Spain Braces for coalition jostling

Polls ahead of Spanish elections next week show the leading parties may have to try forming a coalition government as no single party may emerge with the requisite majority on its own, in a repeat of the December 20 vote. The center-right People’s Party of acting Primer Minister Mariano Rajoy [pictured], which leads the polls ahead of the June 26 vote, is predicted to fall short of the 176 seats needed for majority by at least 47 seats, according to polls by El Pais, El Mundo and ABC newspapers over the weekend.

Russia says US failed to provide Syrian opposition locations

The Russian military yesterday rejected the Pentagon’s accusations that it had deliberately targeted U.S.-backed Syrian opposition forces, arguing the U.S. had failed to warn about their locations. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the area targeted in the strike was more than 300 kilometers away from locations earlier designated by the U.S. as controlled by legitimate opposition forces.

EgyptAir crash team recovers black box

Air-crash investigators have retrieved the flight-data recorder from the EgyptAir jet lost over the Mediterranean four weeks ago with its 66 passengers and crew, advancing efforts to determine what caused the tragedy. The so-called black box, which stores detailed records of a plane’s path as well as its mechanical systems and computers, was recovered by the same search vessel that found the Airbus Group SE aircraft’s cockpit-voice recorder earlier this week, Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement Friday.