IRAN-Allies of Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani have won a landslide victory in Tehran, in the first parliamentary vote since Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers. With 90% of the votes counted, the pro-Rouhani List of Hope is set to take all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital. The leading conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad-Adel is in 31st place. Millions voted on Friday to elect the 290-seat parliament as well as members of the Assembly of Experts.(BBC)…[+]

SHANGHAI (Xinhua) — Financial policymakers from the world’s 20 major economies on Saturday pledged to use all policy tools, including monetary, fiscal and structural ones, to strengthen global recovery amid growing concerns of further downward risks.

“The global recovery continues, but it remains uneven and falls short of our ambition for strong, sustainable and balance growth,” noted a communique issued after the two-day G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Shanghai. The policymakers cited volatile capital flows, slumping commodity prices, escalated geopolitical tensions, a potential UK exit from the European Union and increasing refugees as major vulnerabilities of the global economy. The gathering came amid weak economic growth worldwide and increasing financial volatility that saw frequent and drastic falls in the stock markets across the world.(Xinhua)…[+]

USA – — Philip D. Chism was sentenced Friday to serve at least 40 years in state prison for the rape and murder of Colleen E. Ritzer, a sentence imposed shortly after Ritzer’s parents denounced the teenager as someone “pure evil’’ who deserved to be executed. Essex Superior Court Judge David Lowy sentenced the 17-year-old Chism for the attack on Ritzer inside a second-floor girls’ bathroom at Danvers High School on Oct. 22, 2013. Chism raped, slashed, and strangled Ritzer before moving her body to nearby woods, where he violated her with a tree branch. “Colleen Ritzer lived a life of quiet heroism,’’ said Lowy. He said her death was a “brutal and senseless murder. …The crashing waves of this tragedy will never wane.’’ At a news conference after the sentencing, Ritzer’s mother, Peggie Ritzer, said the sentence was not tough enough. “Today’s sentence is unacceptable,” she said. Lowy said that Chism “did not start life on third base,’’ in part because his father was abusive and in and out of his son’s life.

(bostonglobe)…[+]