No intention to steal votes;Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

On Sunday, she told Parliament that people could chose who they wanted to in the four city corporation elections, because the polls were free and fair.
“All elections during Zia, Ershad and opposition leader (Khaleda Zia) were rigged,” the Awami League chief said.
“People could vote freely and without fear only because Awami League ensured a proper election. It proves that free, fair, neutral and peaceful elections are possible under our government.”
“If people don’t vote us the next time, we will not stay on. But we don’t want to steal votes to remain in power,” she said.

She also congratulated the opposition-backed candidates for sweeping the civic polls.
She asked the Opposition, “Don’t try to bring any unconstitutional authority to power as it will benefit none.”
Earlier, a senior BNP leader Moudud Ahmed drew the Parliament’s attention to Saturday’s election results and claimed it manifested people’s lack of trust in the incumbent government.
“We reject the claim that free and fair polls are possible under this government,” he added.
He also demanded dissolution of the Parliament before tenure of the government is completed to conduct the general elections under a non-partisan caretaker government.
Citing the city corporation elections as an instance, the Awami League leaders have been telling the BNP-- which has been on the streets demanding a caretaker government-- that a free and fair election is possible under a partisan government.
Speaking at the House, Hasina has described Saturday’s free-and- fair election under the grand alliance government as a “victory of democracy”.

Power cuts hit Mexico City after earthquake

Mexico City has been hit by a series of power outages after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the centre of Mexico, with officials saying there was no other damage reported.

The quake struck just after midnight local time (0519:GMT), southwest of the city of Huitzuco, in Guerrero state, according to Mexico's National Seismological Service.

Some restaurants and residential buildings in the capital were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Buildings shuddered in the city, a witness told the Reuters news agency.

Although the earthquake was felt strongly in the capital, "in the preliminary report, Mexico City was not damaged," Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera wrote on his Twitter feed.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) downgraded its initial measurement of the quake to magnitude 5.8 from 6.0.

USGS geophysicist Randy Baldwin that the earthquake occured at a depth of about 55km, which would help minimise damage.

Venezuela signs gun control bill

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro signed a gun control bill into law in a bid to rein in the country's runaway violent crime.

"I hereby sign into law this gun control law, for peace in our nation," Maduro said on Friday in an address in Vargas state.

The bill will allow sentences of up to 20 years in prison for any civilian convicted of illegally carrying or selling a firearm.

It also restricts the sale of ammunition to civilians, and bans weapons from being shown in public places.

"Any arm that is confiscated will be destroyed immediately ... the sales of weapons and ammunition also ends," said National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello.

There are some exceptions: people are allowed to use weapons to protect their property and themselves when in danger, and security personnel can use them when transporting valuable items.

The bill was promoted by late president Hugo Chavez, a leftist-populist in power since 1999 who died on March 5.

The ruling socialist party, or PSUV, and two opposition parties approved the bill.

In the first quarter of 2013, there were 3,400 murders. That followed another year of bloodletting that saw about 16,000 homicides nationwide in 2012, according to government data.

There were 15 million firearms - legal and illegal - in a country of 29 million in 2009.

US considers North Korea offer of talks

Officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan will meet in Washington this week to discuss North Korea's offer to hold high-level talks.
A senior US administration official said on Sunday that the meetings would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"We will be meeting with our Japanese and South Korean partners in a trilateral setting and this will be one of the
subjects for discussion," the official said.
North Korea proposed high-level talks with the US on security in the region and the nuclear weapons issue, with the aim of easing tension on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea's National Defence Commission said in a written statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Sunday that the North was willing to have "serious discussions on a wide range of issues, including the US goal to achieve the world free of nuclear arsenal", as it urged the US to set the time and venue for the talks.
The White House said earlier it was open to talks with North Korea but Pyongyang must comply with UN Security Council resolutions and ultimately agree to denuclearisation.
Subsiding tensions
The invite comes days after the North reportedly called off talks with South Korea.
But overall, the rare proposal comes amid subsiding tensions, which softened in May and June, as Pyongyang made overtures to re-establish dialogue with South Korea and the US.
In a notable shift in propaganda in Pyongyang, posters and billboards calling on North Koreans to "wipe away the American imperialist aggressors" have been taken down in recent weeks.
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Foreign analysts say impoverished North Korea often expresses interest in talks after raising tensions with provocative behaviour in order to win outside concessions.
The Korean Peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border.
North Korea is expected to draw attention to Korea's division in the weeks leading up to the 60th anniversary in July of the close of the Korean conflict, which ended in an armistice.
A peace treaty has never been signed formally ending the war.
Nuclear woes
Washington's biggest worry is North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. Pyongyang is estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices and has been working toward building a bomb it can mount on a missile capable of striking the US.

Earlier this year, Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, formalised the drive to build a nuclear arsenal, as well as growing the economy, as national goals.
Pyongyang claims the need to build atomic weapons to defend the country against what it sees as a US nuclear threat in Korea and the region.
North Korea will not give up its nuclear ambitions until the entire Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, a spokesman from the North's National Defence Commission said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
"The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula does not only mean dismantling the nuclear weapons of the North," the spokesman said, but also should involve "denuclearising the whole peninsula, including South Korea, and aims at totally ending the US nuclear threats" to North Korea.

After blaming Washington for raising tensions, he called on the US to set the venue and date for talks.

Singapore punishes 20 banks in rate review

Singapore's central bank censured a record 20 banks after it found more than 100 traders in the city state tried to rig key borrowing and currency rates.

The probe by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) marks the latest development in a global crackdown on rate-rigging and adds more banks, including ING and Bank of America , to the list of lenders involved.

The watchdog said on Friday that 133 traders had tried to inappropriately influence the rates. It did not fine the banks, but ordered them to set aside additional reserves for a year.

The city state's banking and market associations also unveiled reforms of how banks will set the benchmarks, including basing some of them on actual trades rather than estimates submitted by banks. Europe and the United States are also pushing for benchmark rates to be based on actual trades.

Financial market reference rates are under intense scrutiny around the world following the discovery that some had been rigged, most notably the Libor - London Interbank Offered Rate - benchmark for interest rates.

Barclays was the first bank to be fined for Libor manipulation, and US and UK authorities have slapped fines of hundreds of millions of dollars on Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS and are investigating more banks.

The regulatory focus has now expanded to the foreign exchange market. Britain's financial watchdog is looking into a report that traders manipulated benchmark foreign exchange rates.

The Singapore watchdog ordered UBS, RBS and ING to set aside the most in additional reserves, with each having to post between S$1 billion ($800 million) and S$1.2 billion extra with the central bank.

The money will be returned if the banks take the required remedial action.

Police and protesters clash in Istanbul

Clashes have taken place between police and anti-government protesters in the streets leading to a central square in Istanbul, as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has displayed a show of strength in a rally organised by his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party only a few kilometers away from the violence.

Thousands of protesters have been trying to reach Taksim Square on Sunday after overnight police intervention at an Istanbul park where anti-government protests were first ignited more than two weeks ago.

Riot police fired bursts of tear gas and water cannon on Sunday after a night of unrest to try to prevent demonstrators from regrouping and keep them away from Taksim Square, where Gezi Park is located.

Bulldozers removed barricades and municipal workers swept the streets around the central Taksim Square, sealed off by police, after thousands took to the streets overnight following the raid on the park.

Meanwhile, speaking at his party's pro-government rally in Istanbul, Erdogan accused international media of "lying", apparently referring to the coverage of the recent protests. He said that foreign media sources were not portraying an accurate representation of Turkey.

"Come on BBC, CNN and Reuters… Display this differently as well," he told tens of thousands of supporters. "This is the real picture of Turkey, despite international media." 

He also targeted the European parliament over a resolution it adopted regarding the protests. "Turkey is not a country that can be convicted by parliaments that do not know about Turkey," Erdogan said, adding the EU should "know [its] place!".

In a resolution passed on Thursday in Strasbourg, the EU institution warned the government against the use of "harsh measures" against peaceful protestors and urged Erdogan to take a "unifying and conciliatory" stance. It also expressed its "deep concern" at the disproportionate and excessive use of force by Turkish police.

Erdogan on Sunday rejected protesters' allegations that he had been dictatorial in his actions, asserting that the demonstrators in Gezi Park were "not sincere". He reiterated that he would await a final court verdict on the controversial urban development project at the centre of the protests in Gezi Park.

Throughout Saturday night and Sunday, police forces entered hotels and other buildings harbouring injured protesters in Istanbul, using tear gas inside buildings and detaining demonstrators.  

There have been rallies and clashes in cities such as capital Ankara, Izmir, Eskisehir, Bursa, Antalya and Adana following police’s intervention in Gezi Park in Saturday evening and Sunday.

Hundreds of police officers have poured into Istanbul in order to work around Taksim Square and Kazlicesme, where the pro-government rally has taken place.

‘No access to Taksim Square’

Meanwhile, Istanbul's governor said on Sunday that the planned gathering by an anti-government protest group in Taksim Square would not be allowed to go ahead.

"There is a call for gathering in Taksim at 4:00pm [local time; 13:00GMT]," Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters. "Any call for Taksim will not contribute to peace and security. After the current environment becomes stable, they can continue exercising their democratic rights. Under current circumstances we will not allow any gathering."

Mutlu said two police officers were shot during Saturday’s riots by live ammunition, adding that they are in good condition.

He also confirmed the reports that doctors helping protesters were arrested. "Yes, doctors have been arrested but they are acting in conjunction with the protesters," he said.

He also rejected reports claiming that water sprayed from water cannon at protesters contained any additional chemicals.

In Ankara, police forces have prevented a large group of people from entering capital Ankara’s central Kizilay Square. Water cannon and tear gas have been used by riot police against protesters.

The group was trying to enter the square following protester Ethem Sarisuluk's funeral in order to commemorate him where he died.

The government says the demonstrators are being manipulated by illegal groups seeking to sow instability while the movement says that the government has been acting increasingly authoritarian.

Turkey has been in turmoil since late May after a sit-in protest against an urban development project at Gezi Park of Istanbul transformed into countrywide anti-government demonstrations

UK and Russia 'can bridge Syria differences'

Russia and Britain can overcome their differences on the Syria conflict, British Prime Minister David Cameron said after meeting President Vladimir Putin in London.
The conflict was at the top of the agenda in Sunday's meeting which could set the tone for the Group of Eight (G8) summit, with the West at odds with Moscow over how to handle the conflict.
Cameron said that he blamed President Bashar al-Assad for "tearing country apart"  and the Syrian leader had to go.
But he said: "What I take from our conversation today is that we can overcome these differences if we recognise that we share some fundamental aims: to end the conflict, to stop Syria breaking apart, to let the Syrian people decide who governs them and to take the fight to the extremists and defeat them."
Putin fiercely defended Russia providing the Syrian regime with arms when asked if his nation had blood on its hands.
"You can't deny that both sides have blood on their hands. The question is who to blame," Putin said defiantly.
"You shouldn't back people who kill their enemies and film themselves eating their organs.
'Humanitarian values'
"Do you want to supply arms to these people? This goes against the humanitarian and cultural values that Europe has been professing for centuries."
Putin was referring to disturbing video footage on the internet which is said to be of one rebel fighter eating what appeared to be the heart of a government soldier.
The talks followed a decision by President Barack Obama's administration to arm rebels trying to overthrow President
Bashar al-Assad after it said it had obtained proof that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons.

The Russian leader, who arrived an hour late for the talks, said he wanted to help broker a peace deal for Syria and he
hoped that the G8 summit in Northern Ireland could help advance that process.
But Cameron said big differences over how to best achieve that aim remained between Britain and Russia.
"There are very big differences between the analysis we have of what happened in Syria and who is to blame but where there is common ground is that we both see a humanitarian catastrophe," Cameron said.
Al Jazeera's Tim Friend said that it was early days but Cameron and Putin could go to the G8 summit on Monday with something to build on when they meet Obama and other leaders.
"Perhaps this is just the beginning," Friend said.

Thousands rally against Bulgaria government

Thousands of protesters have urged Bulgaria's Socialist-led government to resign during a rally in Sofia.

Police said on Sunday that about 15,000 people took part in a rally outside the government building in the capital Sofia to demand a new election. Protesters also gathered outside parliament and in other Bulgarian cities.

Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's decision to appoint 32-year-old media mogul Delyan Peevski as chief of the powerful national security agency DANS and parliament's rapidity in rubber stamping the nomination angered many people.

Many waved Bulgarian flags and shouted "Mafia!", "Resign!", and "Red garbage!" in what amounted to the biggest rallies in the past three days.

Thousands poured into the streets in protest, sparking fears of a fresh political crisis, just months after anti-poverty demonstrations brought down the previous government.

President Rosen Plevneliev demanded an immediate review of the appointment and said he had lost confidence in the government.

Peevski offered to step down from the post on Saturday and Oresharski said he accepted the resignation.

But protesters were not appeased.

'Destabilisation danger'

Plamen Oresharski, Bulgaria's prime minister, issued a written statement in which he refused to step down.

"Tabling a resignation now would be an easy personal decision but an extremely irresponsible one due to the danger of new destabilisation in the country," Oresharski said.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) formed a governing coalition with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), a Turkish minority party, after a snap election last month.

A government led by the Citizens for European Bulgaria (GERB) conservative party resigned in February after mass demonstrations against spending cuts, high energy costs and low salaries in the poorest EU member state.

Anti-government rallies were also held on Sunday in the central city of Plovdiv and in the Black Sea port of Varna.

Protests are to continue on Monday

Kuwait court dissolves parliament

Kuwait’s top court has dissolved parliament and called for new elections after an opposition challenge to the voting system was thrown out. 

Head judge Youssef al-Mutawa said the Constitutional Court made its decision after examining and rejecting the challenge. 

Kuwait's emir made a televised plea for citizens to accept the changes to the voting rules, asking them to reject "the voices of chaos".

"I accept...the ruling of the Constitutional Court regardless of its content, and I call on all citizens to respect it and abide by it," Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah said in a special broadcast on state television late on Sunday.

The case had questioned the constitutionality of a change to the electoral system ordered by the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah.

Mutawa said the hearing had decided not to make a ruling on the challenge, in effect leaving the emir’s decree unchanged. Al-Sabah is described as “immune and inviolable” in the constitution.

The government said the new system, which reduced the number of votes per person to one from four, brought Kuwait in line with other countries.

However, opposition politicians said the decree was unconstitutional and an attempt to stop them from forming a majority or bloc in parliament.

Al-Sabah had used emergency powers in October last year to change voting rules, six weeks before the country was due to hold parliamentary elections.

Opposition politicians boycotted the poll, and on the eve of the election tens of thousands of Kuwaitis marched in protest against the decree.

Protest march ban

The Interior Ministry said on Friday it would not allow any unlicensed protest marches.

"We will never allow any rallies or marches outside Erada Square," said a statement from the Interior Ministry, referring to a designated protest area opposite parliament. 

State news agency KUNA said any protesters who break the law would be dealt with firmly.

Political parties are banned in Kuwait and the four-vote system helped opposition MPs form alliances in elections and gave them more clout in parliament.

Islamic, nationalist and liberal opposition groups said the emir's decree would enable the government to manipulate election results and subsequent legislation as a consequence. 

The case has international significance because political stability in Kuwait, owner of more than six percent of global oil reserves, has traditionally depended on co-operation between the government and the elected parliament, the oldest and most powerful legislature in the Arab Gulf states. 

The country sits in a strategic position between Saudi Arabia and Iraq and across the Gulf from Iran.

Kuwait has been ruled by the Al-Sabah dynasty since 1750, but the opposition has repeatedly said it is challenging the constitutional system and not Al-Sabah rule per se

Deadly blasts rock southern Iraqi cities

A wave of car bombs in southern Iraq has killed 30 people as the country grapples with a spike in violence and prolonged political deadlock, sparking fears of a sectarian war.

A total of seven vehicles rigged with explosives went off on Sunday in five cities south of Baghdad, the capital, during morning rush hour, leaving 56 people wounded in primarily Shia Muslim areas of Iraq.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni groups linked to al-Qaeda frequently target Shias, whom they regard as apostates, in coordinated attacks.

Car bombs went off in Kut, Aziziyah, Mahmudiyah, Nasiriyah and Basra, officials said.

In Kut, the provincial capital of Wasit located 160km south of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in an industrial area packed with vehicle repair garages, killing seven people and wounding 15.

Another car bomb in nearby Aziziyah, in the town's main marketplace and near a Shia mosque, killed five and wounded 10.

Twin blasts in the southern port city of Basra, meanwhile, killed five people, including a bomb disposal expert looking to defuse one of the rigged vehicles.

At least three others were killed in bombings in Nasiriyah and Mahmudiyah.

The violence was the latest in a sharp rise in attacks nationwide, with last month registering the highest death toll since 2008, sparking fears of a return to the all-out sectarian war that blighted Iraq in 2006 and 2007.

There has been a heightened level of unrest since the beginning of the year, coinciding with rising discontent among the Sunni Arab minority that erupted into protests in late December.

Analysts say a lack of effort by the Shia-led authorities to address the underlying causes of the demonstrations has given armed groups fuel and room to manoeuvre to carry out their activities.

The outgoing UN envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler has warned the violence is "ready to explode".

Egypt cuts diplomatic ties with Syria

Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's president, has announced that Egypt is cutting off diplomatic relations with Syria and has ordered that Damascus Embassy in Cairo to be closed.
Morsi told thousands of supporters in a rally held on Saturday that his government is also withdrawing the Egyptian charge d'affaires from Damascus.
Morsi also called on Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group to leave Syria, where the group has been fighting alongside troops loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad against the rebel forces.
"We stand against Hezbollah in its aggression against the Syrian people," Morsi said. "Hezbollah must leave Syria - these are serious words. There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria."
The Egyptian president also called on the international community to implement a no-fly zone over Syria, where the UN says that more than 93,000 people have been killed since a popular uprising escalated into civil war more than two years ago.
The rally that Morsi addressed on Saturday was called for by loyalists to the Egyptian president to show solidarity with the people of Syria. However, Morsi also used the occasion to warn his opponents at home against the use of violence in mass protests planned for June 30, the anniversary of his assumption to power.
Morsi repeated the allegation that Egyptians loyal to the now-ousted regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak were behind the planned protests and that they were working against the January 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.
"Some who are delusionary want to pounce on the January revolution and think that they can undermine the stability that is growing daily or undermine the resolve that people have clearly forged with their will,'' he said.

Iran celebrates Rouhani's presidential win

oderate cleric Hassan Rouhani has called his defeat of conservative hardliners a victory of moderation over extremism and pledged a new tone of respect in international affairs.
Thousands of jubilant Iranians poured onto the streets in celebration of the victory on Saturday, chanting: "Long live reform! Long live Rouhani!", according to witnesses at the scene.

"Ahmadi, bye bye!" they added in reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who was legally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.
Many were dressed in purple, Rouhani's campaign colour, and others in
green, the colour of the reformist movement.
Rouhani will take up the presidency, the highest elected office in Iran's hybrid clerical-republican system, in August.

"This victory is a victory of wisdom, a victory of moderation, a victory of growth and awareness and a victory of commitment over extremism and ill-temper," Rouhani told state television, promising to work for all Iranians, including the
hardline so-called "Principlists" whom he defeated at the poll.

"I warmly shake the hands of all moderates, reformists and Principlists," he said.
Final results
In his first televised address on Sunday Iran's president-elect asked for help during his term and promised to abide by Iranian law.
"[I'm proud that] the great people [of Iran], the honourable people, thought that I deserve this," Rouhani said.
"They trusted me so that I can begin on the path to serve the country, to enhance people's lives and welfare, and preserve national pride and national interests. I deeply feel that I need your assistance along this path. I need you to be there. I need your cooperation."
Rouhani won outright against five conservative candidates with 18.6 million votes, Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said.
That was enough to ensure there would be no run-off against the runner-up, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who came a distant second with 6.07 million votes.
Saeed Jalili, Iran's Chief nuclear negotiator received four million votes and Mohsen Rezaei, a former head of the elite Revolutionary Guard, was also backed by close to 4 million people.
Matters of national security remain the domain of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the president runs the economy and wields broad influence in decision-making in other spheres.
Friday's vote was the first since the disputed 2009 re-election of Ahmadinejad triggered massive street protests by supporters of his rivals, that were crushed in a deadly crackdown.
The 2009 protests that followed Ahmadinejad's re-election led to the eventual house arrest of opposition candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and the widespread suppression of reformists.
Rouhani background
Al Jazeera's Soraya Lennie, reporting from Tehran, said that in the Iranian context, Rouhani is not exactly a true reformist but a moderate. She explained that moderates want to reform only the system but they want Iran to abide by its constitution and emphasise easing of restrictions on personal freedoms.
Rouhani, a former top nuclear negotiator who has championed more constructive engagement with world powers, seemed to strike a new tone in the way he talked about Iran's foreign relations in his statement.

He said there was a new chance "in the international arena" for "those who truly respect democracy and co-operation and free negotiation".
Though an establishment figure, Rouhani was known for his nuanced, conciliatory approach when he was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator.
He inherits an economy that has been badly hit by EU and US sanctions targeting the key oil and banking sectors because of its nuclear programme.
In 2003, when Rouhani was under former President Mohammad Khatami, the republic agreed to suspend its controversial enrichment of uranium.
That programme resumed two years later when Ahmadinejad was first elected.
In campaigning, Rouhani pledged to move to ease the sanctions, which have hit hard. Inflation is more than 30 percent, the rial has lost nearly 70 percent of its value and unemployment is rising.
Rouhani is a representative Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security body, and was its secretary for 16 years until 2005.
Reactions
Emphasising political continuity, Khamenei congratulated both the people of Iran for the high turnout in the polls and Rouhani for his electoral success.

"The true winner of yesterday's election is the great nation of Iran that was able to take a firm step with God's help," Fars news agency quoted Khamenei as saying.
Iran's rial strengthened about four percent against the US dollar on Saturday after partial vote tallies pointed to an easy Rouhani victory, web sites tracking the currency said.