The U.S. military in Iraqi cities transfers official control to the country’s forces. Newly-dubbed “Sovereignty Day” is celebrated with parades, fireworks, and a nationally-televised speech from Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. A car bomb in the city of Kirkuk kills at least 27 people.

A Yemenia Airways plane en route to the island-nation of Comoros, located off the coast of Mozambique, crashes into the Indian Ocean. Rescue workers are searching for more survivors after a finding a young survivor among the Airbus A310-300 debris.

The annual inflation rate for the Eurozone, the area of the 16 European nations which use the Euro, turns negative for the first time since the introduction of the unified currency in 1999. Although the European Central Bank falls below its target annual rate, it does not plan to cut its borrowing amount.

Israeli senior ministers discuss temporarily halting construction of West Bank settlements hours before a planned meeting between Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell. In an interview with the New York Times, Barak states, “We should not isolate this issue of settlements and make it the most important one. It has to be discussed in the context of a larger peace discussion.”

Japan’s unemployment rate is the lowest in five years and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare states, “The severity of the (employment) situation is increasing further.” Japanese companies fearful of a slow national economic recovery are reluctant to hire workers despite fiscal improvements within the nation’s corporate and manufacturing sectors. In the Tokyo neighborhood of Koenji, Japanese youth denounce the lack of employment opportunities.

Sudan announces military preparedness for a possible incursion from Chad‘s armed forces. Tensions escalate between the neighboring countries in recent weeks after each nation accuses the other of supporting rebel troops.