More than two dozen people are being held for questioning by police in Kyrgyzstan after a riot broke out following a heated match of kok-boru, a traditional sport that involves capturing a goat's carcass, or "ulak," and maneuvering it on horseback into the opposing team's goal. Officials said an investigation is ongoing after hundreds of spectators stormed the field at the President's Cup match in the city of Osh, which was attended by President Sadyr Japarov and Prosecutor-General Kurmankul Zulushev. The spectators chased match officials and smashed the windows of a vehicle. There were no reports of injuries. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Russia's Second Western District Military Court has sentenced Ramazan Murtuzov to 15 years in prison for allegedly preparing an explosion in a shopping center or train station in the city of Kursk, near the border with Ukraine. Murtuzov will spend the first three years of his sentence in prison, with the remainder to be served in a strict regime prison colony. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it thwarted a "terrorist attack" in September 2022, and had arrested a man who allegedly had two explosive devices in his home. He was detained after BBC Russia published a story about Ukrainian saboteurs. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Javad Rohi, an Iranian protester who was detained during the recent nationwide protests and had his death sentence overturned by the Supreme Court, has died under suspicious circumstances while in prison, raising concerns among human rights activists over his treatment behind bars.

"Javad Rohi, an inmate in the Nowshahr city prison, was transferred to Shahid Beheshti hospital in the city early on August 31 after suffering a seizure," the judiciary's Mizan Online news website reported, adding that medical personnel tried to treat him but failed to keep the 31-year-old alive.

Majid Kaveh, Rohi's lawyer, confirmed the death of his client in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Further details of Rohi's death were not immediately available, but human rights activists said Rohi had been subjected to brutal torture after his arrest for "inciting a riot" by dancing, clapping, chanting, and throwing head scarves into bonfires.

Rohi was also convicted of allegedly burning a copy of the Koran.

In January, Amnesty International called Rohi's trial "grossly unfair" and said that he, along with two others who had been arrested during the same protests in the seaside city of Noshahr about 125 kilometers north of Tehran, had been subjected to beatings, floggings, electric shocks, suspension, death threats, and sexual violence to extract "confessions."

After receiving a death sentence from the court, Kaveh -- who was not allowed to be present at the trial -- said he was finally allowed access to the case. He said after reviewing the materials that there was no concrete evidence supporting the crimes for which Rohi was sentenced to death and the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in June.

The Iranian authorities' violations of due-process rights and fair-trial standards as well as the torture and ill-treatment of detainees have been systemic features of the government's crackdown against anti-government protests.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in an statement on September 1 that the "suspicious" circumstances under which Rohi died raised "grave concerns about his treatment."

The group said it had obtained information that agents of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had held Rohi in solitary confinement without providing any information to his family for over 40 days following his arrest.

It added that during that period, Rohi was exposed to freezing temperatures for 48-hour periods, beaten "severely" with batons, whipped and beaten to such an extent that he had lost control over some internal body functions, could not use one of his legs, and his speech was impaired.

"The Iranian prison authorities' egregious record of torture and mistreatment makes Javad Rohi's death in custody more than a little suspicious," said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at HRW.

“An international inquiry is needed since there’s no reason to believe Iranian authorities will carry out a transparent investigation.”

Kaveh last month had expressed deep concern over what he said seems to be the "disregard for the Supreme Court ruling."

Iran has executed at least seven anti-government protesters in hasty trials, triggering strong condemnation from human rights activists and numerous Western governments.

Human rights groups say the crackdown by the authorities in the wake of unrest sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged head scarf violation has left more than 500 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Two cargo vessels have left a port near Odesa, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said on September 1 -- the third and fourth to transit from deep-water Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea since Russia withdrew from a safe-passage deal for grain ships. Oleksandr Kubrakov said the bulk carriers Anna-Theresa and Ocean Courtesy had left the port of Pivdenniy through a temporary corridor for civilian vessels. To read the original story from Reuters, click here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on September 4, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The announcement comes after weeks of speculation about when and where the two leaders might meet next. Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosted his Turkish counterpart for talks in Moscow. Turkey, together with the United Nations, brokered a deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. Russia quit the deal last month. To read the original story by AP, click here.

Bulgaria will allow a Russian national to stay in the country, after earlier rejecting three asylum requests. Aleksandr Stotsky fled Russia immediately after the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Stotsky, a supporter of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, argued that he risked being sent to fight in Ukraine if sent back to Russia. Stotsky's asylum request was rejected by Bulgaria's authority for refugees and a Sofia court, which ruled he was in no danger if he returned to his homeland. Following protests, authorities overturned that decision on September 1. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service, click here.

British military equipment maker BAE Systems says it has established a local legal entity in Ukraine to "ramp up" its support to the country’s armed forces, prompting an immediate warning from the Kremlin that the enterprise will be a target for attack.

BAE, Britain's biggest defense company, said in a statement late on August 31 that the venture will also "explore" the supply of 105-millimeter light guns to Ukraine as it seeks to understand better the country's needs.

It already supplies a lot of the equipment foreign governments have given Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and has also provided support, training and repairs to Ukraine's armed forces.

"Alongside our government customers, we’ve been discussing with President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy and his team how to best evolve the support that we’re already providing to Ukraine," Charles Woodburn, BAE's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"Signing the agreements and establishing a legal entity in Ukraine builds on our existing trust and support and paves the way for us to work together to provide more direct support to the Ukrainian armed forces," he added.

The United Kingdom has been a major supplier of support -- both military and financial -- to Ukraine since the invasion.

The Kremlin immediately denounced BAE's move saying such a venture would in no way contribute to an easing of hostilities between the two countries.

"Of course, any facilities for the production of weapons, especially if these weapons fire at us, they become objects of special attention for our military," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a phone call with reporters on September 1.

BAE has seen its bottom line bolstered by an increase in spending by Western governments who have been supplying Ukraine with weapons.

The company recently announced a 57 percent jump in net profits for the first half of 2023.

With reporting by AFP

Ukraine is ready to store and re-export European gas for the 2023/2024 winter, the country's gas transmission operator said, citing a risk-assessment conducted with international partners. The GTSOU, which runs Ukraine's gas system, said that stress tests had been conducted to assess the risk of Russian military aggression hampering traders' ability to safely store gas in Ukraine and transport it to the European Union (EU). The operator said that Ukraine’s gas infrastructure proved its "high reliability and resilience" in the crisis situations modeled. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Kazakhstan's president, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, has said the country will hold a referendum over building a controversial nuclear power plant, its first, in a lakeside village amid fears it will destroy the environment. "The question of whether or not to build a nuclear power plant is a very important issue for the future of our country. That's why I think it should be resolved through a national referendum. We will determine the exact date later," Toqaev told Parliament on September 1. The plan is expected to address Kazakhstan's soaring energy needs. Russia's Rosatom has offered to be the main partner for the project. (RFE/RL's Radio Azattyk)

To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azattyk, click here. https://www.azattyq.org/a/32573945.html

Armenia and Azerbaijan both reported casualties after intense shelling on their common border on September 1. The Armenian Defense Ministry said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in "intense fire" near the town of Sotk. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, accused Armenian forces of opening fire at the same section, saying that one Azerbaijan soldier was wounded. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Armenian Service, click here.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent Russia a new proposal aimed at getting grain and fertilizer to international markets in hopes of reviving a deal that allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger. But Moscow wasn’t satisfied with the proposal sent to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week. Speaking at a press conference on August 31 after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Lavrov said he had given Ankara a list of actions that the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian shipments. To read the original story from AP, click here.

One person was killed and three wounded in Russian missile strikes in Ukraine on September 1 as Russia reported more drone attacks, including near Moscow and a nuclear power plant.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said its counteroffensive was continuing in the country’s east and south.

A man was killed in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the regional military administration said.

Three people were wounded when a private enterprise was hit by a long-range cruise missile in the early hours of September 1 in the city of Vinnytsya, wounding three people, Governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

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A private enterprise was struck by a long-range cruise missile in the early hours of September 1 in the city of Vinnytsya, wounding three people, Governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command said it shot down a second missile fired as part of the overnight attack. The missile was downed over the central Kirovohrad region, the local governor said on Telegram.

Earlier, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defense systems had shot down a drone that he claimed was approaching the city. The drone was downed near Lyubertsy, southeast of Moscow, Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

According to the state-run TASS news agency, flights were suspended briefly at Moscow’s three major airports Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo.

There have been repeated disruptions to takeoffs and landings at Moscow airports in recent days because of the risks posed by drones.

Elsewhere, a drone strike was reported in Kurchatov, home to a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region, regional governor Roman Starovoit said.

Emergency services were assessing the damage suffered by an administrative building and a residential one in the attack, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Starovoit did not mention any potential damage to the Kursk nuclear power plant or give details of the targeted buildings.

Earlier, the local governor of the western region of Pskov said Russian air defense had "neutralized an unidentified object" there.

Governor Mikhail Vedernikov posted a video on Telegram showing fire being directed through the air. He said there had been no damage on the ground.

The Pskov region, some 700 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, was the site of a large drone attack earlier this week. On August 30, drones hit an airport there, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports. It was part of a barrage that day which targeted six Russian regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on August 31 that Ukraine had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away, in an apparent reference to the strike on the airport in Pskov.

Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel that the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details.

Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that more than 25 combat clashes had taken place across the front line over the past 24 hours.

In its daily update on September 1, Ukraine’s military said its forces “continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.”

Addressing EU foreign ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo on August 31, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed critics of his country's counteroffensive and the speed of its advance into Russian-held territory.

Kuleba said the critics are "spitting into the face" of the Ukrainian soldier "who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward, and liberating 1 kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another."

He said all critics should "shut up," inviting them to try to clear even 1 square centimeter of territory by themselves.

SEE ALSO:

Exhaustion And Hope: A Battle-Hardened Battalion Holds The Line On Ukraine's Southern Front

Since launching its counteroffensive, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia's main defenses.

Kuleba and his counterparts discussed further support for Ukraine, and he urged them to approve more arms to help Kyiv fight against the Russian invasion.

"The war is raging," Kuleba said in his address to the EU foreign ministers, asking for more armored vehicles and tanks, as well as armored ambulances, which are in high demand.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

At least nine Pakistani soldiers have been killed and 20 more injured in a suicide attack that targeted a security convoy in northwestern Pakistan.

The attack on August 31 was carried out by a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle, Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations Agency (ISPR) said in a statement.

The statement added that "the army is committed to eliminating terrorism."

The attack occurred in the Jani Khel area of the Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) near the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar condemned the bombing.

“Heartbroken by the loss of 9 valiant soldiers in Bannu Division, KPK, to a cowardly terrorist act that injured many. Such acts are utterly reprehensible,” Kakar said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The number of deadly suicide attacks on security forces in and near North Waziristan in 2023 has been increasing. North Waziristan served as a base for insurgents until the army announced years ago that it had cleared the region of local and foreign militants.

One of the most deadly was a suicide bombing on July 30 at a political rally for the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party that killed more than 50 people in the Bajur district, a stronghold of the Tehrik-e Taliban, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government. The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group claimed responsibility.

SEE ALSO:

Islamic State-Khorasan Claims Responsibility For Deadly Suicide Bombing In Pakistan

There have been frequent protests and repeated calls for the government to maintain security in the region.

The government and the military have stressed that they have carried out operations against the militants and claimed the actions have achieved success in the past few years.

The attack compounds security concerns in the runup to a national election expected to take place later this year. Elections are to be held before early November following the end of the government's tenure in the first half of August.

With reporting by AP and AFP

A court in western Kazakhstan has awarded a man compensation for being wrongly detained and prosecuted after a deadly state crackdown on protesters in January 2022.

The court in Aqtobe ruled that 3.5 million tenge ($6,500) should be paid to Aslanbek Omarov for moral and material damage he endured after being detained by security forces on January 9, 2022.

Omarov, who said he was tortured while being held in pretrial detention, was jailed for four months and held under house arrest for five months.

The ruling came in an appeal filed by Omarov, who had been seeking 40 million tenge ($86,000) in compensation.

"The pain I experienced can't be compensated with 3.5 million tenge; I lost my income and business. After my arrest, my pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter were left without support," Omarov told RFE/RL, adding that, despite the awarded compensation falling far short of his demand, he would not appeal the court decision further.

"The fact that the government admitted its guilt is a victory for me," Omarov said.

Omarov was accused of "organizing mass disorder." According to officials, no evidence was found during an investigation.

In February last year, the Aqtobe court sentenced 16 people, including Omarov, to prison for their involvement in the January crackdowns during which two people were killed in the western Kazakh city.

One of them, Ruslanbek Zhubanazarov, was first accused of being a "terrorist," and was then adjudicated to have been an "accidental victim." His family has been compensated 7 million tenges ($15,272) from the People of Kazakhstan fund, which was set up in January 2022 immediately after the unrest.

The other Aqtobe resident who was fatally shot during January events, Faizulla Nurgeldin, was initially included in the accidental victims list. But when he died two months later, he was listed as a fatality.

More than 10,000 were detained in Kazakhstan after the January unrests. Few have received compensation.

The United States has lauded Kyrgyzstan for its repatriation of 95 women and children from northeast Syria, calling it "important towards resolving the humanitarian and security challenges in the region." State Department spokesman Matthew Miller noted that it was Kyrgyzstan's second round of repatriating displaced people from the region this year. In February, it brought 18 women and 41 children back. The nation has been addressing its citizens' involvement with radical groups in the Middle Eastern country since 2013-2015, when many moved to Syrian war zones. Repatriation covers only women and children, not men. To read the statement from the U.S. State Department, click here.

Turkey's foreign minister has emphasized how important reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative is to global food security during a meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Hakan Fidan, who is in Moscow to make preparations for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoke at a joint news conference on August 31 with Lavrov, who said Russia would return to the deal if problems that Moscow raised about it are solved.

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Fidan said he and his team "underlined its critical role for global food security and stability in the Black Sea." When the deal was brokered in July 2022, the UN and Turkey hailed it as a way to help tackle a global food crisis that worsened after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia quit the deal last month, complaining that Western sanctions were impeding its own exports of food and fertilizers and that too little of the grain was getting to the poorest countries.

Turkey has since sought to convince Moscow to return to the agreement, which allowed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments on the Black Sea and included an inspection regime managed by officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the UN in Istanbul.

Lavrov said before the meeting that he and Fidan would discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the deal.

Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. It was not clear what incentive Qatar would have to take part in the arrangement.

"We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on August 30.

The original deal had enabled the shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to countries in Africa and Asia through Ukrainian Black Sea.

After withdrawing from the deal Russia began attacking Ukrainian ports and storehouses, destroying millions of tons of grain, which prompted accusations that Moscow was again using food as a weapon of war.

The Russian Foreign Ministry statement on August 30 said Lavrov would restate Moscow's position that following its withdrawal from the grain deal, it would consider all ships heading to Ukraine as potentially carrying military cargo.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Iranian social media users are posting and sharing videos of their own dance performances and renditions of songs by Mehdi Yarrahi as a protest against the singer's arrest for his latest song supporting women's rights.

Yarrahi was arrested on August 28 following the release of the song Your Head Scarf, which was accompanied by a video showing women in various social settings without their head scarves, some dancing to the music. No further details on Yarrahi's arrest have been released.

Yarrahi dedicated the song to the "brave women of Iran who shine courageously at the forefront of the ‘Women Life Freedom’ movement," a reference to protests sparked by the death last September of Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody for an alleged head scarf violation.

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Renowned Iranian artists including Dariush Eghbali, Ebi, Kaveh Yaghmaei, and Taraneh Alidoosti, as well as various political activists and journalists, have also rallied behind Yarrahi since his arrest.

Acts of civil disobedience have increased in Iran since the death of the 22-year-old Amini. Authorities have responded with a brutal crackdown on all forms of dissent, detaining thousands across the country.

Violators of the hijab requirement can face up to two years in prison, although proposed legislation would increase the maximum sentence to up to three years for repeat offenders.

While the protests appear to be waning, resistance to the hijab, or mandatory head scarf for women, remains high as it is seen now as a symbol of the state's repression of women and the deadly crackdown on society.

Several cinematographers and prominent public figures have also been summoned by the police or arrested, including prominent rapper Toomaj Salehi.

Other celebrities, including prominent actresses Afsaneh Bayegan, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Katayon Riahi, and Pantea Bahram, have been interrogated and have faced legal action after they made public appearances without wearing the mandatory hijab to show support for the protesters.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Kazakh aviation authorities warned on August 31 about the increasing threat to flight safety in Russia due to drone attacks. Kazakh authorities said regular passenger flights between Kazakhstan and Russia operated by Kazakh companies SCAT and Qazaq Air and Russian companies Aeroflot, Azimut, and Red Wings could be in danger. Passenger flights between Russia and Kazakhstan operate in several cities in each country, including Astana, Almaty, and Moscow. Drone attacks in Russia continue amid the Russian military’s massive shelling of Ukrainian cities. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly confirmed drone attacks that have affected flights at Russian airports. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service click here.

The Homel regional court in southeastern Belarus has sentenced journalist Larysa Shchyrakova to 3 1/2 years in prison after finding her guilty of "facilitating extremist activities" and "discrediting" Belarus as a crackdown on dissent by the country's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues. Investigators say she placed materials online that "discredited" the country and collected information for the Minsk-based Vyasna human rights group, as well as the Poland-based Belsat television channel. Arrested in early December, local rights groups have recognized Shchyrakova as a political prisoner. She has said she will not appeal the verdict. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his country has developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away, in an apparent reference to the previous day’s strike on an airport in western Russia. Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel on August 31 that the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details. On August 30, a four-hour wave of drones that Moscow blamed on Ukraine hit an airport near Russia’s border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports. To read the original story by AP, click here.

Russia's Culture Ministry said blockbuster films Barbie and Oppenheimer, which have collected more than $2 billion at the world box office, do not meet the traditional and moral values of Russia and therefore has rejected an appeal by lawmaker Vladislav Davankov to issue the movies with “compulsory" licenses for products from "unfriendly countries.”

The ministry said the move could negatively affect all creative industries. Last year, major Hollywood studios withdrew from distributing films in Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Pirated versions of Barbie and Oppenheimer have been screened illegally in some Russian theatres.

To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service click here.

Officials in Islamabad say a 22-year-old Afghan refugee woman identified as Mariam, died after allegedly jumping from the fifth floor of a building on August 31. The woman had been living with her family in Islamabad for the past two years after fleeing the Taliban takeover. Pakistan has become home for many Afghans who have left their country because of the militants, with around 100,000 Afghans estimated to be living in Islamabad. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Mashaal Radio click here.

The co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner was buried near Moscow on August 31, after dying in an unexplained plane crash that also killed his boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Dmitry Utkin, 53, whose call sign "Wagner" gave the private army its name, was buried in a town on the outskirts of Moscow in a ceremony cordoned off by Russian military police, according to the popular online news channel Shot. Prigozhin was buried on August 29 in an equally discreet ceremony in his hometown of St. Petersburg. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Russian comedian and TV presenter Maksim Galkin, who has been vocal in his criticism of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, says Kazakh authorities have been blocking his plans to try and hold concerts in the Central Asian nation for "some fictitious reasons." He said most recently, officials in Astana said on August 31 that a venue he was to use was no longer available as it was reserved for a Teacher’s Day celebration. "At the moment, there is actually an unspoken ban on my concerts,” said Galkin, who fled Russia. Kazakh officials have not commented on Galkin's claims. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, click here.

The Federal Council of Switzerland adopted further sanctions against Belarus on August 30 to align it with the measures taken by the European Union. More than 40 individuals and entitles were added to the sanctions list. A ban on exporting goods and technology for use in the aviation and space industry was also imposed. In August, the EU introduced a new round of sanctions against Belarus, with an additional ban "on the export of firearms and ammunition, as well as goods and technologies suitable for use in the aviation and space industry," due to Minsk's support for Russia's aggression against Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, click here.