September 12, 2008 (Friday)
- Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501: Fifty years after the airliner vanished over Lake Michigan, it is claimed that human remains washed ashore and were buried without the relatives' knowledge in an unmarked mass grave.(Detroit Free Press)
- 2008 unrest in Bolivia
- Bolivia declares martial law in the department of Pando following days of clashes between supporters of the national and local governments. (AFP) (BBC Mundo)
- Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tells the incoming U.S. ambassador not to present his credentials in a show of solidarity with Bolivia and Venezuela. (Reuters)
- The collapse of the United Kingdom's third largest tour operator XL Leisure Group, leaves over 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad. (BBC)
- Twenty Four people die in Chatsworth in Los Angeles, California following a collision between a Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific freight train. At least 135 people were also injured in the accident. (Los Angeles Times) (San Francisco Chronicle)
- A car bomb in the mainly Shiite town of Dujail in Iraq kills at least 32 people and injures another 43. (AP via CBS News)
- The Thai People's Power Party agrees not to renominate ousted Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej for the position following objections from the other members of the coalition. (AP via ABC News America)
- The Pakistan Army claims that at least 30 militants and 2 soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Bajaur region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. (AP via Google News)
- The Malaysian government arrests the editor and prominent blogger activist Raja Petra Kamarudin of the Malaysia Today website, a journalist from Sin Chew Jit Poh and opposition politician Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act. (BBC) (Malaysiakini) (TheStar Online)
- The United States-led coalition claims to kill at least 10 militants in fighting in Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
- The Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark calls an election for November 8. (Melbourne Herald Sun)
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is said by Chinese authorities to be suffering irregular convulsions following a stroke which kept him from attending the country's 60th anniversary celebration. Chinese authorities believe his long-term ability to govern will be impeded. (AFP via Google News)
- The Constitutional Court of Spain rules that the Government of the Basque Country could not call a planned referendum on working towards self-determination as only the Government of Spain could call such a vote; the Basque Government said it would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. (IHT)