France

PM: No change in position on Ukraine

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vučić said on Tuesday that Serbia's position on Ukraine remains unchanged, and that Serbia will not sever its friendly relations with Russia.

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged with corruption and influence peddling, French prosecutors said Wednesday.

The decision came after Sarkozy was questioned for 15 hours, marking the first time a French ex-head of state had been taken into custody in a criminal investigation, according to French media reports.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will pay a two-day visit to France as of Wednesday, during which he will meet with French Prime Minister Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti.

Argentina scored in the 118th minute to beat Switzerland and Belgium clung on to defeat the United States in another heart-stopping period of extra time to reach the World Cup quarter-finals amid more extraordinary drama on July 1.
 

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged with corruption and influence peddling, French prosecutors said July 2, a dramatic move in a criminal probe that could wreck his hopes of a political comeback.        

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that during the forthcoming visit to the Russian Federation he will talk with the Russian president and prime minister about the South Stream gas pipeline, adding Serbia will look after its interests in the project.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's controversial burqa ban, rejecting arguments that outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.
      
In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion.
      

BRUSSELS - The European Parliament has elected German center-left politician Martin Schulz as the assembly's president.

Schulz, who also served as president of the Parliament from 2012 until earlier this year, was re-elected Tuesday with a majority of 409 votes of the 723 ballots cast.

Russia expressed "regret" on Tuesday over Ukraine's decision to restart a military operation against separatists and urged its foreign partners to stop using the ex-Soviet country as a pawn in geopolitical games.
      
Moscow also stressed that peace talks should start as soon as possible, pledging to "fully facilitate" the process.
      

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken into custody for questioning, according to legal sources.

He is being investigated over alleged influence peddling, according to the BBC.

Hours earlier, it was reported that his lawyer and two magistrates had also been and interrogated as part of a corruption probe involving Sarkozy.