Main news of June 26

WORLD

* The quartet of Middle East peace negotiators on Friday confirmed its support for a Moscow peace conference later this year

* Russia plans to increase investment in mining, construction and space communications projects in Angola, a joint statement by the two countries' presidents said following talks

* Serbian President Boris Tadic says he is waiting for an explanation from Bulgaria as to why former Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku, detained on an Interpol wanted list, has been released, Belgrade media reported

* Belarus believes it should join the World Trade Organization along with Kazakhstan and Russia, a first deputy prime minister said in parliament

* Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrial countries meeting in Italy on Friday expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program and stressed the need to continue dialogue

* G8 foreign ministers have condemned North Korea's May 25 nuclear test as a threat to regional security

* Michael Jackson, the U.S. pop star whose career spanned five decades, has died of a heart attack in Los Angeles

RUSSIA

* A Moscow Region court sentenced in absentia fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky to 13 years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzling 58 million rubles ($1.9 million at current rates) in 1994

* The world's largest Typhoon-class submarines will remain in service with the Russian Navy, the Navy commander said

* At least 16 supporters of jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky were detained in downtown Moscow on Friday after they gathered to celebrate the businessman's birthday and protest his imprisonment, police said

* Gas contracts with Ukraine will not be revised, despite the Ukrainian president's demands, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom said at an annual meeting of shareholders

BUSINESS

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after talks with his Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo dos Santos Friday that the way oil prices are set is far from ideal, urging changes

* Total and Shell have made it onto the shortlist of participants in the Yamal liquefied gas project in northwest Siberia, a Gazprom deputy CEO said

* Gazprom has sent Belarus a letter demanding it pay $244 million in gas debts, and warning that supplies could be cut if the sum is not cleared, the Russian energy giant's CEO said

* Ukraine in June bought just a third of the gas stipulated in contracts - 1.1 billion cubic meters instead of 3.4 billion - but will face no penalties, the Gazprom CEO said

* Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and France's Thales Group agreed on Friday to market jointly-developed naval equipment internationally

SPORT

* Russia's Dementieva, Petrova and Vesnina all made their way through to the fourth round of Wimbledon on Friday