German airline Lufthansa has suspended flights to Iran, Israel, Iraq, and Beirut amid rising tensions in the Middle East. "Based on its current security analysis, Lufthansa Group is again adjusting its services to the Middle East," the airline said in a statement on August 7. "All flights to Amman, Beirut, Tehran, and Tel Aviv are suspended up to and including August 13." Lufthansa says passengers can rebook or cancel free of charge. Tensions in the region have escalated amid Israel’s war in Gaza and the killing last week in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Palestine’s Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Kyrgyzstan has issued an arrest warrant for imprisoned Uzbek criminal boss Salim Abduvaliev, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said on August 6. The 73-year-old Abduvaliev, who was sentenced to six years in prison in Tashkent in March on charges of illegal possession and transportation of arms and explosives, is wanted in Kyrgyzstan for allegedly financing the organized criminal group of late Kyrgyz kingpin Kamchybek Kolbaev. Abduvaliev is believed to have ties with top Uzbek officials and leaders of the so-called Brothers' Circle, a Eurasian drug-trafficking network that included Kolbaev, who was killed during a police operation in Kyrgyzstan in October. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.

The acting governor of Russia's Kursk region says two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike near the town of Sudzha on August 7, a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking its positions in the border region with hundreds of soldiers, as Ukraine reported another wave of Russian drone attacks on Kyiv and elsewhere.

Acting Governor Aleksei Smirnov said in a message on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone struck a moving ambulance, killing two people, in Sudzha, a town some 10 kilometers from the border.

Smirnov said the driver and a paramedic were killed, while an ambulance doctor was wounded.

Kyiv has not commented on Smirnov's claim, which could not be independently confirmed.

Smirnov also urged residents to donate blood after Russia's Defense Ministry the previous day said up to 300 troops backed by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles crossed the border into the Kursk region and attacked Russian positions near the settlements of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya.

Ukraine has not commented on the claim, while Moscow said its forces repulsed the attacks using artillery fire, warplanes, and drones, and the Ukrainian forces retreated after suffering losses.

However, on August 7, pro-Kremlin bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces occupied Nikolayevo-Daryino and Sverdlikovo in the Sudzha district.

Bloggers said Ukrainian troops entered Sudzha the day before and were trying to take control of the villages of Goncharovka and Oleshna.

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Kyiv has also not commented on these reports, which could not be independently confirmed.

Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 11 drones launched by Ukraine at four of its regions early on August 7.

"Air-defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed three drones over the Belgorod region, four over the Kursk region, two in the Voronezh region, and two over the Rostov region," the ministry said in a message on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reported that its air defenses shot down all 30 drones launched by Russia at seven of its regions.

All Russian drones "were shot down over the Kyiv, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions," the air-force commander, General Mykola Oleschuk, said.

In Kyiv, falling debris from downed drones hit a person, who suffered a shrapnel injury to the leg.

Across the whole Kyiv region, dozens of residential homes and farm buildings were damaged by the debris, the head of Kyiv's regional military administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, reported on August 7, adding that the attack on the capital lasted for more than eight hours.

A Moscow court on August 7 sentenced blogger Andrei Kurshin to 6 1/2 years in prison over two online posts he made condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The court found the administrator of the Moscow Calling Telegram channel guilty of distributing "false" information about the Russian military. Kurshin was arrested in August 2023 for his posts criticizing Russia's military strikes on a dam and a maternity hospital in Ukraine. He pleaded guilty and expressed his willingness to join Russian troops invading Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North.Realities, click here.

Niger's ruling military junta has announced it is breaking off diplomatic relations with Ukraine, becoming the second African state to sever ties with Kyiv following comments by a Ukrainian official perceived as lending support to rebels in neighboring Mali.

The move comes as Russia continues to expand its influence in the Sahel region by supporting military regimes confronted with separatist and Islamist rebellions.

Ukraine has yet to comment on Niger's move, which comes after Mali's military rulers on August 4 also cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine over its alleged involvement -- which Kyiv denies -- in an attack by rebels that resulted in the killing of dozens of Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries.

SEE ALSO:

Mali Breaks Off Relations With Ukraine Over Alleged Role In Separatist Attack

"The Government of the Republic of Niger, in full solidarity with the Government and people of Mali, has decided, relying on its sovereignty, to sever diplomatic relations between the Republic of Niger and Ukraine. This decision comes into force immediately," government spokesman Abdourahamane Amadou said late on August 6 in a televised address.

Armed groups in Mali's predominantly Tuareg north said they killed at least 47 government soldiers and 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries in fighting last month near the West African country's border with Algeria.

The losses incurred by Wagner fighters arguably amounted to the heaviest defeat the Russian mercenary group has suffered in the two years since it began to give military assistance to the Bamako regime.

Without directly confirming Kyiv's involvement, Andrey Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), told Ukrainian public television that the rebels "received all the necessary information they needed" to defeat the Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Malian troops.

Yusov's comments prompted Mali's military government to sever ties with Ukraine and accuse Kyiv of supporting terrorism and violating Mali's sovereignty.

Kyiv, whose troops fought fierce battles against Wagner mercenaries in eastern Ukraine, strongly rejected Mali's move, calling it "short-sighted and hasty given that Ukraine is a victim of unprovoked full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation."

"Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, and resolutely rejects the accusations of the Transitional Government of Mali of alleged support of international terrorism," the ministry said in a statement on August 5.

Russia has been offering regime protection and other services to authoritarian governments in Africa and has recently expanded into Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger as military coups sweep through the Sahel.

On August 6, some 40 people were arrested in Nigeria's north, which borders Niger, for waving Russian flags during protests against the high cost of living and government policies.

On August 5, the United States handed over Airbase 201 in Agadez, its last military base in Niger, to local authorities, the U.S. Department of Defense and Niger’s Ministry of Defense announced in a joint statement.

The handing over of Airbase 201 came after U.S. troops withdrew earlier this month from Airbase 101, in Niger’s capital of Niamey.

The closing of the two bases, which played a major role in U.S. counterterrorism operations in the region, came after Washington and Nigerien authorities agreed that U.S. troops will leave the country by September 15.

Wagner was previously involved in some of the fiercest fighting of Russia's war in Ukraine, but its fate was put into question when founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in August 2023, two months after leading a brief mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Wagner mercenaries who did not sign contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry after the mutiny are believed to have moved to Africa.

With reporting by Reuters

The United States on August 6 charged a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran in connection with a foiled murder-for-hire plot to assassinate a U.S. politician or government officials in the United States.

The U.S. Justice Department identified the suspect as Asif Merchant, 46, who is in U.S. custody. The department did not name the politician whom the suspect allegedly wanted to assassinate, but said in a news release that law enforcement foiled the plot before any attack could be carried out.

A criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn, New York, on August 6 said Merchant sought to recruit people in the United States to carry out the plot in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC’s) elite Quds Force, who was assassinated in January 2020.

Then-President Donald Trump approved the drone strike on Soleimani. Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for the high-profile killing.

Merchant, who prosecutors allege spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States from Pakistan, was charged with murder for hire in federal court in Brooklyn.

An individual Merchant contacted in April to help assist with the plot reported his activities to law enforcement and became a confidential informant, according to the complaint, the Justice Department news release said. Merchant instructed the informant to arrange meetings with individuals whom Merchant could hire to carry out the assassination and other acts.

Merchant met in June with the would-be hitmen, who were in fact undercover U.S. law enforcement officers.

Merchant said he had received instructions to "finalize" the plan and leave the United States from the unidentified "party" he had been working with. He told the undercover agents that they would receive instructions in either the last week of August or the first week of September after he had departed the United States.

Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on July 12. Law enforcement agents placed him under arrest before he could leave the country. The complaint said a federal judge ordered Merchant detained on July 17.

Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee in the November 5 presidential election, was wounded on July 13 in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said that investigators have found no evidence that Merchant had any connection to the attempt on Trump's life. Investigators have said the shooting, which wounded Trump in his right ear, was carried out by a lone 20-year-old gunman.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said Merchant "planned the murder of U.S. government officials on American soil" working on behalf of others overseas.

"This prosecution demonstrates that this office and the entire Department of Justice will take swift and decisive action to protect our nation’s security, our government officials, and our citizens from foreign threats."

The FBI is investigating the case. Merchant has said that he has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan. Avraham Moskowitz, a lawyer for Merchant, did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.

With reporting by Reuters

The Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian military of attacking its positions in Russia's Kursk region on August 6, while Ukraine said its forces shot down drones, a missile, and a helicopter over the Sumy region on the other side of the border.

The Russian ministry said up to 300 fighters from Ukraine's 22nd Mechanized Brigade supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles attacked the positions of Russian units near the settlements of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya in the Kursk region, which borders on the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine.

Russian media quoted the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that Russian forces had dealt with an armed "provocation" by Ukraine.

Moscow said its forces repulsed the attacks using artillery fire, warplanes, and drones, and the Ukrainian forces retreated after suffering losses. The claims could not be independently verified.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed its forces defeated "reserves in the territory of the Sumy region."

The ministry said that Russian aircraft struck the "concentration of manpower and equipment of the armed forces" in and around several settlements in Sumy. There was no independent confirmation of the attacks.

The Ukrainian military's 22nd Mechanized Brigade did not comment on the claims but said border settlements of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions continued to suffer from Russian shelling.

The General Staff of Ukraine's military said that its forces shot down a Russian helicopter, a ballistic missile, and two drones over the Sumy region.

Earlier on August 6, at least one person was killed and several others were wounded in drone strikes reported by Russia and Ukraine, after Kyiv was targeted again in an overnight attack that caused damage to civilian infrastructure.

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Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said that one person was killed when a drone struck a vehicle, while in Kursk, another region that has a border with Ukraine, several people were wounded by falling debris from drones shot down by Russian air defenses.

Gladkov, who also issued a missile alert for the city of Belgorod and its surroundings early on August 6, said the strike that killed the civilian occurred near the village of Novostroevka, in Belgorod's Graivoronsky urban district.

His claim could not be independently confirmed.

In the Kursk region, 26 drones were shot down on August 6, acting regional Governor Aleksei Smirnov said, adding that five people were wounded by falling debris in Sudzha, a town some 10 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Smirnov also claimed that Russian border guards repelled an alleged attempt by Ukrainian forces to cross the border into the Kursk region. Ukraine has not commented on this matter and Smirnov's claim could not be independently confirmed.

Ukraine, whose civilian and energy infrastructure has been relentlessly pounded by Russian drone and missile strikes, has in recent months increasingly resorted to striking targets deeper inside Russian territory, mostly hitting oil refining facilities working for the military and energy infrastructure.

In Ukraine's south-central Zaporizhzhya region, two civilians were killed as a result of Russian shelling, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on August 6. Fedorov reported the deaths on Telegram, saying an aerial bomb was used in the attack, which also destroyed a house.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that an earlier strike on the city of Kharkiv killed one person and injured 12. Authorities in the city said a Russian missile strike hit the city center, damaging residential buildings, a clinic, and 25 cars belonging to civilians.

In Ukraine, air defenses shot down 15 drones and four out of six missiles over the Kyiv, Kherson, Mykolayiv, and Khmelnytskiy regions early on August 6, the air force said in a message on Telegram, adding that two of the missiles were Iskander ballistic missiles and two were Kh-59 cruise missiles.

In the Kyiv region, falling drone debris caused damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential high-rise buildings, gas stations, and commercial structures, the region's governor, Ruslan Kravchenko, reported on Facebook. He added that no casualties had been reported.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanon-based group Hizballah, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, said Israel's recent actions will not go without a "strong and effective" response amid fears of a full-blown war in the region.

Hizballah said six of its fighters were killed in Israeli attacks on August 6, while it claimed to have launched missiles and drones at Israel, though no casualties were immediately reported.

For months, Israel and Hizballah have traded constant cross-border attacks -- including a deadly rocket attack from Lebanon on July 27 that hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 youths and children -- that have killed many and displaced thousands of people.

Pressure has continued to build since strikes killed top military commander Fuad Shukr in a Beirut suburb and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, which has also been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, in Iran.

Tehran is Hizballah's main ally, and the Lebanese militant group is a key member of Iran's so-called axis of resistance, a loose network of militant groups and proxies that aid it in opposing Israel and the United States.

Hizballah is also considered a key part of Iran's efforts to deter Israel or Washington from going to war against Tehran.

Tehran "finds itself obliged to respond, and the enemy is waiting in a great state of dread," Nasrallah said in a televised address on August 6 to mark one week since Shukr's death.

“Whatever the consequences, the resistance will not let these Israeli attacks pass by," he added, saying that Hizballah will respond "alone or in the context of a unified response from all the axis" of Iran-backed groups in the region, "whatever the consequences."

Experts say no side wants an all-out war in a region that has been reeling since Israel launched its war against Hamas after it killed some 1,200 people in a raid and took 240 people hostage on October 7.

SEE ALSO:

What Hamas Leader's Killing Means For Talks Aimed At Ending Gaza War

Hizballah has not usually shied away from claiming attacks on Israeli targets. But it issued a rare denial of responsibility after the attack that killed the children and youths in the Golan Heights.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the two recent assassinations, but it has admitted to killing other senior Hamas leaders, including Saleh al-Arouriand Mohammed Deif, the movement's military commander.

Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, recently told RFE/RL that if war did break out, members of the "axis of resistance" would likely intensify their attacks against Israel while also targeting U.S. troops and bases in the region in a bid to pressure Washington to rein in Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on August 5 called it a "critical moment" for the region and said Washington was "engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock" to help calm tensions amid fears Iran is preparing a retaliatory strike against Israel over Haniyeh's assassination in the Iranian capital.

As the world waits to see how and when Iran carries out its promised response to Haniyeh's assassination, Hamas named its Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, as Haniyeh's successor.

Sinwar is considered the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel, and is believed to be in hiding in Gaza, evading Israeli attempts to kill him since the start of the war.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on August 6 that another former Defense Ministry official has been arrested on corruption charges amid an ongoing crackdown on defense officials. Vladimir Demchik, former chief of the ministry's property department, is suspected of accepting 4 million rubles ($46,900) as a bribe to secure ministry contracts with a private business in 2017. Several other top military and Defense Ministry officials have been arrested on corruption charges before and since President Vladimir Putin dismissed his longtime ally, Sergei Shoigu, as defense minister in mid-May. Former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov took over for Shoigu. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on August 6 it summoned Moldova's charges d'affaires and informed him that an employee of the Moldovan Embassy in Moscow had been declared persona non grata in response to a similar move by Moldova last week. On August 1, Moldova's Foreign Ministry declared an employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. That move came hours after authorities in Chisinau detained two Moldovan officials following a raid by security forces on parliament premises linked to a spying investigation. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

The Moscow City Court on August 6 rejected an appeal filed by Aleksandr Kibovsky, a former member of the Moscow municipal government, against his pretrial detention on charges of fraud and bribe-taking. Kibovsky's lawyers requested he be transferred to house arrest. Kibovsky was detained on July 16 and one day later placed in pretrial detention until at least September 16. Investigators allege Kibovsky accepted more than 100 million rubles ($1.1 million) in bribes while serving as the chief of Moscow's Culture Department between 2015 and 2023. Kibovsky pleaded not guilty and said he was willing to volunteer to fight with Russian forces in Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

An Iranian appeals court changed the sentence handed to Grammy Award winner Shervin Hajipour for making the viral song Baraye. One of Hajipour's lawyers told the Shargh news outlet that the court ruled that half of his three-year sentence had been suspended for two years, while additional punishments, including a two-year travel ban, were dropped. Earlier on August 6, Mizan, the news outlet linked to the judiciary, said that in making its decision, the 42nd branch of the Court of Appeal of Mazandaran Province decided "the judgment of the primary court was not recognized as appropriate to the situation of the accused and society." The song became the anthem of the Women, Life, Freedom protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. In July, Hajipour said on Instagram that, while he was not barred from leaving Iran, he would go back to prison rather than leave the country. He was previously arrested in September 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea's floor-exercise routine at the Olympic Games in Paris could be reconsidered by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) following several requests for a clarification lodged on August 6, including one from former Romanian Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci.

A revision in the scoring of the competition on August 5 boosted American Jordan Chiles into third, while both Maneca-Voinea and fellow Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu were left outside the medals.

Chiles and her coaches filed an inquiry about the difficulty component of her score immediately after the competition ended, and when it was accepted by the judges, she moved up to bronze. Maneca-Voinea also lodged an appeal over her mark, saying she had been unfairly penalized. But her appeal failed.

The revision of Chiles' score caused an uproar on the Romanian team and prompted Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to declare that he would not attend the closing ceremony, while Romanian gymnastics legend Comaneci lashed out on X.

"I can’t believe we play with athletes' mental health and emotions like this," she said.

Comaneci told RFE/RL that numerous videos and requests had been sent to the FIG asking for a clarification of the deduction Maneca-Voinea received for stepping out of bounds.

"You can't see it," Comaneci said, referring to the moment when judges assessed that she stepped out of bounds after a tumbling run. "I don't think [the FIG] can ignore it. Clarity is needed for Sabrina and all of us."

Comaneci also published a video on social media showing that Maneca-Voinea's foot did not cross the line.

Ciolacu, meanwhile, said viewers worldwide were shocked when Chiles' score was revised, giving her the bronze and said it highlighted that “somewhere in the system of organizing this competition, something is wrong."

He said on his Social Democratic Party's Facebook page that he made the decision not to attend the closing ceremony "after the scandalous situation in gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable way."

The president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, also sent a letter of protest to the FIG asking for reconsideration of Voinea-Maneca's appeal. Covaliu’s letter, quoted by News.ro., said the incident had damaged the image of international gymnastics and affected athletes' mental health.

The president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Carmencita Constantin, also sent a letter to the head of the FIG in which she asks for explanations for Voinea-Manaca's alleged step out of bounds, saying it can be proved that it was a judging error.

Reza Rasaei, a 34-year-old Iranian activist arrested in 2022 during the Women, Life, Freedom protests that swept Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, has been executed, the Mizan news agency, which is affiliated with the country's judiciary, said on August 6. Rasaei was sentenced to death in a trial in October 2023 that rights groups say denied him legal counsel and other basic human rights. Rasaei was convicted in connection with the death of Nader Bayrami, an officer for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), during unrest in the Kurdish city of Sahneh. He denied the charges. Amnesty International has said the sentence was handed down "following a grossly unfair trial that relied on his torture-tainted forced 'confessions' obtained under beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, suspension, and sexual violence." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Belarusian activist Andrey Stryzhak said on August 6 that noted physician Uladzimer Martau, who is wanted in Minsk on extremism charges, has fled to Lithuania. Several sources confirmed the news to RFE/RL. Earlier in May, Martau was detained in Russia at Minsk's request. Martau became known in 2020 when he criticized authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in an interview with RFE/RL. In 2021, Martau left Belarus after officials opened an investigation into the interview, calling it "extremist material." It remains unclear how Martau managed to flee to Lithuania after his arrest in Russia. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

A court in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan sentenced a resident of the city of Neftekamsk on August 6 to three years in prison over six comments he made in private online conversations. Marat Zaripov was found guilty of calls for terrorism. The court also banned Zaripov from administering websites and accounts on the Internet for two years after his release. The content of the comments in question were not made public. Since Moscow launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of people in Russia have faced criminal proceedings, mostly on charges of discrediting the Russian military and on terrorism indictments. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.

Amnesty International has urged Georgian authorities to hold off on extraditing self-exiled Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadiqov, who was detained in Tbilisi and placed in a deportation center on August 3.

In a statement on August 5, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Denis Krivosheev, called on the Georgian government to respect its international obligations and provide Sadiqov and his family members with international protection, if they asked for it.

A Georgian court’s decision on Sadiqov’s extradition is pending.

"There is no doubt that [Sadiqov's] extradition to Azerbaijan will impose a significant risk of serious violations of his human rights, including torture, arbitrary incarceration, and an unfair trial," Krivosheev said, adding that the case against Sadiqov was "a continuation of the trend of the eradication of independent media in Azerbaijan."

Amnesty International also called on Baku to stop its politically motivated crackdown on dissent and independent media, demanding the immediate release of those imprisoned solely for exercising their freedom of expression.

Sadiqov, who runs the news outlet Azel.TV, has been arrested in Baku several times since 2016 and served more than a year in prison for his reporting.

In May 2020, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on extortion charges that he and his supporters have rejected as politically motivated.

The Committee To Protect Journalists demanded his release at the time and called the charges against him "fabricated."

Sadiqov was released in May 2023 after he was pardoned but continued to face pressure from the authorities, which led to his departure for Georgia in December 2023.

After Georgian authorities arrested him on August 3, Georgia's Interior Ministry said Sadiqov was wanted in Azerbaijan for "extortion" and issuing "threats."

Sadiqov has said he and his family were not allowed to leave Georgia for Turkey last month.

A spokesman for Iran's judiciary has denied Western media reports that authorities have arrested several people, including senior intelligence officials, over the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. "Newspaper and cyberspace speculations about arrests made in this case are not true. So far, no arrests have been made," Asghar Jahangir said, adding only that investigations involved Iranian military officials. The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph, citing unnamed Iranian officials, had previously reported on the arrests, with the U.S. newspaper saying more than two dozen people had been detained. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

A Moscow court on August 6 sentenced in absentia Russian journalist Dmitry Kolezev to 7 1/2 years in prison on a charge of "distributing false information about the Russian military motivated by political hatred." The charge stems from Kolezev's 2022 online articles about atrocities allegedly committed by occupying Russian armed forces against civilians in Ukraine. Several Russian journalists and public figures in exile have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in absentia since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Amid an ongoing crackdown on criminal bosses, a Tashkent court on August 5 sentenced notorious Uzbek criminal kingpin Saidaziz Saidaliev (aka Saidaziz Medgorodok) to 20 years in prison on charges of extortion, organizing a criminal group, illegal drugs possession, money laundering, and hooliganism. The 36-year-old was arrested in November along with several other notorious criminal bosses -- Baxtiyor Qudratullaev, Bahodir Sultonov, Lutfulla Umarov, and Salim Abduvaliev -- some of whom were considered "thieves-in-law," a title of elite status in the criminal hierarchy of the former Soviet Union. They all were sentenced to prison terms on similar charges in recent months. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.

Hugo Boss has completed the sale of its Russian business, the German luxury fashion brand has announced, the latest Western company to exit Russia over its unprovoked war in Ukraine. The buyer is wholesale company Stockmann, which acquired Boss's Russian operation for an undisclosed amount. Stockmann operates in Russia separately from its former Finnish owner. Moscow requires that Western firms sell Russian assets at a mandatory discount of 50 percent. Hugo Boss closed its stores in Russia, suspended online sales on the Russian market, and stopped advertising in the country shortly after the start of the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion in February 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A deal allowing Tajik and Iranian citizens to travel between the two nations without visas for up to 90 days per year -- with the first visit limited to 30 days -- will take effect on August 10, the Tajik Foreign Ministry said on August 6. The ministry said that in the first stage of the program, only those traveling by plane between Dushanbe and Tehran will be eligible for visa-free entrances. The deal allowing citizens of the two Persian-speaking nations to enter Iran and Tajikistan without visas was signed in November 2023. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus, click here.

DUSHANBE -- Thousands of Tajiks were deported from Russia in the first half of the year, with the exodus accelerating after authorities began carrying out sweeping checks of immigrants in the aftermath of a March attack by gunmen -- four of whom are suspects from Tajikistan -- on a concert hall near Moscow that killed 144 people.

Tajik Labor, Migration, and Employment Minister Gulnora Hasanzoda said on August 6 that Russia had deported more than 17,000 Tajik citizens in the first six months of 2024.

Meanwhile, many Tajik migrant workers -- and from other Central Asian states -- are leaving the country of their own accord, fearing an increase in xenophobia and restrictions inside Russia and on travelling to it.

"Considering the events of the end of March, inspections and raids are being conducted on the border and inside Russia on a permanent and intense basis, and for various reasons citizens are being sent back from the territory of that country due to previously committed violations, noncompliance with immigration legislation, lack of the language knowledge, public etiquette," Hasanzoda said.

Russia hosts millions of migrant workers from Central Asia, who are employed in a variety of occupations, including construction, street cleaning, retail, and the restaurant industry.

But Hasanzoda said data overall showed labor emigration from Tajikistan decreased by 16 percent in the first six months of the year.

Sharofiddin Khojaev, a Dushanbe resident who was one of the Tajiks sent home after he arrived at a Moscow airport earlier this year, said the situation seemed stacked against people who are just trying to earn money for their families.

"They don't give you the necessary documents on time, and then at the same time they expell you for not having them. Whether you have the documents or not, they give you trouble," he told RFE/RL.

"I was forced to borrow money to buy a ticket to fly back. Half of the people there [at the airport] were stranded. They didn't follow protocol with their actions, they were just targeting Tajiks even if their papers were OK. They just catch you and force you out," Khojaev added.

Last month, amid reports about hundreds of Tajik migrants stranded in Russian airports, the director of the Tajik Civil Aviation Agency, Habibullo Nazarzoda, told reporters that some 3,400 Tajik migrant workers had been returned from Russian airports in the previous six months.

Nazarzoda also cited alleged problems with documentation as a major factor behind the blocking of Tajik citizens from entering Russia.

In April, officials in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan advised their citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia amid increased pressure faced by labor migrants from Central Asia following the deadly Crocus City Hall attack in March.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers last month approved several bills dramatically restricting the rights of labor migrants.

Amid legal changes and warnings from human rights organizations and Tajik officials over rising levels of xenophobia against Central Asians in Russia, some analysts say migrant workers can no longer expect working in Russia to be their default financial lifeline.

"People and authorities at different levels should think that Russia is not a place that will forever be a source of livelihood and livelihood for us," sociologist Muzaffar Olimov recently told RFE/RL's Tajik Service.

Tajik authorities have started to respond to the rise of workers staying in the country, saying they created more than 100,000 new jobs in the country since January.

On the flip side, the exodus of migrant workers is already hitting Russia's tight labor market, experts say.

Russia's unemployment rate is at a post-Soviet record low of 2.9 percent as the Kremlin recruits hundreds of thousands of men for its war in Ukraine.

The tight labor market is driving inflation higher, threatening economic stability, experts say.

Three people have been killed in an explosion at a weapons factory in Sterlitamak, in Russia's Bashkortostan, authorities said. The blast at the Avangard plant, some 1,500 kilometers east of Moscow, occurred on August 5 while the three employees were working to dismantle a pipeline. Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement that a gas-air mixture was responsible for the blast, without giving details. The Avangard plant is part of Russia's state-owned Rostec defense conglomerate and specializes in the production of parts for multiple rocket launcher systems. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

An emergency meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers, on the request of Iran and Pakistan, is to be held in Saudi Arabia on August 7, as Iran mulls its response to the killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and EU. The meeting in the coastal city of Jeddah will include discussions on the "crimes of the Israeli occupation" and the "assassination of Haniyeh," the Saudi-based OIC said on August 5. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in Tehran that Iran requested the meeting alongside Pakistan. The OIC, which represents 57 Islamic countries, sees itself as the voice of the Muslim world. Unlike the smaller Arab League, it also includes influential non-Arab states, including Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.