Still in control, open to talks with US, says Pres Maduro At least eight die in blaze at Czech disability home 6.0 earthquake shakes Xinjiang in China

WASHINGTON DC: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was still comfortably in charge and open to direct negotiations with the US, in an interview published Saturday by The Washington Post.

The interview was Maduro's first with a major US outlet since February of last year, when he abruptly ejected all Univision journalists from Venezuela.

"If there's respect between governments, no matter how big the United States is, and if there's a dialogue, an exchange of truthful information, then be sure we can create a new type of relationship," Maduro told the Post. The socialist leader said he was ready to hold talks with the US to negotiate an end to sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump intended to throttle the South American country's oil industry and force Maduro from power.

Maduro indicated that, if Trump were to lift sanctions, US oil companies could benefit immensely from Venezuela's oil. A relationship of respect and dialogue brings a win-win situation. A confrontational relationship brings a lose-lose situation. That's the formula," Maduro said.

The US, along with more than 50 other countries, recognizes Maduro's opposition rival Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate interim president.

Guaido has called for a new presidential election to be held, on the grounds that Maduro is an "illegitimate" president because his 2018 re-election was tainted by fraud.

Oil-rich Venezuela's economy is crumbling under Maduro's rule, and millions have fled the country. But despite the humanitarian catastrophe and biting US sanctions, Maduro maintains power with the support of the military as well as Russia, China and Cuba.

PRAGUE: At least eight people died and thirty were injured after a fire at a home for people with learning disabilities in a western Czech town early Sunday, rescuers said.

"A total of 38 people were affected by the fire, of them eight unfortunately died," emergency services spokesman Prokop Volenik said.

He said 30 people were taken to hospital -- one in critical condition, three with serious injuries and 26 with light or no injuries.

Czech media said the fire was reported at 0349 GMT and that it has been put out.

"The fire broke out in the boys' section of a home for the mentally handicapped," said Jitka Gavdunova, the mayor of Vejprty, a small town on the German border some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Prague.

Volenik said all of those affected were adults.

The broadsheet DNES daily quoted Gavdunova as saying the clients of the home had tried to set it on fire in the past, and that the home was heavily understaffed.

People from the town tried to help when the fire broke out but eight clients suffocated.

"The deputy mayor ran into the fire to help the clients and he paid for it. He's now in hospital under observation," said Gavdunova.

She told DNES the clients could walk around town freely, and that the home had fire sensors but only at the toilets used by the clients as smoking rooms.

"We should not be so benevolent with people whose mental age is six to twelve years," said the mayor.

Police said on Twitter they were investigating the fire as criminal negligence.

Originally, rescuers said the fire had occurred at a nearby home for the elderly.

"It's insane, we're swamped with phone calls from the relatives of the pensioners," Gavdunova told AFP.

Volenik said it was too early to talk about the causes of the blaze.

He added seven ambulance units including two German ones had been deployed.

Czech media said rescue helicopters were grounded by bad weather in the mountainous region.

BEIJING: A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit a remote area of northwest China's Xinjiang region late Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.

The shallow quake struck at 9:27 pm (local time) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) eastnortheast of the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar.

In its initial assessment, the USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties.

It said however that significant damage was likely, with many buildings in the region built from mud bricks or cinder block masonry.

The area near the quake's epicentre is sparsely populated mountain and desert terrain.

China is regularly hit by earthquakes, especially in its mountainous western and southwestern regions.

In February 2003 a powerful 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Xinjiang and caused significant damage.

A relationship of respect and dialogue brings a win-win situation. A confrontational relationship brings a lose-lose situation