North Korea's Kim caps rare congress with colorful mass rally

PYONGYANG | By James Pearson

Thousands of ecstatic North Koreans joined a mass rally and parade on Tuesday as leader Kim Jong Un capped off the consolidation of his power at a ruling party congress at which he formalized its claim to be a nuclear weapons power.

Kim used the party congress, the first in 36 years, to highlight North Korea's aim to expand its nuclear arsenal, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, though he said the weapons would only be used if North Korea was threatened with similar weapons.
Kim also set out a five-year plan to revive his isolated country's creaking economy, although it was short on targets, and the party enshrined Kim's "Byongjin" policy of simultaneous pursuit of nuclear weapons and economic development.
"Under the authorization of Workers' Party Chairman Kim Jong Un, the Central Committee sends the warmest greetings to the people and soldiers who concluded the 70-day battle with the greatest of victory and glorified the Congress as an auspicious event," Kim Yong Nam, the titular head of state, told the rally under overcast skies in the capital's Kim Il Sung Square.
North Korea had been engaged in a 70-day campaign of accelerated productivity in the run-up to the Workers' Party congress, including sprucing-up the capital, a grueling exercise that left many people exhausted, Western residents said.
But there was no sign of that at Tuesday's rally, where thousands shouted "manse!", or "live forever!" while clasping their hands in the air or waving pink flowers as they passed before Kim and other top officials on a leaders' platform.
Kim, 33, had traded the western-style suit he wore at the four-day congress for the more traditional uniform of North Korean leaders, a dark jacket buttoned to the collar.
He smiled and waved at the crowd and chatted with military and party aides, state media footage showed.
Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who was formally elected by the congress to the party's Central Committee, stood next to him for some of the time.
The young leader Kim, who assumed power in 2011 after his father's death, took on the new title of party chairman on Monday. The promotion - his previous party title was first secretary - had been predicted by analysts who had expected Kim would use the congress to further shore up his power.
Among other changes at the congress, a former army Chief of General Staff who South Korean media had reported had been purged and executed, was elected alternate member of the party Politburo and a member of the powerful Central Military Commission.
The first congress since 1980 was seen by North Korea-watchers as a move to restore the central role of the party while diluting the political role of the military.

Old rival South Korea denounced North Korea's nuclear ambitions, seeing little cause for optimism in a conciliatory gesture Kim made on the weekend when he said military talks were needed with the South to discuss ways to ease tension.
South Korea President Park Geun-hye said the North showed no sign of willingness to change but only made "preposterous claims about being a nuclear weapons state".
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea regularly threatens the South and its major ally, the United States, which it accuses of planning a nuclear attack.
Relations between the Koreas have been at a low since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, which also brought tougher U.N. sanctions backed by lone major ally China, which disapproves of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.
Despite the sanctions, North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear and missile development, and said it had succeeded in miniaturizing a nuclear warhead and launching a submarine-based ballistic missile.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent congratulations to Kim for his promotion at the party congress. There was no direct mention of North Korea's nuclear program in Xi's message.
"We will make efforts together with the DPRK side to bring happiness to the two countries and their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and development in this region by steadily developing the Sino-DPRK friendship and cooperation," North Korea's state KCNA news agency quoted Xi as saying.
DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
An unusually large contingent of 128 foreign journalists were issued visas to visit during the congress, but their access to formal proceedings was limited to a brief visit by a small group to the congress venue on Monday.
BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and two his colleagues who had been in North Korea to cover the visit of a group of Nobel laureates ahead of the congress were expelled from the country on Monday over his reporting.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing and additional reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)
 

Car bomb hits police vehicle in Turkish city of Diyarbakir, 13 wounded: officials

A car bomb struck an armored police vehicle on Tuesday in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, located in the mainly Kurdish southeast, wounding 13 people, security officials said.

A Reuters witness heard a large explosion in the city center, followed by the wail of ambulance sirens after the attack. Parts of Diyarbakir have seen intense security operations since a three-decade conflict between the state and Kurdish militants reignited in July 2015.
(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan and Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

Obama to be first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima

U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month and become the first sitting U.S. president to do so since World War Two, but will not offer an apology for the United States' use of an atomic bomb on the city, the White House said on Tuesday.

The May 27 visit to the site alongside Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instead aims "to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," the White House said in a statement.
"He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes wrote in a separate blog.
Obama's visit comes as part of a visit May 20-28 to Japan to attend a Group of Seven summit as well as Vietnam, his 10th to the region that has played a large role in the president's strategic "pivot" toward Asia.
A U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 71 years ago at the end of World War Two, and there have been concerns that a U.S. presidential visit would be controversial in the United States if it were seen as an apology. [nL3N17P1Z2]
The bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945 killed thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later.
(Reporting by Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Italy arrests three in probe into suspected planned attacks in Rome, London

Italian police on Tuesday arrested three people as part of an investigation into a militant cell suspected of planning attacks in Rome and London, authorities said on Tuesday.

The cell had been established in Puglia, in southeastern Italy, "to carry out violent attacks with the purpose of international terrorism, in Italy and abroad", the arrest warrant read.
Two Afghan citizens, one suspected of international terrorism and the other of aiding illegal immigration, were arrested, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said in a statement.
A third man, a Pakistani also suspected of aiding illegal immigration, was detained in Milan later in the day, a police source said.
Police confiscated the suspects' phones, on which they found footage of presumed targets including airports, ports, shopping centers and hotels in Rome, London and Bari, the main city in Puglia, the arrest warrant said. Investigators also found recordings of prayers and images of weapons and mutilated U.S. soldiers.
Italy has not suffered deadly Islamist attacks like those in France and Belgium, but a number of people have been arrested on suspicion of planning assaults.
In all, the warrant calls for the arrests of five people. They are all officially resident near Bari but two are currently in Afghanistan, the source said.
Three of the suspects are accused of international terrorism and two of aiding illegal immigration.
Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe said at a news conference that there was "absolutely no indication of an imminent attack in Italy", but prosecutor Elisabetta Pugliese said at the same conference that the investigation was "worrying".
The group based in Bari is suspected of acting as a local unit or providing logistical support to an international organization linked to Islamic State, investigators wrote in the arrest order.
The group was also active in France and Belgium, the order said.
(Reporting by Vincenzo Damiani; Writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Angus MacSwan)

French government to impose labor reform by decree in face of rebellion

France's government decided on Tuesday to bypass parliament and impose a relaxation of the country's protective labor laws by decree, sidestepping a rebellion against one of socialist President Francois Hollande's flagship reforms.

The decision, announced by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, follows weeks of street protests against the bill which seeks to make hiring and firing easier and the realization that lawmakers within the ruling party looked certain to shoot down the proposal.
"Because the country must move forward ... the cabinet has authorized me to engage the government's responsibility, which I will do later on," Valls told lawmakers to boos and heckling from the some quarters and applause among ministers.
Defeat would have delivered a hefty blow to the unpopular Hollande, who has said he will only run for re-election next year if he lowers a jobless rate stuck above 10 percent. The government hopes the reform will encourage firms to recruit.
The government's decision not to compromise by watering down further the labor bill is also a strong signal to international investors and rating agencies, who have so far taken a welcoming but cautious approach toward Hollande's pro-business turn.
A rarely used clause in France's constitution - known as 49.3 - allows for reform by decree and underlines the strong powers wielded by the executive under France's presidential system, designed by World War Two leader Charles de Gaulle.
It is the second time in as many years Valls has used the clause, having last year rammed through parliament a law which loosened up Sunday trading rules and regulations in the transport and legal sectors.
Although Valls diluted parts of the labor bill in March following student protests, the proposal retains measures giving more flexibility to employers to agree in-house deals with employees on working time.
It also offers companies less restrictive conditions for layoffs made for economic reasons.
Rebel legislators in the Socialist Party accused the government of riding roughshod over parliament.
"It's a heavy-handed way of using the constitution to prevent the nation's representatives from having their say," Laurent Baumel, a rebel Socialist lawmaker told reporters, calling the decision "anti-democratic".
(Reporting by Brian Love, Leigh Thomas, Ingrid Melander and Michel Rose; editing by Richard Lough)

Say goodbye to OPEC, powerful Putin pal predicts

MOSCOW | By Vladimir Soldatkin 

 Internal differences are killing OPEC and its ability to influence the markets has all but evaporated, top Russian oil executive Igor Sechin told Reuters in some of his harshest remarks ever about the oil cartel.Russia, which has been hit hard by the oil price collapse, was flirting with the idea of cooperating with OPEC in recent months until tensions between OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Iran ruined a global deal to freeze output.
Sechin - one of the closest allies of President Vladimir Putin - was the only Russian official to consistently oppose the deal with OPEC even after the Kremlin effectively endorsed the plan.
Now that his gloomy predictions about talking to OPEC have come to pass, Sechin feels vindicated and wants to help Russia avoid similar embarrassment in future.
"At the moment a number of objective factors exclude the possibility for any cartels to dictate their will to the market. ... As for OPEC, it has practically stopped existing as a united organization."
"The company (Rosneft) was skeptical from the very beginning about the possibility of reaching any sort of joint agreement with OPEC's involvement in current conditions," said Sechin, in comments over the weekend which were embargoed until Tuesday.
"Just to remind you, the only one question with which we responded to those who were interested to know our position: 'Who should we agree with, and how?' The development of the situation has clearly shown we were right."
Sechin's comments about the end of the era when OPEC could influence prices chime with those of Saudi Arabia's newly appointed energy minister Khaled al-Falih.
Falih, who took over on Saturday from long-serving Ali al-Naimi, has been very vocal in the past year about his views that the oil market needs to rebalance through low prices and that the Saudis have the resources to wait.
Falih's ultimate boss, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who oversees Saudi oil policies, has also signaled that the world is moving to a new era where supply and demand rather than OPEC will determine prices.
Sechin, who was born in 1960 - the same year as Falih - is also calling on Russia to abandon any hope that prices can be fixed by anything other than market rebalancing.
"At the moment, key factors which are influencing the market are finance, technology and regulation. We can see this with the example of shale oil which ... became a powerful tool of influence on the global market," Sechin said in the emailed comments.
(Writing by Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Andrew Osborn and William Hardy)

Iran says several of its soldiers killed near Aleppo

DUBAI | By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin 

Several Iranian soldiers were killed near Aleppo, the Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, in what appeared to be one of Iran's biggest losses in Syria since it deployed forces to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Islamist insurgents on Friday seized the strategic village of Khan Touman, some 15 km (9 miles) southwest of Aleppo. Dozens of people were reported to have been killed in the battle.
Fars news agency on Saturday quoted a Revolutionary Guards official as saying that 13 Iranian military advisors had been killed and 21 wounded in the fighting.
The attack on Khan Touman was launched by an alliance of Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah, including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which has rejected diplomatic efforts to halt the five-year civil war.
Earlier this week, the United States and Russia brokered a ceasefire in the city of Aleppo itself. But fighting in the countryside to the south of the city, one of the major fronts where Iranian-backed forces have been deployed, has escalated in recent days.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the conflict, said that Syrian and Russian jet planes have intensified their bombing of insurgent posts.
Jaish al-Fatah and affiliates have published on social media videos and photos of what appear to be the bodies of Iranians or other Shi'ite militias who were killed in Khan Touman.
Some videos include footage of their wallets, personal documentation and Iranian currency.
There are indications that some of the casualties might be Afghans who are trained in Iran and are deployed alongside Iranian soldiers in Syria.
The Revolutionary Guards in a statement on Saturday urged people not to be affected by the Islamist rebels' "psychological war on the social media".
A top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader on Saturday reiterated Tehran's continued support of Syria's president in a meeting with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
"Iran will use all its means to fight against terrorists who are committing crimes in the region," Ali Akbar Velayati, Ayatollah Khamenei's top adviser on international affairs, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
The war in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people though, with tens of thousands unaccounted for, some say the death toll may be as high as 400,000.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, additional reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, editing by Digby Lidstone) 

Chinese fishing boat, cargo ship collision leaves 17 missing: state media

Seventeen people were missing after a Chinese fishing boat collided with a Maltese cargo ship and sank in the East China Sea on Saturday, state media reported, citing the country's coastguard fleet.

The fishing boat, Lu Rong Yu 58398, had 19 people on board when the incident happened at 3.40 a.m. Beijing time (1940 GMT), the China News Service said, adding that two people had been rescued by passing fishing boats and a search and rescue operation was still underway.
China National Radio said that it had hit Maltese cargo ship Catalina, a 40,485 ton bulk carrier, which has continued sailing. They did not specify where in the East China Sea the collision happened.
The East China Sea is home to a group of uninhabited islets claimed by both China and Japan and previous incidents involving Chinese fishing boats and Japanese patrol ships have stoked diplomatic rows.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Italy rescues nearly 1,800 migrants in Mediterranean

Italian vessels have helped rescue nearly 1,800 migrants from boats trying to reach Italy from north Africa in the last 24 hours, the navy said on Friday, indicating that numbers are rising as the weather warms up.

The navy said 1,759 migrants were rescued in 10 operations involving the Italian navy, coastguard and finance police, the European Union's external borders agency Frontex and the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The Italian frigate Grecale was taking the migrants to the Sicilian port of Augusta, where they were expected to arrive on Saturday morning, a navy statement said. It gave no details of their nationalities.
The latest arrivals picked up in the Strait of Sicily will bring the total of migrants reaching Italy by boat so far this year to more than 30,000, slightly higher than in the same period of 2015.
Humanitarian organizations say the sea route between Libya and Italy is now the main route for asylum seekers heading for Europe, after an EU deal with Turkey dramatically slowed the flow of people reaching Greece.
Officials fear the numbers trying to make the crossing to southern Italy will increase as sailing conditions improve in warmer weather.
More than 1.2 million Arab, African and Asian migrants fleeing war and poverty have streamed into the European Union since the start of last year.
Most of those trying to reach Italy leave the coast of lawless Libya on rickety fishing boats or rubber dinghies, heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is close to Tunisia, or toward Sicily.
On Wednesday, however, Italy's coastguard said it had rescued 42 migrants from a sailboat off the coast of Puglia, in the southeastern heel of mainland Italy.
(Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Andrew Roche)

Opponents try to head off maverick mayor in final rallies for Philippine presidency

MANILA | By Martin Petty 

Philippine election hopefuls campaigned for a final day on Saturday amid the drama of a late intervention by the country's outgoing leader to try to block maverick mayor Rodrigo Duterte from winning the presidency.President Benigno Aquino caused a stir on Friday with a call for candidates to collaborate against Duterte in a last-ditch move to stop the "Trump of the East" from converting his runaway popularity into victory in Monday's vote.
Philippine politics is no stranger to controversial characters and the firebrand Duterte is one of its most divisive, alarming opponents with his advocacy of extrajudicial killings as a deterrent against rampant crime and illegal drugs.
There were no signs on Saturday of Aquino's idea taking hold. Some experts said it could backfire on his chosen successor, Manuel Roxas.
Roxas invited rival Grace Poe for talks aimed at derailing Duterte, who has a double-digit lead in the latest opinion polls, but met a resounding "no". Vice-President Jejomar Binay's team described Aquino's call as "hollow".
Political analyst Prospero de Vera said the government had seen the writing on the wall for its candidate and it needed to change tack.

"This is all part of the administration's messaging to project that Manuel Roxas has the momentum," he said.
"They need these dramatics to prevent allies in the provinces from jumping ship," de Vera said.
The five candidates have major rallies planned later on Saturday, the final day allowed for campaigning. Duterte was a clear leader in final opinion polling with a lead of 11 points over Poe, with Roxas close behind in third.
Duterte, 71, is the alternative candidate who has lit up the race with his incendiary rhetoric and image as a loose cannon.
Experts say his recent surge, and Poe's popularity, represents public disenchantment with Aquino's administration.
That sentiment has perplexed investors and some Western governments given the robust performance of the Philippine economy under Aquino. However, criticism by opponents that it has not translated into jobs or better livelihoods for millions of poor appears to be resonating.
Poe's pro-investment, anti-poverty platform is striking a chord, however, as is Duterte's promises of a war on crime and his profanity-packed speeches during a campaign that bears the emblem of a clenched fist.
Duterte's campaign manager, Leoncio Evasco Jr, described Aquino's call for a united front against the Davao city mayor as desperate.
"It also further unmasks the true character of the Aquino regime – one that in the face of debacle will abandon ship and run like a headless chicken," Evasco said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait) 

North Korean leader hails nuclear success in opening congress

PYONGYANG | By James Pearson 

 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday hailed the country's recent nuclear test and launch of a satellite into space, as he opened the first congress of the country's ruling Workers' Party in 36 years.Wearing a dark western-style suit and grey tie, the 33-year-old was flanked by his top military aide and the titular head of state in a massive hall packed with military and party delegates, according to footage on North Korean state television aired late on Friday.
During the congress, Kim is expected to further consolidate his control over a country that has grown increasingly isolated over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, including its fourth nuclear test in January, which led to U.N. resolutions in March tightening sanctions.
"In this year of the seventh party congress, the military and the people accomplished the great success in the first hydrogen bomb test and the launch of an earth observation satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4, to brilliantly illuminate the prowess of Juche Joson," he said, referring to the North's home-grown founding ideology combining Marxism and extreme nationalism.
"Unprecedented results have been accomplished."
Foreign analysts expect the third-generation leader of the Kim dynasty to formally adopt his "Byongjin" policy of simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development.
"Kim is after catching two rabbits, a nuclear arsenal and economic development, and he's likely going to declare the country is a nuclear weapons state, so that's one rabbit," said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
"He might also lay out a five-year or seven-year blueprint for the development of the people's economy," Yang said.
Foreign journalists invited to cover the event were not permitted inside the April 25 House of Culture, the imposing stone structure draped in red party flags where the congress is expected to run for several days.
Kim has aggressively pursued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. The February satellite launch was criticized internationally as a long-range missile test in disguise.
Giant neighbor China, the North's lone major ally, backed the U.N. resolutions, as it grew frustrated over the nuclear tests.

Brazil Senate committee votes for Rousseff to stand trial

BRASILIA | By Maria Carolina Marcello and Anthony Boadle 

A Senate committee recommended on Friday that Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff be put on trial by the full chamber for breaking budget laws, moving a step closer to the likely suspension of the leftist leader from office next week.Despite renewed promised by Rousseff on Friday to resist her removal, her chances for staying in office are dimming. Her departure would come at a time when a majority of Brazilians are against Rousseff because of an economic recession and a massive corruption scandal that has exposed wrongdoing by ruling party officials.
The full Senate is expected to vote to put her on trial on Wednesday, which would immediately suspend Rousseff for the duration of a trial that could last six months. During that period, Vice President Michel Temer would replace her as acting president.

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The upper house committee voted 15-5 to accept the charges against Rousseff, which involve budget irregularities that critics say masked budget problems while she ran for re-election in 2014, and her opponents are certain to muster the simple majority needed to begin a trial.
"I will resist until the last day," Rousseff said at an event where she announced the delivery of low-cost housing. The president said she would not resign because she committed no crime, and called her looming ouster a "coup d'etat."
If the Senate convicts Rousseff, by a two-thirds majority vote to oust her, Temer would serve out the remainder of Rousseff's second term through 2018.
Local newspaper surveys say the opposition has 50 of the 54 votes needed, with many of the 10 undecided senators likely to favor her ouster.
Rousseff has struggled to survive politically in the face of Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal and its worst recession since the 1930s. Her removal would mark an end to 13 years of leftist rule by the Workers Party that began in 2003 under her mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
While Rousseff is not directly accused of corruption, Brazil's top prosecutor has asked for her to be investigated for obstructing justice in the kickback scandal that has engulfed state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) and fueled Brazil's political crisis.
In a separate initiative launched by the opposition, Rousseff's 2014 re-election campaign is being investigated by an electoral court for alleged funding with bribe money.

At Rousseff's presidential palace Friday, officials had glum faces and appeared resigned to the end of her administration.

One aide denied they were packing up already, but added: "No doubt, we have to start organizing things."
Echoing the sense of an administration that has run out of time, no reporters showed up for a news conference called by Women Affairs Secretary Eleonora Menicucci, a close Rousseff aide. She ended up speaking only to a government television camera.
Rousseff's supporters on the Senate committee have called for annulment of the impeachment proceedings because the man who launched them last year, lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, was himself removed from office on Thursday by the Supreme Court for obstructing the investigation of corruption accusations against him.
The top court has so far dismissed all government requests to halt the impeachment proceedings.
Workers Party Senator Lindbergh Farias said the ouster of Rousseff was aimed at undoing Lula's work to help the poor, and at rolling back workers' benefits, privatizing state companies and aligning Brazil's foreign policy closer to the United States.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Frances Kerry) 

Shots fired on University of Missouri campus: university

Two gunshots were fired on University of Missouri's flagship campus on Friday though no one was injured, the school said.

Police were investigating the shooting near a plaza on the campus, and were searching for a suspect, the university said.
"There is no indication of a current threat to campus," the school added.
About 35,000 students attend the University of Missouri in Columbia, 125 miles (200 km) west of St. Louis.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Croatian PM says not thinking about early polls -paper

Croatia's prime minister dismissed the possibility of an early election and said in an interview published on Saturday that his fractious coalition would deliver promised reforms to spur growth and cut debt.

Recent squabbles over appointments including that of an intelligence chief and reforms to the pension system and public administration have prompted questions about the stability of the government and the possibility of early polls.
Technocrat Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic told daily Vecernji List he had good relationships with other leaders of the coalition that took office in January and which comprises the conservative HDZ and reformist Most ("Bridge") parties plus several small allies.
"Sometimes our opinions differ and we can have unpleasant discussions, but it doesn't mean they are not healthy," Oreskovic said. "I don't even think about an early election as we have a lot of jobs ahead of us and all the ministers are aware of it and keen to focus on work."
HDZ parliamentary deputy Zeljko Dilber had said on Friday his party could reassess relations with Most -- at whose insistence Oreskovic was appointed as premier -- after an internal election in late May.
On Saturday, Most leader Bozo Petrov said his party would not accept "ultimatums" from HDZ for remaining in coalition.
Local media reported that the conservatives told Most this week they demanded a stronger say in the interior ministry, controlled by a Most minister, and change of policy in a dispute with Hungarian energy firm MOL over management and investments in Croatia's oil concern INA.
"If they aim to make ultimatums, they shouldn't have entered a coalition with us. We will not accept it, nor will we yield to such demands," Petrov told the state radio. HDZ officials were not available for a comment.
INA is jointly owned by Zagreb and MOL, but the two sides are at odds and involved in an international arbitration. Most insists Croatia must not withdraw from the arbitration.
A snap election would slow momentum for reforms needed to boost one of the European Union's weakest economies.
"We jointly as a government prepared reforms and we can implement them only if we stick together. I'm convinced we will deliver results," Oreskovic, formerly an executive at Israeli drug firm Teva, said in the interview.
The government adopted a package of measures last week aimed at fostering growth, cutting high public debt and avoiding corrective measures for macroeconomic imbalances from Brussels.
Oreskovic said the government would soon outline plans to privatize some non-strategic assets, including real estate and minority stakes in some firms.
"My first move now will be to reduce debt by up to 200 million euros ($230 million). In the next two weeks we will know in what companies we want to sell our share and in what way," he said.
(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by)

Spain's Rajoy asks Brussels to forgo deficit fine: El Pais

Spain's acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy has asked Brussels to waive a fine that could be imposed on the country for missing its deficit target in 2015, El Pais newspaper reported on Saturday.

Citing a letter sent to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, El Pais said Rajoy had stressed Spain's efforts in the past four years to halve the public deficit, and offered up additional measures to control spending next year.
A source with the Spanish government confirmed the existence of the letter, though said it contained information that had already been sent to Brussels on Spain's latest plans to bring the deficit down.
The European Commission declined to comment.
The Commission is in charge of policing the budgets of the EU's 28 members to make sure they improve each year in line with recommendations set by finance ministers.
The rules were sharpened in 2011 to make financial sanctions for rule-breakers more automatic and harder to circumvent through political alliance-building as had happened in the past.
Spain missed its 2015 target of cutting the deficit to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), after overspending by regions and a social security revenue shortfall pushed it up to 5 percent.
The Commission is considering penalising Spain as well as Portugal for missing their goals. Officials have told Reuters the fines - which would be unprecedented - could be symbolic and be set at zero percent of GDP, though even that would ramp up political pressure.
Spain's deficit tussle comes at an sensitive time for Rajoy's acting centre-right government, which faces a second election in six months after an inconclusive ballot last December which stripped the People's Party (PP) of its majority.
The PP has tried to sell itself as a safe pair of hands on the economy, after the country emerged from a deep recession under its administration.
The new election is now set for June 26. The Commission is due to issue its recommendations on whether or not to fine Spain and Portugal later this month, though the size of any fine may not be announced until after the vote, El Pais said.
The maximum penalty is up to 0.2 percent of GDP, or 2.16 billion euros ($180 million) in the case of Spain.
Brussels is also expected to give Spain more leeway to whittle its public deficit below its recommended 3 percent threshold, through an extension of one or even two years, sources have said.
By exercising better controls on regional spending and helped by an economic rebound, Spain aims to bring the deficit down to 3.6 percent this year - instead of the 2.8 percent originally envisaged - and sees it standing at 2.9 percent in 2017.
Brussels has projected the deficit will reach 3.8 percent of GDP this year and 3.1 percent in 2017.
(Reporting by Sarah White in Madrid and Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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German Vice Chancellor urges debt relief for Greece

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel urged euro zone finance ministers to start talks on debt relief for Greece, saying it made no sense to crush the green shoots of economic recovery with further austerity measures.

The finance ministers of the euro zone's 19 countries are due to meet in Brussels on May 9 to discuss Greece's debt and a new set of contingency measures that Athens should adopt to ensure it will achieve agreed fiscal targets in 2018.
"The euro group meeting on Monday must find a way to break the vicious circle," Gabriel, who is also Economy Minister, said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Saturday.
"Everyone knows that this debt relief will have to come at some point. It makes no sense to shirk from that time and time again," he added.
The International Monetary Fund wants Greece's European partners to grant Athens substantial relief on its debt, which it sees as vital for its long term sustainability.
But Germany's hardline Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble opposes any debt relief, arguing it is not necessary.
Thrice-bailed-out Greece needs to secure an overdue aid payment of 5 billion euros to repay IMF loans, bonds held by the European Central Bank maturing in July, and growing state arrears.
"It doesn't help the people and the country to have to fight every 12 months to get new credit to pay off old loans," Gabriel said. "Greece needs debt relief."
Gabriel spoke out against further austerity measures and said Athens had managed to achieve better economic growth than expected.
"It makes no sense to destroy these tender shoots once again with new austerity measures," he added.
(Reporting by Thorsten Severin; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Treading cautiously, House's Ryan to meet Trump

WASHINGTON | By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell 

Paul Ryan and Donald Trump, the top Republicans in the United States, plan to meet next week to try to unite their party, with both men focused on the Nov. 8 presidential election, but the Wisconsin congressman also perhaps looking further ahead.Speaker of the House of Representatives Ryan has invited Trump, this year's likely Republican presidential nominee, to meet on Thursday with Ryan and other congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, Ryan's office said in a statement on Friday.
A key part of the conversation is sure to be Trump's combative, in-your-face campaign persona and Republican leaders' requests for him to tone it down, but political analysts said Ryan will have other considerations in mind, as well.
One issue is likely to be his own future, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
Ryan, 46, lost his 2012 campaign for vice president as Mitt Romney's running mate. Ryan probably has serious doubts that Trump, like Romney, can win this year, Sabato said.
If so, Ryan will want to find a balance between accepting Trump, 69, as the nominee and keeping some distance from him, just in case the real estate mogul's campaign ends in disaster.
"Suppose Trump loses overwhelmingly. Would you want to have been siding with the captain of the Titanic, or maybe seen as someone who was begging the captain to watch out for icebergs?" Sabato said, adding that a Trump defeat could push the party in a different direction in 2020, maybe toward Ryan as the nominee.
WALKING A TIGHTROPE
As chairman of the Republican Party convention in Cleveland in July, Ryan's political tightrope will be especially perilous.
One of his objectives will be to provide political cover for his 246 House Republicans so they can choose to embrace or run away from Trump, depending on their home districts' politics, with the goal of preserving control of the House, analysts said.
Ryan dropped a bombshell on Thursday when he said he was not ready to endorse Trump until he shows he can unify the party, still reeling from a bitter primary campaign that left many establishment Republicans stunned at Trump's victory.
One moderate Pennsylvania congressman, Representative Charlie Dent, said he thought most of his fellow House Republicans would be comfortable with what Ryan said, because they were "conflicted" themselves over whether to support Trump.
Some Republican lawmakers worry that Trump is not conservative enough; others are more bothered by Trump's "divisive, incendiary remarks and lack of substance," said Dent, who put himself in the latter category.
However, a conservative Republican congressman, Raul Labrador of Idaho, told CNN that Ryan "needs to reconsider what he's doing" concerning Trump.
"A lot of people that are voting for Donald Trump are totally disaffected with what we're doing in Washington D.C., and he (Ryan) almost kind of slapped them in the face when he said what he did," said Labrador, who endorsed Ted Cruz but says he will vote for Trump now that Cruz is out of the race.
As speaker, Ryan has struggled with his deeply divided colleagues over budget issues, funding the battle against the Zika virus, rescuing Puerto Rico from a debt crisis, and helping Flint, Michigan, deal with their contaminated water system.
Ryan is "trying to jawbone Trump into adjusting his positions" to line up better with the party establishment, said Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar and political analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
The "unprecedented" move by a congressional leader to distance himself from his party's expected nominee, Ornstein said, showed Ryan trying to mold a "less confrontational and divisive approach to minorities and a less isolationist and combative approach to our allies."
In a swipe at Trump on Friday, President Barack Obama warned that occupying the Oval Office "is not a reality show."
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Editing by Paul Tait) 

Germany expects Turkey to stick to EU migrant deal after PM resignation

Germany expects Turkey to uphold its agreement with the European Union on curbing migration to the bloc despite the departure of the Turkish prime minister who struck the deal, a German government spokesman said on Friday.

Ahmet Davutoglu announced on Thursday he was stepping down as leader of Turkey's ruling AK Party and therefore as prime minister, raising questions about the migrant deal with the EU.
"The chancellor (Angela Merkel) has worked very well with Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu and all Turkish officials, and we expect this good and constructive cooperation to continue with a new Turkish prime minister," deputy German government spokesman Georg Streiter said.
"We will fulfill our commitments and expect that Turkey will also fulfill its commitments. It is not an agreement between the EU and Mr Davutoglu, but rather an agreement between the EU and Turkey," Streiter told a regular government news conference.
(Reporting by Paul Carrel; Editing by Gareth Jones)a

Greeks strike as new tax, pension reforms loom

Greeks started a 48-hour nationwide strike on Friday in anger at tax and pension reforms pursued by the indebted nation to qualify for more of a multi-billion euro bailout it signed up to last year.

Called by the largest private and public sector unions, the strike left ships docked at port, disrupted public transport and kept civil servants and journalists off the job.
Greece's largest labor union, the private sector GSEE, said the reforms, now pending approval in parliament, were the "last nail on the coffin" for workers and pensioners who have sacrificed enough after six years of austerity.
"They are trying to prove to the Eurogroup that they are good students but they are destroying Greece's social security system," a GSEE official said, referring to euro zone finance ministers who are due to meet on Monday.
Athens hopes the measures, due to be voted on in parliament on Sunday, will help persuade creditors to approve the release of bailout cash.
A tranche of about 5 billion euros is overdue, after talks faltered over the pace of reforms. The Eurogroup is expected to discuss the stalemate on May 9.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected last year on an initial anti-austerity pledge but who was later forced to sign up to Greece's third international bailout since 2010, has a thin majority with 153 lawmakers in a 300-seat parliament.
Greece needs the bailout funds to pay IMF loans, ECB bonds maturing in July and growing state arrears, subject to lenders signing off on a review in its reform progress that includes changes to its tax and pension laws.
The proposed legislation would raise social security contributions, increase income tax for high earners and introduce a new national pension. It would also gradually phase out a top-up pension for low income earners.
Worn by years of austerity, Greeks fear that the new reforms will push the country further to the brink.
"We don't have food to eat and nobody asks us how we are," said shopkeeper Anna Papadopoulou, 74, who wept as she spoke.
Asked what she wanted to tell the Greek government, she said: "Wake up. We are dying."
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Philippine presidential candidate Poe not withdrawing from election

Philippine presidential candidate Grace Poe said on Friday she will not withdraw from the election race but she was open to holding dialogue with one of her rivals, former interior minister Manuel Roxas.

Outgoing President Benigno Aquino said he was helping his chosen successor, Roxas, work with rival candidates and team up to stop frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte from winning Monday's election.
"I am not withdrawing from the fight," Poe said in a radio interview.
"We have been through a lot and what we carry here are the dreams and hopes of our countrymen that should not be compromised."
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Robert Birsel)