John Bryson John Bryson resigns as United States Secretary of Commerce following a seizure that led to two car accidents.
President The father of previous President of Chile Michelle Bachelet was probably tortured to death after the 1973 coup led by Augusto Pinochet, a judge says.
Jakarta A court in Jakarta sentences Umar Patek to 20 years' imprisonment for Patek's involvement in the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
Oakland Oakland-based group Courage to Resist asks participants in the 42nd annual Pride parade this Sunday to march in celebration of the imprisoned U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning, imprisoned by the U.S. government for alleged leaking of classified information into the public domain.
President of Ecuador President of Ecuador Rafael Correa decides on the issue of granting asylum to WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange as Assange remains in the Ecuadorian embassy of London, risking arrest by the British authorities.
Asylum seeker A boat carrying up to 200 asylum seekers capsizes north of Christmas Island, between Indonesia and Australia with 110 survivors rescued.
Indonesian Air Force An Indonesian Air Force Fokker 27 crashes in a residential complex in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing at least six people.
Dow Jones Industrial Average The US Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 251 points on the back of weak economic data and poor news from the Eurozone.
Avianca Avianca, Copa Airlines and TACA Airlines join Star Alliance, becoming the 26th, 27th and 28th member airlines. This will prompt TAM Airlines to transfer to Oneworld in the foreseeable future
Moody's Moody's downgrades the credit rating of 15 major world banks: UK (The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC), US (Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan), Rest of world (Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley).
Air France Air France announces its decision to cut just under 10% of the total workforce (more than 5,000 jobs) by the end of next year in an attempt to restore profitability.
Vassilis Rapanos Vassilis Rapanos, chairman of Greece's largest private bank, is named finance minister.
Lucian Freud A Lucian Freud self-portrait painted on an egg shell is sold at auction to a private collector for £27,000.
LeRoy Neiman U.S. artist LeRoy Neiman, one of the world's most commercially successful contemporary artists and an official painter of five Olympiads famed for his instant renditions of sporting action, dies in New York.
War in Afghanistan In Afghanistan, Taliban soldiers invade a hotel in Kabul, kill guests, and hold some hostages.
War on drugs The Uruguayan government announces plans to start selling marijuana in limited amounts to registered users.
Mexican Drug War: Mexican marines detain Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (alias "El Chapo"), Mexico's most-wanted drug lord in the western state of Jalisco.
Arab Spring Human Rights Watch expresses concern over the Egyptian military's level of commitment to handing over power to civilian rule.
In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, ousted from power in last year's revolution, is reported to be "clinging to life" as his deterioration adds further to Egyptian uncertainty.
Syrian uprising: The pilot of a Syrian MiG 21 fighter plane defects to Jordan after landing in a military air base in northern Jordan.