TEHERAN - IRAN'S supreme leader formally endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for second term as president on Monday in a ceremony that sought to portray unity among the country's leadership but was snubbed by prominent critics of the disputed election.
After Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his official seal of approval, he received an awkward kiss on the shoulder from Mr Ahmadinejad. The meeting cleared the way for Ahmadinejad to take the oath of office on Wednesday in parliament, where many pro-reform lawmakers have echoed the claims of fraud in the June 12 election.
SAN FRANCISCO - GOOGLE chief executive Eric Schmidt is resigning from the board of Apple due to 'potential conflicts' as the two tech giants compete in certain areas, Apple announced Monday.
Schmidt has been a member of Apple's board since August 2006.
BEIJING - A SECOND man has died of pneumonic plague in northwest China, in an outbreak that prompted authorities to lock down a town where about a dozen people were infected with the highly contagious deadly lung disease, a state news agency said.
The World Health Organisation office in China said it was in close contact with Chinese health authorities and that measures taken so far to treat and quarantine sickened people were appropriate.
KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN court on Monday charged 29 people, including a teenage boy, for taking part in a massive weekend protest against internal security laws that saw 589 people arrested.
In the biggest demonstration in Malaysia for nearly two years, police used tear gas and water cannon Saturday to disperse thousands of people calling for the abolition of laws that allow for detention without trial.
