TEHRAN: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as Iranian president on Wednesday as riot police broke up an opposition protest over an election that triggered the worst turmoil in the Islamic republic's history. The 52-year-old Ahmadinejad took the oath of office for another four-year term at a ceremony in parliament, defiantly vowing to resist "oppressive powers" and saying his June election marked a major change in Iran. But prominent opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony, and outside riot police and Basij volunteer Islamic militiamen used pepper gas against demonstrators who claim his landslide victory was fraudulent, witnesses said. Wednesday's ceremony was attended by about 240 of Iran's 290 MPs as well as clerics, but prominent opposition leaders including Ahmadinejad's main defeated challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi were absent, as was powerful cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. After taking the oath, Ahmadinejad has a two-week deadline to form a new government that is likely to remain on a collision course with the West, particularly over Iran's controversial nuclear drive.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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