Morning Brief: Confirmation and controversy in Iran

Top Story: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally approved Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term as Iran's president. The ceremony was not attended by former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rasfanjani, who supported the opposition during the election and the controversy that followed the vote. Ahmadinejad, who has his work cut out for him presiding over a divided Iranian population and political elite, faces a number of immediate crises.

Iran is currently holding three U.S. hikers who illegally crossed the unmarked border into the country while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Swiss diplomats have requested a meeting with the three. The hikers have not yet been charged.

Iran has also put more than 100 opposition supporters on trial on conspiracy charges related to Iran's post-election unrest. The defendants include members of parliament and a former vice president. A number of the accused have already given confessions, saying that President Ahmadinejad rightly won the election. The opposition calls the trial a sham and says the confessions were coerced. 

Under the radar: The remains of Capt. Michael Speicher, the only American missing in action from the first gulf war, have been found and positively identified in Iraq's Anbar province. Speicher, a Navy pilot, was shot down in the opening hours of the war.