• Somali gunmen release a British security consultant for Save the Children after six days in captivity. (BBC)

• United Kingdom boyband JLS and hip hop MC Tinie Tempah dominate the Music of Black Origin Awards in Liverpool. (BBC)

• French strikes
  • France braces itself for another day of strikes against proposed cuts to pensions that the Senate will consider later this week. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
  • The Government of France sends in security forces to lift blockades in three oil depots at Donges, La Rochelle and Le Mans. (BBC)
• China denies reports that it has banned export of rare earth mineral to the United States and Europe following similar measures against Japan. (CNN)
• The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city holds a groundbreaking ceremony for its Eco-technology Park in Binhai New Area a key national strategic area in Tianjin. (enorth) (China Daily)
• Apple announces iLife 11, Mac OSX Lion, a refreshed Macbook Air and the mac app store.

• All four Ecuadorean miners trapped underground since a mine collapse have been found dead. (CNN)

• South Korea arrests an alleged North Korean agent on suspicion of plotting to kill high-profile defector Hwang Jang-yop who died of a heart attack earlier this month. (Al Jazeera)
• Danish and Swedish royals celebrate 200 years since establishment of Swedish royal family. (CPHPOST)

• Leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko says that an additional monetary emission by the Ukrainian government of Hr 83.6 billion has already translated into growth in consumer prices. (Kyiv Post)
• At least 1,000 Tibetan students protest in China against a new language policy which they say erodes their culture. (BBC) (RTHK) (Turkish Weekly)
• Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reshuffles his cabinet in a move to strengthen his government. (Reuters)
• The two rival presidential candidates in Guinea agree to go ahead with a presidential run-off on Sunday amid the replacement of the head of the election commission. (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom, Chancellor George Osborne outlines a Comprehensive Spending Review which will see the biggest spending cuts in decades, totalling £81bn, with welfare, local government and police particularly affected. (BBC)
• The Obama administration notifies the United States Congress of plans for a $60billion-dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia in a move to threaten Iran. (CNN) (Reuters)

• Astronomers announce the discovery of the galaxy UDFy-38135539, the most distant object observed from earth. (Daily Mail)