Ali Bongo, son of former Gabon President Omar Bongo, is declared the winner of Gabon’s presidential election. Riots break out in several cities after the announcement, and major opposition candidate Pierre Mamboundou is seriously wounded in clashes with police.

The Iranian parliament votes to approve Marzieh-Vahid Dastjerdi as Minister of Health, making her the first female cabinet minister in the history of the Islamic republic. The parliament rejected two other women candidates put forward by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Members of a drug gang are suspected of executing 17 people at a drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, near the U.S. border. Mexican drug gangs have recently started targeted rehabilitation centers that they say protect members of rival groups.

Tens of thousands of members of minority ethnic groups gather in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi to protest random syringe attacks against dozens of people. The attacks have raised ethnic tensions in a city where riots killed 197 mainly Han Chinese in early July.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis calls for early elections, which he says are needed to deal with fallout from the global financial crisis. The move comes just two years after 2007 elections brought Karamanlis to power.