Russia confirms second loan for Belarus, raises issue of detained citizen

Russia will move ahead with a second US$500 million loan to Belarus next month, following talks between the two countries' leaders amid uproar in the West over the grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger.

President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko held a second day of talks, as well as a yacht tour, in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Saturday, as the Russian leader showed his longstanding ally support in this latest standoff with the West...