Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The highest court in Belarus convicted an aspiring rival to the nation’s authoritarian president on corruption charges that he rejected as politically motivated and sentenced him Tuesday to 14 years in prison.

Viktor Babariko, the head of a commercial bank owned by Russian natural gas company Gazprom, had hoped to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko last year, but he was arrested before the country’s August 2020 presidential election and prohibited from registering as a candidate.

MOSCOW (AP) — A plane carrying 28 people apparently crashed as it came in for a landing in bad weather Tuesday in Russia’s Far East, and everyone aboard was feared dead.

Wreckage from the Antonov An-26 was found near the airport in the town of Palana, according to officials. The plane was on approach in fog and clouds when it missed a scheduled communication and disappeared from radar, officials from the Kamchatka region said.

Moscow, Jul 6 (AP-PTI) A plane with 28 people on board has gone missing in the Russian Far East region of Kamchatka on Tuesday, local officials said.

An An-26 plane with 22 passengers and 6 crew flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana missed a scheduled communication, local emergency officials said. According to the local transport ministry, it also disappeared from the radars.

An investigation has been launched, and a search mission is underway.

PARIS (AP) — Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders has put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on its list of “predators,” the first time a Western European leader has been placed in the lineup of heads of state or government who “crack down massively” on press freedom.

The list published Monday includes 37 leaders.

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/: A test batch of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V was produced in Mexico, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Monday.

"RDIF and Mexican pharmaceutical company Laboratorios de Biologicos y Reactivos de Mexico (BIRMEX) announce production of the test batch of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in the country. Mexico became the first North American country that registered the Sputnik V and launched production of the Russian vaccine," the Fund said.

VIENNA, July 5. /TASS/: Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov has noted that the expectations to restore the Iran nuclear deal by July 15 are unrealistic.

"The break in the Vienna talks on restoring the JCPOA has lasted longer than expected. It is obvious that Iran, given the recent presidential election, needs more time for preparations. The expectations to complete the process by the sixth anniversary of the nuclear deal (July 15) are unrealistic," he wrote on Twitter.

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, the Kremlin stated on Monday.

"[The two presidents] discussed in detail the complicated situation on the Tajik-Afghan border, which was triggered by an escalation of armed confrontation in Afghanistan, including in the border area," the statement said.

LONDON, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — After failing last week, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of oil producers will try again Monday to reach agreement on how much crude to put on the market.

  Since May, the group has raised oil output little by little, after slashing it more than a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand.

  The current proposal is to increase output each month from August to December by 400,000 barrels per day, providing oil markets with an additional two million bpd by the end of the year.

MOSCOW, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia on Sunday counted more than 25,000 new daily infections after a week of record death tolls as the highly contagious Delta variant propels a global resurgence of the pandemic.

The coronavirus has killed nearly four million people worldwide, forcing numerous nations to reimpose restrictions well over a year after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Moscow has so far ruled out a new lockdown, but Sunday’s 25,142 infections were the biggest figure since Jan 2.

PARIS, July 5 (Reuters) - The leaders of France, Germany and China, after a three-way video call on Monday, called on all parties involved in the Iran nuclear talks to seize a window of opportunity for an agreement, a French presidency source said on Monday.

The source said that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken for more than an hour.