Europe

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting the issuance of licenses for the development of mineral resources to foreign companies. The document was published on the official portal of legal information.

LISBON, June 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A long-delayed conference on how to restore the faltering health of global oceans kicked off in Lisbon, with the head of the United Nations (UN) saying the world’s seas are in crisis.

“Today we face what I would call an ocean emergency,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told thousands of policymakers, experts and advocates at the opening plenary, describing how seas have been hammered by climate change and pollution.

Humanity depends on healthy oceans.

MADRID, June 28 (Reuters) - NATO aims to cut its civilian and military greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday as he announced the first emissions targets for the organisation.

"It will not be easy but it can be done," he said in a speech on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced plans on Tuesday for a second referendum to be held on Scottish independence in October next year, vowing to take legal action to ensure a vote if the British government tried to block it.

Sturgeon spoke as the Scottish government, which is led by her pro-independence Scottish National Party, published a referendum bill outlining plans for the secession vote to take place on Oct. 19, 2023.

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Russia on Tuesday denied hitting a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with missiles, saying that it had struck a nearby depot of U.S. and European arms triggering an explosion which ignited a fire in the mall.

Ukraine said at least 18 people were killed on Monday by an intentional Russian missile strike against the shopping centre in Kremenchuk. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more than 1,000 people were inside when the missiles struck.

June 28 (Reuters) - Any encroachment on the Crimea peninsula by a NATO member-state could amount to a declaration of war on Russia which could lead to "World War Three," Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying on Monday.

"For us, Crimea is a part of Russia. And that means forever. Any attempt to encroach on Crimea is a declaration of war against our country," Medvedev told the news website Argumenty i Fakty.

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Russia's space agency published the coordinates of Western defence headquarters including the U.S. Pentagon and the venue of NATO's summit on Tuesday, saying Western satellite operators were working for Russia's enemy - Ukraine.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, told the Russian RIA Novosti news agency: "The entire conglomerate of private and state orbital groupings is now working exclusively for our enemy."

Members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance make no secret of the fact that they are sending weapons to help Ukraine resist Russia's invasion.

MOSCOW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that an additional 25 U.S. citizens have been indefinitely barred from entering Russia in response to the sanctions repeatedly imposed by Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden's wife Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley Biden are among the newly blacklisted.

MOSCOW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that an additional 25 U.S. citizens have been indefinitely barred from entering Russia in response to the sanctions repeatedly imposed by Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden's wife Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley Biden are among the newly blacklisted.

BERLIN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- After a brief recovery, consumer sentiment in Germany was "continuing its downward spiral" and fell to a new record low, according to a monthly study published by the market research institute GfK on Tuesday.

The forward-looking index for July decreased by 1.2 points to minus 27.4 points compared to the previous month. The GfK study is based on interviews of around 2,000 consumers in Germany.