Medical staff in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, say at least 12 people have been killed in clashes between Islamist insurgents and government, pro-government forces. The report said that soldiers fired shells into the Yaqshid district, which is controlled by the insurgents, in response to a mortar attack on the presidential palace.

The BBC has learnt that two senior Burmese officials have been sentenced to death for leaking details of secret government visits to Russia and North Korea and of military tunnels that is being built in Burma by the North Koreans. It’s thought that the tunnels are long, and the construction are intended to house communication systems, weapons factories and troops in the events of invasion.

The European Union has announced that its satellite navigation system Galileo will start operating in 2014. Rescue workers will be the first to use it with other services rolled out over the following years. Mark Gregory reports.

The Galileo project is already way over budget in several years late. Two years ago, it was nearly scrapped, but now the first commercial contract has been announced, a clear signal that Europe's alternative to the American GPS satellite locating network will go ahead. A German company, OHB System, will supply 14 satellites. The French group, Arianespace, will launch them into orbit, starting in October 2012. It’s Europe’s largest ever venture in space.

Construction companies building the Dubai Metro say they are slowing down the pace of their work, but they haven’t confirmed reports that it is because of a delay in payments from the Dubai government. The authorities in Dubai said they were committed to meeting their financial obligations on the project and that work was on schedule. Last September, Dubai said the estimated cost of building the metro had almost doubled to 7.6 billion dollars.