Apple gives Cook 1m shares

Apple has given Tim Cook one million shares of restricted stock as he takes over the reins of the company from Steve Jobs, writes the Associated Press.

At current prices, the stock package is worth more than $383 million. Cook assumed CEO duties last week when Jobs stepped aside after 14 years, saying he was no longer able to do the job.

Cook won't immediately have access to the stock as half of the award vests over five years, and the other half five years after that. So the full value won't be known for years.

The number of court cases brought by people who say they have been defamed online has more than doubled in a year, experts have said, reports the BBC.

Internet-related libel cases in England and Wales rose from seven to 16 in the year ending 31 May, said legal information firm Sweet and Maxwell.

The increase has been linked to a rise in the use of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Google has revealed it will shut down its Slide social networking platform just one year after acquiring the company, according to V3.co.uk.

The firm said Slide will be dissolved and users will be migrated to other Google social networking and file-sharing platforms.

Additionally, Slide founder Max Levchin has confirmed he will leave Google.

China and the US have closed down a network of Chinese child pornography sites, in a rare instance of cooperation between the two nations on cyber crime, Beijing said, reveals AFP.

The network comprised at least 48 pornographic sites, 18 of which contained graphic images of children, China's public security ministry said in a statement released last week.

The ministry said the operation to close down the sites, which were aimed at a Chinese audience, was “the first successful joint law enforcement campaign by the two nations on online crimes”.