France French very-high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellite Pléiades-HR 1B is launched successfully via a Russian Soyuz STA rocket out of the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana.
Italy Voters in Italy go to the polls to select a centre-left candidate for Prime Minister with Pier Luigi Bersani winning.
Prime Minister Former Prime Minister Borut Pahor is elected President of Slovenia beating the incumbent President Danilo Türk in the second round of a presidential election after anti-austerity protests in the capital, Ljubljana, erupted in clashes that left 15 people injured.
Israel Keyes Israel Keyes, a 34-year-old man suspected of killing Samantha Koenig and possibly as many as 7 others throughout the U.S., apparently kills himself while in custody.
Egypt Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court defers a ruling on whether the Constituent Assembly is legal following pressure from supporters of President Mohamed Morsi.
Mine workers 16 miners are trapped underground after a coal mine was flooded in northeast China's Heilongjiang province.
Sasago Tunnel A section of the Sasago Tunnel in Japan collapses trapping 30 vehicles; at least 9 people are dead.
Napoleon Bonaparte A 200-year-old letter dated 20 October 1812 in which Napoleon Bonaparte vows to blow up the Moscow Kremlin fetches €187,500 (£151,000, $233,800) at a French auction in Fontainebleau.
Kennedy Center Honors The 2012 Kennedy Center Honors are announced in the United States with American actor Dustin Hoffman, American television host David Letterman, British rock group Led Zeppelin, American blues musician Buddy Guy and ballerina Natalia Makarova inducted.
Islamist Suspected Islamist fighters go on the rampage in Chibok, Nigeria, killing 10 Christians with guns and machetes and burning down their houses.
NATO The Taliban launches an attack on the NATO airstrip in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad resulting in seven Taliban deaths and at least five Afghans are killed.