The former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the military's powerful spy agency, Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed, has been arrested and had court martial proceedings initiated against him, the military said in a statement on August 12. The statement added that Hameed’s arrest was ordered by the country’s Supreme Court in connection with a housing scheme scandal, and multiple violations of the Pakistan Army Act after his retirement. Hameed served as ISI chief from June 2019 through October 2021. It is a first in Pakistan’s history that court martial proceedings have been initiated against a former ISI chief.

The Taliban has created "the world's most serious women's rights crisis" since returning to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

Under the Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become the only country where girls are banned from going to school beyond the sixth grade, HRW said in a press release on August 11.

The Taliban has also "undermined women's right to freedom of movement, banned them from many forms of employment, dismantled protections for women and girls experiencing gender-based violence, created barriers to them accessing health care, and barred them from playing sports, and even visiting parks."

The pressures on Afghan women come as their country is also experiencing a major humanitarian crisis, with aid severely underfunded and thousands of Afghan refugees forced back into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Women and girls are among the most seriously affected by this humanitarian crisis, HRW said.

The situation has been described by the United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, as "an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity, and exclusion of women and girls," HRW said.

"Under the Taliban's abusive rule, Afghan women and girls are living their worst nightmares," HRW's Fereshta Abbasi said.

Abbasi urged all governments to "support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan to account."

Abbasi said countries engaging with the Taliban-led government in Kabul should consistently remind it that its "abuses against women and girls and all Afghans violate Afghanistan's obligations under international law."

More than half of Afghanistan's population -- 23 million people -- face food insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Restrictions that the Taliban authorities have imposed on women and girls have impeded access to health care, jeopardizing their right to health, HRW noted.

The Taliban's bans on girls' education inevitably leads to future shortages of female health workers, HRW said.

The rights group called on donor countries to find ways to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan without reinforcing the Taliban's repressive policies against women and girls.

A court in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of Russia's Kamchatka region in the Far East, on August 12 sentenced a local man to 10 years in prison for beating to death another man who had criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Media reports identified the convicted man as Aleksei Yarmolovich, 32. Investigators say Yarmolovich and his victim were drinking alcohol together when Yarmolovich attacked the man and hit him with a dumbbell after he started praising the Ukrainian armed forces and condemning Russia's aggression against its neighbor. The court rejected Yarmolovich’s claim of self-defense and found him guilty of murder. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

A Moscow court on August 12 sentenced Usman Baratov, a leader of the Uzbek diaspora in Russia, to four years in prison on a charge of inciting hatred online. Baratov pleaded not guilty to the charge, which stemmed from a post on social media in December related to an abrupt increase of the price of eggs in Russia. Baratov's post contained a photo of an unattractive hen with a caption saying, "No bloody eggs for you! Bring back the roosters from the front line!" Baratov was arrested amid an outcry by pro-Kremlin bloggers who said the post humiliated the wives of Russian men mobilized to fight in Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North.Realities, click here.

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on August 12 he had resigned from his new position as vice president last week. In a post on X, Zarif cited several reasons for his resignation, including facing pressure after his appointment because his children hold U.S. citizenship. The resignation comes less than two weeks after newly elected reformist President Masud Pezeshkian chose Zarif as his deputy. Zarif, who negotiated the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, said he plans to return to academia and focus less on domestic politics. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

A court in Russia's Tatarstan region on August 12 issued an arrest warrant for political analyst Ruslan Aisin on charges of violating the "foreign agent" legislation and for rehabilitating Nazism. It is not clear what exactly Aisin is accused of. He told RFE/RL earlier that the case against him amounted to "recognition of our contribution to the fight against this despotic regime." He said that "laws in a totalitarian country are criminal to start with." Aisin is known as an expert on ethnic and religious issues in Russia. He left Russia shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which he has openly condemned. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.

Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on August 2 for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he and his supporters reject as politically motivated, has begun a new hunger strike. Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, told RFE/RL on August 12 that his client started the hunger strike to protest his imprisonment a day earlier. Last month, Mukhammedkarim was transferred to a hospital after his health dramatically deteriorated following several hunger strikes to protest the secrecy of his trial. Human rights groups have recognized him as a political prisoner. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Uzbek athletes have won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Paris Olympics, as well as two silver and three bronze medals. Uzbekistan ranked 13th in the final Olympic medal tally, its best ranking since independence in 1991 and the highest position among Central Asian countries. The gold medals were earned by judoka Diyora Keldiyorova, taekwondo wrestler Ulugbek Rashidov, freestyle wrestler Razambek Jamalov, and boxers Hasanboi Dosmatov, Asadxoja Moydinxojaev, Lazizbek Mullojonov, Abdumalik Halokov, and Bahodir Jalolov. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.

Taras Melnychuk, the Ukrainian government's envoy in the Verkhovna Rada, announced on August 12 that the cabinet had removed Deputy Energy Minister Oleksandr Kheylo. The Security Service said earlier that investigators had revealed "a large-scale corruption scheme" organized by an unnamed deputy energy minister, who was accused of accepting a $500,000 bribe for allowing state-owned coal-producing entities to obtain equipment from coal mines in the country's eastern region of Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces are fighting invading Russian troops. The Ukrayinska Pravda agency identified the alleged perpetrator as Oleksandr Kheylo at the time. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

The leaders of Britain, Germany, and France have called for "de-escalation and regional stability" in the Middle East and urged Iran and its allies not to "jeopardize the opportunity to agree a cease-fire and the release of hostages" in Gaza. In a joint statement on August 12, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed U.S. and regional calls for the immediate resumption of negotiations between Israel and Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. They said there can be "no further delay" in such negotiations.

Abbas Araqchi, the Western-educated former nuclear talks negotiator, was nominated on August 11 as Iran's foreign minister by reformist President Masud Pezeshkian. The move comes as the newly elected Pezeshkian presented his slate of proposed ministers to Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly. The 61-year-old Araqchi was the leading negotiator in nuclear talks between Iran and world powers from 2013-21. He has also served as Iran's envoy to Estonia, Finland, and Japan, according to the ministry website. Araqchi was the Foreign Ministry spokesman during the during the presidency of Hassan Rohani, who was strongly criticized by Iran's hard-liners for attempts at reforms during his eight years in power. Araqchi has been a deputy foreign minister since 2013. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, click here.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility on August 12 for a minivan explosion in the Afghan capital that killed at least one person. The militant group said in a statement that it had detonated an explosive device on August 11 targeting members of the Shi'ite minority community, killing and wounding about 13 people. Police spokesman Khalid Zadran confirmed on August 12 that a bomb had exploded in western Kabul, killing one civilian and wounding eleven. He added that the explosion happened in the Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood, and that a police investigation was under way.

Moscow ordered more evacuations on August 12 in two regions bordering Ukraine, regional officials reported, as its forces rushed to contain a shock incursion by the Ukrainian military into its territory.

The evacuation of civilians from the Kursk region was widened to include the Belovsky district, which has a population of some 14,000 people, the district chief, Nikolai Volobuyev, said on Telegram.

"The situation is very tense. Anyone who can should independently come to the collection point in the village of Dolgie Budy or in the settlement of Bushmeno in the Oboyansky district. Buses will be provided. Anyone who is still in the area is kindly requested to leave the area," Volobuyev wrote.

In a post on Telegram on August 11, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed to have contained the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk.

Earlier on August 12, the governor of the western Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram that the authorities were relocating residents of the Krasnoyaruzh district to "safer places" due to "activity" in the area by Ukrainian forces.

The evacuations come as Ukrainian troops have advanced some 30 kilometers inside Russia in what has become the most significant incursion since the war began in February 2022.

Russia's military also said on August 12 that its air defenses had intercepted 11 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting the western Kursk region.

Air defenses also destroyed five Ukrainian-launched drones over the Belgorod region and two over the Voronezh region, the ministry said on August 12. The ministry did not say how many drones in total Ukraine launched.

Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region on August 6, the largest cross-border operation by Kyiv since Moscow launched its full-scale offensive more than two years ago.

Ukraine's military claims it has captured a number of settlements in the Kursk region, as clips emerged purportedly showing troops seizing administrative buildings in Sverdlikovo and Poroz, while intense fighting has been reported in Sudzha, a town of about 5,000 people.

In the village of Guevo, Ukrainian soldiers filmed themselves removing the Russian flag from an administrative building.

Moscow has rushed in reserve troops, aviation, tanks, artillery, and drones in a bid to repel the incursion, which caught the Russian authorities off-guard.

Despite these efforts, however, Russia acknowledged on August 11 that Ukraine had been able to penetrate into its territory by up to 30 kilometers in some areas.

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.

Russian media reported on August 10 that more than 76,000 civilians had been evacuated from border areas, with more leaving the following day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy indirectly confirmed Ukrainian forces' advances inside Kursk, saying late on August 10 that he "received several reports from Commander-in-Chief [Oleksandr] Syrskiy regarding the front lines, our actions, and the push to drive the war onto the aggressor's territory."

In southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed officials announced on August 12 that a fire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has been "completely extinguished."

It was not clear what caused the fire, which started at a cooling tower at the plant at around 8 p.m. on August 11.

Zelenskiy accused Russia of lighting the fire and Ukraine's Enerhoatom said Russia's "negligence" or arson could have sparked it.

Enerhoatom claimed that Russia uses the plant's cooling towers to store military equipment and explosives but didn’t provide any evidence.

Russian officials, including Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused Kyiv of deliberately trying to destroy the plant and sow "nuclear terror."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has a presence at the vast six-reactor facility, said there had been no reported impact on nuclear safety at the site.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that "reckless attacks" that "endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident" must stop immediately.

Grossi said the IAEA requested "immediate access" to the cooling tower to assess the damage.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

A fire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has been "completely extinguished," a Moscow-installed official said on August 12. It was not clear what caused the fire, which started at a cooling tower of the plant at around 8 p.m. on August 11. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of lighting the fire, while Russian officials, including Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused Kyiv of deliberately trying to destroy the plant and sow "nuclear terror." The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has a presence at the facility, said there had been no reported impact on nuclear safety at the site. To read the full story by Current Time, click here.

A fire broke out on August 11 at a cooling tower at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine following what Russian officials say was Ukrainian shelling, which authorities in Kyiv denied. Management of the plant said the fire was still blazing but that it was not endangering the safe operation of the facility. Ukrainian officials said there was unofficial information that Russian forces had set fire to a large number of automobile tires in the cooling towers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said radiation indicators appeared normal for the plant, which was taken over by Russian forces shortly after the February 2022 invasion.

Iranian courts have acquitted journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi of "collaborating with a hostile foreign state," but upheld the five-year prison sentences for other charges. The journalists ran afoul of the authorities after writing about the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly. The women were each sentenced to five years in prison for collusion and conspiring against state security and one year for propaganda against the Islamic republic. Hamedi and Mohammadi have been out on bail after more than a year in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

An explosion in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed one person and injured 11 others, Taliban police spokesman Khalid Zadran told RFE/RL on August 11, an attack apparently targeting the country’s minority Hazara community.

Zadran said the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in a minibus in Kabul's Dasht-e Barchi area, where many Shi'ite Hazara reside.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Sunni-led Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) branch has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, the Hazara community, and others it considers incompatible with its extreme interpretation of Islam.

A female resident told RFE/RL that the Taliban authorities have failed to protect residents of the Dasht-e Barchi area.

"Explosions in Dasht-e Barchi occur regularly without anyone taking responsibility for maintaining security," she said.

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"The Taliban say they have ensured security, but that's only words. They don't care who's killed or what attacks occur. If they're genuinely ensuring security, why do explosions keep happening?"

Shi'ite Muslims, the country's largest religious minority, have complained that the Sunni Taliban has not done enough to protect them from terror attacks and have accused the Taliban itself of abuses, including "killing, torture, and forced displacement." Most Shi'a in Afghanistan are members of the historically persecuted Hazara ethnic minority.

A report this year by the U.S. State Department cited several examples of terror attacks against the Hazara community and stated that religious freedoms have continued to deteriorate under harsh Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

"Consistent with trends observed in past years, many suicide bombings and other attacks on civilians targeted Shi’a Muslims, particularly ethnic Hazara," by the IS-K terrorist group, it said.

The report identified IS-K as the "most serious threat" in the Central and South Asia region and said the group was "projecting terror beyond Afghanistan."

The U.S. report also cited UN officials in Afghanistan as saying the Taliban "had marginalized the minority Shi'a Muslim population in an effort to force them to leave the country."

Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev has urged Western news organizations to withdraw any correspondents working in Russia, saying the value of having reporters there is outweighed by the risk of having them seized and used by the Kremlin as assets in future prisoner swaps.

"This is a period of time when information from Russia cannot be reported honestly," Grozev* told Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT in an interview released on August 10.

"Therefore, the added value of having your representative there is very small compared to the risk of our [journalistic] colleagues being arrested and simply becoming an asset in a [prisoner] swap fund for the future."

The remarks come after a major exchange of detained and imprisoned persons was conducted on August 1 between the United States, Germany, and other Western states on one side and Russia and Belarus on the other.

BNT, CNN, and others have reported that Grozev took part in preliminary negotiations on the prisoner exchange, actions he has indirectly confirmed in a series of interviews.

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Russia got back eight prisoners held in the West, including a member of its Federal Security Service convicted of murder in Germany, and 16 people were released from Russian and Belarusian jails. They included journalists Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL, both U.S. citizens.

The 32-year-old Gershkovich was detained in Russia in March 2023 while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg. He was sentenced in July to 16 years in prison on spying charges that were rejected by the United States and his WSJ employer.

Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old mother of two, was arrested in Kazan in October 2023 and first charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent" under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She was subsequently charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military -- charges she and RFE/RL denied -- and sentenced to 6 1/2 years.

"The arrest of foreigners in Russia is planned," Grozev said.

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"It is planned with the aim to fill a [prisoner] swap fund. Our colleagues from The Wall Street Journal published an extensive investigation practically proving the arrest of Evan had been set up as a planned operation -- not the result of some alleged counterintelligence about him collecting secret information."

“They were planning to arrest someone with his status because they knew" it would become a major issue in the United States.

Grozev said the list of people considered for the prisoner swap changed over the years of negotiations.

“The original list was put together in early 2022. Of course, among the Russian opposition figures who needed to be released, the central figure was Aleksei Navalny."

“On the other side, the central figure was Putin's personal assassin, Vadim Krasikov. Four more people were added on both sides. The original list was five-on-five [prisoners to be exchanged]," he said.

Over the course of 2023, "both sides expanded [the list] to eight-on-eight. A large part of those eight by the Russian side were the same people who were eventually released -- of course, with the exception of Aleksei Navalny," who died in a remote Russian prison before the swap was finalized.

Grozev said Berlin held the most important "bargaining chip" for the Kremlin -- Krasikov, who had been sentenced to life in prison for murder.

The Germans were so angry about Navalny's death that they "bet it all on one card in the negotiations with Russia," Grozev explained.

"The Germans said: We are giving up the idea [of a prisoner swap] of one-on-one -- a symmetric swap. From now on, for our release of Vadim Krasikov, we want you to release practically all the big names held in Russian prisons -- the Russian opposition figures who have spoken up against the war [in Ukraine]."

"That is how the list changed -- six or seven names from the Russian opposition were added. I didn't take part in this last stage [of negotiations], but I know how it developed. The German government was really angry and was ready to drop any deal with Russia. But in the end, they managed to free more people than was actually considered possible at the beginning."

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misidentified Christo Grozev's professional affiliation.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles must return an Olympic bronze medal after sport's highest court annulled an inquiry filed by her coach that vaulted Chiles to third. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on August 10 that the inquiry came outside the 1-minute time limit allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation. The IOC said it would respect the court’s ruling and reallocate the bronze from the August 5 women's floor exercise final to Romanian Ana Barbosu. To read the full story by RFE/RL Romanian Service, click here.

BELGRADE -- Serbian police have removed protesters opposed to lithium mining from two railway stations in the capital, Belgrade, where they were blocking train traffic.

Riot police used shields to disperse the protesters at the Prokop and Novi Beograd railway stations at around 5.30 a.m. on August 11, participants told RFE/RL.

The Internal Affairs Ministry said the railway traffic disrupted by the protests had been restored. The ministry warned that criminal charges will be brought against those who caused the traffic disruption and endangered public safety.

On August 10, tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the Belgrade city center and then split into two groups that separated and headed to the railway stations. Some of the protesters forced the trains to stop by lying or sitting on the tracks.

The protesters demanded a halt to Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto's lithium project in Jadar in western Serbia over fears it could pollute nearby land and water.

Protesters who had spent the night of August 10-11 at the train stations also demanded that authorities release three demonstrators who had been detained by police.

Zlatko Kokanovic, one of the organizers of the protests, told RFE/RL the three activists were detained at the Prokop station.

"Ivan Bjelic, Nikola Ristic, and Jevdenije Dimitrijevic were arrested. They are accused of disobedience and reckless behavior," Kokanovic said.

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Kokanovic on August 10 had vowed more rallies would take place in other cities across Serbia.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic insisted police had intervened without the use of coercive measures and no one was injured.

"A total of 14 persons have been brought on suspicion of having committed criminal offenses, three on misdemeanor [charges], and two foreign citizens because of their presence at the protest near important state institutions," Dacic said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the protests were "a mockery of democracy" and added that stopping traffic at railway stations and roads was "the implementation of violence, will, and terror of the minority against the majority."

In 2022, the Serbian government had rejected the project in the wake of massive public protests amid concerns over its impact on the environment.

But it reinstated the plan on July 16 this year, days after the Balkan state's Constitutional Court said the government had acted unconstitutionally when it withdrew permits for Rio Tinto.

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Three days after the court ruling, a Critical Raw Materials Summit was held in Belgrade, where a memorandum of understanding between the European Union and the Serbian government on a "strategic partnership" on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains, and electric vehicles was signed.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the mining of lithium, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile devices, is necessary for Europe "to remain sovereign in a changing world and not be dependent on others."

Scholz pledged that mining would be carried out "in compliance with the highest standards of environmental protection, and Germany will help in this."

With reporting by Reuters

KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned Moscow's latest deadly attack on civilian areas of Kyiv and urged his Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of weapons deep inside of Russia, even as he for the first time indirectly acknowledged his forces' cross-border offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

"The Russians have no geographical restrictions on the use of such weapons -- since the first days of the full-scale war, the entire territory of our state has been under constant threat of attack," Zelenskiy wrote on X on August 11.

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.

"Ukrainians are deeply grateful to all our partners who provide us with air defense systems and combat aircraft. However, to truly stop Russian terror, we need…strong decisions from our partners -- decisions that will lift restrictions on our defensive actions."

"When Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit -- we will truly bring its just end closer," he wrote.

Late on August 10, Zelenskiy indirectly confirmed what Russian military bloggers and Western news agencies had reported on Ukrainian forces' advances inside Russia’s Kursk region.

"Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief [Oleksandr] Syrskiy regarding the front lines, our actions, and the push to drive the war onto the aggressor's territory."

Ukraine continued its six-day advance into the Kursk region, taking control of several smaller settlements, but it remained unclear if Kyiv's forces would attempt to take Kursk city, the regional capital of 415,000 people.

It also remains unclear how many Ukrainian troops are involved in the drive, with estimates ranging from 1,100 to "several thousand."

Russian officials have acknowledged the breach of the border and ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians in the area, but have referred to Kyiv’s troops in the region as "Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups."

Ukraine's surprise cross-border incursion in Kursk on August 6 has been described as the biggest attack on Russian soil since Moscow launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Russia on August 10 announced that it had imposed what it called anti-terror measures in the Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that the measures included the possible evacuation of residents, limits on transport, beefed-up security around sensitive sites, and wire taps.

As tensions rose on August 11, Russian ally Belarus said it had begun transferring tanks to its border area with Ukraine after it claimed it had shot down several Ukrainian military drones over its airspace.

Belarus’s authoritarian ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, ordered that reinforcements be sent to the border areas to respond to any "provocations" from Ukraine.

Russian forces launched missile attacks overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killing at least two people, Ukrainian authorities said on August 11.

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The State Emergency Service said a 35-year-old man and his 4-year-old son were found dead in the rubble of a building during search-and-rescue operations. Three others, including a 13-year-old child, were seriously wounded in the attack, it added.

Fragments of a missile fell on residential buildings in the Brovary district, neighboring the capital. Kyiv's military administration said the city's air-defense systems had been activated.

Five other regions were being attacked by Russian drones, according to Ukraine's air force.

Cities across Ukraine have been regularly hit by Russian air strikes from missiles and drones. There has been growing concern among many Ukrainians in recent days that Moscow might intensify its air raids in response to Kyiv's recent incursion into Russian territory.

In Russia, Kursk regional Governor Aleksei Smirnov said 13 people had been injured by debris from a downed Ukrainian missile that fell on a residential building during the night. Two of the injured were in serious condition, Smirnov said on August 11.

Residents of the nine-story building were to be evacuated to temporary accommodations, according to Igor Kutsak, mayor of the regional capital, Kursk city.

The whole city was under an air-raid alert, the official said on Telegram. He posted a photo that showed an apartment building with blown out windows and damaged balconies.

In the neighboring Voronezh region, Russian authorities claimed that debris from a downed Ukraine-launched drone damaged an administrative building and a utility facility in the provincial capital of the same name. There were no injuries, they added.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on August 11 that its air-defense units destroyed 16 Ukrainian-lunched drones over the Voronezh region, while 14 drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles were downed over the Kursk region.

Three drones were downed over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, and one drone each was destroyed over the Bryansk and Orlov regions, the ministry said on Telegram.

The claims cannot be independently verified.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Tens of thousands of protesters opposed to lithium mining in Serbia packed the streets of Belgrade on August 10 and marched to two railway stations where some of them blocked train traffic.

The protest started at the center of the Serbian capital and then split into two groups that separated and headed to Prokop station and Novi Beograd station. Some of the protesters forced the trains to stop by lying or sitting on the tracks.

The protesters demanded a halt to Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto's lithium project in western Serbia over fears it could pollute nearby land and water. They carried the banners saying "No to the mine, exploitation, eviction" and "Rio Tinto march from Serbia" and chanted, "You will not dig" and "Treason, betrayal!"

"There is no turning back, we are defending Serbia," said Zlatko Kokanovic, an environmental activist who called on the protesters to continue their action peacefully.

The protest took place at the invitation of the Alliance of Environmental Organizations of Serbia after the government failed to meet a deadline that opponents to mining set to ban the mining of lithium and the opening of mine in Jadar in the west of the country.

"It seems that we have been victimized as a future mining colony and landfill. We will not allow that. That is why we are here today to raise our voices, to disagree and to defend survival in our country," actress and environmental activist Svetlana Bojkovic told the gathering.

The Serbian government on July 16 reinstated a plan for a lithium mine in the Jadar region operated by Rio Tinto.

The Serbian government rejected the project in 2022 after massive environmental protests, but reinstated the plan days after the Balkan state's Constitutional Court said the government had acted unconstitutionally when it withdrew permits for Rio Tinto.

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Three days after the decision a Critical Raw Materials Summit was held in Belgrade, where a memorandum of understanding between the European Union and the Serbian government on a "strategic partnership" on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains, and electric vehicles was signed.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the mining of lithium, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile devices, is necessary for Europe "to remain sovereign in a changing world and not be dependent on others."

Scholz pledged that mining would be carried out "in compliance with the highest standards of environmental protection, and Germany will help in this."

With reporting by Reuters

Belarusian journalist and political activist Andrey Hnyot, who is under house arrest in Belgrade awaiting a final decision on his extradition to Belarus, has been removed from the Interpol wanted list.

The international police agency's warrant for Hnyot’s arrest was issued at the request of Belarus, which accuses him of tax evasion. Hnyot has denied Minsk's accusations and called them politically motivated.

"Andrey Hnyot is no longer the subject of Interpol's notification," according to a decision of the General Secretariat of Interpol. The decision was forwarded to the media on August 10 by his lawyer, Vadim Drozdov.

Hnyot said in a statement to RFE/RL that Interpol informed representatives of the European Union in Serbia that the warrant "was suspended and the data deleted due to the violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the Interpol Statute."

He said that those provisions refer to politically motivated criminal prosecution.

"As far as I know, representatives of the EU brought this important information to the attention of the government of Serbia and the judiciary. However, this did not result in my release," said Hnyot.

Hnyot pointed out that the process of his extradition is ongoing and he is under house arrest until the final decision.

"That will be my only and last chance to challenge the illegality of my extradition," he said, adding that he has not been able to receive adequate medical care and has no source of income to pay rent or buy food and medicine.

Hnyot was arrested in October 2023 at the Belgrade airport after arriving from Thailand, where he was in exile.

He spent seven months in Belgrade Central Prison before being transferred to house arrest on June 5.

The High Court in Belgrade on June 13 issued a ruling on the extradition that would send him back to Belarus, but it is not yet final.

Drozdov said that Interpol responded to his request to delete Hnyot from its information system with a decision made on August 5.

"This means that no country will be able to detain him at the request of Belarus," said Drozdov in a statement.

Hnyot fled Belarus for Thailand in 2020 after criticizing the regime and participating in massive protests that occurred after the presidential election in which authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared victory.

Western countries do not recognize the results of those elections, and after violence against demonstrators, the European Union imposed sanctions on Minsk.

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Brussels called for Hnyot’s release on June 13 a blistering warning for authorities in EU candidate Serbia, and several media and nongovernmental organizations did the same.

Hnyot 's lawyer has informed the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg about the case.

According to his statements, the court sent a letter to the authorities in Serbia that it expects that Hnyot will not be immediately extradited after a final decision by the High Court, allowing time for him to address the European Court.

Hnyot currently wears an ankle-bracelet monitor and is confinement to a modest, 20-square-meter apartment in Belgrade.

The prospect of a forced return to a regime that Hnyot describes as "torture, blood, nightmare" is motivating.

He told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service in mid-June in his first interview after his transfer to house arrest that he works "from morning to night" on his defense.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has voided the inquiry that led to an Olympic bronze medal for American gymnast Jordan Chiles in the women’s floor exercise.

The ruling by the CAS on August 10 said the inquiry filed on behalf of Chiles after the final in the event on August 5 came outside the 1-minute time limit allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

Chiles was awarded the bronze medal after her inquiry was filed, but the CAS agreed with an appeal filed by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation on behalf of gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who were bumped into fourth and fifth place, respectively, by the judge's decision.

"The inquiry submitted on behalf of…Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline…and is determined to be without effect," the ruling said.

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It also said the initial score given to Chiles, which initially put her in fifth place, "shall be reinstated."

The CAS said the final ranking was up to the FIG but said it should “assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above decision.”

The decision means Barbosu, 18, will receive her country's only medal in the gymnastics competition.

"I can barely express my emotions. I can't believe it," Barbosu told Romanian media. "When I heard the news, I was afraid it wasn't true, and once I was sure, I hugged my parents and called everyone who had helped me."

It has been an emotional roller coaster for Barbosu, who thought she won bronze on the night of the competition and began celebrating only to leave the floor in tears with Maneca-Voinea after the revision of the scores.

Chiles initially was given a score of 13.666 that put her in fifth place behind Maneca-Voinea. U.S. coach Cecile Landi called for an inquiry, and after a review, judges boosted Chiles’s total by 0.1. That was enough to leapfrog Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for bronze.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation welcomed the decision and congratulated its two gymnasts.

"We laugh with one eye, we cry with one," it said on Facebook. "Following this decision, Ana Maria Barbosu gets the bronze medal while Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ends the competition on the 4th place."

USA Gymnastics said in a statement it is “devastated” by the ruling.

"The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles' floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring," the organization said.

Work crews have finished dismantling the remains of a shopping center in Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where a Russian missile struck on August 9, killing 14 people and injuring 44. State Emergency Service personnel dismantled 76 tons of building structures at the work site, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on August 10 on Telegram. He added that police forensic specialists identified five of eight bodies that had not been positively identified on the day of the attack. They belong to three women and two girls born in 2012 and 2014. Three bodies have yet to be identified, Klymenko said. To read the full story on RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.