China's unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft launches on a mission to try to rendezvous and dock with the country's Tiangong-1 space laboratory.

Greece will hold a referendum on a new European Union aid package intended to resolve the country's debt crisis, PM George Papandreou announces.

Algeria's long-awaited underground metro system - Africa's second after Cairo's - opens in the capital Algiers.

Michael Jackson's doctor deviated from accepted medical standards, an expert says during cross-examination in the trial of Conrad Murray.

Ex-Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov criticises the Kremlin in a BBC interview, accusing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev of acting "like a dictator".

US authorities smash a huge drugs-smuggling network in Arizona linked to one of Mexico's most powerful cartels.

The United Nations Security council expresses concern over the fate of the massive weapons stockpile built up in Libya under Col Gaddafi.

The Who guitarist Pete Townshend urges Apple to use its power to help new bands instead of "bleeding" artists like a "digital vampire".