the overall leader's Golden jersey.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 3
The third and final stage of the Ladies’ Tour of Qatar competed in windy conditions, ended in a bunched sprint. The peloton remained packed all the way to the finish at a very fast pace due to the tailwind all the way to the finish. Decision was to be made after a bunched sprint. Like on day 1, Kirsten Wild powered to victory. The Dutch rider beat her compatriots Ellen van Dijk and Adrie Visser to the line. Germany's Judith Arndt managed to keep control of her leader's Golden jersey and wins this 2012 edition of the event.


2012 Ladies Tour of Qatar, Final classifications, Team Classification
Ellen van Dijk (NED) Chloe Hosking (AUS) Trixi Worrack (GER) Charlotte Becker (GER) Lisa Brennauer (GER) Katie Colclough (GBR)


2012 Lafayette Leopards football team
The 2012 Lafayette Leopards football team represented Lafayette College in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Leopards were led by 13th year head coach Frank Tavani and played their home games at Fisher Stadium. They are a member of the Patriot League. They finished the season 5–6, 2–4 in Patriot League play to finish in a three way tie for third place.


2012 Lakeland Raiders season
The 2012 Lakeland Raiders season was the first season for the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) franchise.


2012 Lakeland Raiders season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated June 25, 20121 Active, 0 Inactive


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team
The 2012 Lamar Cardinals football team represented Lamar University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Cardinals were led by third-year head coach Ray Woodard and played their home games at Provost Umphrey Stadium. They were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 4–8, 1–6 in Southland play to finish in seventh place.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Media
All Cardinals football games will be broadcast on KLVI AM 560 as part of the Lamar Cardinals Radio Network. At least 3 games, including 2 road games, will be broadcast on Fox 4 KBTV as the Cardinals complete the third year of a five-year deal granting exclusive broadcast rights to select Cardinals games to KBTV. could cover 1 or 2 games minimum in addition to the KBTV games. Cardinals SLC TV games will air locally on KUIL-LD.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2012 recruits
Lamar signed 21 players on national letter of intent day. Four additional college recruits signed on previously, in December 2011, to bring the recruiting class to 25-members strong. On May 11, Lamar gained another player from Tyler Jr. College to bring the squad up to 26 new members. In June Lamar gained 4 transfers, 2 from Oklahoma State and 2 from various junior colleges. Because 3 of the 4 redshirted last season and the fourth was a JC transfer, all 4 will be eligible to play in the 2012 season. It brings the Lamar recruiting class up t 30 for 2012. Recruits are listed here. Player profiles for each recruit are available at the signing day link below.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
The 2nd Annual Red-White Crayfish Bowl was held Saturday, May 17 at 7 PM. The team was divided into a red and white team, and 4 12-minute quarters were played.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
The Crawfish Bowl would need overtime to decide the winner. Both the red and white teams struggled to move the ball in different ways. The Red team only netted 6 yards rushing on 18 attempts. The white team pounded out 58-yards rushing with just one person, the returning medical redshirted DePauldrick Garrett. On the other hand, the white team owned the skies as they outgained the red team 155 to 79. Due to an imbalance in the number of quarterbacks, Caleb Berry would play for both teams. He would leave the game as the leading passer going 15-for-25 for 138 yards. Counterpart Jeremy Johnson would go 7-for-17 for 55 yards, but he also had 1 interception. Mossakowski had the fewest passing yards, with only 41 yards passing, but he also had the only touchdown.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
The Red team had a chance to even the game up, but Mike Venson fumbled the ball on second down to secure the win for the white squad.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
Defense dominated the game on both sides of the ball. Joe Viator, of the white team, led all players with 8 tackles. James Washington had five tackles and one sack for the white team, and Marcus Malbrough wasn't far behind with 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a quarterback hurry.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
For the red squad Adren Dorsey led the team with two sacks. Keinon Peterson had six tackles, and Eric Arnold and Mark Murrill each had a sack.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
There was only one scoring opportunity prior to the fourth quarter. Berry completed a pair of passes to Payton Ploch and one to Kyle hildreth to move the ball to the white teams 23-yard line. After the drive stalled Juventino Sanchez would try a 43-yard field goal which ended short. The red-team again drove deep into white territory on the final drive of regulation, but Sanchez missed a 42-yard field goal to end regulation.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Before the season, 2nd Crawfish Bowl
Perhaps the highlight of the night came from Punter Kolin Kahler played for both teams and was on the field 13 times. He averaged 42.4 yards per punt for the white team and 40-yards per punt for the red-team. His longest punt came in at 56 yards, and 3 of the punts forced the opposing team to start inside the 20.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Louisiana-Lafayette
The Cardinals will open the season with an older rival in Louisiana as they meet the Ragin' Cajuns. The Rajin' Cajuns have dominated the series against the Cardinals 21-12 and are on a current 3 game winning streak against the Cardinals. The two schools compete for the Sabine Shoe trophy.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Prairie View A&M
The Cardinals open up their home slate with their first ever contest against fellow Texas University Prairie View A&M.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Hawaiʻi
The Cardinals return to FBS country for their first ever contest against the Warriors.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Langston
The final tuneup before conference play will feature the first ever meeting between the Langston Lions and Lamar.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Southeastern Louisiana
The Cardinals open conference play against the Lions. The Cardinals currently own a 3-1 advantage in the series


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Northwestern State
Despite a 5-3 advantage in the overall series, the Cardinals will be seeking to prove they can compete with the Demons in this 2012 contest. The Demons won the revival game of this series in 2011 and have won 3 of the last 4.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, McMurry
The Cardinals return home for homecoming on October 20. It will be the final non-conference tilt of the year (not counting the playoffs) and they will celebrate homecoming in this contest against the War Hawks, who are celebrating their first year in the Division 2 level. It will be the third meeting between the Cardinals and War Hawks, with the previous two having come in 1953 and 1954. Currently the series is split 1-1.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Central Arkansas
The Cardinals head to Conway, Arkansas for the second match against their SLC rival, the Bears. Currently Central Arkansas leads the series 1-0.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Sam Houston State
The 19th meeting between the Cardinals and the Bearkats gives Sam Houston State back-to-back games in the state of Texas. The Bearkats own a 10-7-1 series advantage with most of the success having occurred in recent years, having won 7 of the last 8 meetings.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Stephen F. Austin
The Lumberjacks have won four consecutive against the Cardinals and five of the last six meetings, but overall the Cardinals lead the series 18-10-2.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, Nicholls State
The Cardinals and the Colonels go head-to-head in their 5th contest for the Cardinals final home game of the season. Currently the Cardinals lead the Colonels 3-1.


2012 Lamar Cardinals football team, Game summaries, McNeese State
This Cardinals end the 2012 regular season by returning to Lake Charles to face the Cowboys. Overall this will be the 27th meeting between the two schools. The Cowboys lead the overall series 18-7-1, and the Cowboys have won 8 of the last 9 matches.


2012 Lamborghini Super Trofeo
The 2012 Lamborghini Blanpain Super Trofeo season was the fourth season of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. The season started on 14 April at Monza and ended in October at Navarra. The season featured six double-header rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of 50 minutes.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision
On 1 October 2012, at approximately 20:23 HKT, the passenger ferries Sea Smooth and Lamma IV collided off Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. This occurred on the National Day of the People's Republic of China, and one of the ships was headed for the commemorative firework display, scheduled to take place half an hour later. With 39 killed and 92 injured, the incident was the deadliest maritime disaster in Hong Kong since 1971.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision
On 14 February 2015, Sea Smooth′s captain Lai Sai-ming was convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter over the deaths, while Lamma IV′s captain Chow Chi-wai was acquitted of the same charges by the High Court. Both men were found guilty of endangering the safety of others at sea. On 16 February, Lai and Chow were sentenced to eight years' and nine months' imprisonment respectively.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Background
The accident involved a Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry-operated passenger ferry, Sea Smooth (海泰號), and a Hongkong Electric Company-owned vessel, Lamma IV (南丫四號), with 121 passengers and 3 crew members on board. The passenger ferry was travelling from Central to Yung Shue Wan, while the Hongkong Electric Company vessel was travelling from Lamma Island to Central. Passengers on Lamma IV were on a one-day tour organised by the company, and were headed to Central for the fireworks display commemorating the National Day of the PRC following a tour of the Lamma Power Station. Participants of the tour mostly joined as families, and as a result there were a number of children among the passengers.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Accident
At approximately 20:20, Sea Smooth crashed into Lamma IV on the port side. The bow of Sea Smooth hit the stern of Lamma IV, rupturing the ship's two watertight compartments and thereby allowing them to quickly fill with water. The ship soon capsized with the rear sinking into the sea. The vessel reportedly went down so quickly that more than 100 passengers were thrown into the water unprotected despite the abundance of life-vests on board. The ferry left the scene after the accident and continued on to Yung Shue Wan pier. The front of Sea Smooth was damaged and its captain was also sent to the local clinic after the accident, along with several passengers, for injuries.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Casualties
A total of 39 people were killed in the accident, all from Lamma IV, 30 of whom were pronounced dead at the scene, while eight others were certified dead upon arrival at hospitals and one died in hospital on 5 October.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Casualties
92 people on both vessels were injured, four of whom sustained severe injures. While the Hongkong Electric company claimed 124 people were on Lamma IV, police suspected that there might have been more on board as company employees were allowed to invite their own friends. As a result, the number of people missing remained unknown.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Rescue efforts
An air-and-sea rescue effort was initiated. The Fire Services Department deployed 10 launches, including a diving support vessel and mobilised 350 officers, including fire and ambulance personnel and more than 60 ambulances (including ambulances from St John Ambulance and Auxiliary Medical Service). The injured were taken to five hospitals around Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government had requested help from the nearby Guangdong province to aid in search-and-rescue, but external resources were not deployed at all as domestic resources were seen as adequate by the rescue forces.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Investigation
Initial speculations on the cause of the accident included speeding and overloading. However, witnesses on Lamma IV claimed that the ship was cruising at a steady speed. Overloading was also ruled out as the vessel had a capacity of 200 passengers. Andy Tsang, the Commissioner of Police, stated that seven crew members of the vessels were arrested the day after the accident, for "endangering people's lives at sea". A commission of inquiry was formed to investigate the cause of the accident.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Investigation
The Commission of Inquiry into the Collision of Vessels near Lamma Island on 1 October 2012 (with Mr Justice Michael Lunn as Chairman and Benjamin Tang as Commissioner) was appointed by the Chief Executive in Council to inquire into the facts and circumstances leading to and surrounding the collision. The Commission of Inquiry submitted its report to the Chief Executive on 19 April 2013. The full report is available on the website of the Commission.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Investigation
The Hong Kong Police crime statistics for 2013 included the 39 killed as part of the city's overall murder rate for the year in the annual Crime in Hong Kong reports.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Reactions, Hongkong Electric
On 2 October, the flags of Cheung Kong Group companies were all flown at half-mast at the Cheung Kong Center, headquarters of Hongkong Electric's parent company. Hongkong Electric confirmed that seven of those who died were staff of the Company. HK Electric announced that families of each of the deceased would receive a HK$200,000 emergency relief. Li Ka Shing, who controls HK Electric, immediately returned to the city the next morning. It was announced that the Li Ka Shing Foundation would set aside a total of HK$30 million for victims and their families that would be in addition to the emergency relief already offered by HKE to the families of the deceased.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Reactions, Hong Kong Government
Three days of mourning were declared by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, starting on 4 October, during which the flag of Hong Kong was flown at half-mast on all government buildings. On 4 October, Leung, along with other government officials, observed three minutes of silence outside the Central Government Offices at 12:00. Schools and other public offices also observed a moment of silence. Condolence points were set up in each of the 18 districts during the mourning period.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Reactions, Hong Kong Government
The government cancelled the 2013 National Day Fireworks as a result of the incident.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Reactions, Others
On 2 October, British Prime Minister David Cameron sent Chief Executive Leung his condolences. Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, also expressed her sadness and sent her condolences through a spokesman.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Controversies
The decision by the captain of Sea Smooth to leave the scene sparked a heated debate, namely whether saving oneself, or risking oneself for the others has a high priority. At first, reports stated that the captain continued on to the pier out of passenger request and out of fear that Sea Smooth herself might sink, but later reports also claimed that some passengers urged the captain to stop. In the few days following the accident, the captain had remained emotionally unstable even after being discharged from the hospital.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Controversies
After he was informed of the accident, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying immediately set out to the scene to oversee the rescue efforts. Some media suggested it was a "political show", and said that his presence might have actually slowed down the rescue.


2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, Controversies
Leung was also criticised for his decision to ask for help from Mainland China through the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, despite the abundance of manpower and resources already in Hong Kong. Many saw this as increased influence and reliance on the Central government, a change from the previous Tsang administration. Also, despite Leung's clarification that no ship from Mainland China had been deployed in the rescue, on 3 October Mainland China's China News Service reported that "95 people had been rescued by the professional Chinese rescue fleet". The news agency later deleted the number rescued, but the report had not been fully withdrawn and the claim remained that Chinese ships had helped in the rescue.


2012 Lampre–ISD season
The 2012 season for Lampre–ISD began in January at the Tour Down Under. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.


2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season
The 2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season was the fourth season for the United Football League franchise.


2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season, Venue
For 2012, the Locomotives opened negotiations with both Sam Boyd Stadium, the team's home for its entire existence to date, and Cashman Field, a smaller baseball venue within the Las Vegas city limits. In the end, the Locos management elected to remain at Sam Boyd for the first two games of the season; the league suspended operations before the other two games could be played.


2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season, Broadcasting
All 2012 Las Vegas Locomotives games (along with all other 2012 UFL games) were broadcast live nationally on CBS Sports Network. Unlike 2010 and 2011, there was no radio or Internet broadcast.


2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season, Personnel
Head coach Jim Fassel returned for his fourth season with the Locomotives, which makes him the longest-tenured coach in UFL history; all three of the other original UFL coaches have since left the league.


2012 Las Vegas Locomotives season, Personnel, Roster
Rookies in italicsRoster updated October 12, 201251 Active, 3 Inactive


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup
The 2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup was held at the Eddy Cortez National Sports Centre in San José, Costa Rica from May 25–27, 2012 and was a qualifier for the 2012 Table Tennis World Cup. A prize pool of US$10,000 was at stake. The event was the second edition of the competition and was organized by the International Table Tennis Federation, the Latin American Table Tennis Union, and the Costa Rican Table Tennis Association. Brazilian  Thiago Monteiro won the men's event; fellow Brazilian Caroline Kumahara won the women's competition.


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup, Seeds
Seeding was based on the ITTF World Ranking lists published on May 1, 2012.


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup, Men's Competition
The twelve competitors were split into four groups of three, playing each groupmate once. The top two in each group advanced to the single-elimination bracket.


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup, Men's Competition
After the favorite and number one seed, Lin Ju, failed to advance beyond the group stage, the event was essentially up for grabs. In the semifinals, Thiago Monteiro defeated Gaston Alto and Liu Song beat Cazuo Matsumoto. Monteiro defeated Liu Song, 4-1, in the final to claim the title and qualify for the Liebherr World Cup. Both Matsumoto and Alto won bronze medals.


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup, Women's Competition
The women's competition was structured in the same way as the men's event.


2012 Latin American Table Tennis Cup, Women's Competition
Carelyn Cordero upset the number one seed in the quarterfinals in a seven-set thriller. After defeating Fabiola Ramos in the semifinals, Cordero fell to Caroline Kumahara in the championship.


2012 Latin Billboard Music Awards
The 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards were held on April 26, 2012 at the BankUnited Center at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.


2012 Latvian Higher League
The 2012 Latvian Higher League was the 21st season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 24 March 2012 and ended on 10 November 2012. FK Ventspils are the defending champions.


2012 Latvian Higher League
The league comprised ten teams, one more than in the previous season.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Teams
The league returned to a ten-team circuit after having been forced to play the 2011 season with only nine teams, following the withdrawal of SK Blāzma a few weeks before the season commenced. As a consequence of the Blāzma withdrawal, no team was directly relegated.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Teams
2011 Latvian First League champions FS METTA/Latvijas Universitāte from Riga were directly promoted. The team, which was founded by the METTA football school and the University of Latvia in 2007, entered the Higher League for the first time in their history.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Teams
JFK Olimps/RFS finished the 2011 season in ninth place and were therefore required to compete in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off against First Division runners-up Spartaks Jūrmala. Spartaks won the play-off 4–1 on aggregate and were therefore promoted to the Higher League. Similar to METTA/LU, they made their debut at the highest level of the Latvian football pyramid. Accordingly, Olimps/RFS were relegated to the First League after five seasons at the top flight.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Teams, Stadiums and locations
Following the promotion of FK Spartaks, the city of Jūrmala should have featured three clubs during the 2012 season, one more than the capital, Riga, but FK Jūrmala-VV moved to Riga, changing their name to Daugava Riga.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Teams, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Latvian Higher League, Broadcasting
Just as last season most of the matches are transmitted live via sportacentrs.com online and sportacentrs TV channel. In June 2012 broadcasting rights were also bought by the English company Bet365. Since 2012 league's homepage futbolavirsliga.lv has been active and since September 2012 this website has been accompanied by InStat Football system, showing information and analysis of each match individually. Since October 2012 Virslīga has also had its own analytical broadcast after each round of matches with football experts discussing about the games and future events connected to Latvian football. Its transmitted via sportacentrs TV.


2012 Latvian Higher League, League table, Relegation play-offs
The 9th-placed sides will face the runners-up of the 2012 Latvian First League in a two-legged play-off, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2013 Higher League competition. The dates and exact sequence of these matches are still to be determined.


2012 Latvian Women's League
The 2012 Latvian Women's League was the ninth edition of the premier women's football championship in Latvia. It was contested by five teams, and it ran from May 1 to November 25, 2012. Liepājas Metalurgs won its second title with a two points advantage over Rīgas FS.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum on the "Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia" was held on 18 February 2012. Proposed amendments included Articles 4, 18, 21, 101 and 104 of the Constitution of Latvia by adding the condition about Russian as the second official language, as well as prescribing two working languages — Latvian and Russian — for self-government institutions. The referendum's question was "Do you support the adoption of the Draft Law "Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia" that provides for the Russian language the status of the second official language? ".


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum
According to the 2011 census, Russian was the language primarily spoken at home by 37.2% of the residents, among them 60.3% in Latgale and 55.8% in Riga. Since 2000, Russian has been regarded as a foreign language according to the Official Language Law.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
In 2010 National Alliance started to collect signatures to force a referendum on whether all publicly financed schools would have to use exclusively Latvian as the language of tuition, managing to gather only 120,433 signatures, which was insufficient for a referendum.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
The ongoing signature gathering, however, prompted the former leader of the Latvian branch of the National Bolshevik Party Vladimir Linderman, the leader of the radical-left Osipov's party Yevgeny Osipov, and the youth movement "United Latvia" to start gathering signatures for a petition of their own on making Russian the state language. On September 9, 2011 NGO "Native Language" submitted the petition to the Central Election Commission signed by 12,516 people.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
From November 1 to November 30, 2011, the Central Election Commission held an official signature gathering, during which 187,378 of the required 154,379 signatures were collected and the proposal was sent to Saeima. On December 22, 2011, Saeima rejected the proposal, forcing a constitutional referendum that was held on February 18, 2012.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
The referendum initiators mentioned possible assimilation of minority children as the main reason to protest. One of the goals of this protest action was also to slow down the ongoing process of National Alliance signature collecting. Those initiating the referendum to make Russian co-official argued: "In such case there is no other defense method than attack. The initiator of hysteria should be shaken strongly to stop hysteria."


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
Legal scholars stated that beside statehood elements, the initiative would have influenced multiple basic human rights and general principles of law protected by the Constitution of Latvia, such as the right to preserve and develop the Latvian language and Latvian ethnic and cultural identity, to participate in the work of the state and of local government, and to hold a position in the civil service; the right to choose one's employment and workplace freely; the right to education; the rights of a child; and the right to equality and non-discrimination, principles of proportionality, legal certainty, and legitimate expectations.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
The referendum organisers did not deny that the main achievement would be to show a large number of Russian language supporters and the final goal would be to change the status of Russian from foreign to some legal (i.e. regional) in the future. Official status for Russian was requested due to the fact that the Constitution and Official Language Law do not have any other definitions for language status other than making a language official. Amendments for granting any other status for Russian (i.e. regional) would have had a higher risk of rejection by the Constitutional Court, thus cancelling the referendum.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Background
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebæk planned to visit Latvia after the referendum.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Proposed constitutional changes
The elected person receives his mandate when during a Saeima sitting he delivers a solemn promise:


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Proposed constitutional changes
"I, undertaking the duties of a member of Saeima, in front of the Latvian people swear (solemnly promise) to be loyal to Latvia, while strengthening its sovereignty and the Latvian language as the only official language of the state, defend Latvia as an independent and democratic state, fulfil my responsibilities fairly and under full consciousness. I promise to abide by the Constitution as well as the legislation of Latvia."


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Proposed constitutional changes
"I, undertaking the duties of a member of Saeima, in front of the Latvian people swear (solemnly promise) to be loyal to Latvia, while strengthening its sovereignty and the Latvian as well as Russian languages as the only official languages of the state, defend Latvia as an independent and democratic state, fulfil my responsibilities fairly and under full consciousness. I promise to abide by the Constitution as well as the legislation of Latvia."


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Proposed constitutional changes
Local governments are elected by the citizens of Latvia and the European Union who reside in Latvia. Each citizen of the European Union, who constantly resides in Latvia, has the rights, in the manner prescribed by law, to participate in the activity of the local governments. The working language of local government is the Latvian language.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Proposed constitutional changes
Local governments are elected by the citizens of Latvia and the European Union, who resides in Latvia. Each citizen of the European Union, who constantly resides in Latvia, has the right, in the manner prescribed by law, to participate in the activity of the local government. The working languages of local governments are Latvian and Russian languages.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Polling stations abroad
A total of 85 polling stations in 41 countries — the greatest number ever — have been open outside Latvia. Besides the stations in all Embassies and many Consulates General and Honorary Consulates of Latvia, polling stations were operating in the Latvian Houses in Australia, in the Daugavas Vanagi House in London, and in the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Churches in the United States. New polling stations were operating in Austria, Chile, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Venezuela, and in the British cities of Boston and Manchester, as well as the island of Guernsey.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Campaign
Leader of Harmony Centre leader and Mayor of Riga Nils Ušakovs publicly declared signing the petition, despite the fact that both Harmony and Ušakovs had previously stated that they do not support it. He released a statement saying that he had been angered by National Alliance voting against the allocation of funds for such a referendum and went on to argue that it is not a move against the Latvian language, but in the name of dignity.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Campaign
After that other deputies, local government representatives and public officials from Harmony Centre began to sign it as well, including MP Nikolai Kabanov who was later issued a written warning by The Saeima Mandate, Ethics and Submissions Committee for violating the deputy's solemn vow (oath), in which Kabanov swore to strengthen the Latvian language as the only official language. Harmony MP Andrejs Klementjevs later refused to formulate his party association's official position, stating that Harmony Centre has distanced itself from the matter, however they will examine the proposal carefully should it reach the parliament.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Campaign
The former presidents of Latvia Guntis Ulmanis, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and Valdis Zatlers, leaders of the Latvian diaspora organizations (head of the World Federation of Free Latvians Jānis Kukainis, chair of the American Latvian Association Juris Mežinskis, chair of the Latvian Association of South America and the Caribbean Daina Gūtmane; chair of the Latvian Congress of Russia Lauma Vlasova, chair of the Latvian Association of Australia and New Zealand Pēteris Strazds and chair of the Latvian National Federation in Canada Andris Ķesteris) and the leading coalition of Unity, Zatlers' Reform Party and the National Alliance all urged voters to participate in the referendum and vote against Russian as the second state language.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Campaign
The president at the time Andris Bērziņš initially advised people to ignore the vote gathering, dismissing it as a provocation, but when it came to a referendum also called voters not to support Russian as the second state language and said he would resign should the referendum succeed. Several notable Latvian Russians, including sculptor Gļebs Panteļejevs, stage director Mihails Gruzdovs, and journalist Marina Kosteņecka, as well as the President of Russian fraternity Fraternitas Arctica Dmitrijs Trofimovs also called for a 'no' vote.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Opinion polls
According to research conducted by the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences in 2004, 51% of respondents supported or rather supported official status for Russian, 44% opposed or rather opposed it. The focus group for this research was all the inhabitants of Latvia, including Latvian non-citizens.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Opinion polls
According to a poll performed by TNS Latvia in January 2012, 59% of citizens would vote 'no', 25% 'yes', 10% would abstain, and 6% had no opinion on the issue. According to a poll performed by Latvijas fakti in January 2012, 62.4% of citizens would vote 'no', 28% 'yes', 12.8% would abstain, and 7% had no opinion on the issue.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Results
Around three-quarters of voters voted against Russian as a second national language, with only the eastern region of Latgale seeing a majority of citizens voting for the change. The referendum had considerably higher voter participation than in previous elections and referendums, with more than 71.1% of registered voters casting ballots.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Results, Controversy
The next day after the referendum Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced that "the outcome of the referendum is far from reflecting the true mood in Latvia", pointing to around 319,000 non-citizens that could not participate in the referendum due to their status. However, if all 290,660 non-citizen members of the Russian community had participated and voted in favour of the motion, the proposal would still have been rejected with 59.15% against and 40.60% in favour, with turnout increasing to 75.68% from 71.11%.


2012 Latvian constitutional referendum, Analysis
Analysts say the turnout, at nearly 70 per cent, indicates the strength of feeling among many ordinary Latvians, who are keen to distance themselves culturally from their former Soviet rulers. The referendum can widen the schism in society and the government will have to undertake serious efforts to consolidate the country's two groups. Though the Russians who spearheaded the referendum admitted they had no chance at winning the plebiscite, they at least hope the approximate 25 per cent of support will force Latvia's centre-right government to begin a dialogue with national minorities. Many fear the disgruntled minority will keep up the pressure by calling for more referendums to change Latvia's constitution for minorities' benefit.


2012 Laurence Olivier Awards
The 2012 Laurence Olivier Awards were held on 15 April 2012 at the Royal Opera House, London.


2012 Laurence Olivier Awards
The 2012 awards were sponsored by MasterCard and was streamed live online for with first time on the Olivier Awards's official website with live BBC Radio 2 coverage from Ken Bruce. The show was presented by Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton for the second year in a row.


2012 Laurence Olivier Awards
Guest presenters included Zach Braff, Tyne Daly, David Suchet, Laurie Metcalf, Hayley Atwell, Jack Davenport, Jim Carter, Lenny Henry, Ronan Keating, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Elaine Paige, Barbara Windsor and Zoë Wanamaker.


2012 Laurence Olivier Awards, Winners and nominees
The nominations were announced on 15 March 2012 in 23 categories.


2012 Laurence Olivier Awards, Productions with multiple nominations and awards
The following 17 productions, including two ballets and two operas, received multiple nominations:


2012 Le Samyn des Dames
The 2012 Le Samyn des Dames was the first running of the women's Le Samyn, a women's bicycle race in Fayt-le-Franc, Belgium. It was held on 29 February 2012 over a distance of 116.4 kilometres (72.3 miles) starting in Frameries and finishing in Dour. It was rated by the UCI as a 1.2 category race. The race was part of the 2012 Lotto Cycling Cup.


2012 League of Ireland Cup
The 2012 League of Ireland Cup, also known as the 2012 EA Sports Cup, is the 39th season of the Irish football knockout competition.


2012 League of Ireland Cup
A total of 22 teams entered the 2012 competition. The 12 League of Ireland Premier Division and 8 League of Ireland First Division clubs were joined by Ulster Senior League champions Fanad United and the Mayo League representative side. For the First and Second Rounds of the competition, all participating clubs were split into 4 regional pools with the further rounds of the competition having an open draw. The 2012 competition commenced with the First Round on 26 March 2012.


2012 League of Ireland Cup, First round
The draw for the First Round took place on 7 March 2012. The First Round games were played on 26 March 2012.


2012 League of Ireland Cup, Second round
The draw for the Second Round took place on 27 March 2012. The Second Round games were played on 9/10 April 2012.


2012 League of Ireland Cup, Quarterfinals
The draw for the Quarter-Finals was made on 7 May 2012 on MNS on RTÉ Two. The quarterfinal games were played on 25/26 June 2012.


2012 League of Ireland Cup, Semi finals
The draw for the semi finals was made on MNS on 9 July 2012.


2012 League of Ireland Cup, Final
The final will be played on Saturday, 22 September 2012 in Tallaght Stadium, Dublin.


2012 League of Ireland Cup Final
The 2012 League of Ireland Cup Final also known as the 2012 EA Sports Cup Final was the final match of the 2012 League of Ireland Cup, the 39th season of the League of Ireland Cup, a football competition for the 27 teams from the Premier Division, First Division, A Championship and the Ulster Senior League.


2012 League of Ireland Cup Final
The final was played on Saturday, 22 September 2012 in Tallaght Stadium, Dublin. The match was televised live by Setanta Sports. If the scores were level after 90 minutes of play, then extra-time of 30 minutes duration would have been played, followed by a penalty shoot-out, if required to determine the winners of the cup.


2012 League of Ireland First Division
The 2012 League of Ireland First Division season was the 28th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 8 teams and Limerick won the title.


2012 League of Ireland First Division, Overview
Due to the expansion of the Premier Division, coupled with the withdrawal of Galway United during the off-season, the 2012 First Division  consisted of just eight teams. Applications to join the Division from Cobh Ramblers and Tralee Dynamos, both of whom had played in the 2011 A Championship, were rejected. Each team played every other team four times, totalling twenty eight games.


2012 League of Ireland First Division, Promotion/Relegation play-off
The second and third placed First Division teams, Waterford United and Longford Town, played off to decide who would play Dundalk,the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division. The winner of this play off would play in the 2013 Premier Division.


2012 League of Ireland First Division, Promotion/Relegation play-off
Dundalk win 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division. Waterford United appealed the result of the playoff, claiming Michael Rafter was ineligible as Dundalk had incorrectly registered him when they signed him earlier that season. However the appeal was unsuccessful.


2012 League of Ireland Premier Division
The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finished as runners-up.


2012 League of Ireland Premier Division, Overview
There was a mid-season break coinciding with the Republic of Ireland national football team's UEFA Euro 2012 finals campaign. On 18 June 2012, Monaghan United announced their withdrawal from the league. Their record was subsequently expunged. The Premier Division title was won by Sligo Rovers, their first title in thirty five years.


2012 League of Ireland Premier Division, Promotion/Relegation play-off
Dundalk, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division, played Waterford United, the winner of the First Division play-off. The winner of this play off would play in the 2013 Premier Division.


2012 League of Ireland Premier Division, Promotion/Relegation play-off
Dundalk win 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division. Waterford United appealed the result of the playoff, claiming Michael Rafter was ineligible as Dundalk had incorrectly registered him when they signed him earlier that season. However the appeal was unsuccessful.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak
The 2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak was a significant and deadly tornado outbreak on February 28 and February 29, 2012. It caused severe damage in several regions, especially the Great Plains and Ohio Valley regions. It also resulted in several tornadoes in the Central Plains, a rarity for the time of year. The most destructive and deadly tornado was a violent early-morning EF4 that hit Harrisburg, Illinois, killing 8 people. In total, 15 people died in the outbreak. Just two days later, a larger and deadlier outbreak devastated the Ohio Valley and Southern United States.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Meteorological synopsis
A significant and deadly tornado outbreak began in the Great Plains on February 28, as supercell thunderstorms developed and tornadoes touched down across the region. An EF2 tornado struck the small town of Harveyville, Kansas during the late evening hours, killing one person and injuring 12 others. The town's only church was completely destroyed, several homes received moderate to severe damage, and every building in the small community received a form of damage. As the storms moved into Missouri later that night and into the early morning hours of February 29, numerous strong tornadoes touched down.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Meteorological synopsis
An EF2 devastated a mobile home park  and killed one person near Buffalo, while an EF3 caused another fatality and destroyed homes near Asherville. By 3:00 am CST on February 29, Branson, Missouri was reporting injuries and severe damage to the town from an EF2 tornado, with homes destroyed and several hotels, businesses, and theaters sustaining severe damage. Three other deaths occurred in southern Missouri.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Meteorological synopsis
As the storms moved into Illinois in the pre-dawn hours, they merged into an intense squall line with embedded semi-discrete supercell thunderstorms. A violent EF4 tornado touched down and ripped through the city of Harrisburg, destroying entire neighborhoods, flattening businesses, and killing 8 people before causing additional destruction in the neighboring town of Ridgway. After sunrise, additional supercells developed and produced numerous tornadoes across Kentucky and Tennessee. Two tornadoes, rated EF1 and EF2, caused significant damage in Greenville, Kentucky. The town of Hodgenville, Kentucky also sustained heavy damage from two separate EF2 tornadoes. An EF1 tornado caused a fatality near Smithville, Tennessee, and an EF2 destroyed homes and killed two more people near Crossville before the outbreak came to an end. A total of 42 tornadoes were confirmed, and 15 people were killed.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
This violent early morning tornado produced devastating damage and fatalities in Harrisburg, Illinois, and caused additional severe damage in the neighboring town of Ridgway shortly before sunrise on February 29, 2012. The Harrisburg/Ridgway tornado was spawned by a semi-discrete supercell thunderstorm embedded within a larger squall line of storms that was racing through southern Illinois at the time. Touching down to the southwest of Carrier Mills at 4:51 a.m. The tornado initially snapped tree limbs at EF0 intensity as it moved to the northeast and clipped the northern edge of town.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
A church in this area had its steeple bent over and one of its exterior walls bowed out. EF0 damage continued to the north of Ledford, with a home sustaining minor damage in that area. Past Ledford, the tornado strengthened to EF1 intensity as it uprooted large trees and moved through the Liberty community at the southwest edge of Harrisburg, where it caused minor damage to Harrisburg Middle School.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
The tornado continued to intensify as it entered the southwestern edge of the city at 4:56 a.m., tearing through the Dorrisville neighborhood at EF2 strength, where many homes sustained significant damage and numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. A few small homes were destroyed, and a farm service business in this area sustained heavy damage.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
The tornado then rapidly intensified into a violent EF4 as it crossed South Commercial Street, where some businesses were completely leveled with only piles of rubble left behind. Several other businesses were damaged, and the large Christ Lutheran Church was flattened with debris wind-rowed long distances through a nearby field. A paper check from the church was later found in the yard of a residence 45 miles away. Continuing at EF4 strength, the tornado proceeded to level a large strip mall just to the south of the Walmart Supercenter, with large amounts of debris strewn into a nearby retention pond.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
EF4 damage continued as the tornado entered the Gaskins City neighborhood, where devastating damage occurred. Numerous homes in this area were badly damaged or destroyed, several of which were leveled or swept from their foundations. Seven people were confirmed dead in this area, with most of the fatalities occurring at a small apartment complex along Brady Street, where small one-story apartment buildings were swept away and destroyed. On June 3 another victim died in the hospital from their injuries, raising the death toll to 8.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
Vehicles were tossed and destroyed, many trees and power lines were downed, and metal fence posts were bent to the ground in this area as well. Harrisburg Medical Center also sustained major damage as the tornado exited Harrisburg and continued off to the northeast. Peak winds in Harrisburg were estimated to have been about 180 mph, and the width of the tornado path was 275 yards (251 m). About 200 homes and about 25 businesses within the city were destroyed or severely damaged, with many other structures being damaged to a lesser degree.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
In addition to the 8 fatalities, 95 other people were injured, some critically. The following night, a mandatory curfew was in place in the affected areas; 5PM Wednesday afternoon through 7AM Thursday morning. Counting damage and death toll, it was reported to be the worst tornado related disaster in the United States since the Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011. Harrisburg Unit 3 schools were closed until 5 March 2012 and upon reopening offered trauma counseling to its students.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
Westboro Baptist Church commented on the event, which prompted locals to create a "shield of support" around the funeral processions with thousands attending, standing in large groups around the city. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and IEMA began doing preliminary damage assessments on 5 March 2012 to determine the need for public assistance from FEMA. The tornado damage in Harrisburg dominated national airwaves for several days with both Anderson Cooper, and Diane Sawyer doing special reports. Both The New York Times and Chicago Tribune wrote articles on the resilient history and nature of Harrisburg in the wake of the tornado and floods that have hit the city since its founding in 1889.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
Just northeast of Harrisburg, EF3 tree damage was observed as the tornado crossed Illinois Route 13, with hardwood trees denuded and debarked in this area. A house was destroyed at high-end EF2 intensity near this location as well, sustaining loss of its roof and exterior walls. The tornado continued through very sparsely populated areas of Saline County, traversing open farm fields and debarking several additional hardwood trees at EF3 strength.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
As the tornado passed to the south of Eldorado, trees were uprooted and another house had significant roof and exterior wall loss, with the damage at that location rated high-end EF2. As the tornado approached the Gallatin County line, a house sustained EF3 damage and was left with only interior rooms standing. The tornado then crossed into Gallatin County, snapping trees and inflicting high-end EF2 damage to another home. The tornado continued northeastward before striking the town of Ridgway, where severe damage occurred.


2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak, Confirmed tornadoes, Harrisburg–Ridgway, Illinois
In Ridgway, the tornado damaged about 140 homes and businesses, with considerable damage to some structures in the downtown area. Numerous cars were tossed around, mainly on the east side of town. A factory building was severely damaged, many large trees were snapped and uprooted, power lines were downed, and about a half dozen grain bins were completely destroyed. Most of the damage in Ridgway was within the EF2 range, though a small pocket of low-end EF4 damage occurred where large and well-built brick church was almost entirely leveled with only part of the front wall left standing. No fatalities occurred in Ridgway, though 13 people were injured, one critically. Past Ridgway, the tornado snapped and uprooted trees at EF1 to EF2 strength before dissipating east-northeast of town. The Harrisburg/Ridgway tornado had a total path length of 26.5 miles and was on the ground for 22 minutes.


2012 Lebanese Elite Cup
The 2012 Lebanese Elite Cup is the 15th edition of this football tournament in Lebanon. The competition started on 4 August. This tournament includes the six best teams from the 2011–12 Lebanese Premier League season.


2012 Leeds City Council election
The 2012 Leeds City Council election took place on Thursday 3 May 2012 to elect members to Leeds City Council in England. It was held on the same day as other local elections across the UK.


2012 Leeds City Council election
As per the election cycle, one third of the council's seats were up for election. The councillors subsequently elected replaced those elected when their individual seats were previously contested in 2008.


2012 Leeds City Council election
Since taking majority control of the council in 2011, the Labour council administration increased their total number of councillors from 55 to 63. They won eight more seats at the election, including six from the Liberal Democrats.


2012 Leeds City Council election, Election result
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:


2012 Leeds Rhinos season
Leeds Rhinos will play in the 2012 Super League season, alongside Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Hull K.R, London Broncos, Salford City Reds, St. Helens, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Warrington Wolves. Widnes Vikings, Wigan Warriors


2012 Leeds Rhinos season, Season review, December 2011
1. Lee Smith2. Jimmy Watson3. Kallum Watkins4. Zak Hardaker5. Jamel Chisholm6. Stevie Ward7. Rob Burrow8. Darrell Griffin9. Paul McShane10. Ian Kirke11. Jay Pitts12. Weller Hauraki13. Chris Clarkson14. Liam Hood15. Richard Moore16. Brad Singleton17. Luke Briscoe


2012 Leeds Rhinos season, Season review, February
1 Brent Webb, 3 Kallum Watkins, 4 Zak Hardaker, 5 Ryan Hall, 6 Danny McGuire, 7 Rob Burrow, 8 Kylie Leuluai, 9 Paul McShane, 10 Jamie Peacock, 11 Jamie Jones Buchanan, 12 Carl Ablett, 13 Kevin Sinfield (c), 14 Lee Smith, 15 Brett Delaney, 16 Ryan Bailey, 18 Chris Clarkson, 19 Weller Hauraki, 20 Darrell Griffin, 21 Richard Moore


2012 Leeds Rhinos season, Games, Pre season, January
Subs: 14 Danny Bravo, 15 Matthew Syron, 16 Matthew Nicholson, 17 Kyle Quinlan, 18 Jay Leary


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics took place on June 9–10, 2012. The event was held at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Ground in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Detailed reports were published.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics
A total of 45 events were contested, 22 by boys and 23 by girls.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Medal summary
Complete results can be found on the British Virgin Islands Athletics Association webpage.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Medal summary, Girls (U-20)
†: Open event for both U20 and U17 athletes. ‡: Result obtained during heptathlon. J: Junior implements. Y: Youth implements.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Medal summary, Girls (U-17)
* : In discus throw event, Jasmine Dalmida from the  British Virgin Islands was 3rd in 24.54m competing as a guest.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Medal table (unofficial)
This is the unofficial medal count without events marked as exhibition.


2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 87 athletes from 7 countries participated. The announced athletes from  Dominica did not show.


2012 Legends Tour
The 2012 Legends Tour was a series of professional golf tour events for women aged 45 and older sanctioned by the Legends Tour. Based in the United States, it is an offshoot of the main U.S.-based women's tour, the LPGA Tour. The tour was founded in 2001, and is intended to allow women to prolong their competitive golf careers on the model of the successful Champions Tour for men.


2012 Legends Tour, Schedule and results
The Legends Tour introduced four new events in 2012, including a first-time visit for the LPGA to the state of Maine. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Legends Tour events she had won up to and including that tournament.


2012 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
The 2012 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team represented Lehigh University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Andy Coen and played their home games at Goodman Stadium. They are a member of the Patriot League. They finished the season 10–1, 5–1 in Patriot League play to finish in second place.


2012 Lehigh Valley Steelhawks season
The 2012 Lehigh Valley Steelhawks season was the second season as a professional indoor football franchise and their second in the Indoor Football League (IFL). One of 16 teams competing in the IFL for the 2012 season, the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks were members of the United Conference.


2012 Lehigh Valley Steelhawks season
The team played their home games under head coach Chris Thompson at the Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Steelhawks earned a 6-8 record, placing 4th in the United Conference, qualifying for the 4th and final playoff spot. They were defeated in the United Conference Semifinals, 21-79 by the Sioux Falls Storm.


2012 Leiknir R. season
The 2012 season was the club's 39th year since its establishment and its 7th consecutive season in the 1st division. The team was predicted to finish in 4th place before the season; after a difficult season the team ended up in 10th place, narrowly avoiding relegation by a win in the last round.


2012 Leiknir R. season
Willum Þór Þórsson was appointed manager at the start of the season, but his association with the club would be broken off in July after a disappointing season. Gunnar Einarsson former assistant manager was appointed interim manager until the end of the season along with Davíð Snorri Jónasson as his assistant.


2012 Leiknir R. season, Squad, First team squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Leiknir R. season, Pre-season
Leiknir started the pre-season with a couple of impressive results in Reykjavik Cup against rather strong teams. In their first match Leiknir defeated Víkingur R. 2–1. Leiknir followed that win by defeating their rivals ÍR 3–0. Next game they lost 6–3 to KR in an exciting match. Their last match against Fram finished 1–1 leaving Leiknir in 3rd place in their group, level on points with KR but with a weaker goal difference and therefore not qualifying from the group. Fram went on to win the cup. Leiknir finished 5th in their group in the League Cup.


2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship
The 2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship was that year's installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship held under the auspices of the Leinster GAA. It was won by Dublin who defeated Meath in the final. The winning Dublin team received the Delaney Cup, and automatically advanced to the quarter-final stage of the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. They limply exited in the semi-final after defeat to All-Ireland final losers Mayo.


2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship
Meath entered the All-Ireland Qualifiers but lost their next game, to Laois.


2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final
The 2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final was the final game of the 2012 Leinster Senior Football Championship which saw Dublin claim their seventh title in eight years against rivals Meath.


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final
The 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, the deciding game of the 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, was a hurling match played on 8 July 2012 at Croke Park, Dublin. Contested by Galway and Kilkenny, most experts gave the former little chance against the latter.


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Pre-match
Galway were 11/2 outsiders going into this game. On the day of the game RTÉ delivered a verdict favouring Kilkenny, saying "Kilkenny's vice-like grip on the Leinster title is set to remain as tight as ever, unless Galway can produce something extraordinary at Croke Park today".


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Match summary
Galway secured a historic first ever Leinster title, after unexpectedly defeating the 2011 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions, Kilkenny. In doing so they held Kilkenny scoreless for the first twenty minutes, had 1-6 to 0-0 lead after 18 minutes, and led at half-time by 2-12 to 0-4, the full-time score of was 2-21 to 2-11. The result sent the Bob O'Keeffe Cup across the Shannon for the first time in the GAA's 128-year history.


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Post-match
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody said afterwards that his team were "wiped out" by Galway. The Irish Examiner reported on "a historic day in Croke Park [...] a day that may also go down in history for another reason, however, the day an empire began to crumble". Martin Breheny, writing in the Irish Independent, called it "one of the most remarkable shut-outs of modern-day hurling" and reported that Galway had moved to the top of the selection of teams to have beaten the Cats "after subjecting Kilkenny to a systematic beating which nobody thought remotely possible".


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Post-match
The teams would meet again in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final to decide the destination of the Liam MacCarthy Cup, with Kilkeeny winning that game after a replay.


2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Sale of medal
A 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship winners' medal was later sold on eBay for €570.


2012 Lenoir–Rhyne Bears football team
The 2012 Lenoir–Rhyne Bears football team represented Lenoir–Rhyne University in the 2012 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by second-year head coach Mike Houston and played their home games at Moretz Stadium. They were a member of the South Atlantic Conference.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301
The 2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 15, 2012 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, United States. Contested over 301 laps, it was the nineteenth race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports took his second win of the season, while Denny Hamlin finished second and Clint Bowyer finished third.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Background
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and Darlington Raceway as well as Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. The standard track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long. The track's turns are banked from two to seven degrees, while the front stretch, the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at one degree.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Background
Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 676 points, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. stood in second with 651. Greg Biffle was third in the Drivers' Championship with 632, fourteen points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and forty ahead of Tony Stewart in fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick, with 586, was two points ahead of Denny Hamlin, as Martin Truex, Jr. with 584 points, was eleven ahead of Brad Keselowski and twelve in front of Clint Bowyer. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 126 points, twenty-two points ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 90 points, was fourteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Ryan Newman is the defending race winner after winning the event in 2011.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Background
Shortly before the 2012 Coke Zero 400, held one week earlier, NASCAR announced that A. J. Allmendinger failed a random drug test held on June 29, 2012, and that he was suspended temporarily, depending on the result of his second test. Afterward, Penske Racing announced that Sam Hornish, Jr., who replaced him in the Coke Zero 400, would also replace him for a second consecutive week.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, July 13, and two on Saturday, July 14. The first session lasted 90 minutes, and the second was 55 minutes. The third and final session was 60 minutes. Kyle Busch was quickest with a time of 28.555 seconds in the first session, less than one tenth of a second faster than Biffle. Kurt Busch was just off Biffle's pace, followed by Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, and Truex, Jr.. Brian Vickers was seventh, still within two tenths of a second of Kyle Busch's time.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Practice and qualifying
Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Kyle Busch clinched the ninth pole position of his career, with a time of 28.548 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kahne. Hamlin qualified third, Truex, Jr. took fourth, and Bowyer started fifth. Newman, Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt, Jr. and Stewart rounded out the top ten. The driver that failed to qualify for the race was Mike Bliss. Once the qualifying session concluded, Kyle Busch expressed his happiness with qualifying: "Excellent lap, just tried to hit the same marks in practice. Haven't found the magic way to get around the Magic Mile but today we did."


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Practice and qualifying
In the second practice session, Hamlin was quickest with a time of 28.969 seconds. Gordon, with a time of 28.993, was second-quickest, ahead of Truex, Jr., Aric Almirola, and Bowyer. Kahne, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Vickers, and Jeff Burton completed the first ten positions. Hamlin continued to be quickest through the third practice session with a time of 28.990, 0.009 seconds faster than his fastest lap during the second session. Kyle Busch was second-quickest in the session, while Keselowski was scored third. Bowyer followed in the fourth position ahead of Johnson, Vickers and Truex, Jr. Kahne, Logano and Carl Edwards rounded out the first ten positions in eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.


2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Report, Race
The race, the nineteenth in the season, began with Kyle Busch on the Pole and Kasey Kahne starting second, not much happened here but three cautions, two for debris and one for David Reutimann's blown engine, Kyle Busch, the races polesitter had a speeding penalty which would cause him to finish 16th, Kasey Kahne won the race on lap 301 of a scheduled 301.


2012 Lermontov Cup
The 2012 Lermontov Cup was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the first edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Lermontov, Russia between 24 and 30 September 2012.


2012 Lermontov Cup, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Lermontov Cup – Doubles
Konstantin Kravchuk and Denys Molchanov won the title, defeating Andrey Golubev and Yuri Schukin 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Lermontov Cup – Singles
Andrey Kuznetsov won the title, defeating Farrukh Dustov 6–7(7–9), 6–2, 6–2 in the final.


2012 Lesotho general election
General elections were  held in Lesotho on 26 May 2012. The incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's newly formed Democratic Congress won a majority of single-member seats. He also won his seat by the second-largest margin of victory. However, they only had a plurality in the overall tally and coalition talks are taking place.


2012 Lesotho general election, Background
As a result of the impact of the Arab Spring in 2011, protests occurred against the government in regard to unemployment, poverty and low salaries. The protests eventually had the support of taxi drivers, unions, students and opposition political parties. They also demanded to meet Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, who had at times refused to do so.


2012 Lesotho general election, Background
Following a dispute over the allocation of the proportional seats in the 2007 elections, the electoral system was amended, with the National Assembly Elections Order 1992 repealed and replaced by the National Assembly Elections Act 2011. The previous system of casting separate votes for a constituency candidate and a national party list was replaced by voters casting a single vote for a party, which was counted for both the constituency candidate and the national party list.


2012 Lesotho general election, Parties and campaign
Before the election, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy suffered a split because of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's refusal to cede power. He then founded a new party called the Ntsu Democratic Congress, in reference to the founder of the LCD Ntsu Mokhehle. The LCD's secretary-general Mothetjoa Metsing then moved to lead the LCD.


2012 Lesotho general election, Parties and campaign
Tom Thabane leads another faction that broke away in 2006, the All Basotho Convention, which is expected to benefit from the infighting of the other two parties. Voters' primary demands were reportedly job creation and an improvement in "basic services." The LCD's Metsing said that he would not take part in a national unity government. In like measure ABC ruled out working with LCD.


2012 Lesotho general election, Opinion polls
Most polls predicted a plurality for the Democratic Congress. One tribal chief, Mohato Bereng, said that he would vote for change in supporting the Lesotho Congress for Democracy. Incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili had an approval of rating of 39% a month before the election. Two days before the election, Mosisili said that DC would get a simple majority.


2012 Lesotho general election, Conduct
Former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, who headed the Commonwealth of Nations' electoral observer team, said that despite a history of coup d'etats he was assured by the army and police that there would be no interference. There were also electoral monitoring teams from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community.


2012 Lesotho general election, Results
Voting centres were opened from 7:00 at 17:00. Vote counting started at the vote centres in Maseru before they closed. The official results were expected the day after the vote due to the remoteness of some communities. Maliako Ralejoe of the Independent Electoral Commission said at the end of the day that: "Currently most of the urban areas have been counted, which is a good indicator. We have had challenges with the rural areas as some areas are still counting, but Maseru is complete. We estimate that [on 29 May] we will be able to announce the final verdict." On 27 May, the IEC suspended the electoral count because of "serious logistical problems." This caused tension in Maseru and opposition parties led by ABC pressured the IEC to release the result.


2012 Lesotho general election, Results, List of elected MPs
* Largest margin of victory by just over 92.9% of votes. * *Won by 33 votes over ABC's Ramoshebi Maboee Moletsane (39 ballots were "rejected"). * **Won by 39 votes over DC's Mokhele Stephen Moletsane (19 ballots were "rejected"). * ***Won by 94 voted over ABC's Tsoinyana Samuel Rapapa (161 ballots were "rejected")*****Smallest margin of victory by 14 votes over LCD's Doreen Chaoana-Mapetsa (47 ballots were "rejected")#District capital##District and national capital


2012 Lesotho general election, Results, Reactions
Ramahoana Matlosa, who lost his bid to become an MP from Maseru District, sad that the DC failed to attract the youth vote. "Of course we knew the ABC would be strong in urban areas. But if you add our numbers to the LCDs, we would have beaten them. It's just that the ABC had an advantage because their number stayed the same and we split." The AU and SADC monitoring teams said of the election that "we are delighted that the voting and counting took place in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility."


2012 Lesotho general election, Results, Reactions
Electoral observers said the election was largely free and fair. The Commonwealth of Nations' Bakili Muluzi said that "we chose democracy in Africa. And we should allow democracy to prevail.


2012 Lesotho general election, Government formation
An unnamed senior party member of DC said that they had begun coalition talks with ABC, but would also look to open talks with LCD if those failed. He also said that the party could try to lure in individual MPs from the other parties if all options failed, while adding that "we are confident that we will lead the new government. We are also not political buffoons not to know that we have to start serious engagements with any coalition partners immediately."


2012 Lesotho general election, Government formation
DC upped their attempts to build a coalition with LCD upon realising they would not get a majority after proportional seats were allocated. Confidantes to ABC's Thabane said that he was confident of winning the seats necessary to head a coalition government with the other parties, who could possibly get a share of the proportionally allocated seats. An unnamed party member said that "we are in serious discussions with the LCD but most will depend on the final tally of the seats. The LCD is our first preference for any coalition as we have all been in the opposition," but that this was subject to the proportional seats being allocated "properly."


2012 Lesotho general election, Government formation
On 30 May, ABC's Thabane told the BBC that he had formed a coalition to give him a majority in parliament. His coalition included the LCD, Basotho National Party, Popular Front for Democracy and the Marematlou Freedom Party. He also said that the government's priorities would be "poverty, lack of jobs, lack of school opportunities, absence of schools at the right places, lack of proper infrastructure, particularly health services. We have gone way below what we were a few years ago, and that's inexplicable. We put power in the hands of the wrong people and we are taking it away from them."


2012 Lesotho general election, Government formation
Mosisili resigned on 31 May and would be the Leader of the Opposition. Following this Lincoln Ralechate Mokose, the secretary general of DC, said the party would seek coalition partners and that "we will either succeed or fail. [ If the party fails] our stand is to concede and work in parliament as opposition." ABC's secretary-general, Thabiso Litšiba, said it could be a week before the new parliament meets and officially chooses the new Prime Minister.


2012 Lesotho general election, Analysis
Prior to the vote, Hoolo 'Nyane, the director of the Transformation Resource Centre, said that the lack of a governing coalition "would be a very disturbing scenario. [ A repeat of the 1998 stand-off and violence which led to the death of 58 locals and eight South African soldiers, as well as large damages in Maseru were] not completely unlikely." He added that "the entire young and urban vote is in revolt against Mosisili."


2012 Lesotho general election, Analysis
The coordinator of development for Peace Education, which monitored the election, Sofonea Shale, said that "maybe the politics of arrogance have come to an end, and we'd be turning a new page based on politics of negotiation. A coalition government is highly likely, which is why I'm saying it's time for a new era. A coalition needs parties to negotiate."


2012 Lesotho general election, Analysis
On 29 May, the Lesotho Times reported that the LCD were likely to be "heavily compensated" by the proportionally allotted seats due to finishing second in many constituencies. Most DC votes were in rural areas, while politicians and observers said that an ABC-LCD coalition was likely.


2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger
The 2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 19th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Binghamton, United States between 16 and 22 July 2012.


2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry from the qualifying draw as a lucky loser:


2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger – Doubles
Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Dudi Sela and Harel Srugo won the final against Adrien Bossel and Michael McClune 6–2, 3–6, [10].


2012 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger – Singles
Paul Capdeville was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Michael Yani won the final 6–4, 7–6(13–11) against Fritz Wolmarans.


2012 Liaoning Whowin F.C. season
The 2012 Liaoning Whowin F.C. season is Liaoning's 3rd consecutive season in the Chinese Super League. Liaoning will also be competing in the Chinese FA Cup.


2012 Libertarian National Convention
The 2012 Libertarian National Convention, in which delegates of the Libertarian Party (LP) chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2012 general election, was held May 2–6, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino. Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson won the presidential nomination on the first ballot. Retired California state court judge Jim Gray won the vice presidential nomination, also on the first ballot. The convention also chose to replace most of the Libertarian National Committee party officers and members-at-large.


2012 Libertarian National Convention
Several non-binding advisory primaries were held ahead of the convention as part of the 2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries.


2012 Libertarian National Convention, Host selection
This was the first presidential nominating convention ever held in the Las Vegas Valley. Other cities that bid to host the convention included Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, California.


2012 Libertarian National Convention, Candidates debate
In February 2012, Gary Johnson, Lee Wrights, Bill Still, Carl Person, and Leroy Saunders participated in a debate held by the Libertarian Party of Florida and moderated by LPUSA Chair Mark Hinkle. The debate participants were selected by convention delegates in a secret ballot, in which a candidate needed to score 10 percent of the vote or higher to be allowed to take part. Libertarian candidates in the debate called for ending government interference in personal, family and business decisions; much lower government spending; deregulation; lower taxes; a currency free of government manipulation; free trade; and a peaceful, non-interventionist foreign policy.


2012 Libertarian National Convention, Schedule
The convention covered five days over May 2–6. The business of deciding the national platform and candidates formally began on May 3, and a second candidate debate was held on May 4. On May 5, the party nominated Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate and Jim Gray as vice presidential candidate. On May 6, elections for the Libertarian National Committee concluded.


2012 Libertarian National Convention, Schedule
Candidates for the presidential nomination were required to gather "tokens" from delegates. 53 tokens were required to participate in debates, while 30 were needed to be listed on the ballot.


2012 Libertarian National Convention, Libertarian National Committee elections
The 2012 Libertarian National Convention saw a two-day election of officers and members-at-large of the Libertarian National Committee officers leading to the defeat of most of the incumbents who were seen as being part of a "top-down faction". The voting for chair saw the first instance where "None of the Above", which was listed as a choice on the party ballot, received more votes than any of the candidates for chair. After a new list of individuals was nominated, Geoff Neale was elected chair. R. Lee Wrights was elected Vice Chair, Ruth Bennett Secretary, and Tim Hagan Treasurer. Elected as national committee members-at-large were Bill Redpath, Michael Cloud, Arvin Vohra, and Wayne Allyn Root.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries
The 2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries allowed voters to indicate non-binding preferences for the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate. These differed from the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses in that they did not appoint delegates to represent a candidate at the party's convention to select the party's nominee for the United States presidential election. The party's nominee for the 2012 presidential election was chosen directly by registered delegates at the 2012 Libertarian National Convention, which ran from May 2 to 6, 2012. The delegates nominated former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson for President and former judge Jim Gray for Vice President.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries
Four primaries were held. A total of 22,346 votes were cast in these primaries.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries, Primaries and caucuses, Missouri primary
In the Missouri primary on February 7, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Republican and Democratic primaries.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries, Primaries and caucuses, North Carolina primary
In the North Carolina primary on May 8, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Republican and Democratic primaries.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries, Primaries and caucuses, Nebraska primary
In the Nebraska primary on May 15, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Democratic and Republican primaries.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries, Primaries and caucuses, California primary
In the California primary on June 5,  the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside those for the Republicans, Democrats, the Green Party, the American Independent Party and the Peace and Freedom Party.


2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries, Primaries and caucuses, California primary
This non-binding primary took place after the 2012 Libertarian National Convention.


2012 Liberty Bowl
The 2012 Liberty Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game held on December 31, 2012, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The 54th edition of the Liberty Bowl began at 2:30 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It featured the Iowa State Cyclones from the Big 12 Conference against the Conference USA champion Tulsa Golden Hurricane. It was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. With sponsorship from AutoZone, the game was officially the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.


2012 Liberty Bowl
The Golden Hurricane advanced to the game by virtue of winning the 2012 Conference USA Football Championship Game, while the Cyclones were also bowl-eligible due to their 6–6 regular-season record. The bowl was a rematch, as the two teams had met on September 1 at the Cyclones' home of Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa; Iowa State won that game, 38–23.


2012 Liberty Bowl
The pre-game buildup was primarily focused on the rematch. A slight plurality of experts picked Tulsa over Iowa State, but most predicted the game to be very close. Tulsa was considered a strong running team with a solid defense, while Iowa State was balanced offensively and struggled at times on defense. This was the only rematch of the 2012-13 college bowl season.


2012 Liberty Bowl
Tulsa won the game by a score of 31–17, led by Trey Watts' 25 rush, 149 yard effort along with a three-touchdown effort by Alex Singleton. Iowa State lost their quarterback, Sam Richardson, due to a "flu bug" in the fourth quarter. After Iowa State took a 17–7 lead, Tulsa scored 24 unanswered points to win 31–17.


2012 Liberty Bowl, Teams
On November 30, Louisiana Tech was invited to play in the Independence Bowl but asked for more time as they were in negotiations with the Liberty Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl. Louisiana Tech athletic director Bruce Van De Velde and WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd both claimed that on December 1, the Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart guaranteed the Bulldogs a bowl invite. After the Independence Bowl's deadline for Louisiana Tech to accept their invitation passed, the Independence Bowl selected the MAC's Ohio (8–4) instead.