Iran nuclear talks to resume in Moscow
A new round of talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme is due to open in Russia's capital, Moscow.
The two-day meeting between Iran and six world powers follows inconclusive sessions in Istanbul and Baghdad over the last two months.
Earlier this month, the UN's nuclear watchdog admitted that its talks with Tehran had ended with "no progress".
The West suspects that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon - a claim denied by Tehran.
The talks between negotiators from Tehran and six world powers - Britain, the US, China, Russia, France and Germany - are due to start at 0700 GMT.
The powers are expected to repeat three specific demands made last month, the BBC's James Reynolds in Moscow reports.
Our correspondent says that they want Iran to stop enrichment of uranium to 20%, to export its stockpile of 20%-enriched uranium and to to close a heavily-fortified underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom.
In return, the world powers say that they are prepared to start by offering help with nuclear safety measures.
But for Iran that is not enough, our correspondent says.
Tehran wants the West to lift sanctions, including an EU oil embargo and US measures against Iran's Central Bank.
It also says that Iran's "non-negotiable" right to enrich uranium must be recognised.
The UN's nuclear watchgod, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been trying to get access to sites inside Iran, including one at Parchin suspected of being used for experiments related to nuclear weapons.
However, the IAEA's chief inspector Herman Nackaerts said earlier this month that the lack of progress at talks in Vienna had been "disappointing".
Last November, an IAEA report claimed Iran had "carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear device".
Iran denies its nuclear programme has any military aspect.
Greece Conservatives Win Parliamentary Elections
Greece's pro-bailout parties won a slim parliamentary majority in Sunday's elections, after an inconclusive general election in May failed to produce a government.
The radical leftists who had vied for first place conceded defeat, after official estimates showed the conservative New Democracy party winning 29.5 percent of the vote, the radical leftist Syriza party receiving 27.1 percent and the PASOK Socialists taking 12.3 percent.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said “the Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone.”
In Washington, a White House statement said that “as President Obama and other world leaders have said, we believe that it is in all our interests for Greece to remain in the euro area while respecting its commitment to reform.”
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has been a major contributor to Greece's two multi-billion-dollar bailouts. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that “if the New Democracy's win is confirmed, Germany would consider such a result a decision by Greek voters to forge ahead with the implementation of far-reaching economic and fiscal reforms.”
New Democracy has promised to renegotiate the harsh austerity conditions of Greece's bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. But Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party, called for the annulling of the austerity package altogether, a decision which could have forced Greece to leave Europe's common euro currency.
Samaras said Tsipras' policies will put Greece into a worse situation than it is in now.
The monetary crisis in Greece, which first exploded in 2009, set off a chain reaction across Europe. Greece is now in its fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling to above 22 percent. Opinion polls show that Greeks overwhelmingly favor remaining in the euro, but are just as opposed to the austerity drive.
Greek political leaders share optimism, casting ballots in critical national polls
Greek political leaders shared optimism over the outcome of Sunday's critical national polls, the second in six weeks that could determine the country's economic future and whether it could stay in the eurozone.
"I am certain my fellow Greek compatriots are fully aware of what is at stake in today's electoral race and that it will lead as soon as possible to the formation of a new government that will address the country's problems," outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Panayiotis Pikrammenos said after he cast his vote in a polling station in Athens.
He expressed solidarity with hundreds of fire-fighters and citizens who were still battling with several wildfires since Saturday across Greece.
"We won the battle against fear. Today we are paving the path to hope, towards a better future, with Greek peoples united, with dignity and pride," Alexis Tsipras, head of the anti-austerity Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA, and one of the main contenders, told reporters, after casting his ballot in central Athens.
"Today it is Greek peoples' turn to have a say and tomorrow a new era starts for Greece," conservative pro-reform New Democracy (ND) party leader Antonis Samaras had commented earlier on Sunday in the southern peninsula of Peloponnese.
Opinion polls indicate that the outcome of the duel between ND and SYRIZA which are at odds over whether Greece should stay with the austerity introduced in exchange of two international bailouts since 2010 to avoid a financial meltdown or tear the memorandum off and take a different path to resolve the debt crisis, is too close to call.
Pollsters predict that no party will win outright parliamentary majority, despite the 50-seat bonus granted to the first party under the electoral law. A coalition government therefore will have to be formed.
Marathon coalition talks after the first inconclusive May 6 elections ended in impasse, fueling anxiety within Greece and abroad over whether the country could avoid the worst case scenario - a chaotic Greek default and eventually an exit from the eurozone - that could send shockwaves across the single currency area and global markets.
About 9.8 million Greek citizens eligible to vote, wearied by deep recession, queue at polling stations to make a hard choice between a mild revision of deals or a more radical approach.
Leaders of smaller parties, such as the Left-wing moderate Democratic Left and the Right-wing Independent Greeks, which are expected to pass the three percent threshold and most likely join a coalition government, sent similar messages of confidence Sunday.
Opinion polls forecast that at least seven parties out of twenty-one competing will enter the new parliament, including the pro-bailout socialists of PASOK led by Former Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, and anti-bailout Communist party, the Independent Greeks and the neo-fascist Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn).
The first estimates of exit polls will be announced by local television channels once poll stations close at 19:00 p.m. local time. The first official projections are due later in the evening, with the final results expected Monday.
EVote Counting Begins in Egypt, Military Asserts Power
As election officials began counting ballots in Egypt's presidential runoff, the ruling military issued an interim constitution handing itself sweeping powers, including legislative authority, after a court dissolved the Islamist-led parliament.
Egyptian state television reported late Sunday that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces would explain the widely anticipated declaration at a news conference the next day.
According to military sources, the move would grant the SCAF exclusive legislative powers in addition to control of the nation's budget until a new parliament is elected. The decree also gives the military the authority to compose its own 100-member panel that would draft Egypt's new constitution.
After polls closed Sunday night and counting began, aides to both candidates in the runoff – Ahmed Shafiq, the Mubarak-era representative, and an Islamist, Mohammed Morsi – were claiming their man was in the lead.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced Mr. Morsi was running ahead with at least 52 percent of the votes counted so far, compared to 48 percent for Mr. Shafiq. A Shafiq campaign official dismissed the Brotherhood's count, saying his candidate was ahead but gave no numbers.
The Brotherhood has warned it would launch protests if Mr. Shafiq is declared the winner.
Turnout appeared low compared with the 46 percent reported in last month's first round – a sign of dampening morale as the military tightened its grip on power.
The lack of participation likely also reflects dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates. Mr. Shafiq is a former air force general and confidant of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in an uprising last year. Mr. Shafiq promised to restore order and push back against the rise of Islamism. Mr. Morsi represents the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions.
Many of Egypt's 50 million eligible voters saw neither man as an acceptable choice. Some cast ballots against both candidates in a sign of protest.
Voters shared with VOA Sunday their disillusionment about the stark differences between the two contenders, as the first round eliminated centrist candidates.
The announcement of the winner as Egypt's first freely elected president is set for Thursday, but unofficial results are expected sooner.
Last week's Supreme Constitutional Court ruling to dissolve the country's current parliament led to accusations from some leading Islamists and liberals that the military is instituting a de facto coup through the judiciary.
The official MENA news agency said parliament received notice of the decree Saturday and that lawmakers will be barred from entering parliament, except with permission.
Ronaldo double sends Dutch out
A scintillating Cristiano Ronaldo double put Portugal into the European Championship quarter-finals and sent the Netherlands out.
The Dutch needed to win by two clear goals to stand a chance of progressing and Rafael van der Vaart's lovely curling strike put them ahead.
But the Netherlands faded badly and Ronaldo equalised by slotting in from Joao Pereira's precise pass.
Ronaldo drove in a winner and Portugal will next play Czech Republic.
The Dutch, meanwhile, will be left to reflect on a tournament in which they have lost all three of their matches, just two years after finishing as World Cup runners-up.
The Netherlands will first have to get the spectre of Ronaldo out of their minds as the Real Madrid star produced a performance of pace, power and poise to leave them mesmerised.
He was only denied a deserved hat-trick when a thumping late shot came back off the post as the Dutch were outgunned, with coach Bert van Marwijk's tactics backfiring.
Striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and playmaker Van der Vaart had started on the bench in the Dutch defeats by Denmark and Germany but both were unleashed from the start this time around.
The pair joined Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie as Netherlands tried to utilise the attacking prowess at their disposal and, initially, the move paid off.
Van der Vaart took a touch to control Robben's pass before curling in a 20-yard shot past the dive of Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
But Dutch hopes soon turned into the despair that has followed them around this tournament.
While the Netherlands had an array of potent talent, most of Portugal's reliance up front is on Ronaldo, and he was at his dancing and darting best as the Dutch goal brought his side out of their shell.
Ronaldo bamboozled right-back Gregory van der Wiel as he cut in from the left and struck a shot which clipped the outside of the post.
Van der Wiel must still have been in a daze moments later as his backpass put Helder Postiga through on goal, with his strike being palmed wide by keeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
Confident and creative, Ronaldo was proving a nightmare for a defence left exposed by their attacking tactics.
He had a header beaten away by Stekelenburg before he equalised, timing a run to perfection to collect a defence-splitting Pereira pass before slotting home to become the first Portuguese player to score at five major tournaments.
The former Manchester United man had a dipping 35-yard shot fended away by Stekelenburg and headed another chance wide as his energy and exuberance constantly had the Dutch backtracking.
Portugal supporterd their star with a stubborn defence marshalled by Bruno Alves and Pepe, a hard-working midfield trio of Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho and Raul Meireles and the trickery of Nani.
Nani helped set up Portugal's winner when he laid the ball across for Ronaldo to step inside and fire in.
Huntelaar may have claimed he should have been a starter for the Dutch in earlier games but his case was not helped by a virtually non-existent performance.
Van der Vaart and Ronaldo each hit the post with late shots before the referee ended the Dutch misery, while Portugal celebrated reaching the quarter-finals and maintaining a record of never going out in the group stages at the European Championship tournament.
IMF puts Jamaica's debt at 140% of GDP
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Jamaica's debt is 140 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), 10 percentage points worse than the figure used by the Government, and has warned that it could climb to a Greek-like 150 per cent, or higher, in the medium term if the Simpson Miller administration fails to push through tough fiscal reforms. In this scenario, growth could limp along at one per cent a year. At the same time, the Fund's executive directors stopped just short of an open rebuke of the former Jamaica Labour Party Government for failing to make good use of the opportunity provided by the rescheduling of J$702 billion of domestically held debt two years ago to begin a fundamental assault on the debt crisis.
"They regretted that the successful debt exchange under the 2010 standby arrangement (under which the IMF loaned Jamaica US$1.2 billion) had not been accompanied by fiscal consolidation to put Jamaica's public debt on a sustainable downward path," the IMF said in its assessment of a report by the Fund's staff of the Jamaican economy.
Chavez: Venezuela concerned about lower oil prices
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his government is concerned some fellow OPEC member countries are violating their quotas by producing too much oil. Chavez says Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez will bring up those concerns at next week's OPEC meeting in Austria.
Chavez didn't name any countries he thinks are exceeding production quotas. But Saudi Arabia, for one, has been pumping more oil to offset supply losses from Iran. The price of U.S. benchmark crude ended the week at US$84.10 a barrel in New York, near its lowest level since October.
Chavez says OPEC members should maintain what he calls a "fair level" of oil prices. He says that should be about $100 a barrel. Chavez's socialist government relies heavily on the country's oil earnings to pay for public programs. Higher oil production and weakness in economies around the world that are now burning less gasoline and other fuels have helped push down crude prices 14 percent in the last month and 25 percent from a high in February.
"It's a world of terrible news and a huge build (of oil stocks)," says Rich Ilczyszyn, an analyst and founder of the trading firm iiTrader.com. More declines could be on the way. Julian Jessop, Chief Global Economist at Capital Economics, thinks oil prices will end the year "much lower than they are now."
Demand for oil to make fuels for shippers and travelers is down because Europe remains mired in a debt crisis and economic growth in the U.S. and China has slowed. At the same time, oil supply has risen in recent months. Production in Libya, Iraq and the United States is growing. Saudi Arabia has been pumping more oil to offset supply loses from Iran, which is struggling to export crude under tightening Western sanctions.
One of the chief reasons for the recent drop in global oil prices is the change in the growth prospects in China. Judith Dwarkin, Chief Energy Economist at ITG Investment Research, said China is expected to account for half of the overall growth in global oil demand.
But growth in China has been slowing sharply. Investors expect the country will soon reveal that growth continued to slacken in May. If China is not using more oil, global demand won't rise nearly as much as expected — if it rises at all.
AP
Markets welcome Spanish banks rescue deal
Markets in Europe and Asia have risen in response to the bailout of Spain's banks that was agreed over the weekend.
On Saturday, eurozone ministers agreed to lend Spain's banks up to 100bn euros ($125bn; £80bn).
The FTSE 100 in London rose 1.0%, the Dax in Frankfurt was up 1.9% and the Cac 40 in Paris was up 1.6%. Spain's benchmark index, the Ibex, rose 2.6%. All had earlier made bigger gains.
The euro gained half a cent against the US dollar.
Spain's weakest banks were left with billions of euros of bad loans following the collapse of a property boom and the subsequent recession.
Earlier, the Nikkei in Tokyo closed up 2.0%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed up 2.4%.
On the bond markets, the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds briefly dropped below 6%. Bond yields are taken as an indication of the interest rates that governments would need to pay to borrow money.
European banks led the stock market gains, with Lloyds up 4.9%, Barclays up 3.1%, RBS up 3.2%, Credit Agricole up 4.4%, Societe Generale up 3.3%, Commerzbank up 2.5% and Deutsche Bank up 3.1%.
The exact amount of emergency funding that Spain will receive will be decided after two audits of its banks are completed within the next few days.
Spain is in its second recession in three years and the economy is expected to shrink by 1.7% this year.
"The Spanish announcement is not a solution to the eurozone's ongoing woes, but it is a statement of intent," said Richard Hunter from Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.
"Some much-needed time has now been bought in Spain, which will allow the market an at least temporary sigh of relief."
Gordon Brown gives evidence of row with Sun
Ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown says lessons cannot be learned about press standards unless there is honesty about how details of how his son's cystic fibrosis was published by the Sun.
He said he and his wife Sarah were "presented with a fait accompli" by the paper, before it ran a story on their son Fraser's medical condition in 2006.
Mr Brown is giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
Chancellor George Osborne will be giving evidence later.
Prime Minister David Cameron will enter the witness box on Thursday.
The inquiry, which is currently focusing on the relationship between the press and politicians, is resuming after a week-long adjournment.
The paper's then-editor Rebekah Brooks has told the Leveson Inquiry she had the express permission of the Browns to run the story about Fraser's medical condition, but the Browns have previously said that was "untrue".
Mr Brown told the inquiry he had been given an apology by the NHS in Fife because they think it "highly likely" unauthorised information was disclosed by NHS staff about Fraser Brown.
He again denied that consent had been given to the Sun to publish the story.
Mr Brown began his testimony by saying he had had a "period of enforced reflection, courtesy of the British people" to think about the relationship between Westminster and Fleet Street.
He went on to say that media in Britain, at its best, is the "best in the world" but said that one of the key problems of the press is the conflation of fact and opinion - mirroring the views stated by his predecessor Tony Blair when he appeared at the Leveson Inquiry two weeks ago.
Mr Brown also said the Sun had falsely accused him of falling asleep at a service of remembrance for British soldiers. He said he had in fact been praying.
'Unbalanced'
The former prime minister is likely to be questioned about his relationship with Rupert Murdoch during his time in government with Labour.
The News Corp boss told the inquiry in April that Mr Brown had phoned him in an "unbalanced" state of mind and declared war on his media empire after the Sun newspaper had switched its support from Labour to the Conservatives in 2009.
The former PM later denied having made such a threat.
The chancellor, meanwhile, will be asked about the hiring of Mr Coulson in 2007 after he quit the News of the World in the wake of the conviction of the paper's royal editor for phone hacking.
Mr Osborne will also be asked about his communications with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the day Mr Hunt was handed responsibility for the BSkyB bid.
Labour leader Ed Miliband, former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major and Deputy Labour Leader Harriet Harman will give evidence to the inquiry at London's Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond will appear on Wednesday, while Mr Cameron will be the sole witness on Thursday
US commerce secretary John Bryson in car crash probe
US authorities are investigating car collisions involving US Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, who was later found unconscious at the wheel.
There were three collisions on Saturday near Los Angeles, California, after which Mr Bryson was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
They said there was no initial indication of alcohol or drug use and no charges have yet been filed.
Mr Bryson, an ex-Edison International chairman, took office last October.
'Medical condition'
A media release from San Gabriel police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said initial investigations showed the first crash was caused by Mr Bryson.
It said his Lexus struck a Buick that was waiting for a train to pass in the city of San Gabriel.
Mr Bryson spoke to the three male occupants then left the scene, apparently hitting the car again as he did so, the media release said.
The Buick then followed Mr Bryson's Lexus and the occupants called for police assistance.
Mr Bryson was then involved in a collision with a Honda a few minutes later as he crossed into the nearby city of Rosemead, where he was found alone and unconscious behind the wheel.
The law officials said the San Gabriel incident was being investigated as a felony hit and run.
There were no serious injuries to the passengers in the Buick and Honda.
Mr Bryson's Lexus and the Honda suffered minor damage, police said.
They said all parties involved had been co-operative.
LA County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Pope told local radio that authorities understood that Mr Bryson had a "pre-existing medical condition".
Mr Bryson helped develop Edison International into a leading solar and wind power firm, and was confirmed as commerce secretary despite some conservative objections to his pro-environmental connections.