UK, 
US, 
Australia & 
IrelandAt A Glance
3 January 2012 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 3 January 2012 was a Tuesday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “We Found Love” by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris.
- Top Film of 2012
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2012 was The Avengers.
- Bestselling Novel of 2012
- “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 2012.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “NCIS” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 2012–13 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 3 January is Capricorn.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 3 January 2012 fell in the Year of the Rabbit.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for January is Garnet.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 3 January 2012 was Waxing Gibbous.
On this day: 3 January
- 2002 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
- 2009 The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- 2018 For the first time in history, all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm.
- 2019 Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
- 2023 Singapore's Jurong Bird Park permanently closes.
Famous people born on January 3
- Florence Pugh, English actress (born 1996)
- Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1956)
- Michael Schumacher, German racing driver (born 1969)
- J. R. R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (1892–1973)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Events of 2012 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '2012 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- March 2 – Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is released in theaters.
- March 20 – John Carter records one of the biggest losses in cinema history, forcing Disney to take a $200 million writedown and chairman Rich Ross to resign.
- May 4 – The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, is released by Marvel Studios as the sixth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the final film in its "Phase One" slate.
Life in the US in 2012
President
Barack Obama
Gas (per gallon)
$3.68
Loaf of Bread
$1.84
Average House
$256,900
Weekly Wage
$757
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