Malema, Paris’s Libyan conference and another iPhone prototype goes missing. Here are the top 7 stories you need to know:

Top Story: The ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee is set to rule on Friday whether Julius Malema has been successful in his application to dismiss the charges brought against him. Read more here (via Eyewitness News)

South Africa:  ANC ‘won’t allow’ public-interest defence, meaning journalists could face up to 10 years in prison if they publish classified information without government declassification. Read more here (via Times Live)

World News: Leaders gather at a key summit in Paris to discuss Libya, hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK PM David Cameron. Read more here (via BBC)

Business & Economy: The Swazi government will continue to face severe liquidity constraints over the coming months despite a R2.4 billion loan from South Africa. Read more here (vial IOL)

Technology & Online: Apple staffer loses test iPhone in bar – again. Read more here (via The Guardian)

People & Culture: Venus Williams exits U.S. Open because of autoimmune disease. Read more here (via The LA Times)

Health & Science: The world’s first clinical trial of brain stem cells to treat strokes is set to move to its next phase. Read more here (via BBC News)

Apple’s “fifth Beatle,” Ron Wayne, sold his 10% stake in the company two weeks after it was founded to avoid pushing paper and startup risks. That $35 billion would have been a lot of paper, Ron.

Wayen was brought on by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (with whom he had worked at Atari) to serve as an intermediary during disagreements or other business-related matters that would have benefitted from an informed, calculating third party.

Read the full story here (via Gizmodo)

The internet ws crawling with Jobs reports last Thursday.

Nearly every news aggregator put Apple’s new leadership situation ahead of hurricane Irene evacuations. So the CEO torch has been passed to Chief Operating Officer and occasional substitute CEO Tim Cook. Visionary founder and leader Steve Jobs takes a strictly strategic role as Chairman of the Board, and may dump his trademark turtlenecks for a Sinatra-style tuxedo.

Read the full story here (via Wired.com)

In a note to clients Friday, Ticonderoga’s Brian White reported that the new MacBook Air — which was launched in the U.S. more than four weeks ago — was greeted with long lines and stock outs when it finally arrived in Hong Kong this week.

Not only did stores run out of certain MacBook Air models, but also some iPads and iPhone 4s, presumably through a Chinese version of the halo effect. This, White says, bodes well for the launch of the Air in mainland China, perhaps as early as next week.

Read the full story here (via Fortune Magazine)

Apple’s ground breaking technology and its uncanny ability to understand what consumers really want has propelled the firm founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and his buddy Steve Wozniak to stratospheric heights.

Apple built its business on its highly desirable but niche Macintosh computer range. But Apple’s invention of the iPod, the iPhone, and now the iPad, has changed the way consumers interact with technology and given Apple unprecedented mass market appeal.

Read the full story here (via CNN)

The iconic Apple founder and CEO is giving up control of his iCompany.

Despite his resignation last week, Jobs will stay on as chairman (at least for now). But what will happen to the wildly successful company without its longtime visionary leader at the helm as CEO? Here, five predictions:

View the full list here (via The Week)

Apple’s ground breaking technology and its uncanny ability to understand what consumers really want

Apple built its business on its highly desirable but niche Macintosh computer range. But Apple’s invention of the iPod, the iPhone, and now the iPad, has changed the way consumers interact with technology and given Apple unprecedented mass market appeal.

Read the rest of this article here. (via CNN)

Patients with the rare form of cancer suffered by Apple Inc’s Steve Jobs face a tougher battle if the disease recurs, because of the methods used in fighting it.

Jobs said on Wednesday that he could no longer be chief executive of the company he co-founded. He had gone on medical leave in January for an undisclosed condition after years of fighting a rare type of pancreatic cancer and other health issues.

Read the full story here (via Reuters)

Nokia Oyj, which missed out twice on the love-in between smartphone users and their applications, may have a chance with Microsoft Corp.

Third-party applications helped make Apple Inc.’s iPhone the most profitable smartphone as users flocked to a handset with a slick touchscreen and an online store that has grown to more than 425,000 games and other programs. Google Inc.’s Android system, supported by dozens of manufacturers, also lured developers and became the best-selling smartphone system in the first quarter, soaring past Nokia’s Symbian software.

Read the rest of this article here. (via The Washington Post)

Tim Cook is an operational wiz. Philip Schiller is a marketing maven. Jonathan Ive is a design visionary.

The men at the helm of Apple are among the best at what they do. But none seems to have that spark of genius like Steve Jobs — an industry oddity studied by business school students for his creative vision, uncanny sense for what consumers want and shrewd leadership. And that’s the central issue Apple faces, now that Jobs has relinquished day-to-day control.

Read the rest of this article here. (via The Washington Post)

United States technology company Apple is now worth as much as the 32 biggest eurozone banks

That’s the stark result from a steep fall in the share price of banks including Spain’s Santander, France’s BNP Paribas, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Italy’s Unicredit, compared to a steady rise in Apple’s valuation, according to Thomson Reuters data. Read the rest of this article here. (via Mail and Guardian)

As stunning developments in the technology industry go, this one happened in a manner that felt inevitable.

In yesterday afternoon’s crisp, matter-of-fact letter, Steve Jobs told Apple’s board and the world that he was unable to continue as the company’s chief executive. He asked to serve as chairman, and recommended that Apple COO Tim Cook succeed him as CEO. And he said that Apple’s best days were ahead of it and expressed gratitude to his coworkers.

Read the rest of this article here (via Time Magazine)

I was standing right next to Steve Jobs in 1989 and it was the closest thing I ever felt to being gay.

The guy was incredibly wealthy, good looking enough to get any girl, a nerd super-rockstar who had just convinced my school to buy a bunch of NeXT machines (which, btw, were in fact the best machines to program on at the time) and I just wanted to be him. I wanted to be him ever since I had the Apple II+ as a kid.

Read the rest of this article here (via The Huffington Post)

In late 1979, a twenty-four-year-old entrepreneur paid a visit to a research  center in Silicon Valley called Xerox PARC.

He was the co-founder of a small computer startup down the road, in Cupertino.  His name was Steve Jobs.

Read the rest of this article here (via The New York Times)

From San Francisco to Shanghai to Sydney, fans of Apple paid extraordinary tribute to Steve Jobs after he resigned as CEO, calling him an icon

The outpouring on blogs and Twitter began minutes after Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, announced he would leave the chief executive’s post but carry on as chairman of Apple. Read the rest of this article here. (via News24)

Apple briefly becomes the world’s largest public company

By any standards it is a remarkable achievement. In the space of 14 years, Apple has transformed itself from a computer firm on the brink of bankruptcy into a stockmarket superstar. Read the rest of this article here. (via The Economist)

Steven P. Jobs, whose insistent vision that he knew what consumers wanted made Apple one of the world’s most influential companies

“I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s C.E.O., I would be the first to let you know,” Mr. Jobs said in a letter released by the company. “Unfortunately, that day has come.” Read the rest of this article here. (via The New York Times)

The extraordinary outpouring on blogs and Twitter began minutes after Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, announced he would leave the chief executive’s post but carry on as chairperson of Apple.

“Steve Jobs was the Leonardo da Vinci of our age,” said popular British novelist and journalist Tony Parsons on his Twitter page. “So thank you — without you, it would have all been ugly, difficult and dull.”

Read the rest of this article here (via The Mail & Guardian)

It’s a sad day for the technology industry: one of its most charismatic figures, a genius in an industry filled with brilliant minds, has stepped   aside.

Seven weeks after it was put on sale, Hewlett-Packard killed its TouchPad tablet, the company’s competitor to Apple’s iPad.

Last year, Microsoft pulled the plug on its Kin mobile phones only 48 days after they went on sale.  Google proudly released Wave, its platform of collaborative work tools, to the general public in May 2010. It canceled Wave 77 days later…

Read the rest of this article here (via The New York Times)