African meddling
Two Russians have been arrested in Libya on accusations of working for a Russian troll farm that sought to influence elections in the country and in other African nations, Bloomberg reported.
One of the men’s employers, the Moscow-based Foundation for the Defense of National Values, said they were carrying out sociological research and not intervening in Libya’s electoral process.
Malign influence
Russia has accused the United States of “vicious anti-Russia propaganda” tactics that hearken back to the Cold War after the U.S. State Department’s aid agency drafted a framework on “countering malign Kremlin influence.”
USAID said earlier that the framework “responds to authoritarian challenges by increasing the economic and democratic resilience of targeted countries,” including Ukraine and Moldova.
Khachaturyan sisters
Four people staging single pickets in support of and opposition to the teenage sisters on trial for the murder of their allegedly abusive father have been detained in Moscow.
Last week, a planned protest in support of the Khachaturyan sisters was rescheduled to July 27 following threats from patriarchal groups and authorities’ refusal to authorize the rally.
‘Taxi’ tanker
Four people have been killed and 11 injured in a fuel tanker crash and explosion in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk.
A drunk driver, who had allowed seven tourists to ride aboard the tanker, lost control of the vehicle and swerved off the road into a ditch, local authorities said.
Sky-high prices
Certain food item prices have grown by as much as 70 percent (millet and cabbage) in 2018, according to official data.
Fuel prices for natural gas vehicles have grown at the third-fastest pace (30.8 percent), followed by sugar and egg prices, the data said.
World heritage
UNESCO has added churches in the ancient city of Pskov in northwestern Russia to its list of World Heritage Sites. Inspired by the Byzantine and Novgorod traditions, the buildings from the Pskov School of Architecture date back as far as the 12th century. The school informed Russian architecture over five centuries.
Includes reporting from Reuters.
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