Armed conflict and attacks

• The SITE Institute, a terrorist-monitoring organisation, states that the al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the offices of Al-Arabiya Television in Baghdad that killed four people and injured at least 10. (AFP via Google News) (Middle East News)
• An investigation is launched into the unexplained damage suffered by the Japanese oil tanker M/V M. STAR in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Arts and culture

• U.S. talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres announces that she is leaving the American Idol television show after one year as a judge. (People)

Business and economics

• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifts interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to three per cent. (Wall Street Journal)
• Metro Bank opens its first branch, in Holborn, London, the first wholly new high street bank in the United Kingdom for more than a century. (BBC)

Disasters

• Heavy monsoon rains delay the salvage of the wreckage of Airblue Flight 202 near Islamabad, Pakistan. (Reuters) (Daily Times of Pakistan)

International relations

• The Arab League endorses direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel providing certain conditions are met. (Jerusalem Post)
• North Korean foreign minister Pak Ui-chun arrives in Burma in the first visit since the two countries restored ties in 2007, amid worries over nuclear cooperation. (AFP) (BBC)

Law and crime

• The Mexican Army kills Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Ignacio Coronel Villarreal in Zapopan, Jalisco, during a raid. (CNN), (AFP via Google News)

Politics and elections

• Malawi adopts a new national flag, replacing the previous flag originally adopted in 1964. (The Nation)
• Greek police fire tear gas at demonstrating lorry drivers who were on strike in protest against new license charges. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• People in the U.S. state of Arizona protest the introduction of state immigration laws with demonstrators being arrested outside the office of Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio. (CNN)
• The United States House of Representatives Ethics Committee begins a public hearing into New York Democratic Congressman Charles B. Rangel. (CBS)
• Musician Wyclef Jean announces that he has taken formal steps towards running for President of Haiti in the 2010 general election but has not yet decided on a candidacy. (Reuters)

Science

• UNESCO's World Heritage Committee removes Ecuador's Galápagos Islands from its list of endangered World Heritage Sites. (New Zealand Herald)
• Google claims that its Chinese Internet search and mobile search is blocked. (Reuters)
• Moscow records its hottest temperature in recorded history with a heat wave expected to result in its hottest month on record. (CNN)