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- By RFE/RL
COVID-19: First Deaths In Afghanistan, Kosovo, Romania, North Macedonia
The global coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 339,000 people and killed nearly 15,000 worldwide, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of developments in RFE/RL's broadcast countries.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan's Health Ministry says a 40-year old man has died from coronavirus, becoming the country's first fatality from the disease.
Afghanistan has 34 confirmed cases of the virus.
Iran
Health officials say Iran's death toll from coronavirus has reached 1,685, as the country continues to struggle with mounting cases and an overloaded health-care system.
The Health Ministry said on March 22 that another 129 people had died over the past 24 hours. The ministry also said the country's overall tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was 21,638.
Iran has been one of the worst-hit countries outside of China and Italy.
With the country reeling from the outbreak, officials have recommended Iranians stay home during the Norouz holiday, which began on March 20 and is one of the biggest holidays of the year for Iranians.
Officials have worried that efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 will be hampered as people travel for the holiday to see friends and relatives.
The government has closed schools at all levels, banned sports and cultural events, and curtailed religious activities.
Many Iranians have also been angered by the temporary closure of Shi'ite sites, prompting some crowds to storm into the courtyards of two major shrines.
In a televised speech to mark Norouz, Iran's supreme leader rejected an offer from the United States for assistance in fighting coronavirus.
"We have many enemies, but the worst is the U.S.... and now they want to help us," Khamenei said.
He said the United States would be better off helping its own people, with hundreds of American deaths being linked to the virus after a spike in cases over the last week.
Khamenei also cited an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be manmade by the United States.
"Possibly your [offered] medicine is a way to spread the virus more," he said.
Georgia
Two southern Georgian regions will lock down on March 23 as part of an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the country’s prime minister said the previous day.
Giorgi Gakharia said at an emergency news briefing that the Marneuli and Bolnisi regions, both of which border Azerbaijan, would be closed off for entry and exit.
The regions would be supplied with food and medicine, and only grocery stores and pharmacies are to remain open as well.
Critical infrastructure and services would be available as well.
The decision was made after a woman who had contact with at least 90 people after attending a relative’s death anniversary dinner was diagnosed with the COVID-19 respiratory illness.
At this point, doctors were able to identify at least 85 people with whom the infected woman had contact.
The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million had 54 cases of coronavirus as of March 22, with no deaths.
Georgia's parliament over the weekend approved a presidential decree that imposes a one-month nationwide state of emergency in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
President Salome Zurabishvili on March 21 sent the decree to parliament as the number of cases in the former Soviet republic rose to 49. The parliament passed it later that evening.
The president called on citizens to follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Georgian Health Ministry in order to slow the spread of the virus and avoid a "new level" of restrictions.
Kosovo
Local authorities say an 82-year-old man has died from coronavirus, Kosovo's first death from the disease.
The Public Health Institute said in a statement on March 22 that the man, who died in a hospital, had underlying health issues, including chronic cardiac and pulmonary problems.
Officials said the tally of confirmed infections in the country stood at 31 as of March 22.
The death comes as Kosovars grow increasingly impatient with the government, which has struggled to mount a coherent response to the outbreak.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti's shaky coalition government, which took four months to assemble after October elections, is on the verge of collapse because of disagreements over coronavirus measures.
Angry residents of the capital, Pristina, banged pots and pans from their balconies on March 19 to protest the government's actions.
Most of those infected in Kosovo have come from Italy or are related to someone who returned from a European Union member state.
Authorities have closed all schools, borders, bars, and restaurants to curb the spread of the virus. Only supermarkets and pharmacies remain open.
Romania
Romanian authorities report that two people have died from the coronavirus, the first such deaths for the country.
The government's Strategic Communications Group said on March 22 that the number of confirmed cases in the country had risen sharply and now stands at 433, up from 322 just a day earlier.
Officials said the first victim was a 67-year-old man who had been suffering from terminal cancer and who died after having been infected on March 18.
The man had returned to Romania 12 days earlier, on March 6, from France, before restrictions on international travel had been imposed. The government did not say when he died or how he had become infected, saying only that he was being treated at a hospital in the southern city of Craiova.
A total of 23 medical workers who were in contact with the man have been tested for the coronavirus. Of the 18 tests that have been returned so far, all were negative, officials said.
The second victim was a 74-year-old who had been diagnosed just the day before and was already being treated for kidney problems. Officials said that person died in a medical facility in the capital, Bucharest.
The government declared a state of emergency on March 16 and on March 21 announced a nighttime curfew.
The curfew will restrict the movement of people from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and go into effect on March 23. It is expected to last through the 30-day state of emergency declared on March 16.
Those exempted include people going to work and those requiring medical assistance.
Interior Minister Marcel Vela and other officials said the measures will also prohibit gatherings of more than three persons outside the home and will mandate the closing of shopping malls and dental clinics. Restaurants and other gathering places were ordered closed earlier in the week.
During the night curfew hours, the only people allowed to move about are medical professionals, those engaging in work activities, shopping for necessary items, and caring for children or the elderly or people walking their pets.
"Everything we have decided to implement is meant to limit the risks to the population," Vela said.
He also warned those who are price-gouging or taking other actions to profit from the crisis.
"We have taken strong actions against those who have tried to speculate on the situation in order to get rich. It's not just illegal -- it's also cynical," he said.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has 60 confirmed coronavirus cases as of the morning of March 23, following another confirmed infection the previous evening.
The Health Ministry says there are 31 registered cases in the capital, Nur-Sultan, 25 in the largest city, Almaty, and two in the Karaganda and one each in the Almaty and Aktobe regions.
Almaty and Nur-Sultan have been on lockdown since March 19 and a state of emergency was announced earlier this month.
Kazakhstan had already announced the cancelation of Norouz holiday celebrations and a military parade devoted to the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
The oil-rich Central Asian country recorded its first cases of COVID-19 on March 13 after three patients tested positive upon returning from separate trips to Germany and Italy.
Kazakhstan shares a 1,800-kilometer border with China where the respiratory illness emerged late last year.
The outbreak has since grown to become a global pandemic, infecting more than 300,000 worldwide and leading to over 14,000 deaths.
Russia
Russia has widened its ban on international flights as the number of registered coronavirus cases in the country reached 367.
As of March 23, Russian airlines will only service foreign capitals or large cities like New York and only from Moscow airports, state agency Rosavia said.
Russia will continue to permit charter flights exclusively for the evacuation of citizens stuck overseas, it said.
Nearly 20,000 Russian citizens have been evacuated from countries suffering from a high number of coronavirus cases.
The flight-ban announcement comes as Russia registered another 61 cases of the coronavirus, bringing the country's total to 367.
However, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the Russian capital will not close its metro, a step three Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, took where subways operate. The Moscow metro transports several million people a day to work and its closure would have severe consequences for the city's economy.
The Culture Ministry has recommended that as of March 23 all movie theaters be closed. Earlier in the month, the ministry closed all theaters, philharmonics, circuses, and movie theaters that belong to it.
Russia, the world's ninth-most populous country, has registered relatively few cases of COVID-19 on a per capita basis compared to its European neighbors, raising questions about the accuracy of the tally. Italy has more than 47,000 while Spain has more than 25,000.
Moscow, Europe's largest city with about 12 million inhabitants, has registered just 137 cases of COVID-19. New York City, which has just over 8 million people, has registered more than 8,000 cases.
Russia also shares one of the world's longest borders with China, where the new coronavirus originated. China has registered more than 81,000 cases.
Russian news agency RBK reported last week that the country had experienced a spike in the number of pneumonia cases this year.
While the majority of people who contract COVID-19 suffer only mild symptoms resembling the common cold, severe cases can develop into pneumonia.
Ukraine
Ukraine saw the number confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 73 as the capital, Kyiv, on March 23 is closing all public transportation for noncritical personnel.
The Health Ministry’s Center for Public Health said that as of 10:50 p.m. local time on March 22, there were 26 new cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19 in nine regions and the city of Kyiv.
The ministry says it is further monitoring more than 360 suspected cases, including over 239 patients in hospitals.
Health Minister Illya Yemets said on March 22 that he supports declaring a nationwide state of emergency.
“I have been talking about this since the first day of my work in the government. It had to be done from the beginning. If it were to succeed, there would be no such [virus] spread, which is now developing geometrically,” Yemets told 112 TV in an interview.
Meanwhile, one of several planned medical supply flights from China has arrived in Kyiv, the Ukrainian presidential office said on March 23.
It brought an unspecified number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as well as 250,000 express tests including different kind of protective medical masks, disinfectants, and “artificial ventilation apparatus and other means necessary to combat the spread of COVID-19,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said.
Each regional laboratory on March 23 will receive the PCR tests.
The procurement was made with the assistance of large Ukrainian business owners.
“This is only the first batch of medicinal cargo from China. Several more flights are planned for this week,” the presidential office said.
There are three deaths related to the virus as schools have remained closed nationwide. Eateries, bars, gyms, theaters, and shopping malls, as well as subways operating in three cities, have been also been kept closed.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov the previous day called for a nationwide quarantine to slow the spread of coronavirus as Ukraine's capital and largest city, Kyiv, said it would shut all public transportation for noncritical personnel.
Avakov, one of the most powerful officials in Ukraine, said the measures already put in place to fight the spread will be “significantly toughened” in the coming days. He said only “critical” industries should remain open and everyone else sent home.
“A total, full quarantine is my position, which I want to ask of each of you. And I will insist on it, according to the power of my position,” Avakov said in a Facebook post on March 21.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a March 21 video post that only people whose work is vital to the city will be allowed to use public transport. The new measure goes into effect on March 23, he said.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria's president has vetoed new nationwide restrictions passed by parliament as part of the state of emergency imposed to fight the spread of coronavirus.
Rumen Radev said on March 22 that he opposed the new proposals, calling them "extremely restrictive" and a threat to civil liberties in the country.
"“The lack of adequate measures will bring about a situation where hunger will prevail over fear and the consequences will be destructive,” he said in a statement that was released announcing his veto.
Parliament passed the proposed measures on March 20 after an initial proposal from the cabinet a week before.
Among the proposed measures that Radev said he opposed were allowing authorities to track mobile-phone users, to ensure people infected with the coronavirus are properly observing quarantine.
The measures also call for giving increased public-safety duties to military units, and for freezing prices for some goods at a three-month average, in an effort to prevent price gouging.
As of March 22, Bulgaria has confirmed 171 cases of people infected with the virus. Three people have died since March 8, when the first death was announced.
Three people have also recovered.
North Macedonia
In neighboring North Macedonia, a 57-year-old woman has become the country's first coronavirus fatality.
The woman had caught the infection during a trip to Italy, which has the most cases in Europe. Her son has been infected, too, and is hospitalized in stable condition, health officials said on March 22.
North Macedonia had 114 registered cases of the novel coronavirus as of March 22, officials said.
On March 21, the government said it had decided to impose a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning on March 22, the first time such a step has been taken since the country's independence in 1991.
In an emergency address, North Macedonia’s prime minister, Oliver Spasovski, said that "we have decided to introduce the most radical measures in order to protect the health of citizens.”
"Starting [on March 22], we will restrict the movement of all citizens. It is forbidden for the population to move outside between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day. There is no compromise when it comes to the health of citizens," Spasovski warned.
The prohibitions exclude persons who need medical assistance or whose lives are endangered. Those who need dialysis are allowed to arrive for treatment with up to two other people.
Employees in health-care facilities are also excluded from the curfew, as are members of the Ministry of Interior, the army, fire crews, and workers in municipal hygiene.
Serbia
President Aleksandar Vucic said the government will extend a curfew that is already in effect by three hours as Serbia attempts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, making it a 12-hour ban from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.
He said the steps were necessary "for our survival," and he threatened a 24-hour curfew if residents continued to ignore orders to remain indoors.
Serbia has registered 171 cases of the coronavirus and one death as of late on March 21.
In neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina, the governments of the two entities on March 21 imposed nighttime restrictions on people outside their homes, with the Muslim-Croat federation ordering a 6-p.m.-to-5-a.m. curfew, and Republika Srpska restricting people to their homes from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Uzbekistan
Uzbek officials have ordered all companies in the capital, Tashkent, to switch to remote working.
They also made protective masks mandatory in all major cities in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Officials on March 22 said citizens not wearing masks in public in major cities would be fined $22 for the first offense and $67 for repeat offenses.
Uzbekistan, which has a population of 34 million, has just 43 confirmed cases, nearly all in Tashkent.
Pakistan
Sindh, the hardest-hit province in Pakistan, has announced a 15-day lockdown starting March 23.
Sindh has nearly half of the country's 687 registered cases.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, meanwhile, issued orders banning intercity transport starting from March 24.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Ukrainian services and Radio Mashaal, Reuters, AP, RIA Novosti, and TASS
More News
- By RFE/RL
EU To Begin Work On Expanding Sanctions Against Iran As Israeli War Cabinet Meets Again
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says he will request that the EU’s diplomatic service start work on an expansion of sanctions in response to Tehran's weekend attack on Israel.
Borrell made the comment on April 16 after an emergency video conference of EU foreign ministers called to discuss the repercussions of the attack and as Israel's war cabinet was set to meet again to decide its response to Iran's weekend attack.
Borrell said the EU needs to coordinate the European response to the first-ever attack on Israel launched from the territory of Iran, which he said "certainly represents a major escalation of an already very tense situation in the region."
The ministers "took a strong stance asking all actors in the region to move away from the abyss" during their video conference, he said.
Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on April 15 that the launch of more than 300 missiles and drones from Iran at Israeli territory "will be met with a response" but gave no details.
The attack caused no deaths and little damage, but it has increased fears that violence will spread beyond the current war in the Gaza Strip and throughout the Middle East.
Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an air strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 attributed to Israel. At the same time Tehran signaled that it did not seek further escalation.
President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend that the United States would not participate in an Israeli counterstrike.
Washington instead said it would strive to toughen economic and political sanctions against Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel has begun writing to 32 countries to ask them to place sanctions on Iran's missile program and join Washington in designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist group.
Earlier on April 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi by phone about what the Kremlin called "retaliatory measures taken by Iran." Putin urged all sides to refrain from action that would trigger a new confrontation, which would be fraught with catastrophic consequences for the region, the Kremlin said.
In his first publicly aired comments on Iran's attack, Putin said the root cause of the current instability in the Middle East was the unresolved conflict between Palestinians and Israel.
Raisi's office gave a slightly different interpretation of the call, saying Putin said Iran's response was "the best way to punish the aggressor and show the wisdom and rationality of Iran's leaders."
The statement also said Raisi declared that Iran would respond more severely, extensively, and painfully than ever to any action against Iran's interests.
Also on April 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "the main one responsible" for Iran's first direct attack on Israel.
"Those who have been silent for months about Israel's aggressive attitude immediately condemned the Iranian response," said Erdogan, who regularly criticizes Israel and its leadership. "But it's Netanyahu himself who is the first who should be condemned."
He said Israel's attack in Damascus violated international law and "was the straw that broke the camel's back."
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By AFP
Poland Deports Tajik Citizen With Links To Islamic State
A Tajik citizen has been deported from Poland on suspicion of "terrorist activities" and links to the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for a deadly attack at a concert hall outside Moscow last month. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was "a member of the terrorist organization Islamic State," the Polish security agency said on April 16. The man has been involved in terrorist activities for several years" and had links to members of Islamic State-Khorasan, the group that claimed the March 22 attack at the concert hall. The suspect was deported last week.
- By Reuters
U.S. To Hit Iran With New Sanctions In Coming Days, Yellen Says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on April 16 warned that the United States intends to hit Iran with new sanctions over its unprecedented attack on Israel, and these actions could seek to reduce Iran's capacity to export oil. "I fully expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days," Yellen told a news conference in Washington. The United States has taken previous action to contain Iran's "destabilizing" behavior by diminishing its ability to export oil, she said. "Clearly, Iran is continuing to export some oil. There may be more that we could do."
Fire At Zoo In Russian-Occupied Crimea Leaves More Than 200 Animals Dead
More than 200 animals died on April 16 in a fire at a zoo in Yevpatoria in Russian-occupied Crimea. A zoo representative was quoted by TASS as saying that all 200 animals in the Tropicpark Zoo died, but RIA Novosti reported that Emergencies Ministry employees managed to save two bears. A zoo employee was also rescued, according to RIA Novosti. The Russian-installed Investigative Committee for Crimea reported that a five-story building housing lemurs, chameleons, parrots, turtles, large snakes, and other animals burned to the ground. The preliminary cause of the fire is an electrical short circuit in refrigerator wiring. To read the original story on RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.
- By AFP
Ukrainian Official Estimates 37,000 People Missing Since February 2022
Ukraine said on April 16 it had identified almost 37,000 people who have not been accounted for since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said the figure includes children, civilians, and military personnel, and the true number “may be much higher.” The number includes about 1,700 people that he said Ukraine and the Red Cross had identified as "illegally detained" by Russia. Calculating the exact number of missing is difficult because Russian forces still occupy around one-fifth of the country and neither side regularly releases data on military casualties.
- By AFP
Scholz Urges China To Use 'Influence' On Russia To End Ukraine War
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to press Russia to end its "senseless" war in Ukraine during a visit to Beijing on April 16. Following his meeting with Xi, Scholz said on X that China's word “carries weight in Russia." He therefore asked Xi “to influence Russia so that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin finally calls off his senseless campaign, withdraws his troops, and ends this terrible war," he said. While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, it has been criticized for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.
Zelenskiy Signs New Law On Military Mobilization In Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on April 16 signed into law legislation on mobilization is expected to address a shortfall in troops that by requiring men to update their draft data with the authorities. The legislation also increases payments to volunteers and has provisions to allow some convicts to serve. Though lawmakers watered down some amendments to draft dodging, the law does allow for punishment of those convicted of avoiding service. Since a major Ukrainian counteroffensive last year failed to make significant gains, Russia has used its significant advantage in manpower and equipment to erode those gains in the east. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
Top Montenegro Law Enforcement Officials In Pretrial Detention For Alleged Ties To Organized Crime
A Montenegro court has ordered the pretrial detention for up to 30 days of former chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnic and former deputy police director Zoran Lazovic, who were arrested on April 14 in a corruption scandal with links to the organized crime that has shaken the tiny Adriatic republic.
"Their detention was ordered due to the risk of their escape and possible influence on the witnesses," Marija Rakovic, a spokeswoman for the High Court in Podgorica, told RFE/RL on April 16.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office said the two are charged with forming and participating in a criminal organization and abuse of office.
Lazovic is accused of creating the criminal organization whose members are alleged to have been Katnic, who was Montenegro's chief special prosecutor from 2015 until February 2022, ex-special prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic, and Lazovic's son, ex-National Security Agency (ANB) agent Petar Lazovic.
Zoran Piperovic, Lazovic's lawyer, said his client was accused of lifting a ban on entry into Montenegro in 2021 of two Serbian members of Montenegro's notorious Kavac crime clan, Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljkovic. Katnic allegedly aided Lazovic.
After a 10-day stay in Montenegro, Belivuk and Miljkovic were arrested in February 2021 upon their return to Serbia, where they are currently on trial for several murders they apparently boasted about to members of their criminal group.
In Montenegro, the two clan members are suspected of kidnapping a member of a rival clan in October 2020, who they then handed over to other members of the Kavac group.
The kidnapped man, Mileta Radulovic, a member of the Skaljari clan, was found dead after two months of torture.
Caidenovic was arrested in December 2022 for alleged links to the Kavac clan.
Petar Lazovic was an ANB agent until July 2022, when he was arrested on charges of drug smuggling.
Cadjenovic and the younger Lazovic have been in custody since their arrest.
The Special State Prosecutor’s Office on April 14 said the investigation against Lazovic and Katnic had gone on for several months in cooperation with the Europol, The EU agency for law enforcement.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic hailed the arrests, saying he backed the fight against corruption and organized crime -- two issues that have long plagued Montenegro.
President Jakov Milatovic said the arrests marked a step on the road of improving the rule of law in Montenegro.
Former Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic who, while in office had accused Katnic and Lazovic of being “at the top of the criminal pyramid in Montenegro,” also welcomed the arrests.
With reporting by Balkan Insight
- By Reuters
Israeli War Cabinet To Meet For Third Time On Response To Iran's Attack
Israel's war cabinet was set to meet for the third time in three days on April 16, an official said, to decide on a response to Iran's first-ever direct attack, amid international pressure to avoid further escalating conflict in the Middle East. Military chief of staff Herzi Halevi had promised that Saturday night's launch of more than 300 missiles, cruise missiles and drones from Iran into Israeli territory "will be met with a response," but gave no details. While the attack caused no deaths and little damage, it has increased concerns that violence rooted in the Gaza war is spreading.
Wave Of Complaints Follows Police Hijab Crackdown In Tehran
The stricter enforcement of the mandatory hijab law by Tehran police has prompted a wave of complaints from Iranians who say police are using aggressive and sometimes violent tactics in their treatment of alleged violators.
Tehran Police Chief Abbasali Mohammadian announced a ratcheting up of enforcement of the new "hijab and chastity" bill from April 13 even though the legislation had yet to be approved by the country's Guardian Council.
According to reports, some citizens said their car windows were smashed by baton-wielding officers as they sought violators, while others recounted aggressive confrontations with state motorcycle patrols.
It was also reported that Nafiseh Latifian and Negar Abedzadeh, the wife and daughter of legendary soccer goalkeeper Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, were among those detained on Tehran's Fereshteh Street for allegedly violating hijab regulations.
"The two were detained for causing tensions and clashing with officers," the Fars News Agency, which is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reported.
Even though the Guardian Council has yet to approve the law, a necessary step in it becoming official, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a directive during the Eid al-Fitr prayer sermon for enforcement of measures against what he called "religious norm-breaking" within Iranian society.
Khamenei also emphasized the mandatory hijab law as a "definite religious decree," underscoring the obligation of all to adhere to this and other legal decrees.
The "hijab and chastity" bill, which passed in parliament last year without public discussion, came in reaction to a wave of protests and defiance by women against being forced to wear the head covering. However, the approval process is still ongoing after some objections by the Guardian Council, including questions over how the law will be enforced.
Ahmadreza Radan, a senior police official, discussed the stepped-up measures, telling the Mehr news agency that in cases involving vehicles, a warning is issued on the first offense.
"On the second, the vehicle is detained on site and then impounded," he added.
Radan also spoke about the Noor Plan, which targets businesses and individuals accused of failing to adhere to hijab norms. He described it as a response to demands from "devout citizens," with businesses facing closure for repeated violations.
The renewed focus on the mandatory hijab enforcement arrives as numerous reports suggest a decline in adherence to the headscarf among Iranian women in Tehran and other cities following widespread protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police in 2022 for an alleged hijab violation.
The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The move triggered protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities. Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.
The death of Amini released a wave of anger that has presented the Islamic regime with its biggest challenge since the revolution.
The Women, Life, Freedom protests and civil disobedience against the compulsory hijab have swept the country, involving tens of thousands of Iranians, many of whom were already upset over the country's deteriorating living standards.
Campaigns were also launched against the discriminatory law, although many have been pressured by the state and forced to leave the country.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
- By Current Time
Organizer Of 'Nearly Naked' Party Charged With Discrediting Russia's Armed Forces
The organizer of the so-called "Nearly Naked" party, Russian blogger Anastasia Ivleyeva, has been charged with discrediting Russia's armed forces and will face a hearing on April 25 at Moscow's Tver district court. It was not immediately clear how Ivleyeva broke the law. Ivleyeva was an organizer of the party at the Mutabor night club in December, which sparked outrage among lawmakers and pro-Kremlin groups. The Lefortovo district court in Moscow did not charge Ivleyeva but ruled in January that the party had "propagated nontraditional sexual relations." Propagating gay relations is a crime in Russia. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.
- By RFE/RL
Ukrainian Nuclear Plant 'Dangerously Close' To Accident, Atomic Watchdog Chief Warns
Recent drone attacks on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine have raised the risk of a nuclear accident to a new level, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency warned on April 15, calling on the UN Security Council to do everything in its power to minimize the risk.
"We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident. We must not allow complacency to let a roll of the dice decide what happens tomorrow," Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the council.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
The plant has come under a series of drone attacks since April 7 for which Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other. A team of international specialists at the plant confirmed that attacks took place on April 7, and said one of the attacks hit the containment dome of the Unit 6 reactor building.
Damage to the structure was superficial, but the attack “sets a very dangerous precedent of the successful targeting of the reactor containment,” Grossi said.
The other two attacks on April 7 were in close proximity to the main reactor buildings and resulted in at least one casualty, Grossi added.
In addition, experts at the site have been informed by the plant’s operators of a drone strike on the site’s oxygen and nitrogen production facility, two attacks on a training center located just outside the site's perimeter, and reports of a drone shot down above the turbine hall of Unit 6, he said without specifying when those attacks occurred.
The attacks have not led to a radiological incident, but “they significantly increase the risk at Zaporizhzhya [nuclear power plant], where nuclear safety is already compromised,” Grossi said, according to a transcript of his comments posted at the IAEA’s website.
"These reckless attacks must cease immediately," Grossi said.
The power plant has been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after their invasion started in February 2022, and the IAEA has deployed technicians at the facility. It has been shut down but still requires electricity to power its safety and cooling systems.
The plant is currently relying on just two lines of external power, and in the past year there have been at least four occasions when the plant has had only one line of external power supply, Grossi said.
Grossi is also concerned about an increase in isolated drone incursions in the vicinity of the facility and in the nearby town of Enerhodar and other areas of nuclear safety degradation.
John Bolton Says Growing U.S. Isolationism Threatens Ukraine's War Effort
Ukraine faces "danger" if the United States does not quickly pass much-needed military aid, former U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton told Current Time, as Russia's advantages in troops and weaponry help the Kremlin edge deeper into its neighbor more than two years into the war.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, Bolton noted that Russia is currently firing five or six artillery shells for each one fired by Ukraine, a rate he said is "not sustainable over a long period of time."
"I think the best we can hope for until the [November U.S. presidential election] is a stalemate," Bolton added, highlighting the growing isolationism inside the U.S. Republican Party "due to the effect of Donald Trump," the party's presumptive nominee for the upcoming vote.
That isolationism, he said, was paralyzing efforts to counter threats from Iran, Russia, and China. The recent Iranian air strikes against Israel, though, might serve as "shock therapy" to many Republicans in Congress, he added.
"Ukraine needs aid; Taiwan needs aid," he said. "It is all part of the same endeavor. I'm hoping this week there might be real movement on all these fronts, but particularly on Ukraine aid."
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, an ally of Trump, appeared on April 15 to be making a push toward adopting measures this week on $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan through an elaborate plan that would break the package -- of which $61 billion is earmarked for Kyiv -- into separate votes.
Bolton, who spoke with Current Time from Washington, served as Trump's third national-security adviser in 2018-19 before being asked to resign after months of division over policy. He was also the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and an outspoken advocate of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He is currently a Republican foreign-policy consultant and conservative political commentator.
If Trump, as expected, is the Republican candidate in November and if he wins the election, Bolton warned he thinks Trump "will try to withdraw from NATO."
"It would be a catastrophic mistake for the United States all around the world if he did," he said.
"The withdrawal of the United States would render NATO essentially ineffective, not just for Ukraine, but for the entire alliance."
Russia under President Vladimir Putin "remains a threat, particularly as its axis with China grows, and I think it will grow," Bolton said.
"It's a threat until somehow the Putin regime is removed from power and Russia and democracy get another chance," he told Current Time. "I don't know when that's going to occur. I'm not optimistic."
Bolton argued that no mechanisms for the peaceful transfer of power exist in Russia, where Putin has been in power for a quarter-century and elections are "clearly rigged."
"It's going to be a very dangerous period for Russia," Bolton said. "And the chances of becoming part of the West again are far more limited now...than they were before."
Russian Radar Destroyed By Ukranian Drones, Says Kyiv
Drones belonging to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) have destroyed a military radar installation in Russia's Bryansk region, according to an SBU source, in what would be another blow to Russia's ability to monitor activities deep inside Ukraine.
The Nebo-SVU radar complex monitored the skies some 700 kilometers into Ukraine, offering Russian troops better control during attacks and supporting bombers that were targeting Ukraine's territory.
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"Radars worth $100 million were struck by seven kamikaze drones," a source, speaking on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL, adding that it had confirmation that the Nebo-SVU complex was no longer functional and "probably turned into a colander."
The source did not specify when the alleged attack had taken place and the information could not be independently confirmed immediately. Russia has not mentioned any attempted Ukrainian strikes on Bryansk recently.
On April 16, Russia's Defense Ministry said that its forces had "prevented an attempted Ukrainian drone attack," shooting down three Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region.
Confronted with a worsening lack of air defenses, weapons, and ammunition as Western aid is drying out, the Ukrainian military has increasingly resorted to air and naval drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, targeting both military installations and critical oil-refining capabilities.
On April 9, the Ukrainian military intelligence said it had hit an aviation training center in Russia's southwestern Voronezh region.
On April 8, Ukrainian intelligence reportedly carried out a special operation that damaged Russia's Serpukhov missile corvette docked off the exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.
Last month, it said Ukrainian sea drones struck and "sunk" the Russian patrol vessel Sergei Kotov off the coast of occupied Crimea.
In February, Ukraine's military said it had destroyed the Tsezar Kunikov, one of the largest Russian landing ships, also off the Crimean coast, and had sunk the missile-armed corvette Ivanovets in the Black Sea using naval drones.
Russia has not commented on the Ukrainian claims.
More Evacuations Ordered in Russia Amid 'Colossal' Flooding
Russian officials continued to order the evacuation of areas in Siberia and parts of the south as massive floods sparked by heavy rains and a rapid snowmelt show few signs of letting up.
With thousands already forced from their homes, officials in the Tyumen region of western Siberia and Kurgan in the south near the border with Kazakhstan on April 16 ordered more to leave their homes as the Ishim and Tobol rivers continue to swell.
"Pack your valuables. Leave now for a safe place, to relatives or to a temporary accommodation center," said Aleksander Moor, governor of the Tyumen region, adding that those who didn't abide by the "urgent" evacuation notice could be fined.
Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on April 16 arrived in Petropavl, a city of some 20,000 people near the Ishim River where the local governor said more than 10,000 people had been evacuated as parts of the city remained under water.
"We are going through tough times. This is a disaster of a national scale," Toqaev told residents. "I think the next 10 days will be critical, but we are already taking measures to rebuild the country and deal with the aftermath of this disaster."
Dozens of people whose houses were flooded in Petropavl gathered on April 16 at the city's Department of Employment and Social Programs. They said that they came to submit documents for the one-time allowance promised by the government and compensation for water losses.
One person standing in line at the agency told RFE/RL that people started gathering at 8 a.m. local time.
Toqaev’s office said that in order to free up money for disaster relief he had ordered the cabinet to cut all nonessential budget spending and cancel some events, including an international conference in the capital.
No End In Sight As Flooding Continues Unabated In Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia
In Russia's Kurgan region straddling the Tobol River near the border with Kazakhstan, the region's governor, Vadim Shumkov, warned of a "colossal" amount of water heading toward the city of Kurgan, which has already experienced power cuts and evacuations.
Shmukov said the Tobol River that runs through the region could see water levels rise to 11 meters, double the level where it breaks its banks in some places along its course.
More than 125,000 people have been evacuated from areas hit by massive floods in parts of Russia and Kazakhstan in recent weeks.
Following massive snowfalls in winter, unusually warm weather triggered the sudden melting of snow that in turn lead to the rapid swelling of rivers in what specialists say may be an effect of global climate change.
In northern Kazakhstan, where more than 111,000 people have been evacuated from flood-threatened areas since the start of this month, some residents have started to return to badly damaged houses.
The first to be affected by the massive floods was the city of Orsk, followed by Orenburg, both on the Ural. Now floods have reached the Kemerovo and Tomsk regions in western Siberia.
In the Kemerovo region, the Mrassu River overflowed its banks.
Nikolai Patrushev, director of Russia’s Security Council, said "huge material damage could have been minimized" if regional authorities had paid more attention to forecasting the water levels and responding more effectively.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Rights Watchdog Calls On EU States, Turkey Not To Return Tajik Dissidents
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on several EU countries and Turkey to refrain from sending Tajik dissidents taking shelter in their countries back to Tajikistan.
Several individuals linked to the banned Tajik opposition movement Group 24 who were residing in EU members Lithuania and Poland as well as Turkey have disappeared or been threatened with being extradited back to Tajikistan over the past several months.
On April 8, self-exiled Tajik opposition activist and ex-member of Group 24 Sulaimon Davlatov was sent to pretrial detention for two months by a court in Lithuania on a charge related to an alleged violation of the Baltic nation's national security.
The 40-year-old Davlatov, who has lived in Lithuania for nine years, is known for his online criticism of Tajik authorities. In 2015, the former member of Group 24 and the Congress of Constructive Forces opposition movements, was detained in Finland at the request of Tajik authorities, but later released.
Komron Khudoydodov, a brother of former Group 24 activist Shabnam Khudoydodova, was ordered by a Warsaw court to leave Poland, where he has been living since 2018 on a humanitarian visa, after his asylum request was rejected. His sister was charged with extremism and placed by Tajik authorities on Interpol's red-notices list in 2015.
Nasimjon Sharifov and Suhrob Zafar, two senior members of Group 24, disappeared in Turkey in February and last month respectively. Zafar has resided in Turkey since 2014, where he received multiple threats that he would be abducted and sent back to Tajikistan. Sharifov and Zafar had previously been detained in 2018 by the Turkish authorities at the request of Dushanbe but were eventually released.
In March 2015, Group 24's founder, businessman Umarali Quvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul. The group, which has been promoting democratic reforms in Tajikistan, was banned by the Tajik government and designated a terrorist organization in 2014.
“Tajikistan should unequivocally end its decade-long hunt of perceived critics abroad, especially those related to Group 24 and other banned groups,” said HRW's Syinat Sultanalieva.
“The EU and Turkey should protect opposition activists and refrain from returning them to Tajikistan, a country known for engaging in transnational repression, where they risk being tortured.”
The two EU member states and Turkey "should denounce cases of transnational repression and review any cooperation agreements with states engaged in targeting critics abroad,” the New York-based rights watchdog said.
Rain-Related Incidents Kill 39 In Pakistan, Officials Say
Heavy rains and thunderstorms that hit several parts of Pakistan have killed 39 people and injured dozens more over the past few days, local officials said. The most affected provinces were Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the northwest, Punjab in the east, and Balochistan in the southwest. Balochistan's capital, Quetta, has instituted an "urban flooding emergency" due to the risk of floods in the city, Pakistan's Disaster Management Authority said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.
Police In Tbilisi Begin Clearing Away Protesters Against 'Foreign Agents' Bill
Riot police in the capital of Georgia began clearing protesters from an entrance to the parliament building as they moved to break up a demonstration against a bill aimed at designating certain groups as foreign agents.
The police force late on April 16 mobilized water cannons to the scene and sprayed an unknown liquid at protesters after some tried to move beyond a cordon.
Officers, including some armed with shotguns, ordered protesters to disperse and deployed what appeared to be a crowd-control substance like pepper spray. Injured people were seen wiping their eyes after a colored liquid was sprayed, an RFE/RL correspondent at the scene reported.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that one employee of the ministry had been injured.
The ministry also called on demonstrators to obey the instructions from law enforcement officers and to refrain from violent actions and attacks on police officers.
"In the event that the participants of the rally continue their illegal actions, the Internal Affairs Ministry will use special measures provided for by law," the statement said.
The move to clear the demonstration came ahead of a discussion on the first reading of the bill scheduled to take place on April 17 at noon.
The controversial foreign agents bill has roiled the Caucasus nation as lawmakers from the ruling party on April 15 gave it an initial green light despite scuffles in parliament.
Thousands of people gathered outside the parliament building on April 15 urging authorities to scrap the bill that would force foreign-funded entities to register as foreign agents -- a move that many liken to similar legislation in Russia that has been used to severely restrict dissent and the activity of civil society groups.
Some of the protesters clashed with riot police deployed outside the parliament building late on April 15, the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that 14 demonstrators were arrested and one police officer was injured "as a result of the protesters' violent actions."
Earlier, scuffles broke out in parliament after opposition lawmaker Aleko Elisashvili attacked a member of the ruling party as he tried to present the bill.
Elisashvili punched Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Georgian Dream party, sparking mayhem in the legislature that took several minutes to calm down.
Mdinaradze appeared to be unharmed by the attack and after a short break was back heading the legal affairs committee session in parliament.
Mdinaradze said earlier this month that the Georgian Dream party planned to reintroduce a bill that would oblige noncommercial organizations and media outlets that receive foreign funding and are engaged in broadly defined political activities to report their activities to the authorities.
The legislation, which sparked mass protests when first introduced last year, causing the government to withdraw the bill, would also give wide oversight powers to the authorities and introduce potential sanctions for undefined criminal offences.
The new bill is identical to the one introduced and then withdrawn last year, Georgian Dream has said, except for one change: The term "foreign agent" is replaced by the more circumlocutious "organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power."
Georgia's opposition has called it the "Russian law," while the ruling party insists the bill is simply copied and pasted from U.S. legislation.
And its return bodes yet another bout of internal political strife, sharper pressure on the government's opponents, and yet more stress on Tbilisi's increasingly fragile relations with its Western partners.
With reporting by Reuters
Ukraine Downs 9 Drones Launched By Russia
Ukrainian air defense systems shot down all nine drones launched by Russia at Ukraine's territory early on April 16, the country's air force said in a statement. The drones were destroyed above the Kherson, Mykolayiv, Khmelnytskiy, Poltava, Cherkasy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the air force said. In recent weeks, Russia has drastically stepped up its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as Ukrainian forces are running out of sufficient air defense systems and ammunition while desperately needed U.S. help remains stuck in the House of Representatives due to Republican opposition. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
- By AP
Biden Hosts Czech PM As He Promotes Passage Of Ukraine Aid Stalled In Congress
President Joe Biden urged the U.S. House to immediately take up Senate-passed supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel on April 15 as he hosted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office.
The visit came as Biden aimed to highlight the efforts other nations are making to support Ukraine.
Biden appealed to Congress to pass the funding bill so that the U.S. could do its part to help Ukraine, saying, “As the Czech Republic remembers, Russia won’t stop at Ukraine.”
Fiala praised the U.S. president for his leadership in support of Ukraine, adding, “We are also doing our best.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing toward action this week on U.S. aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, unveiling an elaborate plan on April 15 to break the package into separate votes to squeeze through the House's political divides on foreign policy.
Facing an outright rebellion from conservatives fiercely opposed to aiding Ukraine, the Republican speaker's move on the foreign aid package is a potentially watershed moment, the first significant action on the bill after more than two months of delay.
Former U.S. National-Security Adviser Says Strong Israeli Response To Iran Attack Would Be Justified
PRAGUE -- Former U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton says Israel is entitled to retaliate against Iran for its weekend attack, including destroying its nuclear weapons program, and stands by his comment that President Joe Biden is "an embarrassment" for urging Israel not to respond.
In an interview with Current Time, Bolton said if Iran targeted the United States using hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones as it did on April 13 against Israel, Washington would retaliate at a minimum by destroying the bases and facilities from which the attacks were launched.
"I am firmly of the belief that if the U.S. faced that kind of attack, there's no doubt [what] we would do. Why should we deny the Israelis the right to…react the same way we would?"
Bolton spoke with Current Time from Washington as Israel weighs its response to Iran's attack, which Iran said was in response to a suspected Israeli air strike on the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, last month that killed two brigadier generals.
Almost all of the missiles and drones were shot down by Israeli defense systems or intercepted by forces from the United States, France, Britain, and Jordan.
Biden has said he wants to prevent the conflict in the Middle East from spreading and urged caution, telling Israel to "think carefully and strategically" before launching a response against Iran that could trigger a wider war.
But Bolton, known as a proponent of American hard power, said that because Israel can't be sure that the next ballistic missiles launched from Iran won't contain nuclear warheads, it is in Israel's long-term interests to consider responding by destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program. And if Israel decided to do so, the United States should support the move, he said.
The April 13 attack has raised fears of another major escalation of fighting in the Middle East, and the risks are high because "we're in uncharted territory," said Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at the Bahrain-based Le Beck International consultancy.
A full-scale war is the nightmare scenario that could be triggered by an Israeli attack on nuclear sites in Iran, Horowitz said in an interview with RFE/RL on April 15.
"If we reach this point, we may see weeks of Israeli strikes in Iran, the full-scale engagement of Hizballah in an attack against Israel, an Israeli ground incursion in Lebanon, and Iranian attempts to close the Persian Gulf," Horowitz said.
The region is now "closer to such a scenario than we were before," and even if there is no specific trigger, a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and Israel "could get us there if outside parties don't act as they did so far to de-escalate tensions."
Bolton wrote the book Surrender Is Not An Option: Defending America At The United Nations after serving as U.S. ambassador to the UN from August 2005 until December 2006. As undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2001 to 2005, he advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea.
In his interview with Current Time, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, Bolton said Israel is already engaged in a war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, and has been attacked by Hizballah militants from the north.
In addition, he noted that Huthi rebels in Yemen backed by Iran have targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and there have been attacks by Iran-aligned militant groups in Iraq and Syria.
Bolton accused the Biden administration of refusing to look at the conflict in the Middle East in a strategic sense. He also said that all the terrorist groups operating in the region are armed, equipped, trained, and financed by Iran, thus as strong response is justified.
"Iran is the puppet master here. That's the wider war we're already in," he told Current Time. "This is not separate battles between Israel and Hamas and Gaza, or the Huthis trying to close the Red Sea in the Suez Canal to international commercial traffic. This is all controlled by Iran," he added.
He defended his criticism of Biden as "an embarrassment," saying the wider war that the U.S. administration and others say they fear already began on October 7, the day that Hamas militants attacked Israeli towns, taking around 250 hostages and killing more than 1,100 people. More than 100 hostages are still in captivity.
Bolton, who spent 17 months as an adviser to former President Donald Trump, said he could not predict what Israel's response will be nor the outcome of an Israeli war cabinet meeting on April 15, but said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows the Iran nuclear threat "better than anyone else in Israel or, frankly, in the United States."
If forced to predict, he said, he would say the response would be "lower level" and would come within a few days.
Bolton, Trump's third national-security adviser, was asked for his resignation in September 2019 after months of division over the direction of foreign and national-security policy.
Bolton wrote a book the following year about his time serving in the White House. The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir angered Trump for portraying him as ignorant of basic geopolitical facts. The White House tried to stop the book's release, but a judge denied its request. Trump reacted to the publication by calling Bolton "incompetent" and "a boring fool."
With reporting by Kian Sharifi
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Sanctions Belarus Entities Over Support For Russian War On Ukraine
The United States on April 15 imposed sanctions on 12 Belarus entities and 10 individuals over their alleged support for Russia's war on Ukraine, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Among the entities targeted are a machine tool building firm, a company that sells control systems for the Belarusian armed forces, and a company that produces radio communication equipment. The department said its action “builds on U.S. sanctions imposed in response to Belarus’s fraudulent August 2020 election, as well as President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s support for Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
Srebrenica To Rename Its Streets…Without Any Mention Of The Genocide
SARAJEVO -- Ethnic Serb members of the municipal council in Srebrenica have voted to rename many of the city's streets to commemorate Serb war victims while ignoring the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.
Despite international appeals to rethink the plan and a boycott by Bosniak members of the council, the proposal to rename 25 streets in Srebrenica and the neighboring village of Skelani was approved on April 15 in a move that critics have said is a further attempt to wipe the historical record of Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
Under the plan, a square and a part of a street has been renamed "Republika Srpska," after Bosnia-Herzegovina's ethnic Serb entity. Another street will be named after a controversial World War I Serb commander.
The July 1995 massacre, which was carried out by Bosnian Serb forces, has been ruled an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). So far, more than 50 individuals have been sentenced to some 700 years in prison for their roles in the Srebrenica genocide.
Radovan Karadzic, the first president (1992-1995) of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities that make up Bosnia, was sentenced to life in prison by the ICTY for the Srebrenica genocide and crimes against humanity. Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' military commander, was also sentenced to life by the same court for the part he played in the genocide.
The controversial proposal was approved despite appeals by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which instead called for an "inclusive and transparent solution" for street names in the city.
Last month, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed the Streets for Peace Project, an initiative by young people in the city to rename the streets using neutral, inclusive names such as Street of the Future, Street of Tolerance, and Children of Srebrenica.
The move also comes as the UN General Assembly is scheduled on April 17 to debate a draft UN resolution that declares July 11 "The International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide" ahead of an expected vote on May 2.
Partially modelled on a similar resolution for the Rwandan genocide, where up to 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, the document is being developed by a group of countries including Rwanda, Germany, France, and the United States.
The resolution has been opposed by Milorad Dodik, the Russia-friendly leader of Republika Srpska, who threatened that, if it was adopted, "Republika Srpska will withdraw from the decision-making process in Bosnia."
Dodik, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom over his efforts to undermine the Dayton peace accords that ended the Balkan country's war in 1995, has reiterated his denial of the Srebrenica genocide.
Under the new plan, Srebrenica City Park will be renamed the Park of Major Kosta Todorovic after a World War I Chetnik commander.
Chetniks were originally Serbian paramilitary groups fighting against the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and World War I.
During World War II, Chetnik forces committed war crimes in Bosnia, including mass killings and forced expulsions. Their leader, Draza Mihailovic, was sentenced to death by Yugoslav authorities in 1946, but Serbian authorities rehabilitated him 70 years later, in 2015.
Some Serb military and paramilitary formations called themselves Chetniks during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo in the 1990s.
Also as a result of the April 15 decision, a part of Marshal Tito Street was renamed Republika Srpska Street.
Josip Broz Tito was the leader of the partisan movement and the president of communist Yugoslavia from World War II until his death in 1980. His name adorned hundreds of streets and squares in the former Yugoslavia.
Mostar-Belgrade Air Route Reopens After More Than 3 Decades
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic landed at the Mostar airport in the southern Bosnia-Herzegovina on April 15 in an official reopening of the direct air link between Belgrade and Mostar after more than three decades. Vucic landed to meet a delegation of Bosnian officials at the airport on April 15, reopening a route that was closed in November 1991 as war began to tear through Yugoslavia during its bloody breakup. Air Serbia will operate the flights three times a week. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.
Iran Takes Legal Action Against Analyst, Newspaper Over Criticism Of Israel Attack
Iran's judiciary has initiated legal proceedings against the Tehran-based Etemad newspaper and political analyst Abbas Abdi over comments related to the Islamic republic's interactions with Israel, according to the Mizan News Agency.
Mizan, which is linked to the judiciary, reported on April 14 that the action is aimed at countering those “disrupting societal psychological security.”
Abdi, an analyst considered close to Iranian reformists, commented on Iran's strike on Israel over the weekend in an article published in Etemad saying Israel's recent actions were a reaction, not an act of aggression, and that Tehran did not need to respond.
He also criticized the Islamic republic's strategy of deterrence, saying the use of conventional weapons against a nation whose existence Iran does not recognize or seeks to annihilate is futile and has a disproportionate cost compared to any potential benefits.
Mizan also reported legal actions against the economic newspaper Jahan Sanat and an unnamed economic journalist following their evaluations of the IRGC's missile and drone attacks on Israel and their repercussions on financial markets.
Legal scholar Mohsen Barhani criticized the charges as unfounded, saying the criminal articles used against the publication and author don't exist under current Iranian law.
In a related development, the IRGC's Intelligence Organization issued a warning on social media platforms cautioning users against expressing support for Israel, underscoring ongoing surveillance and potential consequences for users aligning with or endorsing Iran's sworn enemy. The organization also encouraged individuals to report any pro-Israeli activities among their peers.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles late on April 13. The "vast majority" were largely intercepted by Israel's air-defense systems and those of its allies.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
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