Main News of June 22

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not confirmed reports that a Turkish air force jet F-4 was shot down by Syrian forces.

*France urges Syrian military personnel to follow the example of fighter pilot Hassan Hammadeh and defect, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.

*Moscow dismissed U.S. and British objections to Iran’s participation in an international conference on Syria.

*Security forces released dozens of hostages from a lakeside hotel near the Afghan capital, Kabul, captured by Taliban militants, ending a 12-hour siege that has left at least 18 people dead, regional media reported.

 

RUSSIA

*The measures Russia will take in response to the so-called Magnitsky Bill being passed by the U.S. Congress will depend on the final content of the bill, Russian presidential adviser Yury Ushakov said.

*A court in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan ordered opposition politician Oleg Shein to pay a 20,000-ruble ($600) fine for organizing a protest march in the city on June 12, when the country marked Russia Day.

*A farmer in Russia's Altai region committed suicide by slashing his throat with a chainsaw during a drinking binge with his brother, regional investigators said.

 

BUSINESS

*Moscow is a worse place to start up a business than 29 Russian regional cities, the World Bank said in its Doing Business in Russia 2012 report on Friday.