Daily News Channel
Top clerics and seminary students in Iran’s holy city of Qom have come out against the results of the disputed June Iranian presidential election, which was declared a landslide victory for the hard-line incumbent. The Association of Teachers and Researchers of the Qom seminary school issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the election was skewed.
A former Iranian president who backed the top opposition leader in last month’s disputed elections has delivered strong and carefully worded support of the grass-roots protest movement, saying he doubts "any wakened consciousness would be satisfied with the resulting situation." Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani –chairman of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and a supporter of opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi was quoted on Saturday by the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency. Rafsanjani, who heads the group responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader, was silent and largely unseen during the first two chaotic weeks following the contested June 12 elections. But Rafsanjani — a key politician in the Islamic republic — has become increasingly vocal about the elections results that gave hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an overwhelming victory.
Xiong Weiping, the chief executive officer of China’s largest aluminum company, Chinalco, spent the better part of the last four months doing something no other CEO of a state-owned Chinese company had ever done.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic will play world number one Rafael Nadal in the final of the Rome Masters after contrasting semifinal victories on Sunday. Djokovic edged past world number two Roger Federer 4-6 6-3 6-3 while Nadal brushed aside 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-3 at the Foro Italico. Serbian ace Djokovic needs to beat Nadal on Sunday to retain his world number three spot ahead of Andy Murray.