Fighting erupts between ethnic rebel groups and Burmese government forces in the east of the country; thousands of people flee into Thailand. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Bangkok Post)[permanent dead link]
An armed group kidnaps at least two Americans, two Frenchmen and a Canadian from a Transoceanoil rig in the Okoro Oilfield off the coast of Niger Delta, Nigeria, injuring two others. (Reuters) (Xinhua). (CNN)
Bomb attacks in the Iraqi cities of Karbala, Najaf and Basra kill at least nineteen people and injure scores more. (CNN), (BBC)
The Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, denounces the left-wing performers who refuse to perform in a theatre in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank as an "extremist group trying to wage cultural terrorism". (Reuters)
French novelist Michel Houellebecq wins the Prix Goncourt for his book La Carte et le Territoire (The Map and the Territory). (The Telegraph)
Business and economy
Global Green Growth conference ends in Copenhagen. (People Daily)
Qantas Flight 32: Qantas announces that it has found "slight anomalies" in the engines of its Airbus 380 aircraft and is keeping it grounded for the time being. (BBC)
Express delivery company DHL promises better screening of customers and parcels before they are sent to airports after recent parcel bombs sent from Yemen and Greece. (Reuters)
A government conservation campaign, and possible hoarding by state oil companies, causes a severe shortage on diesel fuel in the People's Republic of China, disrupting industry and commerce. (CNBC)[permanent dead link]
An explosion due to mishandling of explosives kills two in a Copiapó, Chile copper mine. (Wikinews)
International relations
German Foreign MinisterGuido Westerwelle calls on Hamas to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and urges Israel to end its embargo of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but does not meet with the Gaza leadership because of group's refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel. (Reuters) (The Jerusalem Post)
The United States offers to drop Sudan from its list of "state sponsors of terrorism", ending its isolation, if two scheduled referendums take place with respected results. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
Libyan authorities arrest 10 reporters apparently for criticizing Libya's leadership. (The Jerusalem Post)
Unidentified attackers armed with knives kill 12 people in Kushchyovskaya, Krasnodar krai, Russia. (The Moscow Times)
Human rights organizations say the Palestinian Authority is depriving Palestinians in Gaza affiliated with Hamas of passports; Hamas has retaliated by depriving Gazans belonging to Fatah of their passports. (The Jerusalem Post)
Two people are killed and several injured after a protest camp in Western Sahara is broken up by Morocco, hours before talks on the disputed territory begin. (BBC) (Taiwan News)
The reptile scientist, Ngô Văn Trí of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, discovers a species of self-cloning lizard later known as Leiolepis ngovantrii when he came across tanks full of them at small restaurants in rural villages in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. Ngo Van Tri becomes intrigued when he notices that all of the lizards appeared to be female. (Dan Tri)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveils pictures of the Moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, taken during China's Chang`e-2 lunar probe mission. (Unian) (Xinhua)