A major earthquake occurred in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, reports Agence France-Presse. There is no threat of a tsunami. There is no data on casualties or destruction. The epicenter of the earthquake, whose magnitude was 5.9, was at a depth of 97 km, according to the US Geological Survey. At the same time, according to the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Service, the magnitude of the earthquake was 6.6.

Syria confirmed that its air defense shot down a Turkish fighter, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in Syrian territorial waters. The search for the two pilots and the plane is being carried out jointly by Turkish and Syrian ships. Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially confirmed that Syria had shot down a Turkish military aircraft.

The head of the German Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, opposed the use of EU anti-crisis funds to buy out debt obligations of troubled EU countries, Reuters reports citing German media. Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti came up with a similar initiative. "Monti's proposal is essentially government financing through the central bank and printing money, which is prohibited by EU treaties," Mr Weidmann said.

In Croatia, 7 people were killed in a road traffic accident involving a tourist bus, and another 44 were injured of varying degrees of severity, reports the Associated Press. The incident occurred at approximately 4:00 local time (5:00 Moscow time) on the highway between the cities of Zagreb and Split. All the dead are citizens of the Czech Republic.

Yesterday, the results of the selection of organizations for the transportation of passengers by rail for the period from July 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014 were summed up, reports the Ministry of Transport of the Perm Territory. All companies that previously served suburban railway routes have maintained the same volume of work. Thus, OJSC “Perm Suburban Company” got three training grounds: “Main Direction - West”, “City Electric Train”, “Gornozavodskoe Direction”.

The Commissioner for Children's Rights in St. Petersburg, Svetlana Agapitova, believes that the scandal in the blogosphere caused by photographs of children from the governor's reception at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was “blown out of thin air,” and the rights of little artists were not violated. As part of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, a gubernatorial reception for high-ranking SPIEF guests was held on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

RPR-PARNAS intends to nominate its own list for elections to the regional parliament The Saratov list of the Republican Party of Russia - PARNAS in the elections to the regional parliament can be headed by party co-chairman Vladimir Ryzhkov. The leader of the regional department, Vitaly Pavlov, spoke about this at a press conference. Observers are skeptical about the party's prospects in the elections, noting the weakness and small number of personnel, as well as high competition with Yabloko.

Two people were detained in connection with the incident in the village of Demyanovo, Kirov Region, and the police are looking for four more, said regional governor Nikita Belykh. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on the evening of June 20, a domestic quarrel occurred in a cafe between the owner of a local sawmill, a native of one of the North Caucasus republics, and his nephew who came to visit him, on the one hand, and a local resident, on the other hand.

The Spanish national team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2012, beating the French team in the quarter-final match with a score of 2:0. Xabi Alonso scored a double, scoring in the 19th and 90th minutes of the match.

The Investigative Committee of Russia reported that it had received an appeal from a certain Bulgarian citizen with a request to check “allegedly known facts of money laundering abroad” by State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov. “The statement refers to investments in foreign companies that come through one of the Cypriot banks from an offshore company.

The Kirov police did not allow a conflict that arose on domestic grounds between the owner of a sawmill in the village of Demyanovo, Podosinovsky district, a native of one of the republics of the North Caucasus, and two indigenous local residents to escalate into a mass fight, according to a June 23 message on the website of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Kirov region. On June 20, a fight broke out between the owner of the sawmill and two residents of the village.

The Union of European Football Associations UEFA fined the Russian Football Union (RFU) 35 thousand euros due to incidents involving Russian fans at the group stage match against Greece, the official UEFA website reports. According to the report, the RFU was fined 35 thousand euros by the UEFA control and disciplinary body for throwing pyrotechnics onto the field and displaying prohibited banners by Russian fans during the group stage match against Greece, which took place in Warsaw on June 16.

Donetsk hosted the 2012-2013 Continental Cup final, the only European ice hockey cup tournament held under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). “On Saturday, June 23, a presentation of the next Continental Cup took place in Budapest.

The owner of Gaura is selling a new factory in Verkhnyaya Kurya Eduard Karavatsky, accused of fraud on an especially large scale, is selling a confectionery shop for 140 million rubles. The owner of Gaura says that his desire to sell the project was influenced by both his criminal case and changes in market conditions - he no longer plans to produce cakes. Potential buyers have already shown interest in the factory.

How the battle of giants went under the Russian President On Thursday evening, after the first day of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the President of Russia appeared at the Ice Sports Palace, where a mixed martial arts tournament was taking place and the legendary Fedor Emelianenko was preparing to perform. Kommersant special correspondent ANDREY KOLESNIKOV from the Ice Palace talks about how he won and how the audience stood with Vladimir Putin to the false Russian anthem.