At least two people are killed and hundreds of others injured in clashes between police and protestors during a nationwide strike in Bangladesh, which was triggered by the unexplained disappearance of opposition politician Ilyas Ali. (Al Jazeera)
Bahraini uprising: Bahrain's highest appeals court postpones for a week the final verdict in the case of imprisoned hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 other democracy activists. (BBC)
Syrian uprising: Syrian regime forces kill at least 33 people with shells and gunfire in the city of Hama. (BBC)
The Egyptian government does not grant licenses to eight U.S. civil society groups, including the Carter Center. (BBC)
Arts and culture
A festival of William Shakespeare's 37 plays performed polyglotically, from Swahili to sign language, begins as part of the World Shakespeare Festival on the anniversary of the Bard of Avon's birth. (BBC)
White House lawyers launch an internal investigation into the role its advance staff may have played in U.S. Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, though no evidence has been found to implicate anyone in the scandal. (BBC)
In accordance with a request from the South Korean government, China stops the deportation of North Korean defectors who escape to China. (Daily Yomiuri)
Law and crime
Former Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde is found not guilty of negligence over the island's 2008 economic meltdown. He is to face no punishment and his legal expenses are to be paid for. (BBC)
The sister of MI6 officer Gareth Williams found dead in his flat tells his inquest that he had been a "scrupulous risk-assessor" and only let "vetted" people into his home. (BBC)
Sky News email hacking
The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom launches an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News. (BBC)
The Ofcom announcement comes on the same day that the news channel's boss John Ryley appears before the Leveson Inquiry where he says the company broke the law by hacking emails. (BBC)
City officials in Florida refuse to allow Bill Lee, the police chief who did not arrest George Zimmerman after he shot and killed unarmed black child Trayvon Martin, to resign. George Zimmerman - now facing a murder charge - is released on bail and taken to a secret location. (BBC)
The trial begins in North Carolina of former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, concerning the use of illegal campaign donations to cover up an affair with a mistress. (Reuters)
Around 45 people are detained across China in a poison drug capsule scandal. (Straits Times)
Three men appear in court in the town of Newry in Northern Ireland to face charges of threatening to kill, INLA membership and blackmail. (BBC)
