Cairo: Egypt’s moderate Islamist force Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in the presidential poll on Monday and promised to build a modern democratic state, but the landmark election stood overshadowed by uncertainty as the ruling military took over legislative powers.

Hours after voting closed in Egypt’s presidential run off, the Muslim Brotherhood man Muhammad Mursi declared victory over Ahmed Shafiq, an air force man and Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.

At a press conference held at the Brotherhood headquarters Mursi paid homage to the martyrs of the revolution that ousted Mubarak, and promised that there would be no settling of accounts.

“I will be a brother and servant to all Egyptians,” said Mursi, flanked by the Freedom and Justice Party chief Essam El-Erian, former parliamentary speaker Saad El-Katatni and FJP MP Saad El-Husseini. He vowed to establish a just civilian country and saluted “the revolution’s ‘martyrs’, the revolutionaries and those who said ‘Yes’ to me as well as those who said ‘No’ to me.”

“We promise to build a democratic and modern state with a constitution,” he said as supporters broke out singing the national anthem. The rival camp of Shafiq immediately contradicted Mursi’s claims and criticised the Brotherhood for declaring premature victory.

The spokesperson for Shafiq’s campaign, Yasser Makarim accused the Brotherhood of hijacking the results, and said around 11 per cent of the votes were yet to be counted. He even claimed that it was Shafiq who was leading 51 to 49 though the Brotherhood’s claims appeared to be closer to other unofficial tallies from local and international media.

The official results will be announced only by later this week.

Another spokesperson for Shafiq, told private ONTV that their campaign does not recognise any results announced by Mursi’s campaign, describing their actions as ‘absurd’ and ‘pathetic media manipulation.’

While the candidates matched claims with counter claims, Egyptians were more concerned over parallel developments that the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) consolidate its hold on power.

Powered by a recent court order that dissolved an elected parliament, the ruling military moved to take much of the country’s control, including legislative powers, in its hands. Adding to the confusion and uncertainty, the SCAF released a “constitutional annex”, a decree outlining the powers of the new president on Sunday night.

“The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces shall exercise the powers referred to under the first clause of article 56 (the article on legislative power)… until the election of a new People’s Assembly,” the decree stated.

The Supreme Court earlier this week declared the recently held parliamentary election, that were won by the Muslim Brotherhood’s FJP, as unconstitutional on certain grounds. According to a report in Al Jazeera, the powers outlined for the president in the decree were are quite limited.

“He may declare war, for example, only after seeking SCAF’s approval. The decree also reminds the president that he can call on the military to quell ‘unrest’ inside the country,” the report said.

The interim constitutional document, however, promised fresh parliamentary elections, but not until a new constitution has been drafted.

The parliament-appointed 100-member assembly to draft the constitution will be allowed to continue its work, though if it runs into “obstacles”, SCAF will appoint a replacement, said the document. The Muslim Brotherhood was quick to call the decree “null and unconstitutional”. (PTI)

Islamabad: A bus carrying Shia students was targeted with a powerful bomb, killing four persons and injuring 50 others, in Pakistan’s southwestern Quetta city on Monday.

The bomb, hidden underneath a car parked by the roadside, was triggered by remote control when the bus reached the campus of the Balochistan University of Information Technology at Samungli Road this morning. All the dead were students, officials told TV news channels. Four female students and four policemen were among the injured.

The policemen were in a van that was passing the area when the blast occurred. The injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, the Bolan Medical Complex and the Civil Hospital.

At least 12 students, who were in a critical condition, were taken to the military hospital, officials said.

The bomb contained about 40 kg of explosives, officials of bomb disposal squad said.

The blast created a three-foot-deep crater on the road. Police officials said the bus was the target of the attack.

A rickshaw was destroyed by the blast, which damaged several nearby buildings. Security forces cordoned off the site of the blast, located in a residential area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and launched a search operation.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. This was the latest in a string of attacks in Balochistan targeting the minority Shia community. (PTI)

PARIS: A resounding Socialist victory in weekend parliamentary elections will allow President Francois Hollande to press ahead with reforms to tame France’s deficit and promote economic growth in Europe, a senior minister said today.

The Socialists, who won a comfortable majority in on Sunday’s parliamentary elections, will use a special session of parliament next month to axe tax breaks and increase taxes for large corporations, particularly banks and energy companies.

The measures are part of Hollande’s twin track drive to balance France’s budget by 2017 and persuade Europe’s paymaster Germany to back his call for a stimulus package of more than 100 billion dollar to boost growth.

Election results for mainland France showed the Socialists and their affiliates won 307 seats, comfortably exceeding the 289 required for a majority in the National Assembly. Definitive figures including overseas territories were due later today, with polls predicting the Socialists could win up to 320 seats.

With the left already controlling the Senate upper house of parliament, that would free the Socialists from relying on the votes of the anti-austerity, eurosceptic Left Front or the conservative UMP opposition.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the government would waste no time in pressing ahead with promised reforms.

“We need to sort out this country’s finances, to ensure we achieve a balanced budget by 2017, and at the same time pursue our priorities in terms of growth, employment, education and security,” said Valls, promising tax reforms to ensure that the richest French pay their share.

Valls said that a resurgence in the vote for the National Front – which won two parliamentary seats and returns to parliament for the first time since the mid-1980s – was due to widespread disenchantment with France’s economic situation.

“We need to mobilise our European partners because piling more austerity on top of austerity will lead to tragedy and a deep rift between the peoples of Europe and their politicians.”

With unemployment at a 13-year high of 10 percent and economic growth stagnating, Hollande faces a delicate balancing act in reducing the government’s deficit and keeping the euro zone’s second largest economy out of the sights of financial market speculators attacking Spain and Italy. (UNI)

Beijing: China completed its first manned space docking today, as a spacecraft carrying three astronauts including the country’s first spacewoman, successfully coupled with an orbiting module, in a major milestone for its ambitious space programme.

The three astronauts on board Shenzhou-9 (Divine Grace) will now enter the orbiting space lab Tiangong-1 or ‘Heavenly Palace’, that will give another boost to China’s goal of completing a pace station by 2020.

The procedure began as Shenzhou-9, in which the astronauts had traveled for two days ago, first moved to a location 52 km from Tiangong-1 at noon today, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center said.

The spacecraft then slowly drifted towards Tiangong-1, which is orbiting on its own since last year, and made contact with the module at 2:07 pm, China time. The docking was completed in less than eight minutes, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

During the process of automated docking, the astronauts namely Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and the woman astronaut Liu Yang were calm and in good condition, reporting the status of Shenzhou-9 to the ground frequently, the Center said. They will enter the Tiangong-1 lab module later in the day and use it to conduct scientific experiments and technical tests.

It was an automated procedure conducted by computers and not the not by the crew. They were expected to be de-linked shortly and conduct a manual docking, the main task of the present crew.

The three are scheduled to stay in space for about 13 days. In today’s docking, a suite of radar, laser and optical sensors aligned Shenzhou with Tiangong. The capsule’s thrusters then drove it into the space lab’s docking ring.

China’s first successful unmanned space docking was completed last year with the docking of the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1. The latest Shenzhou mission assumed significance as it launched 33-year-old Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman to travel to space. She flew along with Commander Jing Haipeng, 46, and fellow flight engineer, Liu Wang, 42. It is China’s fourth manned mission, demonstrating the distance China traveled in acquiring space technology. Today’s union between two space modules happened at an altitude of about 340 km from the earth.

Liu operated a hand-held video camera to record the moment of docking. It is understood that only two members of the crew will enter the lab at any one time. The third individual will stay in the Shenzhou craft in case of emergency.

The successful launch prompted Chinese leaders and officials to assert that China has become a space power and is fast catching up with US and other developed countries. Ahead of the Shenzhou-9 launch, Chinese space scientists brought Tiangong-1, the first prototype of a Chinese space lab down to 343 km range. The space station is being built to rival, Mir, Russia’s international space station currently orbiting the earth.

The Chinese station is expected to be ready by 2020 after a series of experiments. Tiangong-1 will be replaced next year with a far bigger module to accommodate more astronauts.

During the flight, a range of scientific experiments are planned, including a number of medical tests to understanding the effects of weightlessness on men and women. (PTI)