Palestinian infiltrator and an Israeli soldier are killed during an exchange of fire along the Gaza border, and at least three militants are injured during an Israeli air strike on Gaza. (BBC)
The Venezuelan government outlaws the commercial sale of guns and ammunition, the latest in a series of initiatives to improve security and cut crime. (BBC)
Samoa announces the pardon of 35 prisoners to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence from New Zealand. (BBC)
The Food and Drug Administration, a U.S. government agency, goes to court to secure supplies of a drug used in lethal injections, which have dwindled since an importation ban. (BBC)
Clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad kill at least 12 and injure more than 40 people in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli. (Reuters)
Habib al-Adly guilty for complicity in the killings of demonstrators in the 2011 revolution that ousted Mubarak and both are sentenced to life in prison. Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, are all acquitted on separate corruption charges. (BBC)
Iraqi government offices in central Baghdad, killing at least 26 and injuring 190. Eight others are killed in additional attacks across the country. (AP via The Brisbane Times)(Antiwar)
Buddhist vigilantes attack a bus in western Myanmar, killing nine Muslim passengers. (Reuters)
Aftermath of the Libyan civil war
:
A heavily armed militia takes over a runway at the Tripoli International Airport, demanding the release of their leader who went missing. (BBC)
A Libyan military court sentences a group of Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian men to long prison terms, having found them guilty of serving as mercenaries for
Libyan Civil War. A Russian who was deemed the group's leader was sentenced to life imprisonment, and the rest were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor. (Reuters)
Mexican Drug War: The dismembered remains of 7 bodies are found in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The bodies are discovered along with a written message accusing the authorities of cooperating with the Sinaloa Cartel, suggesting that the message may have been written by Los Zetas. (Washington Post)
shooting dead five of its soldiers on the border of those two countries, a day after three Armenians were killed. (BBC)
In a special message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, the Queen says she has been "touched deeply" by seeing so many people celebrating her Diamond Jubilee together. (BBC)
Ministers are urged to investigate reports that unemployed people hired as unpaid stewards for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant had to spend the night sleeping rough under London Bridge. (BBC)
Syrian uprising: Opposition activists on the ground in Syria report that a massacre has been committed in the small village of Qubair, Hama, by the government-hired Shabiha militia. Activists report 78 dead, mostly women and children. (BBC)
Bahraini uprising: Bahraini authorities re-arrest Nabeel Rajab on suspicion of posting tweets seen as critical of the Bahraini regime. (BBC)
2012 Armenian-Azeri border clashes: a new clash kills an Armenian soldier. (panorama.am)
Controversy is stoked after a video emerges of a U.S. religious minister outlining his plan to imprison the country's gay and lesbian population behind an electric fence until they die. (Al Jazeera)
The BBC receives over 2,000 complaints from viewers about its Jubilee coverage. The broadcaster is also criticised by other media for its Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant coverage. (BBC)
Li Wangyang, a labour activist and Chinese dissident jailed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, is found dead in a hospital ward in central China, with foul play suspected. (Reuters UK)
Politics and elections
Mexican president Felipe Calderón signs a law making Mexico only the second country in the world to introduce binding targets on climate change. (BBC)
solar plane, lands in Morocco, completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the Sun. (Associated Press)
Sport
Footballer
Mahmoud al-Sarsak, who has been on hunger strike for 80 days while in prison without trial or charge, faces imminent danger of death according to human rights groups. (BBC)
U.S. military drone attacks carried out by the CIA on Pakistan raise serious legal questions, announces United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay at the end of a fact-finding visit to Pakistan. (BBC)
Arts and culture
Prince of Asturias Award for Literature and pays tribute to his "dear friend" Carlos Fuentes who died last month. (The Guardian)
Archaeologists announce the discovery of the remains of the 16th-century Curtain Theatre, where some of William Shakespeare's plays were first performed. (BBC)
LinkedIn says that some of its members' passwords have been "compromised" following reports that more than six million passwords were leaked on the Internet. (BBC)
Last.fm also reports that some of its passwords have been leaked and urges users of its website to change them immediately. (BBC)
Ariel Attias in addition to the 300 new settler homes ordered yesterday by the land's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the West Bank. (Al Jazeera)
A Golden Dawn politician assaults two other politicians on a live television talk show and flees the scene ; at least one copycat incident is reported to have taken place with two MPs being assaulted by the neo-Nazi party's supporters. (The Guardian)
Bahraini uprising: Bahraini authorities tear gas and sound bomb a pro-democracy rally, among the largest such rallies there in recent weeks. Meanwhile, a defence lawyer confirms that a court hearing is scheduled for next week in the case of a jailed 11-year-old boy accused of protesting against the regime. (Al Jazeera)(Press TV)
the country's presidential run-off election. (Press TV)
The people of Jordan rally in Amman against their government's decision to raise fuel and electricity prices to ease budget deficit. (Press TV)
Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, about 250 miles from the Texas border. The bodies are accompanied by a banner taking credit for the killings. (Los Angeles Times)
Commonwealth Writers prizes are handed out at Hay: Shehan Karunatilaka from Sri Lanka wins the £10,000 Commonwealth Book Prize for his debut novel Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, while Emma Martin from New Zealand wins the £5,000 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for "Two Girls in a Boat". (BBC)
blew the whistle on corruption within the governing body last year, faces accusations by Jack Warner of secretly funding the rent on a luxury New York apartment using funds from the football federation he ran. (BBC)
UEFA European Football Championship gets underway in Poland. (BBC)
UEFA confirms incidents of racist chanting were aimed at Netherlands players during an open training session ahead of the tournament. (BBC)(The Guardian)
An Irish fan becomes the target of a World Wide Web hunt after leaving his tickets in an airport shop. (BBC)
It is reported that heavy bombing on Homs has been taking place since this morning. Young activists of the Sham News Network also report violent clashes in various neighbourhoods of Damascus between loyal forces and rebels of the Free Syrian Army(AGI)[permanent dead link]
2012 French Open Women's Singles final, returning to the World No. 1 ranking, ending a four-year major title drought and completing a career Grand Slam. Sharapova had been as low as World No. 126 during the drought, having suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2008. (ESPN)
Over documents delivered to Saif al-Islam, detained son of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya arrests an Australian lawyer from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trying "to deliver documents to the accused, documents that have nothing to do with his case and that represent a danger to the security of Libya". (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
Three people are shot to death and three are wounded during a party held at an apartment complex near the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, U.S. (CNN)
Bahraini uprising: An 11-year-old child is released after weeks in detention, but still faces being put on trial for "joining an illegal gathering". (Al Jazeera)
Researchers uncover direct links between the Flame and Stuxnet cyber-attacks on Iran, saying the attackers worked together on both at early stages of each threat's development. (BBC)
Twenty three people are killed in an attack on two villages in northern Nigeria. (BBC)
Arts and culture
The size of the Nobel Prize is being reduced by 20% in order to avoid an undermining of its capital in a long-term perspective. (Nobel Foundation)(BBC)
After six years, Google reaches a deal with a publishing group that opposed its scanning and publishing of books online. (BBC)
pan-Arab satellite television channel, Al Mayadeen ("The Squares" in Arabic), is launched in Lebanon that is speculated to be a mouthpiece for Iran and Hezbollah. (AP via AJC)
Dangote Cement opens a new line of production at its Obajana facility in the Kogi State, making the plant the largest in Sub-Sahara Africa and one of the largest in the world. (AFP)
Disasters
sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims (The Guardian)
More than 80 people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried. (BBC)
More than 170,000 houses are left without power in
Al-Shabaab offers a reward of 10 camels for information about the whereabouts of Barack Obama and chickens for information on Hillary Clinton in response to the U.S. announcement of rewards of $3-7 million for various militant commanders. (BBC)
The U.S. threatens to impose sanctions on individual Somalis oppose peace plan. (BBC)
The U.S. withdraws a team of negotiators from Pakistan, with The Pentagon announcing: "The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time". (BBC)
The U.S. grants permission to seven countries on three continents to continue importing oil from Iran in contravention of the declared U.S. policy of isolating Iran. (BBC)
NHS Fife apologises to Brown after finding it was "highly likely" one of its staff members leaked details of his son's cystic fibrosis to The Sun, which ran a story about his medical condition. (BBC)
Conservative Party and Rupert Murdoch are "complete nonsense". (The Guardian)
The NME issues a public apology to English singer and lyricist Steven Patrick Morrissey over an article it published in 2007, which falsely suggested he was racist and led to a libel case. (BBC)
1997 general election to switch policy on Europe or his newspapers would not support him. The Conservative Party subsequently lost power to Labour, with Murdoch's The Sun tabloid daily supporting Major's rival Tony Blair. (BBC)(The Guardian)
a referendum on the islands' sovereignty next year. (BBC)
Turkey announces plans to introduce elective Kurdish language course in schools, a step aimed at easing tension that Kurdish minority activists argue does not go far enough. (AP via Fox News)(Al Jazeera)
Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Čech drops a clanger in his country's game against 2004 champions Greece in a match that had the fewest shots in the European Championship since 1980. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)
southern Yemen as the Yemeni military maintain pressure on the group a day after government troops backed by armed tribesmen recaptured two militant strongholds. (AP via ABC News)
Arts and culture
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the world's richest literary prize. (The Guardian)(CBC News)
Greeks withdraw their cash from banks and stock up on non-perishable food ahead of Sunday's election. (Al Jazeera)
Syrian uprising: The Syrian government begins printing money for the first time in a sign that the Syrian economy is on the verge of total collapse. (The Atlantic Wire)
International relations
Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is embroiled in controversy after sending a text to his finance minister in which he claimed "Spain is not Uganda." (BBC)
Jeremy Hunt over his handling of the BSkyB takeover bid. The motion is rejected by 290 votes to 252, but Conservative Party MPs are angered by the lack of support from their coalition partners. (The Independent)
Westminster Magistrates Court on phone hacking charges alongside her husband and four other News International employees. (The Independent)
Politics and elections
Hundreds of people sign a letter written by
Saudi King Abdullah urging him to allow women to get behind the wheel on the first anniversary of the Women2Drive campaign, launched in June 2011. (The Australian Eye)(BBC)
UEFA slaps Russia with a suspended six-point deduction due to the behaviour of their fans during their victory over the Czech Republic; Russian president Vladimir Putin blames Poland for the trouble. (BBC)
Two ex-heads of China's football league, Nan Yong and his predecessor Xie Yalong, are both accused of accepting bribes and are jailed for 10-and-a-half years each for corruption, making them the most senior football officials sentenced in the country. (BBC)
News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks, while he says his decision to appoint Andy Coulson as his Director of Communications will haunt him. (BBC)
Financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford is sentenced to 110 years in prison after siphoning billions from investors. (Al Jazeera)(BBC)
high school football recruit in the U.S. according to several sources, makes a verbal commitment to play collegiately for Clemson University. (ESPN)(Rivals.com)
March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 13 people. (BBC)
Feng Jianmei, 23, who is forced to undergo an illegal abortion seven months into her pregnancy after graphic photos of the mother and her dead baby are circulated online. (AP via The Star)
Baker Atyani, Al Arabiya's TV bureau chief for southeast Asia, disappears with four other people on the restive southern Philippine island of Jolo where Muslim militants are active. (AP via TIME)
Three employees of an armoured car company are reported dead and one injured in a shooting at the
Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov is accused by the opposition of violating the law by drinking an alcoholic beverage in a government building. (Reuters)
A Blue IslandsATR 42 aircraft suffers an undercarriage collapse on the runway at Jersey Airport. The aircraft is later evacuated with no injuries reported. (BBC)
UEFA opens disciplinary proceedings against the Croatian Football Federation after bananas are thrown and racist chants are heard at the Italy-Croatia game. (BBC)
Google reveals it has removed so-called 'terrorism videos' from the web at the request of governments, as well as blocking more than 100 YouTube videos which allegedly insult the Thai monarchy. (BBC)
Disasters
A fire breaks out in a prison in the southeast Turkish province of Şanlıurfa, killing 13 prisoners. (BBC)
2012 AEGON Championships after kicking an advertising board into the left shin of a line judge, seriously injuring him; his opponent, Marin Čilić, who was trailing Nalbandian at the time, is awarded the title and Nalbandian stands to lose the prize money he would have received for finishing as runner-up. (BBC)(Sky Sports)
A bomb explodes near a university bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta killing at least two students and injuring more than 35 others. (AFP via Herald-Sun)
The music world expresses shock at the news of Scott Johnson's death ahead of a Radiohead concert in Canada. (BBC)
Business and economy
Australian newspaper publisher Fairfax Media announces restructuring plans which will lead to a cut of 1900 jobs. (The Australian)
The largest stockholder of the London-based telecommunications firm Vodafone, institutional investor Orbis, ends its opposition to a planned acquisition by Vodafone of Cable & Wireless Worldwide; the deal now seems certain to go through. (Reuters)
International relations
A new round of talks on nuclear power between Iran and six world powers opens in Moscow. (BBC)
Rangers, set to be liquidated, do not appear on the Scottish Premier League fixture list and are instead replaced by a mysterious entity known as "Club 12". (BBC)
British police investigate
2012 AEGON Championships over kicking an advertising board into the left shin of a line judge, seriously injuring him; his opponent, Marin Čilić, who was trailing Nalbandian at the time, was awarded the title and Nalbandian lost the prize money he would have received for finishing as runner-up. (BBC)
Syrian uprising: A ship carrying military helicopters and missiles from Russia to Syria is halted and turned back off the coast of Scotland after its insurance coverage is cancelled. (MSNBC)(The Daily Telegraph)
Striking miners and riot police clash in northern Spain as Mariano Rajoy's austerity drive causes escalating violence. (BBC)
Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, on hunger strike over his detention without charge for three years in an Israeli jail, agrees to resume eating if released from captivity. (BBC)
Failed States Index, with Libya, Japan, and Syria scoring the largest increases since the previous study. (Fund for Peace)
Law and crime
The former Prime Minister of Romania, Adrian Năstase, narrowly survives a suicide attempt by gunshot to the throat following a controversial court decision sentencing him to two years in jail. (BBC)
The Uruguayan government announces plans to start selling marijuana in limited amounts to registered users. (RT)
In
Afghanistan, Taliban soldiers invade a hotel in Kabul, kill guests, and hold some hostages. (Al Jazeera)(Reuters)
Arts and culture
U.S. artist LeRoy Neiman, one of the world's most commercially successful contemporary artists and an official painter of five Olympiads famed for his instant renditions of sporting action, dies in New York. (BBC)
A Lucian Freud self-portrait painted on an egg shell is sold at auction to a private collector for £27,000. (BBC)
Air France announces its decision to cut just under 10% of the total workforce (more than 5,000 jobs) by the end of next year in an attempt to restore profitability. (BBC)
President of Ecuador Rafael Correa decides on the issue of granting asylum to WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange as Assange remains in the Ecuadorian embassy of London, risking arrest by the British authorities. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
Bradley Manning, imprisoned by the U.S. government for alleged leaking of classified information into the public domain. (San Francisco Examiner)
NATO-backed Afghan security forces end a 12-hour siege carried out by Taliban insurgents on the Spozhmai Hotel outside Kabul, killing all five insurgents. (BBC)
Anti-austerity protests spread through the Sudanese city of Khartoum, with security forces breaking them up. (Al Jazeera)
At least 14 people are killed and 106 others wounded in two successive bombings at a popular market on the northern outskirts of Baghdad. (Reuters)
Khilal Mamedov, a prominent Azeri human rights activist and journalist, is arrested on suspicion of drug possession, a move a fellow rights watchdog says is politically motivated. (MSNBC)
Ahmed Shafiq will be named the president of Egypt on June 24. (AhramOnline)(CNN)
The ruling
Yousuf Raza Gilani after a judge orders the arrest of its first choice candidate Makhdoom Shahabuddin for alleged illegal importation of drugs. (BBC)
Daphne Leef and several other Israeli activists tried to restart the housing protests by re-erecting a tent encampment in the Rothschild Boulevard in Tel-Aviv. The municipality had not given a permit and as a result Leef, along with eleven other activists, were arrested when they resisted the 20 policemen and municipal inspectors who arrived to dismantle the tents. The protesters' tents were confiscated by the police forces as well.(Jerusalem Post)(Ynet)
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness will shake hands with Elizabeth II at a historic first meeting between a British Monarch and member of Sinn Féin during the Queen's forthcoming trip to Northern Ireland. (BBC)
Palestinian militants fire rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel severely injuring an elder. Israel launches a missile strike in return, killing two Palestinians. (The Jerusalem Post)(BBC)
In a
Mexican Drug War-related crime, 14 mutilated corpses are found inside a truck outside of a Mexican supermarket. (Reuters)
Greece's new coalition seeks to slow down austerity by proposing a two-year extension to the period allocated to it to meet bailout targets, without further cuts to salaries and pensions. (BBC)
Disasters
At least eight people are killed and 44 injured after a bus carrying
Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario undergoes a partial structural failure when a segment of the rooftop parking deck collapses into the building. 22 people are injured and two bodies are recovered four days later. (Toronto Star)
Rescue efforts end after a boat capsized near Christmas Island, with more than 90 people still missing. (Al Jazeera)
Manitou Springs in the U.S. state of Colorado is evacuated due to a raging wildfire just three miles from the popular vacation town. (ABC)
The roof of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada collapses killing at least one person and trapping several others in the debris. (CBC)
Entertainment
Canadian-American game show personality Alex Trebek suffers a mild heart attack, but is expected to "fully recover". (Hollywood Reporter)
NATO is to meet on Tuesday, based on a request from Turkey to consult them on what to do with Syria which shot down a Turkish jet after it had entered Syrian airspace. (Al Jazeera)
Bradley Manning's civilian lawyer argues the U.S. government is deliberately attempting to prevent his client from receiving a fair trial. (The Guardian)
Philipp Lahm, captain of the Germany team due to meet the winner, concludes that Italy are "a bit stronger" than England. (BBC)
France midfielder Samir Nasri criticises the media after his team's quarter-final exit to Spain, saying "you are always looking for shit, you write nothing but shit in your papers". His comments came after a L'Equipe journalist wrote an article that upset Nasri's mother. (AFP via NDTV)(BBC)(Al Jazeera)
At least 33 army officers, including a general, defect to Turkey. (BBC)(CNN)
Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bülent Arınç, states that Syrian forces opened fire on a second Turkish plane, a CASA search and rescue plane searching for the wreckage of an F-4 fighter jet earlier shot down by Syria. (AP via FOX News)(BBC)
At least 40 people are injured due to a fire attack by protesters on a religious shrine in India. (GloboNews)
Mexican Drug War: Alleged drug traffickers shoot and kill 3 policemen who were on an anti-narcotics operative inside the Mexico City International Airport. The assassins were wearing law enforcement uniforms, although the Mexican authorities said that the cartel members sometimes wear false uniforms. No suspects have been arrested. (Yahoo! News)
Tens of thousands of Ulster Bank customers will now be unable to access their money until at least the end of the week as the crisis worsens, with monthly salaries due to be paid this week. (The Irish Times)(Irish Examiner)
Cyprus says that it plans to ask its European partners for a loan of about 1.8 billion euros by the end of this week; this would make Cyprus the fifth European country to seek help. (Reuters)(Al Jazeera)
International relations
UK
Tom Watson adds his voice to the growing opposition to the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer, calling it an example of a younger generation being "hung out to dry by lawmakers". (The Guardian)
The mother of Julian Assange reports that the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief has been "buoyed" by the public's support since he sought refuge in Ecuador's London embassy, refers to U.S. threats to withdraw billions of dollars in aid from Ecuador if it granted asylum, and condemns the Australian government, which has not sought to intervene on behalf of her son, as "nothing more than a puppet" of the United States. (BBC)
News International's titles, that it has a "pernicious" and sometimes "mendacious" agenda to undermine people in public life, and predicts that "very possibly they will go after me for saying so". (The Guardian)
The United States Supreme Court rules that the sentence of life imprisonment without parole cannot be automatically given to a minor at all, extending its earlier restrictions on its automatic use in cases involving minors. (Catholic News)
The United States Supreme Court rules that Arizona's immigration law is mostly unconstitutional, except for the part that allows for law enforcement officers, in the course of their duties, to ask about an illegal immigrant's legal status if they have actual reasons to believe that the person is an immigrant and is here illegally, especially if they are of relevance to a case. (CNN)(Al Jazeera)
Police launch an investigation into allegations of online racist abuse during England's quarter-final exit on penalties after their latest defeat on Sunday. (BBC)
Bahraini uprising: The government of Bahrain announces it will pay US$2.6 million to the relatives of 17 people who died in the revolt against the government. (Reuters)
A bomb explodes outside the Tunisian consulate in Libya; no casualties are reported. (Reuters)
A fire breaks out on the fifth floor of the Syndicate of Journalists building in downtown Cairo. (Egypt Independent)
The top police chief of Sudan announces a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the capital, Khartoum. (Philly.com)
Arts and culture
e-books in a bid to encourage people to buy from their local bookstores. (BBC)
The five members of the
Viva Forever!, a new West End musical based on their hit songs. (BBC)
The Stressful Life of
The Satanic Verses controversy, is unveiled at a Tehran games expo. (The Guardian)
Education
The
Teresa Sullivan after she was ousted without a formal vote earlier this month. (My Northwest)
Finance
The city of Stockton, California's mediation with creditors fails, forcing the city to declare bankruptcy, making it the largest in the U.S. to do so. (Fox News)
Disasters
Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, a ridge-top monastery, catches fire and is destroyed; however no relics were destroyed since the monastery was undergoing a renovation. (CNN)
A boat carrying around 150 people capsizes 107 nautical miles north of Australia's Christmas Island. (Reuters)
Law and crime
Imprisoned U.S. serviceman
Bradley Manning wins his battle against the U.S. government to account for the steps his prosecutors have taken to disclose to his lawyers evidence that could be crucial in his defence. (The Guardian)
Social network Facebook perturbs some of its users by making its @facebook.com email system the default contact shown on profiles without asking for permission. (BBC)
An 11-year-old girl, Ashton Jojo, vacationing with her family at a miniature golf course at Orange Lake Resort, in Orange County, Florida, is accidentally electrocuted after she falls into a 2-foot deep pond at the course while looking for her lost golf ball. (MSNBC)[permanent dead link]
Shias, killing 10 and leaving 30 injured.(Reuters)
At least 14 people are killed and more than 50 wounded in a series of car bomb attacks in Iraq. (BBC)
Business and economics
The share price of Barclays bank plunges by 17 per cent after it was hit with a record fine for distorting key interest rates to rig international markets. (Al Jazeera)
A man is killed as torrential rain causes widespread flooding across England. The storms also force the Olympic torch relay to be halted briefly. (BBC)
Both main rail lines connecting England and Scotland are closed after the tracks are blocked by landslides. (BBC)
MegaUpload, in connection to alleged copyright infringement were invalid. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
The
Raymond Mawby, a Conservative Minister during the 1960s, passed information to Czechoslovak agents in exchange for money. (BBC)
British Prime Minister David Cameron says the management of Barclays faces "serious questions" about its role in distorting key interest rates to rig international markets. (BBC)
European Union leaders agree to use a bailout fund to recapitalise struggling banks and to work on a plan for tighter budgetary and political union. (AP via USA Today)
A petition objecting to the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer to the United States garners 160,000 signatures in less than five days. (The Guardian)
A representative for WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange declines a Metropolitan Police order to surrender himself at a police station, instead electing to remain in Ecuador's London embassy until he is granted asylum. (BBC)(The Guardian)
South Korea abruptly postpones signing a military treaty with Japan after opposition parties in Seoul accuse the government of trying to rush it without proper discussion. (The New York Times)
83 people are killed, mostly civilians, in the violence across Syria. In a single incident, 30 people are killed while attending a funeral in the town of Zamalka, just east of Damascus. (Sacramento Bee)[permanent dead link]
A top leader of the Texan gang known as Barrio Azteca is extradited to the United States from Mexico. The gang member was responsible for killing two U.S. consulate workers in Ciudad Juárez in March 2010. (Chicago Tribune)
UEFA president Michel Platini dismisses suggestions that France midfielder Samir Nasri ought to be suspended for two years as "ridiculous and shameful". (ESPN)
Michel Platini suggests UEFA Euro 2020 could be spread across the continent. (BBC)
