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Main News of July 26

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 26.07.2013, Sputnik International

2013-07-26T20:01+0000

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Main News of July 26

20:01 GMT 26.07.2013

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Fugitive US former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden will “no doubt” stop leaking security information if he is given temporary asylum in Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said.

* The United States has assured Russia that it will not seek the death penalty for Edward Snowden or torture the fugitive former intelligence contractor, the US Justice Department said amid Washington's ongoing efforts to secure Moscow’s assistance in returning him to the United States to face espionage charges.

* Interpol reiterated that it could not be used by the Russian Federation to seek the arrest of Hermitage Capital equity fund head William Browder, who was recently convicted in absentia by a Russian court on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the Orthodox Church was due for reforms to make practicing religion more comfortable for believers.

* The Lincoln Memorial, one of the most heavily-trafficked tourist stops in the US capital, was closed at the height of tourist season after vandals splattered green paint on the towering white marble statue of 19th-century US President Abraham Lincoln, police said.

RUSSIA

* A Russian court rejected Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova’s appeal for parole.

* Property of which the late Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky is a beneficiary has been seized in Russia but has yet to be fully valued, the head of the Federal Bailiff Service said.

* The Moscow and Moscow Region arbitration courts have fined Russia's postal service Pochta Rossii (Russia Post) 360,000 rubles ($11,064) for failing to process airmail deliveries on time, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.

* Viktor Baturin, the brother-in-law of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, was found guilty of fraud by a Moscow court and sentenced to seven years in prison with a fine of 700,000 rubles ($20,000), the RAPSI legal news agency reported.

* Russian household borrowers have to spend about a third of their income on consumer debt servicing, which is a source of concern, a Central Bank official said.

DEFENSE

* Russia laid down the Novosibirsk, the third of eight Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarines at the Sevmash shipyard near the White Sea.

* Russia's Defense Ministry has signed a 3.4 billion ruble ($103 million) contract with the Tupolev design bureau and Kazan Aircraft Plant to upgrade three Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, Tupolev said.

SPACE

* Fragments of Russia’s Progress M-18M space freighter sunk safely in the Pacific Ocean after re-entering the atmosphere, a spokesman for the Russian mission control center said.

* An Ariane-5 carrier rocket deployed two satellites, including Europe’s largest telecommunications satellite ever manufactured, the European Space Agency said.

SPORTS

* Russian former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nikolai Zherdev has joined Lev Prague on a one-year deal, the Czech hockey team announced.

* The International Olympic Committee said that it had received “assurances from the highest level” of Russian government that athletes and spectators at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi would be exempt from a controversial law banning anything deemed as promoting homosexuality.