The U.N. Electoral Complaints Commission reports that over 2,500 polling stations in Afghanistan’s presidential elections showed signs of fraud, ordering 10% of all ballots nationwide to be recounted. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai leads the vote count at 54% with 95% of ballots counted, but could be forced into a runoff with challenger Abdullah Abdullah if that lead drops below 50% after questionable ballots are reviewed.

Muntandhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi television reporter who achieved international notoriety and acclaim for throwing his shoes at U.S. President George Bush, is released from jail. At a press conference following his release, he defended his actions, saying “throwing shoes against the war criminal Bush” was his way of giving voice to those who lost loved ones as a result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Al-Zeidi also alleges he was tortured with electric shocks and severely beaten after his arrest.

U.S. special forces kill a top al-Queda operative in Somalia. Six helicopters took part in the operation that killed Saleh Ali Nahban, the main suspect in a 2002 attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner and bomb a hotel in Kenya.

The European parliament is expected to appoint Jose Manuel Barroso to another 5-year term as European Commission president. Barroso was opposed in his bid for the E.U.’s highest profile post by groups critical of his actions during the global financial crisis, but no other candidate came forward to oppose him.

U.S. counterterrorism agents raid several apartments in New York City in search of al Qaeda-linked explosives. They found nothing but warned law enforcement officials across the country to be on the lookout for activities indicating the manufacture of homemade bombs.