Haitian officials stand by their own death and homeless toll figures as the U.S. government claims fewer people were affected by last year's earthquake than previously believed. (BBC)
The Committee to Protect Journalists claims that there have been 251 murders of journalists in 13 countries where the murderer has remained unpunished in the past decade with Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka being considered the worst environments for journalists. (BBC)
A rocket attack on the presidential palace in Sana'a during the Battle of Sana'a leaves president Ali Abdullah Saleh lightly injured and seven other top government officials wounded, including Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar. Four presidential guards and Sheikh Ali Mohsen al-Matari, an imam at the mosque, were killed. (CNN)(Deseret News)
At least 150 people drown when an overcrowded boat carrying about 850 refugees fleeing Libya capsized off the Tunisian coast; scores more are still missing as a search for survivors by Tunisian authorities continues. (CNN)
Somali government forces and African Union troops expel al Qaeda-linked militants from their last outpost in the western part of Mogadishu, opening up a main road in the city. (CNN)
In two bombing attacks in Iraq, 17 people are killed and 50 others wounded in a blast outside of the Presidential Palaces Mosque in central Tikrit, Iraq; and later by a suicide bomber in a Tikrit hospital treating the wounded from the first attack, killing six people and injuring ten at the hospital. (CNN)
Greek prime ministerGeorge Papandreou presents a plan for further austerity-measure privatizations in return for more international aid to avoid defaulting on its debt following a 110 billion Euro bailout last year that has so far failed to resolve the Greek economic crisis; Greece's main labor unions have called for a general strike on June 15. (CNN)
57 people are injured, and 28,000 people have been forced to evacuate, following an explosion at an army munitions depot in Russia's western Ural Mountains region. (CNN)
Four people are killed and one seriously injured in an explosion at a Chevron Corporation storage tank at a refinery in western Wales; it is not immediately clear what caused the explosion. (CNN)
A massive wildfire burning in the US state of Arizona already covering almost 500 square miles remains completely uncontained and is sending dense smoke billowing across several other states; evacuations have been ordered for several communities. (USA Today)
Rainstorms in southern Haiti trigger floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 23 deaths with the capital Port-au-Prince worst affected. (USA Today), (BBC News)
260 miles (420 km) of the Missouri River are closed to boaters as residents of the US states of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri continue to prepare for heavy flooding, with rain in Montana making the situation worse. (Reuters)
The British government has indicated it is rethinking its controversial proposal to offer 50% sentence cuts to criminals in England and Wales who enter early guilty pleas. (BBC)
South Korea welcomes the return of ancient Korean royal books looted by French troops in 1866, during an invasion of Ganghwa Island in retaliation for Koreans' persecution of French Catholic missionaries. (Yonhap)
Talks to end the political crisis in the country fail as the deputy to wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to speak to those demanding he cede power. (Reuters)
A bomb is detonated outside a local government headquarters in Tianjin, northeastern China. This is the third explosion outside government facilities in three weeks. (Wall Street Journal)
2011 Bahraini uprising: Bahrain's rulers commence the trials of 48 medical professionals, including some of the country's top surgeons, a move seen as the hounding of those who treated injured protesters during the popular uprising which was crushed by the military intervention of Saudi Arabia. (Al Jazeera)
The Syrian regime claims to have retaken Jisr al-Shughour, while residents who fled speak of fighting, divisions and defections among government troops as police and workers arm themselves to defend the town against the army. (Al Jazeera)(The Guardian)
Egyptian officials report the arrest of the 27-year-old Israeli-American Ilan Grapel on suspicion of espionage for Israel. Israeli officials have rejected the Egyptian accusations.(BBC)
The American destroyerUSS McCampbell is reported to have asked to board a North Korean cargo vessel south of Shanghai; the vessel's crew refused and later returned home after what The New York Times described as "several days of pressure" from the U.S. warship. (BBC)
In the first case of its kind to be heard in the United Kingdom, a former juror who admitted contacting a defendant via Facebook has been convicted of contempt of court. (BBC)
Another land campaigner is shot dead in Brazil's Amazon basin with five activists shot dead in the past month. (BBC)
Politics
British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced major changes to plans for reforms of the NHS in England saying that the government has made mistakes, but he insists it has not made "a humiliating U-turn". (BBC)
Police descend in droves on the parliament building, blocking the protesters from forming a human ring around it, firing water cannon at the protesters and barricading their path. (Deutsche Welle)
Police detain 10 protesters to prevent them disrupting lawmakers as they slip into parliament by car. (Taiwan News)
Some Greek journalists' unions cancel their strike in order to provide coverage of the protests. (AP via The Guardian)
2011 Spanish protests: Protesters blockade parliament buildings in Barcelona, in a protest simultaneous with events in Greece, to express their annoyance with government cuts after camping outside overnight. The Presidents of Catalan Government and Parliament avoid the protesters by flying in on helicopters. (BBC)
"Anarchist" rioters smash windows, loot stores and burn vehicles, while some Canucks fans bring garbage bags to clean up the streets following the destruction; at least nine police officers and 150 residents are injured, including stabbing victims. (The Globe and Mail)(The Vancouver Sun)(CP24)
Reuters quotes commodities traders who have observed in recent months that "violent, often inexplicable price moves" are becoming a good deal more common, especially in energy commodities such as natural gas. (Reuters)
The head coach of the South Koreanmarathon team is under investigation for alleged doping of his athletes, including an Asian Games gold medallist. (Yonhap)
NATO confirms it killed civilians in an airstrike on a residential neighborhood in Tripoli, as Gaddafi's forces uses artillery fire to kill rebels and civilians in Misrata.(Khallej Times)
2011 Libyan civil war: Libyan officials say NATO airstrikes on Tripoli kill 15 civilians, including children; this is the second claimed collateral damage incident in two days, with NATO blaming a "weapons failure" for the first attack. (BBC)
Eurozone finance ministers agree to seek a voluntary rollover of Greek debt by private bondholders in order to meet a substantial part of Greek funding needs. (Reuters)
Eurozone finance ministers postpone a final decision on Greece's $17 billion emergency loans extension until Greece introduces further cuts. (Al Jazeera)
British Labour MP and former foreign secretary Jack Straw says the eurozone "will collapse" and that the euro will succumb to a "slow death". (BBC)
Afghan finance minister Omar Zakhilwal is reported to be "running out of patience" with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the IMF's rejection of a plan to deal with Kabul Bank. Zakhilwal is also reported to have said that further talks with the IMF would be "a waste of time". (BBC)
Civilians peacefully protest en masse outside parliament against government cuts in Greece, though riot police armed with tear gas circulate nearby. (Al Jazeera)
Some of the protesters have been camping for weeks in front of the parliament building in Syntagma Square, asking why they have to pay while politicians are not pursued. (Reuters Africa)
The IMF issues an annual report calling on the Spanish government to continue to reduce public spending and increase liberalisation of its jobs market. (BBC)
A 2014 deadline that would have moved a U.S. airbase opposed by politicians and civilians off Okinawa is cancelled following last year's resignation of Prime Minister of JapanYukio Hatoyama over his own inability to remove the base. (BBC)
Politicians and civilians in Indonesia protest after Saudi Arabia used a sword to behead a maid without telling them they were planning to execute her; Indonesia recalls its ambassador to express its fury and civilians gather outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta wearing t-shirts with the slogan "corrupt government, workers are beheaded". (BBC)(Jakarta Post)
A French court upholds a life sentence for Yvan Colonna, a former shepherd and Corsican separatist convicted of fatally shooting police prefectClaude Érignac near a concert hall in Ajaccio in 1998. Colonna has denied killing Érignac. (BBC)
Former French minister Georges Tron, who resigned last month due to allegations of sexual assault, is arrested by police. (BBC)
British Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that controversial plans to allow sentence reductions of up to 50% for criminals who plead guilty in England and Wales have been scrapped. (BBC)
Politics and elections
In a rare House of Commons procedure, British MPs have voted by a majority of 73 to have parts of the controversial Health and Social Care Bill re-examined by the Health Select Committee. (BBC)
Art experts conclude that a Vincent van Gogh painting previously believed to be a self-portrait is in fact a portrait of van Gogh's brother, Theo. (BBC)
Ireland is sued for compensation over a measles vaccination that caused serious brain injury. (RTÉ)
Journalist Anatoly Bitkov, the chief editor of the Kolyma Plus TV channel, is found dead in his apartment in the town of Magadan in the Russian Far East. (RIA Novosti)
In the United Kingdom, the first coordinated, nationwide Police National Database is launched, making information easier to share between forces (PublicService)(The Daily Telegraph)
A vigil is held in London to demand the release of journalist Urunboy Usmonov, imprisoned by authorities in Tajikistan last week. Usmonov is reported to be in ill health. (BBC)
The Japanese national broadcasting company NHK captures images of the Chinese Navy navigating the high seas between the islands of Japan's Okinawa prefecture. (NHK)
The United Nations says more cocaine is consumed in Scotland than any other country in the world, not the first time this has happened. The country also consumes more heroin than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Levi Bellfield – three years into a life sentence for the murder of two young women and the attempted murder of a third – is found guilty of the 2002 murder of Milly Dowler in Surrey, United Kingdom. (BBC)
Politics
The President of the United StatesBarack Obama states that gay and lesbian couples "deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country" at a function for LGBT people in New York City. (NY1)
The Syrian military moves into two villages, one on the border with Turkey and the other on the border with Lebanon, with civilians reportedly being shot in the village near Lebanon. (BBC News), (AFP via Al Jazeera)
Syria's deputy foreign minister says anti-regime protests have been ignited and fueled by "extremist" groups with religious affiliations while a human rights group says 1,337 protesters have been killed since anti-regime protests began. (CNN)
Seventeen top footballers, some former members of the national team, defect to the side of the rebels, arriving to cheering crowds in the rebel stronghold of Zintan in western Libya. (CNN)(BBC)
A strengthening tropical storm affects parts of eastern China, causing flooding, while a prolonged drought plagues the northwest of the country. (UPI)(Xinhua)
Former Egyptian trade minister, Rashid Mohamed Rashid, is convicted in absentia of profiteering and unlawfully taking money from the country's Export Development Fund and is sentenced to five years in prison and fined nearly 9.4 million Egyptian pound ($1.6 million). (CNN)
A Syrian military spokesman says more than 400 members of security forces have been killed in the months-long unrest as videos surface allegedly showing children killed in the violence. (CNN)
Following accusations by the Foreign Press Association that Israel is intimidating journalists on the 10-ship flotilla due to sail to the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the journalists will not to be sanctioned. (The Guardian)(The Jerusalem Post)
At least 25 people are killed and many others are wounded after a bomb explodes in Maiduguri. (BBC)(The Guardian)
Arts and culture
More than one million people participate in São Paulo's 15th Gay Pride March following the recent improvement in the legal rights afforded to the country's gay community. (BBC)
The Senate of Canada passes a back-to-work bill imposing a labour contract for 48,000 Canada Post employees resulting in a return-to-work by Tuesday. (CBC)
The trial of 47 medical personnel, accused of working against the government during large protests in Bahrain earlier this year resumes and is immediately adjourned; human rights groups say Bahrain is targeting medical professionals for treating protesters. (CNN)
Seven civilians, including children, are killed by two separate roadside mines in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni Province; an 8-year-old girl was killed when militants gave her a remote-controlled explosive in a bag and told her to give it to police officers in Oruzgan Province. (CNN)
The Pakistani Taliban said two of the three suicide bombers who killed 10 police officers Saturday in northwestern Pakistan were a married couple; 15 policemen were taken hostage by other miltants before security forces killed six of them. (CNN)
One person is killed during an attack on a train in Sudan. (BBC)
Iran announces plans to conduct a military exercise and test the Sajjil long-range missile, which is reportedly capable of striking Israel or southeastern Europe. (The Jerusalem Post)
Tropical Storm Meari leaves at least nine people dead and three missing as it strikes the west coast of South Korea, with heavy rains and strong winds causing flooding and the suspension of sea traffic around the Korean Peninsula.(CNN)
Police clash with local residents who object to Italian government plans to build a European Union-funded rail link with France near their homes in the Italian Alps. The police intervention follows a peaceful candlelight nighttime prayer vigil featuring thousands of people. (BBC)
Up to 750,000 teachers and civil servants in the United Kingdom are set to strike on Thursday after talks aimed at averting the action failed to broker an agreement. (BBC)
More than 30 activists are held in detention in Malaysia ahead of a mass rally in Kuala Lumpur asking for an end to fraud. The government declares the rally "illegal". (BBC)
A Cairo court rules in favour of calls by anti-regime protesters and rules Egypt's local councils elected under the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak are to be dissolved. (Al Jazeera)
Chinese authorities order artist Ai Weiwei, released from his 80-day imprisonment last week, to pay more than 12 million yuan in unpaid taxes and fines thought by those who know him to be related to his activism. (BBC)
The crew of the International Space Station rush to a rescue shuttle amid concern of the need for a possible emergency evacuation back to Earth as a piece of space debris hurtles dangerously close. (BBC)
The United Nations reports the worst drought in six decades is affecting more than 10 million people and forced people in Somalia to flee to Kenya and Ethiopia as they starve to death. (BBC)
Six police officers are found guilty of crimes against the security of the state as a result of last September's attempted coup against President of EcuadorRafael Correa who was tear gassed and imprisoned in a hospital. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia approves a law regulating marriages between Saudi citizens and citizens of other countries. (Emirates 24/7)
Protesters demand the resignation of the head of the military council General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and interior minister Mansour Essawi over the violence blamed on police, the worst the country has seen in weeks since the toppling of the Hosni Mubarak-led regime. (BBC)
Greek MPs call this "chemical warfare" against civilians "outrageous" and state that it has "assumed lethal dimensions", with a chorus of complaints rising against the police for overreacting violently and hitting protesters. (The Guardian)
BBC correspondent in Athens calls riot police response brutal and of the kind that would not be tolerated in other European nations, as police threw stones and pieces of marble at the protesters and even threw tear gas inside a metro station. (BBC)
Research by Brown University finds the U.S. wars on Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to cost at least $3.2 trillion, and maybe as much as $4.4 trillion, higher than previously expected. (Al Jazeera)
A curfew is imposed on Abuja by the Nigerian government due to recent deadly attacks. (BBC)
Rick Gekoski, the chairman of the Man Booker International Prize judging panel, admits they were "animated by disagreement" over the controversial decision to give the 2011 award to Philip Roth amid fears that it would offend women after one of the female judges resigned in disgust. (BBC)
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's wife says he is to challenge a bill of more than 12 million yuan in unpaid taxes and fines which the Chinese government, of which he is a critic, has charged him with. (BBC)
A lawsuit of $25 million is brought by the mother of a U.S. teen, who was kidnapped, bound and forced to consume alcoholic substances before his death at a fraternity house, against the group responsible for his ordeal in the U.S. state of New York. (BBC)
Six members of a paramilitary force and a civilian are charged with murder in relation to the death of unarmed Sarfaraz Shah in Karachi, whose 8 June shooting was filmed and later broadcast on television. (BBC)
A court ruling restricting the powers of police bail throws thousands of cases in England and Wales into disarray. (BBC)
Some United Kingdom Border Agency staff begin industrial action ahead of tomorrow's strike involving several hundred thousand civil servants in protest at changes to their pensions. (BBC)
Irish senator Ned O'Sullivan admits making "around a dozen" of the thousands of phone calls originating from Dáil Éireann to help TDMichael Healy-Rae win a charity reality TV show four years ago. Taxpayers then picked up the bill. (RTÉ)(BBC)
Official records on the 2002 Gujarat violence, which killed more than 1,000 people, are reported to have been destroyed in line with regulations. (BBC)
In the United Kingdom, the cheque guarantee card scheme – which ensures some cheques are honoured even if the account holder does not have sufficient funds in their account – is being withdrawn today after operating for over 40 years. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia stops issuing permits for workers from Indonesia and the Philippines as the row over the beheading of an Indonesian maid by Saudi Arabia continues. (BBC)
Ireland's TánaisteEamon Gilmore expresses concern over reports that €15,000 worth of damage to the flotilla's Irish ship MV Saoirse may have been caused by sabotage, after similar damage was caused to the Greek ship. (RTÉ)(Haaretz)(Press TV)(BBC)
Hundreds of thousands of people go on strike across the United Kingdom in relation to worsening pension conditions being discussed by the government and opposition, while MPs from both the government and opposition condemn them for going on strike. (BBC)(Press TV)(Al Jazeera)
26 people are arrested while protesting their government's pension cuts in London as clashes and the controversial police tactic of kettling get underway. (Press TV)
Bangladesh's parliament overturns a requirement, dating from the mid-1990s, that general elections be watched over by non-partisan caretaker governments; the opposition protests over fears that future elections could be rigged. (BBC)
