Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to Paul Scholes after his team closed in on a 20th English title.

Scholes, 37, scored a third goal since coming out of retirement in January as United secured an 11th win in 12 Premier League matches with a 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford.

China on Monday urged Syria to honor its ceasefire commitment, after Damascus said it wanted guarantees from armed rebels before it pulled back its troops from protest hubs.

The Syrian army was scheduled to withdraw from protest cities on Tuesday under a peace deal brokered by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, with a complete end to fighting set for 48 hours later.

The Japanese government on Monday gave a former prime minister a ticking off over a "personal" visit to Iran, where he met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and apparently criticized the IAEA.

Yukio Hatoyama, whose short stint in the top job ended in June 2010 after just nine months, was publicly admonished by his own party for comments he reportedly made during the trip claiming the UN's nuclear watchdog was being unfair to Iran.

China's inflation rate edged up in March, driven by rising food costs, official data showed Monday, but analysts said there was still scope for Beijing to stimulate the slowing economy.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 3.6 percent in March from 3.2 percent in February, slightly higher than analysts' expectations, as bad weather pushed up food prices and authorities raised the price of fuel.

French singer Charles Aznavour is back for a new North American concert tour and it's not to say farewell.

"I just wrote a song saying I will not say goodbye," says the 87-year-old crooner of his upcoming concerts in Montreal, Quebec City, Los Angeles and New York.

Sony will cut 10,000 jobs worldwide this year as it attempts to carry out sweeping reforms aimed at reviving the iconic but loss-making Japanese electronics giant, the Nikkei business daily said Monday.

About half the planned job cuts are part of a restructuring of Sony's chemical unit as well as operations tied to its small and medium-sized liquid crystal display panels, the Nikkei said in its online edition.

Syrian security forces and pro-regime militias have executed more than 100 civilians and rebel fighters in attacks on protest hubs since late 2011, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

Many of the summary and extrajudicial executions were carried out last month, and at least 85 of those killed were residents who never took part in fighting, including women and children, said the New York-based watchdog.

Mike Wallace, a legendary newsman known for impertinent, hard-nosed interviews on CBS' popular "60 Minutes" television program, died at age 93, the network announced on Sunday.

Wallace, whose 60-year career began in radio, spanning roles from wrestling announcer to quiz show host before making an indelible mark on U.S. television journalism as an interviewer of the news makers who defined his times.

The international mediator for Syria, Kofi Annan, was due in Turkey Tuesday for a visit to Syrian refugee camps near the border, a Turkish diplomatic source said Monday.

"The visit will only last a few hours, ahead of Annan's trip to Iran," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

At least 24 people were killed Monday as Al-Qaida militants raided an army barracks, the latest in a spate of attacks by the terror network which has boosted its presence across Yemen's lawless south and east.

"Fifteen Al-Qaida gunmen were killed in clashes with members of the 111th Brigade in Loder in Abyan province," a stronghold of the terror network, the Defense Ministry 26sep.net reported.