• At least 10 die as the protesters in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, clash with police on the country's Independence Day. (The Telegraph)
• Syrian troops reportedly open fire on anti-government protesters following Friday prayers. (AP via Google)
• Clashes take place between pro-democracy protesters and security forces in Cairo, Egypt. (Al Jazeera)
• Human Rights Watch calls on Bahrain to release political prisoners from the 2011 Bahraini uprising. (UPI)
• Four people are injured in two grenade attacks in Garissa, northern Kenya. (IOL)
• At least two people die in clashes between demonstrators and Egyptian Army soldiers in Cairo. (Reuters)

• Russia joins the World Trade Organization. (BBC)
• European credit ratings:
  • Fitch Ratings lowers France's rating outlook while maintaining a AAA rating and puts the grades of six nations including Spain and Italy on review due to Europe's failure to find a solution to the debt problem. (Bloomberg via Business Week)
  • Moody's Investors Service downgrades Belgium's credit rating two notches to Aa3. (Wall Street Journal)
• The stock price of Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry smart phones, falls after the release of disappointing quarterly numbers and news of the delay of expected product upgrades. (Christian Science Monitor)

• Japan declares the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in cold shutdown. (Kyodo)
• The death toll from an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in Vietnam reaches 156 with 96,000 people having been sick with the disease as at the end of November 2011. (AP via Washington Post)

• The United States and North Korea are expected to hold diplomatic talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program. The talks are the first meeting after the six-party talks stalled in 2008. (Yonhap News)

• The International Criminal Court dismisses charges against Callixte Mbarushimana, a Rwandan rebel accused of the torture, rape and murder of Congolese villagers by Hutu militia in 2009. (AP via Google)
• Russian customs seize radioactive material bound for Iran. (AFP via Google)
• Hollywood actor Christian Bale is prevented from visiting Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng by police. (CNN) (Reuters)
• Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng is sent back to jail, in the first confirmation he is still alive in 20 months. (AP via Google)
• Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit", pleads guilty to dozens of charges in the US state of Washington and is sentenced to seven years in jail. (AP via ABC News) (People)
• Star baseball player Barry Bonds is sentenced to 30 days of home detention on obstruction of justice charges following misleading evidence about steroid use. (ESPN)

• The Movie Premiere of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
• Sequels: Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)

• Thailand reissues a passport for Thaksin Shinawatra, saying he is no longer a "threat". (Channel NewsAsia)
• Labour's Seema Malhotra wins the Feltham and Heston by-election. (BBC)
• Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands Piet Hein Donner resigns after being named the new Vice President of the Council of State, succeeding Herman Tjeenk Willink. (NOS)