Reuters World News Summary

Escape to North Korea: Defector at heart of COVID-19 case fled sex abuse investigation Last week, a 24-year-old defector returned to North Korea the way he left in 2017, authorities say, but with a coronavirus pandemic raging in the background this time, his illicit trip drew far more attention.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Mali's opposition rejects West African leaders' plan to end deadlock

Mali's opposition coalition on Tuesday formally rejected a plan proposed by West African leaders for ending a political crisis, raising the prospect of more mass anti-government demonstrations in the coming weeks. Tens of thousands of people answered opposition calls for protests in early June over contested local elections, perceived government corruption and incompetence. Police killings of protesters further inflamed anger against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who the opposition insists should resign. Spain slams British, German travel advisories as discriminatory

Spain reacted with outrage on Tuesday to recommendations from Britain and Germany that their citizens avoid its islands and beaches because of an increase in coronavirus cases during what should be the height of the tourism season. With advisories piling up on top of a quarantine order from Britain for returning travellers, Spain, which depends on summer visits by sun-seeking northern Europeans, is facing a major blow to any hopes of reviving its economy. Foundation run by Kremlin critic Navalny fined under 'foreign agent' law

A Moscow court fined Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation on Tuesday after finding it guilty of violating a "foreign agent" law. The foundation specialises in publishing high-impact investigations into what is says is official graft. Those targeted have sometimes disputed its findings and taken successful legal action against it. German police excavate allotment in search linked to McCann case

Police excavated an allotment near the German city of Hanover in search of clues in a case that prosecutors said was linked to the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday home in Portugal 13 years ago. The allotment, in the Hanover suburb of Seelze, is an hour's drive from the town of Braunschweig, the last fixed abode of Christian B., whom prosecutors last month named as their main suspect in the 3-year-old's presumed murder. Spain hopes Turkey overture on drilling leads to talks

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Tuesday she hopes the will shown by Turkey to open a dialogue on oil drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean will be followed by action. Turkey is at loggerheads with Greece and Cyprus over overlapping claims for offshore reserves. EU members Greece and Cyprus, along with France, have rejected Turkey's plan to explore between Cyprus and Crete. 'Negligence' blamed for Germany's virus case rise

Negligence is behind Germany's steady rise in new coronavirus infections, the head of a state-funded research body said on Tuesday, adding it was unclear if a second wave was underway. "The new developments in Germany make me very worried," Lothar Wieler, of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, said during his first news conference in weeks. Malaysia's Najib sentenced to over a decade in jail in 1MDB trial

Malaysia's former leader, Najib Razak, was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 12 years in jail on Tuesday in the first trial over a multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB that stretched to the Gulf states and Hollywood. In a case widely seen as a test of the nation's resolve to stamp out corruption and which could have big political implications, high court judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali sentenced Najib to 12 years and a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49 million) on a charge of abuse of power. African Development Bank rightly cleared its president of wrongdoing - independent panel

An independent review has found that the African Development Bank rightly cleared its president, Akinwumi Adesina, of abuse of office, paving the way for him to seek a second term. Whistleblowers in January accused Adesina, who has held the AfDB's top job since 2015, of abuses of office including favouritism in hiring fellow Nigerians, and giving out overly generous severance packages. He had denied the accusations. Escape to North Korea: Defector at heart of COVID-19 case fled sex abuse investigation

Last week, a 24-year-old defector returned to North Korea the way he left in 2017, authorities say, but with a coronavirus pandemic raging in the background this time, his illicit trip drew far more attention. South Korea has identified the man only by his surname, Kim, and said he was the "runaway" who North Korea accuses of illegally crossing their shared border last week with symptoms of COVID-19. Vouchers at $72-per-day buy detainees in Ukraine bigger, better cells

Ukrainians in pretrial detention can upgrade to bigger cells with modern conveniences like air conditioning and a microwave if they buy vouchers that cost $72 a day, under an initiative aimed as much at pranksters as real-life detainees. The vouchers, which do not need to have the name of the detainee on them and are valid for six months, can be bought on the justice ministry's website. They cost $72 a day for cells in Kyiv and less in other parts of the country.