Pope lauds Benedict XVI, warns against self-interest

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Sunday praised his predecessor Benedict XVI's decision to resign as courageous, and called on pilgrims to follow the former pontiff's example and put aside their egos to listen to their conscience.

"We have to learn to listen more to our conscience. But wait! This does not mean following our egos, doing what interests me, what is best for me," he told pilgrims gathered to hear his Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square. "Pope Benedict XVI gave us a great example... when the Lord made him understand, in prayer, what step he should take," he said, referring to Benedict's decision in February to resign St. Peter's chair. "He followed — with a great sense of discernment and courage — his conscience, the will of God which spoke to his heart," he added.

Francis's warning not to let self-interest prevail over integrity came two days after a senior Catholic cleric was arrested for corruption after allegedly plotting to smuggle millions of euros into Italy on a private jet. The plot was discovered during a wider probe into the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, which the 76-year-old pontiff has determined to reform as part of his fight against corruption within the Roman Catholic Church.

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7 Saudis jailed for urging protests on Facebook

Saudi Arabia has sentenced seven activists from its restive Eastern Province to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years for posting messages on Facebook calling for anti-government protests, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday.

The New York-based rights group urged EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and other European officials who were meeting with Gulf counterparts, including Saudi Arabia, in Manama on Sunday to condemn the convictions.

Eastern Province has seen occasional protests by minority Shia Muslims over the past two years against alleged discrimination and negligence, which the Riyadh government denies.

"Sending people off to years in prison for peaceful Facebook posts sends a strong message that there's no safe way to speak out in Saudi Arabia, even on online social networks," Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.

"If the EU doesn't raise these cases with Saudi officials this weekend, its silence will look like craven compliance with the rights abuses of an authoritarian state."

Saudi interior ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

A Saudi-based human rights campaigner said the activists were all Shias from al-Ahsa governorate who had set up Facebook pages to urge people to stage demonstrations. "The sectarian situation in the region made the sentences tough and unreasonable," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Human Rights Watch said the seven men were detained in September 2011 and had spent a year and a half in prison before being tried by a special tribunal set up in 2008 to handle terrorism-related cases.

The court did not charge the men with directly participating in the protests, HRW said, rather with inciting "protests, illegal gathering, and breaking allegiance with the king".

Saudi Arabia swiftly moved in early 2011 to quell protests by minority Shias over the deployment of Saudi forces to nearby Bahrain to help crush anti-government demonstrations there. A majority of Bahraini citizens are Shias.

But discontent lingers on with occasional protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where at least 20 people have been killed by security forces since 2011. On Thursday, thousands of Shias protested against the kingdom's ruling al-Saud family at the funeral of a wanted man shot dead by police, an incident that ended months of relative calm in the province.

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24 killed in terror attacks in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: At least 17 people, including four children, were killed and nearly 50 injured on Sunday when a powerful remote-controlled bomb targeted a passing convoy of security forces near a busy market in northwest Pakistan.

The blast, believed to be an IED explosion, targeted the convoy of Frontier Corps on their way to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's capital Peshawar from Kohat district but narrowly missed it.

Javed Marwat, deputy commissioner of Peshawar, said, "17 people were killed in the remote control blast."

In South Waziristan, a rocket attack killed four people and injured 12 others while in the North Waziristan tribal region, a roadside bomb killed three security personnel, officials said.

Marwat told reporters that the injured were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital and condition of some of them were critical.

According to police, the bomb was planted in a car and was triggered when the convoy approached. It was passing through Badaber area of Peshawar.

Bomb disposal squad official Abdul Haq said 40-50kg of explosives were used in the blast, which also destroyed 10 vehicles and several shops.

After the blast, gunshots were exchanged between security forces and the terrorists.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have strongly condemned the blast.

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Egypt tense before rallies, American among dead

CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA: After violence in Egypt that killed three people including an American student, cities were quiet as protesters prepared for rallies on Sunday they hope can unseat the Islamist president.

The army was on alert across the country and warned it would step in if deadlocked politicians lost control of the streets.

Several offices of President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood were attacked on Friday, including one in Alexandria where two men died, including a 21-year-old American man. In Port Said on the Suez Canal, an explosion during an anti-Mursi protest killed another man, police said.

The United States, which has called for compromise, is evacuating non-essential diplomatic staff and warning citizens to avoid Egypt. A source at Cairo airport said dozens of US personnel and their families left for Germany on Saturday.

In Cairo, a few hundred activists from rival factions were camping out in separate places. Islamist supporters were still outside a suburban mosque where they had gathered in the many thousands on Friday to vent anger and fear over a return of army-backed rule. Some speakers also urged reconciliation.

On Tahrir Square, seat of the uprising of early 2011, flags and tents formed a base camp for protesters. They hoped for millions on the streets under slogans accusing Mursi and the Brotherhood of hijacking the revolution against Hosni Mubarak to entrench their own rule. A rally was also planned outside the presidential palace, where some had already taken up position.

With short supplies of fuel adding to long-standing economic woes, many said they would turn out on Sunday, when Mursi marks his first year in office as Egypt's first ever freely elected leader, to demand a new president who can bring them prosperity.

Liberal opposition leaders dismissed a offer of cooperation from Mursi this week as too little too late. The Brotherhood, which says at least five of its supporters have been killed in days of street fighting, accuses liberals of allying with those loyal to Mubarak to mount a coup against the electoral process.

The opposition says the Brotherhood are trying to monopolise power, Islamise a diverse society and throttle dissent. They cite as evidence Mursi's broadsides against critical media and legal proceedings launched against journalists and satirists.

"CIVIL WAR"

Egypt's leading religious authority warned of the risk of "civil war" after violence in the past week that left several dead and hundreds injured. The clerics backed Mursi's offer to talk to opposition groups before Sunday's protests.

The United Nations, European Union and United States have appealed for restraint and urged Egypt's deadlocked political leaders to step back from a confrontation threatening the new democracy that emerged from the Arab Spring.

Medical and security officials in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, said the young American was fatally stabbed as he filmed events at the Brotherhood office in the Mediterranean port during an attack by anti-Mursi protesters, who eventually ransacked the building and set a fire, causing extensive damage.

Kenyon College in Ohio named him as one of its students, Andrew Pochter, from Chevy Chase, Maryland. He was working as a intern in the city at AMIDEAST, a U.S. organisation which provides teaching and other services in the Middle East.

A Facebook post apparently from his family said Pochter was teaching English to 7- and 8-year-olds and improving his Arabic:

"He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East, and he planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding," the post read.

"As we understand it, he was witnessing the protest as a bystander and was stabbed by a protester."

An Egyptian man was shot dead in the same area and officials said dozens of people were wounded, many by shotgun pellets.

It is hard to gauge how many may turn out on Sunday, but even those sympathetic to Islamic ideas are frustrated by the economic slump and many blame the government.

Previous protest movements since the fall of Mubarak have failed to gather momentum, however, among a population anxious for stability and fearful of further economic hardship.

Generals, who heeded mass protests in early 2011 to push Mubarak aside, have warned they will intervene again if there is bloodshed, and to defend the "will of the people". Both sides believe that means the military may support their positions.

The United States, which funds Egypt's army as it did under Mubarak, has counselled compromise and respect for election results. Egypt's 84 million people, control of Suez and its 1979 peace treaty with Israel all contribute to its global strategic importance.

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UK PM in Afghan to push for peace talks

CAMP BASTION (Afghanistan): British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into Afghanistan on Saturday to try to reinvigorate stalled peace talks with the Taliban and reassure Afghans that foreign troops will not cut and run next year.

Cameron's visit to British military bases in southern Afghanistan came four days after the Taliban attacked buildings near the presidential palace in Kabul and the Afghan headquarters of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), setting back already shaky attempts to end 12 years of war.

That attack came a week after US and Taliban representatives had attempted to meet in the Qatari capital of Doha, a session that was cancelled amid objections from the Afghan government.

British officials said Cameron was keen to boost political stability ahead of a presidential election next year which Western diplomats hope will result in the first peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan since 1901.

Britain, whose troops currently number 7,900, is in the process of reducing its forces and removing equipment ahead of the end of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission next year.

"We want a political solution as well as making sure we have a security solution," Cameron told reporters.

"What we have done in Afghanistan is we came here to stop it being used as a base for terrorist activities. That has been and is successful.

"What we (now) need to do is build up the Afghan armed forces and at the same time make sure that the politics of Afghanistan enable everyone in Afghanistan to play a role in the future of their country. We are making some progress there."

The Taliban's statement that they no longer wanted Afghanistan to pose a threat to other countries or to be a haven for terrorism was encouraging, he added.

Separately, a senior military source said Western troops would need to remain in the country as part of a "follow-on mission" up until 2020.

Cameron's visit comes 11 days after a ceremony marking the start of the final phase of the handover of nationwide security responsibility to Afghan forces.

Dubbed "milestone 2013" by Nato, the event will lead to the departure of all Nato troops serving in Afghanistan at the end of next year.

Nato and its partners are racing against the clock to train Afghanistan's 350,000-strong security forces before then, though questions remain over how well the Afghans will be able to tackle the insurgency in the face of high casualty numbers.

The source said Western troops would need to undertake a mission after 2014 that would last "three to five years", while a senior diplomatic source conceded that some of the gains the West has notched up since 2001 were "reversible".

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Pak court denounces running of detention centres

ISLAMABAD: A court in Pakistan has strongly denounced the running of illegal detention centres by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and other intelligence and law-enforcing agencies of the country.

While hearing cases of 280 missing persons on Thursday, chief justice Dost Muhammad Khan of the Peshawar high court observed that the courts in the country would no longer tolerate running of such centres, The News International reported.

"It has come into my notice that there are secret detention centres in the no-go areas of the provincial metropolis but none of the law-enforcing agencies is taking action in this regard," the chief justice was quoted as saying.

He said that he has received information that many citizens were being illegally detained in such illegal detention centres in Ghallanai, the headquarters of Mohmand Agency, Orakzai, Bajaur and Kurram agencies.

A division bench, comprising Justice Khan and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani, reissued a notice to Pakistan's defence ministry, justice and law division and judge advocate general branch of the Pakistan army, seeking explanation of the legality of the secret detention centres being run by the ISI, the Military Intelligence and other agencies.

Stating that the heavens would have fallen had this happened in any other country, the division bench directed the agencies to trace all the persons reported missing failing which the court would be forced to direct filing of first information reports (FIRs) against these agencies' officers and other personnel.

The bench also reminded that the court had already ordered that there should be no detention centre in the province and the tribal belt except the government-notified internment centres set up for detaining hard-core militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) under the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations, 2011.

When Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Muzammil Khan said that the relatives of the missing persons, on the one hand were fighting with the security forces and on the other filing petitions for the safe recovery of such persons, Justice Khan said that the courts were aware of this and never wanted any relief for hard-core militants, the newspaper reported.

At the same time, he said the law-enforcing agencies should deal with such people under the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations, 2011, and stated that there was no mention of secret detention centres in the regulations.

The DAG said that, of the 280 persons reported missing, the ministries concerned had no information on 177 of them while nine persons reported missing have been transferred to different internment centres as they were hard-core militants.

He also sought more time to trace the whereabouts of the 177 persons mentioned.

Capital City Police Officer Liaqat Ali Khan, who also appeared during the hearing, said that some secret detention centres were not under his jurisdiction as these had been established in the tribal areas.

Justice Khan then told the police officer that if the court pointed out such detention centres in his jurisdiction, he would have to take action against them.

July 23 has been fixed as the next date for hearing into the cases.

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Russia says US put it in 'tough spot' over Snowden

MOSCOW, Russia: Russia on Friday accused the United States of putting it in a "tough spot", claiming Washington never disclosed that it had revoked the travel passport of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor spent Friday holed up in a Moscow airport for a sixth day after arriving by a regular Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong where he had disclosed US surveillance secrets to the press.

A Russian official close to the matter on Friday accused the United States of apparently deliberately putting Moscow in a difficult position by never reporting that Snowden's passport had been revoked, Interfax reported.

The official said Moscow might not have allowed Snowden to fly to Russia had it known about his travel problems.

"The Americans deliberately put Moscow in a tough spot by having failed to inform it of the fact that (his) passport was annulled in time," the source said.

"The Russian authorities were informed of this post-factum, more than a week after Snowden was stripped of his passport," said the official.

"If this fact had been known in advance, then possibly Snowden might not have flown to Moscow and this entire story might never have happened."

Russia and the United States do not have an extradition treaty and Moscow has thus far refused to hand over Snowden to Washington.

Russia's refusal expressed personally by President Vladimir Putin earlier this week has added to diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington that have existed due to the Syria crisis.

The Russian official said Snowden will only be able to leave Sheremetyevo airport after a country such as Ecuador or Venezuela offers him political asylum.

"On these grounds, he will legally leave the territory of Russia, without ever having crossed its border," the official said.

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Xinjiang riots were terrorist attack: Chinese govt

TURPAN, China: China on Friday labelled riots in restive Xinjiang as "a violent terrorist attack" after state media said the death roll rose to 35 and authorities tightened control ahead of the anniversary of 2009 clashes.

Wednesday's violence in the western desert region, which is home to 10 million mostly Uighur Muslims, were the worst to hit the resource-rich province since riots on July 5, 2009, left hundreds dead.

"We defined the attack as a violent terrorist attack," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.

Some in the community have blamed the unrest on economic inequality and religious repression claims that China rejects, pointing to regional investment and placing the blame instead on "terrorists".

The Xinhua state news agency said "knife-wielding mobs" in Turpan city's Lukqun township attacked police stations and set fire to cars before officers opened fire.

The clashes left 35 dead including 11 rioters, while a further 21 police and civilians were injured and four rioters detained, the report said.

The US-based Radio Free Asia reported a higher death toll of 46, also including 11 rioters, citing officials and residents.

The World Uyghur Congress, a group run by Uighurs in exile, said in a statement that the incident was "evidence of China's failed policies towards Uighurs".

It added that "an information blackout and security crackdown" in the area raised questions about the state media's version of events.

China closely restricts information about unrest in Xinjiang, and blocked access across the region for several months after the violence in 2009.

The ramped-up security in Lukqun has apparently impacted road traffic and communications.

A resident of Turpan told AFP Friday that his phone calls and text messages to friends in Lukqun could not get through.

Local authorities followed two AFP journalists in their car and detained them for about an hour, stressing that the site of the attacks was closed to media.

A day earlier police at a checkpoint 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Lukqun barred the reporters from entering, citing safety fears and ongoing investigations.

The state-run Global Times said all vehicles entering and leaving the area were "subject to searches in an attempt to track down those still at large".

It said Xinjiang authorities were preparing for potential disturbances ahead of next week's anniversary of the 2009 clashes, which involved Uighurs and ethnic majority Han in the regional capital, Urumqi.

Official figures show that 46 percent of Xinjiang's population is Uighur, while another 39 percent are Han.

Millions of Han have relocated to the region in recent decades to find work, in a settlement drive that has caused friction in the community.

Similar tensions have arisen in Tibet, which neighbours Xinjiang to the south and is also home to a sizeable Tibetan ethnic group.

Beijing denies repressing ethnic minorities, who make up less than 10 percent of the national population and sometimes enjoy preferential policies.

China "protects all the rights, including the freedom of religious beliefs by people of all ethnic groups", Hua, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, was quoted as saying in the Global Times on Friday.

Xinhua said that the situation where Wednesday's attack had occurred was "generally stable".

Turpan police and Xinjiang information officials contacted by AFP declined to comment, referring queries instead to reports by Xinhua.

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48 killed in ethnic violence in central Nigeria

PAUL OHIA ABUJA: Raids by gunmen in central Nigeria and gun battles between soldiers and attackers have killed at least 48 people, including secondary school students, and left over 100 homes burnt.

A total of 48 people were murdered when attackers besieged three villages in Plateau state on Thursday, captain Salisu Mustapha, spokesman of the military in the state, said on Friday.

According to him, 28 villagers and 20 assailants died during the attack on residents and counter-attack by soldiers respectively.

The unknown attackers laid siege on the villages of Bolgang, Magama and Karkashi shooting indiscriminately resulting in the mass casualties, while the unhurt residents fled their homes to safety, Nigerian newspaper 'The Gurdian' quoted an eyewitness as saying.

Those killed at Magama are mostly children and elderly people.

Over 100 houses were also burnt by the rampaging attackers, a local official said.

The crisis, which was more of an attack, had the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group unleashing mayhem on the native Christian Taroks tribe in the early hours of Thursday morning, leaving many dead including secondary school students, the report said.

The assailants were cattle thieves who have become notorious for stealing livestocks from some community of herdsmen in the state, he said.

Similar violence had led to thousands of deaths since 1999 in the state.

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Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng to visit Taiwan

TAIPEI: Activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled house arrest in China and later moved to the US, will arrive today in Taiwan, where he will give several speeches expected to attract the attention of Beijing.

The 18-day trip is part of Chen's efforts to enhance freedom and human rights for his fellow Chinese, his organizer, the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights said in a statement.

Chen sparked a diplomatic crisis between China and the United States last year when he fled from house arrest to the US Embassy in Beijing. Since then, he's been a special student at New York University's US-Asia Law Institute while working on a book due out this year.

Chen's Taiwan visit offers a challenge to Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who has built his administration around better relations with China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

China claims Taiwan as its territory and resents any Taiwanese activity that embarrasses Beijing.

The island has one of the most vibrant democracies in Asia, but Ma is also trying to improve relations with Beijing. The presidential office said Ma has not scheduled a meeting with Chen.

In Taiwan, Chen will preside over a news conference, address the island's legislature, meet parliamentary speaker Wang Jin-pyng and speak at universities, organizers said.

Chen escaped house arrest in his rural town in eastern China's Shandong province in April 2012. Chinese officials later let him move to the US with his wife and children, in an arrangement negotiated with the United States.

He had angered local Chinese officials by documenting complaints about forced abortions.

Chen caused a controversy earlier this month when he accused New York University of bowing to pressure from the Chinese government and forcing him to leave.

The university denied that, and said it had offered him a one-year fellowship to help him escape China, and that it was concluding at the end of the academic year as planned.

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Afghanistan seeks explanation for Taliban office

KABUL: Afghanistan's government on Sunday said it is still waiting for a full explanation of how the Taliban were allowed to open an office in Qatar that was akin to an embassy, flying the militant group's flag and using its formal name from the years it ruled the country.

But foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said the Afghan government remains willing to send a peace delegation to Doha to negotiate with the Taliban once it has its explanation, as well as assurances that the office will be nothing more than a place for talks.

"The Afghan government remains fully committed to pursue a process of peace negotiations with the armed opposition, including the Taliban, but within the confines of the conditions and the principles and the assurances that we have established," Mosazai told reporters in Kabul.

The diplomatic incident served as a reminder of just how difficult a task lies ahead in getting all sides to the negotiating table after nearly 12 years of war.

The Taliban's office opened on Tuesday in a ceremony broadcast on live television, accompanied by a simultaneous announcement that US officials would begin formal talks with Taliban representatives, which eventually would be joined by the Afghan government.

That raised hopes that the long-stalled peace process could finally begin.

But the Taliban's use of its old flag and a sign bearing the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which the movement used during its five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the US-led invasion, provoked outrage across party lines in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacted sharply, suspending negotiations with the US over what presence international forces may keep in Afghanistan after 2014 and demanded the offending sign and flag be removed.

The Taliban has since complied after the Qatar government intervened. Both the US and the Qataris said the Taliban had agreed on the pre-approved name but violated the pact at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

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Saudi switches to Fri-Sat weekend

RIYADH: Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia is switching its weekend to Friday-Saturday to better serve its economy and "international commitments," the official SPA news agency reported on Sunday quoting a royal decree.

Saudi Arabia becomes the last of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council - which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates - to abandon the Thursday-Friday weekend to be closer to the world's Saturday-Sunday weekend.

The decision takes effect in ministries and government departments from next week, while it will be implemented by schools and universities from the start of the next academic year.

According to the decree the change was made to better serve "the Saudi economy and its international commitments" and coordinate with the working days in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world.

It will "reduce the negative repercussions on economic and financial activity in the kingdom and make up for lost economic opportunities," said the decree.

Riyadh's stock exchange, the biggest in the Arab world, is open for five days a week, but until now only three of these coincided with the working week in the world's major financial centres.

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter and a member of the G20 group of the globe's biggest economies.

The move had been previously rejected by clergymen in the kingdom, which follows the ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Islam, on the grounds that Saturday is the religious weekend for Jews.

Oman became the fifth GCC member state to make the switch several years after the other four members.

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Hong Kong silent on Snowden's fate

HONG KONG: Hong Kong was silent on Saturday on whether a former National Security Agency contractor should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged with espionage, but some legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.

Edward Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the news media about two highly classified NSA surveillance programs.

It is not known if the US government has made a formal extradition request to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden. Police Commissioner, Andy Tsang, when was asked about the development, told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. A police statement said it was "inappropriate" for the police to comment on the case.

When China regained control of Hong Kong in 1997, the former British colony was granted a high degree of autonomy and granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China. However, under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system. Leung also urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

Another legislator, Cyd Ho, vice-chairwoman of the pro-democracy Labour Party, said China "should now make its stance clear to the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government" before the case goes before a court.

China has urged Washington to provide explanations following the disclosures of National Security Agency programs which collect millions of telephone records and track foreign Internet activity on U.S. networks, but it has not commented on Snowden's status in Hong Kong.

A formal extradition request, which could drag through appeal courts for years, would pit Beijing against Washington at a time China tries to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.

Snowden's whereabouts have not been publicly known since he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel on June 10. He said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in "the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate." Tsang said in interview broadcast on local television that he could not comment when asked about a local newspaper report that Snowden was in a police "safe house."

Snowden and his supporters have also spoken of his seeking asylum from Iceland.

A prominent former politician in Hong Kong, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he doubted whether Beijing would intervene at this stage.

"Beijing would only intervene according to my understanding at the last stage. If the magistrate said there is enough to extradite, then Mr. Snowden can then appeal," he said.

Lee said Beijing could then decide at the end of the appeal process if it wanted Snowden extradited or not.

A one-page criminal complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, said Snowden engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information. Both are charges under the Espionage Act. Snowden also is charged with theft of government property. All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.

The complaint will be an integral part of the U.S. government's effort to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong, a process that could become a prolonged legal battle. Snowden could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution.

Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.

"Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven't had their protection claims assessed," Sutherland said.

Organizers of a public protest in support of Snowden last week said Saturday that there were no plans for similar demonstrations this weekend.

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Female president would send right signal: Hillary

WASHINGTON: Hillary Rodham Clinton mused aloud about the significance of America electing its first female president. Left unsaid: whether she might try again to be the one.

In a video of a private Clinton speech posted to YouTube yesterday, Clinton told a Canadian audience that she hoped the US would elect a woman to the White House because it would send "exactly the right historical signal" to men, women and children.

She said women in politics need to "dare to compete" and the nation needs to "take that leap of faith."

"Let me say this, hypothetically speaking, I really do hope that we have a woman president in my lifetime," Clinton said at a women's conference in Toronto on Thursday night.

"And whether it's next time or the next time after that, it really depends on women stepping up and subjecting themselves to the political process, which is very difficult."

The former secretary of state told the cheering audience that she would "certainly vote for the right woman to be president."

Should she run for president in 2016, Clinton would emerge as the Democratic Party's leading contender to succeed US President Barack Obama, but she has not said whether she will seek the White House again.

Clinton has said she is enjoying time off since departing the State Department in February but has taken a number of steps that could enhance a future presidential bid, speaking to a variety of groups around the country, working on a book and outlining her agenda at the foundation started by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

In remarks during an interview at the "Unique Lives and Experiences" conference, Clinton mused about the possibility of a woman winning the White House and what it would mean for the nation but she avoided identifying herself as the leading prospect.

The event was not open to the media, but a person in attendance posted a clip of Clinton's interview on YouTube yesterday.

Clinton spoke in an interview with Samantha Nutt, the founder and executive director of War Child Canada, a nonprofit that works with war-affected communities to help children.

The former first lady was asked if women lead differently than men and whether she thought the next US president would be a woman. Clinton cited former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who said that women in politics needed skin as "thick as a rhinoceros."

"I think there is still truth to that, so you have to step up, you have to dare to compete, you have to get into the process and then the country, our country, has to take that leap of faith," she said.

The former New York senator noted the US made history in 2008 by electing Obama, who defeated her in the Democratic primary on his way to becoming the nation's first black president.

"I hope that we will see a woman elected because I think it would send exactly the right historic signal to girls, women as well as boys and men. And I will certainly vote for the right woman to be president," Clinton said with a smile.

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Syrian forces renew attack on Aleppo

BEIRUT: Syria's army on Saturday pressed a fierce assault launched four days ago against rebel areas in northern and eastern Damascus, killing three children with mortar fire, a monitoring group said.

In northern Syria, rebels said they had begun a new assault on regime-held neighbourhoods of the country's second city, Aleppo.

"The district of Qaboon in (northeastern) Damascus is being intensely shelled by regime forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Rebels were resisting the onslaught, battling troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on the edges of Qaboon as the army tried to storm the neighbourhood, it said.

Overnight mortar fire targeting Qaboon killed three children from one family, the Britain-based group said.

Nearby, clashes raged between rebels, troops and pro-Assad militiamen in the Barzeh neighbourhood of the capital, said the watchdog.

The fighting erupted as rebels fought off an army attempt to enter the district, said the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground.

Battles also raged on the edges of Al-Hajar al-Aswad in southern Damascus and Jubar in the east, said the Observatory. Troops meanwhile pounded the Qadam district, parts of which are rebel-held.

Over the past fortnight, the army has dramatically boosted efforts to crush the anti-Assad insurgency in and around Damascus.

Meanwhile in Aleppo, large swathes of which are under rebel control, the main rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) command announced the launch of "a battle to liberate several western districts".

According to a statement posted online, "several revolutionary brigades and armed factions launched a new battle at dawn today".

Activists said fierce fighting raged in the regime-held New Aleppo district in the west of the city.

Rebels launched their first major assault on Aleppo on July 20 last year.

Ever since, despite many clashes and army bids to retake control, the city has fallen into a stalemate.

The latest assault is being staged by 13 rebel groups, including the powerful Liwa al-Tawhid and the Farouq Brigades, the FSA statement said.

Saturday's fighting was heaviest in the Rashidin area of New Aleppo, an activist in the city told AFP via the Internet.

"A fire broke out in a (military) research centre in New Aleppo after the revolutionary brigades used mortars to shell it," said the activist who identified himself as Mohammad, adding that the rebels were advancing on Rashidin.

The rebels "are focusing on hitting military targets" including a military security branch in the area, he said.

Mohammad said Aleppo's western districts are key because the army has been shelling rebel areas from there.

Saturday's developments come as the military pushed on with its bid to end the insurgency in and around Homs in central Syria, said the Observatory.

While troops shelled rebel-held besieged districts in the heart of Homs city, Assad loyalists also tried to storm the town of Tal Kalakh near the border with Lebanon.

Saturday's violence comes a day after at least 100 people were killed nationwide, the Observatory added.

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UK to charge 2 journalists for The Sun newspaper

LONDON: British officials are charging two journalists for The Sun newspaper as part of an investigation into bribery of public officials.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Friday that The Sun's Jamie Pyatt and John Edwards will be charged along with Robert Neave, a former healthcare assistant at Broadmoor, Britain's hospital for the criminally insane with conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office.

Prosecutors allege that over nearly nine years, The Sun paid more than 30,000 pounds ($46,500) to public officials including Neave for information including about the health and activities of Broadmoor patients and details about a royal family member's work.

The charges are being brought as part of Operation Elveden, an investigation being run in conjunction with probes into phone hacking.

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New record as haze chokes Singapore

JAKARTA: Military planes water-bombed Indonesian forest fires that worsened on Friday and blanketed neighbouring Singapore in record levels of hazardous smog for a third straight day in one of Southeast Asia's worst air-pollution crises.

As Singaporeans donned face masks and pulled children from playgrounds and Malaysia closed schools in the south, the deliberately-lit fires grew bigger in some areas. Whipped up by winds, the blazes added to fears over health problems and diplomatic tension in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, three of Southeast Asia's biggest economies.

"The winds are picking up and the weather isn't very good at the moment, so the fires in some places are getting bigger," Gunawan, a firefighter who like many Indonesians go by one name, said by telephone. "We are working as hard as possible to control the fires ... but we're facing difficult conditions."

Indonesia's environment minister, Balthasar Kambuaya, said the government had identified five companies behind the fires, but refused to name them, according to The Jakarta Post newspaper.

Singapore's government has warned the haze could last weeks.

Illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island typically take place in the June to September dry season to clear space for palm oil plantations. But this year's fires are unusually widespread and the hazy smog is the worst in Singapore's history.

"Since the fires are happening mostly on plantation lands, we believe there are plantation companies involved. The president has already put together a team to investigate who owns the plantations," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency.

Indonesia has earmarked around 200 billion rupiah ($20 million) to handle the disaster. Seven military aircraft were deployed for water bombings and rain seeding.

"HAZARDOUS"

Hospitals in Dumai and Bengkalis in Indonesia's Riau province recorded increases in cases of asthma, lung, eye and skin problems, said health official Arifin Zainal. Free face masks were being distributed and authorities advised residents to stay indoors with their windows shut.

The Dumai airport remained closed for a third day.

In Singapore, the number of residents wearing face masks rose markedly as the pollution standards index (PSI) climbed to a new record of 401 at midday, a level which health authorities consider potentially life-threatening for the elderly. The PSI moderated later to an "unhealthy" 139.

"Basically, what a 'hazardous' PSI level means is that the pollution will cause damage to the lining of the breathing tube," said Dr Kenneth Chan, consultant respiratory physician at Singapore's Gleneagles Medical Centre. "If the lining of the breathing tube is damaged, it will make the patient more vulnerable to various infections."

In Malaysia, southern Johor state was the worst affected, with pollution readings remaining in the "hazardous" category.

COSTLY FIRE

The cost of the current haze for Singapore could be hundreds of millions of dollars, brokerage CLSA said in a report.

It said that in 2006, when the pollution index reached 150, it was estimated the haze cost $50 million and in 1997 it was $300 million. CLSA said the 1997 and 2006 figures seemed low when considering the direct and indirect cost of prolonged haze.

Playgrounds emptied as parents kept children inside. But workers in Singapore could still be seen toiling at some construction sites.

The Singapore government has so far only issued only broad guidelines about employers having to ensure the health and safety of workers.

"Even as our government rails against the corporate interests in Sumatra who are willing to sacrifice human health for profits, the Ministry of Manpower still isn't practicing what they preach by allowing construction companies in Singapore to make their workers slog through the smog," the Online Citizen, a socio-political website, said in a commentary.

In 1997, the Ministry of Manpower, then called the Ministry of Labour, said outdoor work should stop if the PSI topped 400.

Jetstar, the budget carrier of Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd, was advertising fares to unaffected destinations like Bangkok, Phuket, Bali and Shantou in China.

"Fantasising about greener pastures or fresh air by the beach? Turn your dream into reality by jetting off with this week's Friday Fare Frenzy!," JetStar said.

However, some companies have taken their advertisements a bit too far. McDonald's, the fast-food-chain, apologised for making a haze-related pun in one promotion - "Today's Peak Sauce Index is looking deliciously high".

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Greece coalition partner pulls out ministers

ATHENS, Greece: Greece's fragile coalition government was left reeling on Friday after a junior party decided to pull its two cabinet ministers from the cabinet following a dispute over state broadcaster ERT.

Democratic Left party officials said the ministers of justice and civil service reform would resign from the 17-member cabinet of ministers within the day. Two of the party's deputy ministers were also preparing to resign, the officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether the party would continue to support conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' coalition government in parliament.

A party statement said it would continue to pursue an "agenda of reform" - implying that it would extend limited support to the government.

Samaras' three-party coalition currently has 167 seats in the 300-member parliament, including the 14 lawmakers from the Democratic Left. The government would be left with a slim working majority of just three lawmakers if the Democratic Left withdrew its support.

Socialist coalition party Pasok says it will remain in Samaras government.

Civil Service Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis announced the news of the Democratic Left's cabinet withdrawal following a four-hour emergency meeting.

The crisis in Greece saw the country's borrowing costs spike on Friday, while shares on the Athens Stock Exchange were 3.2 percent lower.

The interest yield on the country's benchmark 10-year bond - an indicator of investor confidence in a country - spiked 0.80 percentage point Friday to 11.35 percent - the highest in 2013. Meanwhile, shares on the Athens Stock Exchange were down nearly 3 percent midday Friday.

Samaras' coalition parties failed to resolve the dispute over broadcaster ERT following three meetings this week after the high court ruled the decision to close it unlawful.

Greece has been relying on 240 billion euros ($316.8 billion) in bailout loans from the other euro countries and the International Monetary Fund for the past three years. The country has had to introduce harsh austerity measures demanded by rescue creditors, which have deepened the country's recession.

Samaras' ordered ERT's closure on June 11, shutting off its signal and firing nearly 2,700 employees as the country embarks on a second stage of painful cuts likely to focus on reducing the size of the public sector.

Debt inspectors have suspended a review of Greece's public finances amid the political crisis, while the IMF warned Thursday that loan payouts could be affected if that review does not restart soon.

If Greece falls further into political crisis, it could miss some of its agreed bailout targets, which could force the creditors to withhold paying out the next tranche of loans.

"I love Greece but I'm very much looking forward to a Eurogroup press conference where Greece is not going to be discussed and a summer where we don't have any Greek crisis," said the EU's top economic official, Olli Rehn said Thursday night at the closing of a meeting of euro finance ministers.

"I want to appeal to the sense of responsibility of political leaders in Greece," he added.

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Taliban offer to free US soldier

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.

The offer follows this week's official opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

The only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war is US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.

In an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press from his Doha office, Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail said on Thursday that Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition."

Suhail did not elaborate on Bergdahl's current whereabouts. Among the five prisoners the Taliban have consistently requested are Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a former top Taliban military commander, both of whom have been held for more than a decade.

Bergdahl's parents earlier this month received a letter from their son who turned 27 on March 28 through the International Committee of the Red Cross. They did not release details of the letter but renewed their plea for his release. The soldier's captivity has been marked by only sporadic releases of videos and information about his whereabouts.

The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening peace talks, saidn Suhail, who is a top Taliban figure and served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.

"First has to be the release of detainees," Suhail said when asked about Bergdahl. "Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward."

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry was expected in Doha ahead of Saturday's conference on the Syrian civil war.

While in Qatar, Kerry is also expected to meet with the Taliban but timing was unclear. On Wednesday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. had "never confirmed" any specific meeting schedule with Taliban representatives in Doha.

Prospective peace talks are also still in question, especially after Afghan President Hamid Karzai became infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy.

The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: Political office of the Taliban.

At the ceremony, the Taliban welcomed dialogue with Washington but said their fighters would not stop fighting. Hours later, the group claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Bagram Air Base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, that killed four American service members.

Karzai on Wednesday announced his government is out of the peace talks, apparently angered by the way Kabul had been sidelined in the US-Taliban bid for rapprochement.

The Afghan president also suspended negotiations with the United States on a bilateral security agreement that would cover American troops who will remain behind after the final withdrawal of Nato combat troops at the end of 2014.

Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they want their first interlocutors to be the United States. "First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us (because) for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans," he said.

"We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan," he added. "If there are troops in Afghanistan then there will be a continuation of the war."

Suhail indicated the Taliban could approve of American trainers and advisers for the Afghan troops, saying that "of course, there is cooperation between countries in other things. We need that cooperation."

He said that once the Taliban concluded talks with the United States, they would participate in all-inclusive Afghan talks.

Suhail ruled out exclusive talks with Karzai's High Peace Council, which has been a condition of the Afghan president who previously said he wanted talks in Doha to be restricted to his representatives and the Taliban. Instead, the Taliban would talk to all Afghan groups, Suhail said.

"After we finish the phase of talking to the Americans, then we would start the internal phase ... that would include all Afghans," he said. "Having all groups involved will guarantee peace and stability."

On Thursday, Karzai's government appeared to throw another spanner into the mix, demanding that Pakistan release imprisoned Afghan Taliban leaders.

"It is a good time to release these Taliban leaders jailed in Pakistan, and then the Afghan High Peace Council together with them will begin talks with the Taliban inside Afghanistan or in Qatar," a statement from the foreign ministry in Kabul said.

It wasn't clear, however, whether the Taliban in Pakistani custody would be willing to participate in peace talks as members of Karzai's council. Pakistan last year and earlier this year released dozens of Taliban prisoners, most of whom returned to the ranks of the Taliban.

The Afghan government has repeatedly sought the release of the Taliban's former No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, picked up by Pakistan in 2010 on a CIA tip.

Pakistan has so far refused, and two senior US officials told the AP that the US has asked Pakistan not to release Baradar or if he is released, to give them advance notice so they could monitor his movements. The two officials, both knowledgeable of the process, spoke earlier this year, on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

The reconciliation process with the Taliban has been a long and bumpy one that began nearly two years ago when the US opened secret talks that were later scuttled by Karzai when he learned of them.

It was then that the US and Taliban discussed prisoner exchanges and for a brief time it appeared that the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners would be released and sent to Doha to help further the peace process. But Karzai stepped in again and demanded they be returned to Afghanistan over Taliban objections.

Since then, the US has been trying to jumpstart peace talks and the Taliban have made small gestures including an offer to share power. The Taliban have also attended several international conferences and held meetings with representatives of about 30 countries.

If the Taliban hold talks with Kerry in the next few days, they will be the first US-Taliban talks in nearly 1 years.

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Landslides, floods claim 39 lives across Nepal

KATHMANDU: At least 39 people have been killed due to floods and landslides triggered by incessant rain over a period of five days in 10 districts across Nepal, the government said on Thrusday.

Thirty nine people were killed and 18 others have gone missing since Sunday, according to the home ministry.

Seven people were killed in Dailekh district, six each were killed in Kalikot and Doti, and five were killed in Baitadi, the ministry said.

Four people each died in Humla and Palpa whereas three people were killed in Achham district.

Two people died in Kanchanpur and one each were killed in Dolpa and Rupendahi districts.

Seven people have been injured and 194 houses damaged in the disaster across Nepal.

Fourteen of the country's 75 districts have been declared disaster-hit by the government following the floods, officials said.

Meanwhile, a high-level government team led by chairman of the Interim Election Government, Khil Raj Regmi today visited the flood-hit areas in western Nepal.

Regmi visited Darchula, Kanchanpur and Kailali districts, which were worst hit by the calamity, according to a Home Ministry official.

Home minister Madhav Ghimire and home secretary Navin Kumar Ghimire were also part of the team.

The government has announced Rs 35,000 as immediate relief to each of the displaced families in the western Nepal districts.

The government has also allocated Rs 50 crore for the reconstruction of infrastructure and relief works in the disaster-hit areas.

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Dubai sets sights on Quran-themed park

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Dubai has added a new item to its top ambitions such as building the world's largest Ferris wheel and bidding for an Angry Birds theme park - a site honoring the Quran.

The estimated $7.3 million project will include a garden with plants mentioned in the Islamic holy book and an air-conditioned tunnel depicting events from the Quran.

Dubai media quoted the city's director of projects, Mohammed Noor Mashroom, as saying Thursday the park should be ready in September 2014.

It's a departure from Dubai's emphasis on Western-style tourism, which draws millions of visitors from around the Muslim world but has its detractors.

This week, a Saudi cleric issued a religious edict saying it was a "sin" for Saudi women to visit Dubai, but later retracted the opinion after outcry.

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Saatchi admits assault on wife Nigella Lawson

LONDON: Prominent British art collector Charles Saatchi has admitted assault and accepted a police caution after published photos showed him grasping the throat of his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

In Tuesday's editions, The London Evening Standard newspaper quoted him as saying that he had approached police to discuss the incident after seeking legal advice.

"Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross (police) station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months," he told the newspaper, where he is also a columnist. He said the questioning took four hours.

Tabloid newspapers this week published photos of the incident, which happened June 9 in a posh London restaurant.

Saatchi, 70, earlier had characterized the incident as a "playful tiff" during an intense debate about the couple's children.

Lawson, 53, is a well-known TV presenter and chef whose cookbooks are best-sellers in Britain and the United States.

Under British law, a caution is a formal warning given to someone who admits the offense. It carries no penalty, but it can be used as evidence of bad character if a person is later prosecuted for a different crime.

Saatchi had told the Evening Standard newspaper Monday that the photos made the altercation look worse than it was.

Saatchi said "the pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place."

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," he was quoted as saying. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff."

Saatchi also told the paper the couple "had made up by the time we were home.

"The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Lawson's spokesman, Mark Hutchinson, confirmed that she and her children had left the family home after the photos were published but declined to comment further.

Saatchi and Lawson married in 2003 and live in London with Lawson's son and daughter from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died of cancer in 2001, and Saatchi's daughter from a previous marriage.

Lawson gained fame with her 1998 best-seller "How To Eat" and subsequent "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" (2000) and is one of Britain's best-known cookbook writers, as well as the host of foodie TV shows including "Nigella Bites" and ABC's cooking program "The Taste."

A former journalist who attended Oxford University, she served as deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times and subsequently wrote for numerous other newspapers and magazines.

Lawson is also one of the few British food personalities to have had real success in the United States, both on television and with her cookbooks. She has often made the point that she is not a trained chef, but is simply showing people what they can do in their own kitchens.

She is known for her sensual style on television - both critics and admirers have called her shows "gastroporn."

Lawson is also known for her refreshing frankness. In January, she made news for insisting that her belly not be airbrushed out of promotional photos for her show, "The Taste," on ABC.

"That tum is the truth and is come by honestly, as my granny would have said," she wrote in a blog post.

Saatchi, co-founder of the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, owns one of London's biggest private art galleries. He was the main patron of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, which made household names of artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

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US lawsuit filed against News Corp on phone hacking

NEW YORK: News Corp's legal woes in the British phone hacking scandal have spread across the Atlantic, with a lawsuit filed in a US court alleging invasion of privacy of Angelina Jolie's stunt double.

A suit filed on June 13 by British national Eunice Huthart accused the firm's now defunct News of the World of intercepting her voice mail messages while she was working as a stunt double for the US actress.

The complaint filed in federal court seeks "maximum statutory actual damages" along with punitive damages against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the News International and News Group Newspapers subsidiaries and other unidentified individuals.

It said Huthart, who is the godmother of Jolie's first biological child, lost numerous phone messages in 2004 and 2005, including from Jolie, while working on films including "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

Huthart's mobile phone number, account number and personal code appeared in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, who was imprisoned in Britain for six months in 2007 for illegally intercepting phone messages at the request of News of the World.

The weekly was shut down in July 2011 after it emerged it had illegally accessed the mobile phone voice messages of hundreds of high-profile figures, including a missing teenager who was later found murdered.

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Turkey: Police crackdown on protesters

ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday claimed victory over anti-government protesters after a heavy crackdown on the movement, as police raided homes and arrested dozens of demonstrators to stamp out nearly three weeks of unrest.

After a weekend of heavy clashes sparked by the eviction of protesters from Istanbul's Gezi Park, the focal point of the protests, demonstrators struggled to regroup and police have since fought only sporadic battles with smaller groups of demonstrators across the country.

Overnight, riot police in the capital Ankara, briefly fired tear gas and used water cannons on protesters who hurled back stones and hid behind makeshift barricades; but there were no other reports of confrontations.

In Istanbul, dozens of demonstrators switched to silent protests, standing still, in quiet defiance, in the main Taksim Square located next to Gezi Park.

As the protests appeared to lose their intensity, Erdogan said he had overcome the crisis, seen as the biggest challenge yet to his Islamic-rooted government's decade-long rule.

"Our democracy has been tested again and came out victoriously," the premier told members of his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) to roaring applause.

"The people and the AKP government have foiled the plot ... hatched by traitors and their foreign accomplices."

Confident that he has weathered the storm, he warned against any resurgence of the protests.

"From now on, there will be no question of showing any tolerance to people or organisations who engage in violent acts."

Erdogan has been widely criticised for his handling of the crisis, with the United States and other Western allies strongly condemning the use of excessive police force against protesters.

But the premier said the police had "successfully passed the test of democracy" with their response to the unrest and vowed to increase their powers.

His comments came as police carried out raids at homes across the country, detaining dozens of demonstrators.

In Istanbul, officers arrested around 90 members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), a small leftist group that has been active in the demos, the Istanbul bar association said.

Local media said 30 people were also arrested in Ankara and another 13 in the northwestern city of Eskisehir.

Interior minister Muammer Guler spoke of 62 arrests in Istanbul and 23 in Ankara, and said they were linked to an ongoing anti-terrorist probe into the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) "which also took part in the Gezi Park protests".

More than 500 demonstrators had already been arrested on Sunday in clashes that raged after the Gezi Park eviction, the Istanbul and Ankara bar associations said.

Turkey's crisis began when a sit-in to save Gezi's 600 trees from being razed in a redevelopment project prompted a brutal police response on May 31.

The violence snowballed into countrywide demonstrations against what demonstrators say are Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian and conservative Islamic policies.

Gezi Park became the focal point of the protests, with thousands occupying the patch of green in a carnival-like atmosphere.

After defying Erdogan's repeated warning to clear out, he ordered police to storm the site on Saturday, sending campers scrambling to flee salvos of tear gas and jets of water and sparking hours-long running battles with police.

Gezi Park has been sealed-off since and guarded by police, who have also banned demonstrators from massing on the adjoining Taksim Square.

To get around the ban, a single man appeared on the square overnight, standing quietly still for more than five hours in a "standing man" protest that quickly went viral.

The choreographer, Erdem Gunduz, attracted dozens of copycats before they were dispersed by police. Around 10 demonstrators were also detained.

By Tuesday afternoon, dozens of mostly young demonstrators began their own silent vigil on the square, standing still in the afternoon sun not saying a word, as police looked on without intervening.

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