In Russia, a court in St. Petersburg sentences two men for the 1998 murder of liberal MP Galina Starovoitova. Organizer Yuri Kolchin received 20 years in prison, Vitaly Akishin receives 23.
The Sudanese government releases jailed Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi and lifts a ban of his Popular Congress Party. He was detained for plotting a coup
Spain's parliament votes to legalize same-sex marriages, the third European country to do so after the Netherlands and Belgium, and in the same week as Canada. The bill passed by a margin of 40 votes, with 187 votes in favor, 147 opposed, and four abstentions.
In India, Gautam Goswami, main suspect of a massive flood relief scam connected to 2005 Indian Ocean earthquake, gives himself up after several weeks and is remanded to judicial custody. He is also under another investigation of misusing public funds meant for social programs.
Time Magazine says that it will hand over records in compliance with a court order in the investigation of the leak of a covert CIA operative's name. This decision in the matter of Valerie Plame could avoid jail time for one of its reporters, Matthew Cooper.
The EPA says that a chemical used to make Teflon is "likely" to cause cancer. The compound is used in the creation of cookware and clothing.
Survivors of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis claim that Iran's president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was among their captors. The United States is looking into the matter.
In Egypt, Ayman Ismail, co-defendant in the case of forged signatures with Ayman Nour, withdraws his guilty plea, stating that government security agents pressured him to do so.