BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday said that early general elections in the Balkan country will be held in the next three to four months, and reiterated he will resign the presidential post ahead of the vote.

Vucic offered no exact dates. At a rally Saturday, he told supporters that it was likely the last time he would address them as president and said he will step down within weeks.

The move is widely seen as a political maneuver that would allow Vucic to become prime minister, formally the most powerful office in the country. Vucic is serving his second presidential term and is barred from running again.

“Yes, it is logical that we will have elections soon, and when I say soon I mean the next three-four months,” Vucic said. He added he is yet to decide whether to seek the prime minister’s post if his Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, wins the future parliamentary vote.

“Whatever I decide and whatever decision I make, it will be transparent, just like I have done by announcing my resignation,” he said, adding he could step down any time in July, August or September. “It will be no surprise.”

Once Vucic formally resigns, the presidential ballot must be held within the next 90 days. Regular presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia are due next year.

Vucic has faced more than a year of mass street protests that first started in response to a train station tragedy in Serbia’s north which killed 16 people. A youth-led movement demanding accountability for the station canopy collapse has shaken Vucic’s firm grip on power more than ever in the past.

Before he became president in 2017, Vucic had previously already served as prime minister.

The populist leader has gradually tightened his rule since his right-wing SNS party came to power in 2012. He has pushed back aggressively against the protesters, and has faced European Union criticism over Serbia’s democratic backsliding, including a media clampdown.

Hundreds of people have been detained while protesters and international human rights groups have accused Serbian police of using excessive force and carrying out arbitrary arrests.

Anti-government protesters have blamed the fall of a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station on alleged corruption-fueled negligence in big state infrastructure projects.

The United States and Iran have less than 60 days to negotiate a permanent end to the war, but they still seem to be at odds over the interim deal they reached this month.

It’s not even clear when the two sides will meet again. “The situation is sensitive and complex,” a senior Iranian negotiator, Kazem Gharibabadi, posted Monday on X.

Talks are just one of the pressing questions. Others include the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. says is open while Iran insists on a measure of control. The issue led both sides to carry out days of military strikes that appeared on Monday to have ended.

Here’s a look at what both sides have said about key sticking points, including the ongoing fighting in Lebanon, and why the conflict is still far from resolved.

WHAT THE U.S. SAYS:

“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media Monday.

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

“There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

The U.S. and Iran have a roughly mid-August deadline to reach a permanent peace deal including an agreement on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

What’s ahead are technical talks involving lower-level diplomats before any return to the table by top negotiators. Mediators are eager to get going. Pakistan, a key mediator along with Qatar, has said talks would resume Tuesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar to meet with the Iranians and that technical negotiations would occur on the sidelines.

Later, Iranian state media cited Baghaei as saying an expert delegation will travel to Qatar this week but with no planned U.S. meetings.

There’s plenty to discuss, including arrangements around the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions waivers on Iran and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

But the deal says fighting must stop before further negotiations. After the exchange of fire over the weekend, Iran on Sunday threatened a “complete halt” in talks. On Monday, both sides appeared to pause their attacks. Tehran may be waiting to see if that holds.

WHAT THE U.S. SAYS:

The Strait of Hormuz is open, according to the interim deal.

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

Iran insists it must govern the strait. “Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

This AP explainer is a good start. But in short, Iran during the war discovered a powerful new source of leverage in the waterway that carried a fifth of the world’s oil and gas before the conflict.

The interim deal says Iran should immediately facilitate commercial shipping through the strait that lies between it and Oman. It says Iran can work with Oman and other Persian Gulf countries to administer the waterway in line with international laws ensuring freedom of navigation.

Iran says shippers must use its designated routes and coordinate with its authorities. It has objected to a new route overseen by the U.S. that runs along Oman. That sparked the fighting over the weekend.

The Trump administration is operating on the understanding that the U.S. and Iran are standing down and vessels can move freely through the strait, a U.S. official said Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Ships have begun transiting again, but traffic is still below prewar levels.

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

Fighting must stop everywhere and Israel must withdraw from Lebanon before moving ahead on other issues.

WHAT HEZBOLLAH SAYS:

The Iranian-backed militant group will resist Israel’s occupation of large parts of southern Lebanon, and linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament is a “very dangerous suggestion,” Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said Saturday.

WHAT ISRAEL SAYS:

Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon “until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

A separate set of U.S.-brokered talks have been held between Israel and Lebanon’s government.

Iran says its interim deal with the U.S., which calls for a complete ceasefire in Lebanon, requires Israel to withdraw. But a separate U.S.-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel allows Israeli forces to stay in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed. Hezbollah was not part of those talks and has rejected that deal.

Hezbollah attacked Israel two days after it and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground invasion.

Israel has vowed to keep forces in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah’s threat is eliminated. Lebanon’s government does not have the capacity to disarm Hezbollah by force.

Sporadic clashes continued in Lebanon over the weekend. That could delay Iran’s return to the negotiating table.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

By Stefanie Eschenbacher

MEXICO CITY, June 29 (Reuters) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed on Monday that she would not protect anyone after a video appeared to show the former head of state energy company Pemex, Victor Rodriguez, violently abusing his wife.

Posted to YouTube on Friday by a woman identifying herself as Maria Felicia Jimenez, Rodriguez’s wife, the video appears to have been recorded by a home surveillance system in a living room and is dated March 15, 2026. Reuters has not independently verified the video.

Rodriguez still held the top job at Pemex at the time. He announced his departure on May 14 in a joint video recorded with Sheinbaum, in which she thanked him for his service and said his resignation was in accordance with a timeline that he had set as a condition for taking the job.

Rodriguez could not be reached for comment. A statement posted on Friday on an X account that appeared to belong to Rodriguez said that he had stepped back from any public role while an investigation into the incident proceeds and that he was open to cooperating with all relevant authorities.  

“Let the law be applied, we will not protect anyone,” Sheinbaum said during her regular morning press conference.

“There can be no violence against women,” Sheinbaum said, adding that Rodriguez would not take another role in her government.

In the five-minute video, viewed by Reuters, Rodriguez is seen grabbing a woman by the neck, pulling her by the hair, shoving her, and holding her down on a couch. 

Rodriguez, who is topless for part of the footage, is clearly identifiable in the video. A young boy is also seen at the start before running out of the shot. 

“Breaking my silence meant losing my job, my money, having nowhere to live, and having my children taken from me, simply because of his closeness to the highest spheres of power — the presidency, governors, members of congress, secretaries of state,” reads a statement accompanying the video on YouTube. 

“This is a government led by women, so I am asking for help and for the necessary measures to be taken to protect me and my children who are minors,” it said.

The Attorney General’s office for the state of Morelos said on X on Friday that it had opened an investigation into suspected criminal acts stemming from a video “in which a violent act against a woman is observed.”

Sheinbaum has repeatedly emphasized the need for substantive equality, a gender perspective, and the right to a life free from violence, declaring an “era of women” when she took office. 

Rodriguez has been a close ally of Sheinbaum, with the two sharing both a personal and professional relationship dating back to their student days. 

After leaving Pemex in May, Rodriguez was appointed to lead the energy transition institute INEEL. However, the energy ministry said in a statement that his appointment was never formalized. 

(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, Raul Cortes and Aida Palaez-Fernandez; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Bill Berkrot)

MARSEILLE, France June 29 (Reuters) – A French prosecutor ordered on Monday the immobilisation of an oil tanker suspected of being part of the “shadow fleet” Russia uses to ship oil and gas and to skirt Western sanctions.

• The Marseille prosecutor ordered on Sunday the release of the ship’s captain who was held in police custody for two days.

• French authorities suspected the ship was sailing under a false flag. It was intercepted off Sicily on June 23, the prosecutor’s office said.

• “This new action against the shadow fleet, conducted days after a similar operation by Britain, shows Europeans’ determination,” Macron said in a post on Instagram last week.

• The oil tanker was sailing from Primorsk in Russia and sailed under a Cameroonian flag.

• The ship is anchored in the Guld of Fos-sur-Mer, off Marseille. A total of 25 crew, including the captain, were on board.

• France has intercepted at least five tankers it says are part of Russia’s shadow fleet, old vessels that Russia has relied on to ship oil and gas and to skirt Western sanctions.

• Moscow has called such actions illegal.

(Reporting by Marc Leras and Inti Landauro; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

June 29 (Reuters) – Keiko Fujimori leads the final count in Peru’s presidential runoff after the country’s ONPE electoral authority finished tallying 100% of the vote on Monday after weeks of reviewing contested ballots.

The final tally shows the conservative Fujimori with a lead of 50.135%, or 9,223,396 votes, to leftist Roberto Sanchez’s 49.865%, or 9,173,755 votes.

(Reporting by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Kylie Madry)

ABDIN, Syria (AP) — As Israeli troops and vehicles entered the town of Abdin in southern Syria, residents blocked the roads with rocks, and some young men and boys threw stones to push back the military patrol.

Tensions in this part of the country created by a buffer zone occupied by Israeli forces have flared into violence in recent days, leaving residents anxious that more escalation is coming. Residents of Abdin, located near a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone now controlled by Israeli troops, tried to resist against a military incursion Sunday.

Residents said Israeli troops fired warnings shots at walls and between the angry protesters, before firing artillery rounds at the village. No one was harmed in the exchange, but most residents fled, and most were still too afraid to return on Monday. Many fear that there will now be more intense incursions and raids following the skirmish.

“They come into the village regularly, every few days,” said resident Mohammad al-Hassan, standing not far from a group of children looking at an exploded shell. “They come in armored 4×4 vehicles, they roam around the village and search some houses, they knock on doors and if people don’t answer the door they break it down and enter the houses. Women and children start screaming, it’s a terrifying thing, them coming here.”

Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria in December 2024, following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in an insurgent offensive. Israeli officials initially described the move as temporary to protect their borders from militant groups, but more recently top Israeli officials have said they plan to occupy the buffer zone in Syria indefinitely.

The Israeli military presence in southern Syria is part of a shift to a more aggressive strategy by Israel after the deadly October 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel. The Israeli military took over large portions of Gaza as part of a broad invasion, and later seized control of chunks of Lebanon — where the Hezbollah militant group has fired missiles and drones across the border — and Syria. Israel calls these areas “buffer zones” and says they are needed to prevent future attacks by militant groups.

There have been no cross-border attacks from Syria into Israel since Assad’s ouster, except for two rockets from a little-known militant group. But Israel’s military incursions into southwestern Syrian towns have sometimes sparked resistance by residents that has spiraled into deadly clashes.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has called on Israel to withdraw from the area that the U.N. says is 235 square kilometers (91 square miles). The Syrian government also condemned the Israeli incursion and shelling in Abdin.

The clashes in Abdin were the second outbreak of violence in less than 24 hours. Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military announced that it had killed armed men in southern Syria without giving details.

An Israeli military official said Monday that Israeli soldiers had killed two militants who were planning on attacking Israeli troops. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity under military briefing rules did not specify where in Syria the incident took place.

The mayor of the Syrian village of Hadar said two unknown people driving a pickup truck just south of the village were killed in an attack, and that their bodies were taken by the Israeli military.

“There was the sound of an explosion when it happened,” Imad Hassoun told The Associated Press. “They weren’t from Hadar. If they were, we would immediately know.”

Regarding the incident in Abdin, the Israeli official said armed militants opened fired against one of the Israeli military’s strongholds but nobody was harmed in the attack, without giving further details.

People in Abdin were initially hopeful that US-mediated talks between Israel and Syria in France aimed at reaching a security agreement would diffuse tensions, but the talks appear to have stalled.

Fearing the unstable security situation and struggling to cope with a lack of jobs and services, many residents who have lived in these towns are leaving elsewhere. The closest government security checkpoint to Abdin is some 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, and those who choose to stay are struggling with water and electricity shortages.

Sobhi al-Tawlbi, 66, says farmers have struggled to access their yield and sources of water.

“We need the government to support us a little so we can remain steadfast in our villages,” he said, asking for the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop its military incursions.

Syrians living in that broader border area have maintained that they are not a threat to anyone and want a stable life, following over 13 years of civil war that decimated Syria.

“Why are they bothering us? We are living here peacefully in this border area,” said al-Hassan.

___

Associated Press writers Joe Federman in Jerusalem, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Omar Albam in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Members of Senegal’s National Assembly on Monday adopted a controversial constitutional amendment that expands their role and reduces presidential powers, but the government said it will be put to a referendum.

The constitutional reform comes as political tensions rose between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his former prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, who was dismissed and elected as the president of the National Assembly last month.

The opposition views the initiative, proposed by Pastef, Sonko’s party, as political revenge by the former prime minister, who retains significant influence over the parliamentary majority.

Responding to calls from several opposition parties and civil society organizations, demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament building to denounce the changes, waving placards and chanting the slogan “Hands off my Constitution!” Police fired tear gas and detained several opposition leaders and activists.

The reform strengthens parliament’s powers, such as requiring the government to inform the legislature of agreements related to the exploitation of natural resources. It also expands the powers of parliamentary inquiry committees.

The text also proposes the creation of a Constitutional Court to replace the current Constitutional Council. The new court would be composed of nine members, compared to the current seven.

Other changes include the incompatibility of the functions of head of state and leader of a political party, a limitation on the decisions that can be made by the executive branch between the presidential election and the official proclamation of the results, and stricter controls on the president’s power to dissolve the National Assembly.

The government said it will organize a referendum on the changes. It did not say when it will take place.

LONDON (AP) — Penelope Keith, a comic performer who shone as flinty but loveable upper-crust characters in British sitcoms “The Good Life” and “To the Manor Born,” has died aged 86.

Keith’s family said Monday that she had been diagnosed with cancer and died at her home in Surrey, near London.

Keith began her acting career onstage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963. But she found her greatest fame on television.

She won a BAFTA award in 1977 for “The Good Life,” playing Margo Leadbetter, a snobbish suburbanite appalled by her back-to-the-land neighbors Tom and Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal.

Kendal called Keith a “comic genius.”

“She was a joy to know and work with, and she will be much missed,” Kendal said.

Keith displayed a similar mix of imperiousness and deadpan wit in “To the Manor Born,” broadcast between 1979 and 1981 and brought back for a 2007 Christmas special. Keith played cash-strapped aristocratic widow Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, forced to sell her country estate to a nouveau millionaire, played by Peter Bowles, with whom she has a love-hate relationship.

Keith’s velvet tones featured on children’s show “Teletubbies” and in ads for everything from Pimm’s to Parker Pens. She also presented cozy documentary TV series, including “Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages.”

Keith continued to perform in stage roles into her 80s. Theaters in London’s West End will dim their lights on Wednesday evening in tribute to her.

In 2014 she was made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, for services to the arts and to charity.

She is survived by her husband, Rodney Timson, and their two adopted sons.

LONDON (AP) — A former Conservative lawmaker who used insider knowledge to place wagers on the date that then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would call a U.K.-wide election two years ago pleaded guilty Monday to cheating at gambling.

Craig Williams, who was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, was one of more than a dozen people charged in the betting scandal over the timing of Britain’s last general election.

Election gambling is legal in the U.K. and betting on the date the prime minister will set is a popular wager. It’s legal for lawmakers to bet, but not if they rely on inside knowledge.

Sunak surprised many in May 2024 when he set the election date for July 4 when the conventional wisdom was that he would wait until the fall.

The announcement itself was a fiasco as Sunak was drenched in a downpour outside 10 Downing St. and word quickly spread that a handful of people with connections to the party had placed suspiciously timed bets. Six weeks later, the Labour Party swept the Conservatives out of office after 14 years of rule.

Williams, 41, who was in meetings when the election date was discussed, admitted in Southwark Crown Court that he used confidential information to gamble. He placed three bets between 22.50 ($29.80) and 250 pounds ($331), prosecutors said.

Williams, who lost his reelection bid for his seat in Wales, later admitted he placed a 100-pound ($132) bet on a July election days before the date had been announced.

“I committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you,” he said in a video posted on social media in June 2024.

Prosecutor Zoe Johnson said three additional charges that Williams denied will be dropped when he is sentenced at a later date.

“He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit,” Johnson said.

Other members of the Conservative Party that controlled government at the time and a police officer are among those still facing charges that carry a potential two-year prison term, if convicted.

A dozen defendants pleaded not guilty Monday to cheating at gambling and face trials in September 2027 and January 2028.

The wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind also pleaded guilty to cheating at betting. Amy Hind, 35, is due to be sentenced Oct. 23. A charge against her husband for passing information to his wife was dropped.

(Refiles to amend second bullet and paragraph 2 to say 13 injured were not on board the plane, rather than on the ground)

June 29 (Reuters) – China has grounded flights of private light fixed-wing aircraft after a plane crashed into Beijing’s tallest building last week, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing operators around the country.

The sole pilot on board the twin-seat aircraft was killed during the incident on Friday, which injured 13 people who weren’t on board, local government said on Saturday. The aircraft crashed into a 528-metre-high (1,732- foot) building, known as CITIC Tower or China Zun, in Beijing’s central business district during the evening rush hour.

A nationwide airspace control order covering recreational flights has been issued, with all relevant flying activities banned, the FT reported. The restrictions have not been announced publicly.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The Civil Aviation Administration of China did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Authorities are investigating the incident and have given no details on the possible cause of the crash.

TIGHTLY CONTROLLED

China’s skies are among the most tightly controlled in the world, with the military retaining primary authority over airspace access and allocation. Beijing is among the most sensitive parts of that management framework.

There is a permanent no-fly zone of roughly 100 sq km (39 sq miles) over the political and ceremonial core of the Chinese capital, according to a Reuters review of official aviation navigation rules.

The prohibited area is immediately to the west of the skyscraper-dense central business district, and covers Tiananmen Square and the Zhongnanhai, a compound that houses the offices of China’s top political leadership.

While police and other official aircraft have occasionally been spotted over downtown Beijing, apart from military aircraft formations during national parades, a plane near the city’s skyscrapers is an exceptionally rare sight.

Commercial jets are routed around Beijing’s dense urban areas, with low-flying general aviation broadly restricted to the outskirts.

Beijing instituted a citywide drone ban earlier this year. Drones generally can no longer be sold or brought into the Chinese capital, with storage also tightly regulated.

The timing of Friday’s crash, just days before the Communist Party is set to celebrate the 105th anniversary of its founding on July 1, also places the incident under heightened political scrutiny, putting pressure on administrators to adopt tougher controls.

Stocks related to China’s low-altitude-airspace industry broadly fell on Monday, with CITIC Offshore Helicopter shares down 4% and Zongsen Power Machinery down 7.7%.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru, Xiuhao Chen and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sharon Singleton)