Europe

PARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - France holds run-offs for regional elections on Sunday that could shift the balance between political heavyweights vying for pole position in next year's presidential race.

Last Sunday's first round proved dire for President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is on course to win none of France's 13 mainland regions, but was also disappointing for far-right leader Marine Le Pen. 

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Classified documents from Britain's defence ministry containing details about a British warship and Russia's potential reaction to its passage through the Black Sea have been found at a bus stop in southern England, the BBC reported on Sunday.

The BBC said the documents, almost 50 pages in all, were found "in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning" by a member of the public, who wanted to remain anonymous.

ROME (AP) — Hush-hush diplomacy. In-person visits. And a very public no-surprises agreement on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries.

26 June 2021; MEMO: Amnesty International has accused Israeli occupation police of using "ruthless excessive force" against "peaceful" Palestinian protesters in occupied East Jerusalem, a press release issued on Thursday revealed.

26 June 2021; MEMO: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that the Iranian government has not responded to the monitoring agreement, stressing the need to maintain the verification of Iran's nuclear activities.

Seville, Jun 27 (AP-PTI) Cristiano Ronaldo certainly attracts most of the attention, just not all of the attention.

Ronaldo is on the verge of becoming the all-time leading scorer in international soccer. He can set the record on Sunday when Portugal faces Belgium in the round at 16 of the European Championship.

But the Belgians won't be focused only on Ronaldo.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has led the country’s response to the coronavirus, resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Saturday he would discuss visa issues and the efforts of normalizing the work of both countries’ diplomatic missions with US Ambassador John Sullivan who had returned to Moscow.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: The Moscow authorities believe that the Russian capital is living through the coronavirus pandemic anew due to a new strain, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV Channel on Saturday.

"The current situation suggests that we actually living through the coronavirus pandemic raging in Moscow anew," the Moscow head said.

Vaccination is the most effective method to halt the novel coronavirus infection’s spread in the Russian capital while other measures can solve the problem only for the time being, Sobyanin stressed.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 21,665 in the past day, registering the highest level since January 21 this year, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

Overall, coronavirus infections totaled 5,430,753 in Russia. The coronavirus growth rate equaled 0.4% in the past day, the latest figures show.

Currently, 354,084 people continue their medical treatment from the novel coronavirus in Russia, the figures show.

Coronavirus recoveries in Russia increased by 14,347 in the past day to 4,943,98.