Authoritarian Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has pardoned 37 people, including six women, serving prison terms on extremism charges, his press service said on September 16. The statement claimed those pardoned had "repented and promised to conduct law-abiding lives," adding that the clemency was issued due to the Day of National Unity to be marked on September 17. This is the fourth mass-amnesty decree Lukashenka has signed this year to pardon people imprisoned for taking part in the 2020 mass protests against the official result of a presidential poll that named the long-ruling Lukashenka the winner. In all, 115 out of more than 1,300 political prisoners have been pardoned since July. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

President Masud Pezeshkian claims that Iran has not transferred any weapons to Russia since he took office in late July and seemed to open the door for direct talks with the United States over nuclear issues, but only if Washington shows it is not "hostile" toward the Islamic republic.

The 69-year-old Pezeshkian, deemed a relative moderate by some observers, on September 16 also took a belligerent tone, declaring that his country will never give up its controversial missile program, despite Western sanctions aimed at limiting such activities.

Pezeshkian -- who assumed office on July 30 after winning an election to succeed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash in May -- was speaking in Tehran in his first official press conference.

The nationally televised event came at a time of high tensions, both inside Iran and throughout the Middle East.

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On Amini Death Anniversary, Iran's Jailed Nobel Winner Mohammadi Urges Action Against 'Gender Apartheid'

Iran is facing major economic difficulties, much of it brought on by Western sanctions, and growing anger among citizens, led by women's groups, over human rights violations at home.

A female journalist told Pezeshkian during the news conference that she had to take alternative routes to reach the event to avoid so-called morality police officers, who enforce strict conservative dress requirements for women, often using brutal measures and drawing sharp rebukes from rights groups.

During the news conference, the president said he would use his authority to ensure that the morality police do not "bother" women.

"Morality police were not supposed to confront [women]. I will follow up so they don't bother" them, he said, although it remains unclear how much authority he would actually have to make changes.

Tehran has also faced Western condemnation and new sanctions over moves to send weapons to Russia that the Kremlin has used to attack Ukrainian forces and civilians, especially deadly Shahed drones.

More recently, media reports have suggested that Tehran has provided the Kremlin with powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.

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"It is possible that a delivery [of some weapons] took place in the past...but I can assure you that since I took office, there has not been any such delivery to Russia," he said.

Asked whether Tehran would be open to holding direct talks with the United States to restart the 2015 nuclear deal with global powers, Pezeshkian said: "We are not hostile toward the U.S. They should end their hostility toward us by showing their goodwill in practice."

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"We are brothers with the Americans as well."

As president, Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally pulled the United States out of the landmark nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and also signed by China, France, Russia, Britain, and Germany.

Trump also reimposed crippling financial sanctions against Tehran.

President Joe Biden has sought to restart the agreement, although Washington and Tehran -- meeting through third parties -- have disagreed on terms.

Pezeshkian insisted that Tehran was not seeking to enrich uranium at near-weapons-grade levels but that it was forced to by the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.

"I think, we said many times, we don't want to do this at all. We want to solve our technical and scientific needs We are not looking for nuclear weapons," Pezeshkian said in response to a question by AP.

"We adhered to the framework written in the [nuclear agreement]. We are still looking to maintain those frameworks. They tore them, they forced us to do something."

Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, when U.S. President Jimmy Carter broke off ties amid the Iran hostage crisis.

Pezeshkian claimed Iran will never give up its missile program, claiming it is needed for security in a troubled region and where, he said, Israel is able to "drop missiles on Gaza every day," referring to that country's war with Hamas movement, declared a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.

Pezeshkian also denied that Iran had sent hypersonic missiles to Yemen's Huthi rebels that have been used to target ships in the Persian Gulf and as of September 15 have been launched at Israel.

With reporting by Reuters

Russian media reported on September 16 that a Moscow court agreed to proceed with the trial of French citizen Laurent Vinatier in a "special order" -- which guarantees a lighter sentence -- after he pleaded guilty to a charge of evading the responsibilities of a "foreign agent." After his plea was entered, investigators dropped espionage charges against the researcher after he was arrested in June. A trial in a "special order” means that a court cannot sentence a defendant to more than two-thirds of a maximum prison term. In Vinatier's case, he cannot be sentenced to more than two-thirds of the five-year sentence he faced, meaning that his possible prison term cannot exceed 40 months.

Jailed Russian anti-war activist and journalist Maria Ponomarenko has started a hunger strike to protest a new charge laid against her and a prison report saying she was reprimanded seven times for violating penitentiary rules. The RusNews Telegram channel, for which Ponomarenko worked before her arrest in 2022, said Ponomarenko announced her hunger strike after she had a nervous breakdown in a courtroom on September 16 during her trial on an additional charge of attacking two prison guards, which she denies. Ponomarenko was sentenced to six years in prison in February 2023 for protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi issued a plea on September 16 to coincide with the second anniversary of the death in police custody of Iranian-Kurdish student Mahsa Amini for international institutions and people to act to end the oppression of women in Iran and under other theocratic and authoritarian regimes.

Mohammadi said in the letter from Tehran's notorious Evin prison -- published via her foundation -- that "on the second anniversary of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement, we reaffirm our commitment to achieving democracy, freedom, and equality and to defeating theocratic despotism."

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A mother of two and former journalist previously jailed for her criticisms, Mohammadi worked alongside fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi at the Defenders Of Human Rights Center for years before a series of detentions and convictions beginning in 2010 and continuing through her current lengthy sentence and reports of further prosecution for activities while in custody.

"I urge the United Nations to end its silence and inaction in the face of the devastating oppression and discrimination by theocratic and authoritarian governments against women by criminalizing gender apartheid," Mohammadi said in the statement.

"The liberation of women from the grip of oppression and discrimination is essential for empowering the force that drives peace and democracy."

In a joint statement issued on September 16 to mark the anniversary, the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, and New Zealand said: "We stand with women and girls in Iran, and Iranian human rights defenders, across all segments of society in their ongoing daily fight for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

"We call on the new Iranian administration to fulfil its pledge to ease pressure on civil society in Iran and to end the use of force to enforce the hijab requirement."

The 22-year-old Amini died on September 16, 2022, in a hospital after eyewitnesses and her family alleged she had been beaten while in police custody.

Amini's death sparked some of the largest-ever street protests against Iran's clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Women, Life, Freedom movement has persisted, despite the jailings of critics like Mohammadi and a harsh clampdown on dissent.

Sources close to Amini's parents told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Iranian authorities had "surrounded" the family home in the town of Saghez ahead of the anniversary and ordered them to remain at home or face arrest, in addition to other reported measures to guard against public demonstrations of sympathy.

SEE ALSO:

'Naked' And Defiant: Diary Of An Iranian Protester

Amini's father, Amjad Amini, on September 15 expressed gratitude for Kurdish, Iranian, and other efforts to mount labor strikes to mark the anniversary.

Iranian authorities, who cracked down on the family and others a year ago, have sought to avoid public acknowledgement of the anniversary.

"In these two difficult and agonizing years, although the wounds have left marks on the bodies of those exhausted and tormented by oppression, discrimination, and tyranny, and despite the challenging road ahead, we all know that nothing is as it was before," Mohammadi said in her statement.

Family members of some of those killed in the state crackdown on the protests have been also arrested in recent weeks, and others, especially in Iran's Kurdistan, have been summoned by authorities.

The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said on September 15 that 34 female prisoners at Evin went on hunger strike to commemorate Amini's death at the hands of the morality police and mark the birth of the related rights movement.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kazakh authorities have rejected an asylum request by jailed Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratov (aka Muratbai), who is wanted in Uzbekistan on charges that human rights activists say are groundless.

Muratov's sister, Fariza Narbekova, told RFE/RL on September 16 that Kazakhstan’s commission on asylum issues had made the decision three days earlier.

"The legal matter blocking the extradition [to Uzbekistan] is now lifted. Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General's Office may order his extradition at any time now. Everything is up to the government's position," Narbekova said.

Kazakh authorities arrested Muratov in late February at Tashkent's request on a charge of undermining constitutional order and other charges.

Muratov is an Uzbek citizen who has legally resided in Almaty for 10 years. Kazakh officials in February granted his request for asylum-seeker status, a move that defendants sometimes use to delay possible extradition.

Muratov has been known for his activities defending the rights of Karakalpaks living in Kazakhstan. He also raised awareness among international audiences about the situation in his native Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan within Uzbekistan.

Several Karakalpak activists have been arrested in Kazakhstan following mass rallies in Karakalpakstan's capital, Nukus, in July 2022. Thousands of people protested Tashkent's plans to change the constitution in a way that they said would have undermined the republic's right to self-determination.

The protests were violently dispersed. Uzbek authorities said at the time that 21 people died during the protests, but the Austria-based Freedom For Eurasia human rights group said at least 70 people were killed during the unrest.

In January last year, an Uzbek court sentenced 22 Karakalpak activists to prison terms on charges including undermining the constitutional order for taking part in the protests.

In March 2023, another 39 Karakalpak activists accused of taking part in the protests in Nukus were convicted, with 28 of them sentenced to prison terms of between five years and 11 years. Eleven defendants were handed parole-like sentences.

The violence forced Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev to make a rare about-face and scrap the proposal to change the constitution.

Kazakh and international human rights organizations have called on Kazakhstan's authorities to release Muratov, saying that if extradited to Uzbekistan Muratov may face arbitrary detention and unfair trial.

Karakalpaks are a Central Asian Turkic-speaking people. Their region used to be an autonomous area within Kazakhstan before becoming autonomous within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1930 and then part of Uzbekistan in 1936.

The governor of Russia's Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, appointed former Ukrainian lawmaker Andrei Derkach, who is wanted in Ukraine on treason and corruption charges, to the Russian parliament's upper chamber last week, media reports said on September 16. The 57-year-old Derkach, who served as a Ukrainian lawmaker for almost 25 years, fled his country shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Last year, his Ukrainian citizenship was suspended. Derkach is the son of the former chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Leonid Derkach, who died at the age of 82 in January 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, click here.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he has canceled all of his "international obligations" as his country braces for floodwaters that have already ravaged much of Central and Eastern Europe, where several people have died in the wake of torrential rains from Storm Boris.

Orban, who was scheduled to speak this week at the European Parliament, said in a social media post on September 16 that "due to the extreme weather conditions and the ongoing floods...I have postponed all my international obligations."

Days of relentless rainfall have unleashed catastrophic flooding in the region, forcing mandatory evacuations and causing widespread devastation.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony took to Facebook to warn residents that the largest floods in a decade were expected to reach the city during the week, triggering a breach of the capital's lower quays on September 17 as water levels on the Danube River jump.

• RFE/RL
• Kurt Vinion
• AFP
• AP
• Reuters

The death toll in Central and Eastern European continues to climb after days of relentless rainfall unleashed catastrophic flooding, forcing mandatory evacuations and causing widespread devastation across the region.

Emergency crews have been filling hundreds of thousands of sandbags to help protect the city from the rising water levels.

In Romania, at least six people died and two more were missing as residents and authorities battled heavy rainfall and floodwaters over the weekend.

Around 20 municipalities in eight Romanian counties were severely affected by the flooding, with thousands of homes damaged and tens of thousands affected or evacuated. Floodwaters in some areas were 3 meters high.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced temporary shelters for people endangered by the floodwaters during a visit to one of the northernmost affected counties, Galati. The government will hold an extraordinary meeting to decide on aid measures for those affected by the floods in Galati and Vaslui.

Meanwhile, adding to the misery in Romania, the country was hit on September 16 by an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the USGS scale. The temblor was felt in the capital, Bucharest, although no injuries or damage have yet been reported.

Water management officials in neighboring Moldova on September 16 instituted a Code Red from 6 p.m. local time due to the risk of major flooding.

The Czech Republic and Poland have also seen rivers burst their banks over the weekend, with officials still warning of problems as they look to assess the damage.

The Polish government was due to meet on September 16 when it is expected to announce a state of disaster.

Towns along the Czech-Polish border have been particularly hard hit, with schools closed, tens of thousands of households left without electricity, and debris strewn about the streets.

"We need bottled water and dry provisions, because we have also set up a point for flood victims evacuated from flooded areas," Michal Piszko, mayor of the Polish town of Klodzko along the Czech border, told private broadcaster RMF FM.

Downstream from Klodzko, officials in the Polish city of Wroclaw, home to around 600,000 people, were still waiting for water levels to peak on the Oder River.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

The Taliban has suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the UN said on September 16. Afghanistan is one of two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. The other is Pakistan. News of the suspension was relayed to UN agencies right before the September immunization campaign was due to start. No reason was given for the suspension, and no one from the Taliban-controlled government was immediately available for comment. A top official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was aware of discussions to move away from house-to-house vaccinations and instead have immunizations in places like mosques. The WHO has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, up from six cases in 2023.

The leader of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) political party, Marat Zhylanbaev, has launched a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. Zhylanbaev's lawyer, Meiirzhan Dosqaraev, told RFE/RL on September 16 that his client had begun a 40-day hunger strike four days earlier. Zhylanbaev was sentenced to seven years in prison in November on a charge of taking part in the activities of the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and its financing. International and domestic human rights organizations have urged Astana to release Zhylanbaev, who has held several hunger strikes during his detention. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Belarusian journalist Andrey Myaleshka, who has been residing in Georgia since fleeing political persecution in 2021, was denied reentry into the South Caucasus country on September 16 while returning from vacation in Poland with his daughter. Myaleshka told RFE/RL that Georgian authorities did not specify the reasons for the barring of their entrance to Georgia. Myaleshka was told that he and his daughter will be deported to Poland. The two are currently in the deportation center of Kutaisi's airport. Georgia's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL's Georgian Service it will "look into the matter and respond if there is an update." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Four people wearing masks attacked journalist Devid Gobechia and activist Lia Agrba in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. Abkhazia's de facto Interior Ministry said on September 15 that police are investigating the incident. The statement came shortly after Gobechia said the attackers used pepper spray against him and Agrba, seriously injuring their eyes. He added that the attackers filmed him being beaten and took away a bag that Agrba was carrying. Gobechia said he had been followed for days before the attack. Earlier in September, Agrba filed a complaint with the de facto Prosecutor-General's Office, accusing a member of an advisory body to the region's leader of slander. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus, click here.

Veteran Afghan warlord and former politician Abdul Rashid Dostum has urged groups that oppose the fundamentalist Taliban to unite to form a government-in-exile for Afghanistan to challenge that extremist group's unrecognized leadership.

Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek and longtime kingmaker who along with his private army has been accused of past rights abuses, was speaking to a virtual gathering of a Turkish-based Afghan resistance group on September 15.

Dostum said last year that his fighters were prepared to take on the Taliban once the international community concluded that it cannot deal with the hard-line extremist group.

The chameleonic Dostum formerly served under the UN-backed former Afghan government as a deputy defense minister.

He also held other party and military posts in Afghanistan before the U.S.-led international forces withdrew in mid-2021.

Dostum, whose historical power bases were in northern and western Afghanistan, ran unsuccessfully for the Afghan presidency in 2004.

He was also widely thought to be a major figure in factional fighting that plagued the country for decades and sometimes pitted ostensibly allied armed forces against each another.

In 2019, when he was first vice president, Dostum was said to have narrowly escaped when his convoy was attacked by Taliban forces in a northern province.

A day later, the Taliban, which was waging a fierce insurgency against the central government in Kabul, said Dostum remained on its hit list.

The Taliban raided homes and summarily executed many perceived enemies as the group swept into de facto power after capturing most of the country in 2020-21.

The subsequent Taliban-led government has waged a campaign of discrimination and abuse against women and been accused of persecuting minority groups in Afghanistan, among other alleged wrongdoing.

The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek said on September 16 that it placed former Prime Minister Duishenbek Zilaliev in pretrial detention over the weekend until at least November 4 on corruption charges. Zilaliev and former Geology Agency chief Melis Satybekov were detained on September 13. The exact charges against the two former officials remain unknown. Sources close to the State Committee for National Security told RFE/RL earlier that the two are suspected of issuing illegal licenses to private businesses. Media reports said the probes against Zilaliev and Satybekov were linked to activities that allegedly took place in 2017. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan granted bail on September 16 to 10 deputies from imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, an AFP journalist witnessed. At least 30 people from Khan's party, including the 10 MPs, were remanded in custody last week, two days after they led a major rally in the capital, Islamabad. The anti-terrorism court granted them bail of 30,000 rupees ($100). PTI has faced a sweeping crackdown since Khan was jailed in August last year on a series of charges he says are politically motivated and designed to keep him from power. The 10 MPs, some detained at their offices in the National Assembly, were charged under a new protest law and the anti-terrorism act.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for a weekend bombing that killed two police officials in restive southwestern Pakistan, officials said on September 16. Analysts say the latest violence is a sign of increasing coordination between Islamic militants and separatists who for years have been targeting security forces and civilians in the oil- and gas-rich Balochistan Province bordering Iran and Afghanistan. IS said in a statement that it had detonated an explosive device a day earlier targeting a Pakistani police vehicle in Kuchlak town, near Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. Pakistani officials say the attack killed two officers and wounded two others on a highway. The Balochistan Liberation Army has previously claimed such attacks, but the Islamic State has carried out similar attacks in recent months.

KYIV -- Ukraine on September 16 invited the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit territory it has captured in its six-week-old military incursion into Russia's Kursk region to demonstrate its adherence to humanitarian law, in a move the Kremlin called a "provocation" even as it ordered that Russia's army beef up its ranks.

The Kremlin also expressed confidence through President Vladimir Putin's spokesman that the UN and the Red Cross would decline the Ukrainian invite.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry published the open invitation for the humanitarian missions to Kursk hours after Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said he had requested the invites during a weekend visit to the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia.

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"Ukraine is ready to facilitate their work and prove its adherence to international humanitarian law," Sybiha said.

In an apparent attempt to contrast Ukrainian actions with accusations of widespread abuses by Russian troops since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Sybiha claimed that "[s]ince the first day of the Kursk operation, Ukraine’s Defense Forces demonstrated full adherence to international humanitarian law as a professional army with high standards and values of freedom and human life. They ensured humanitarian assistance and safe passage to civilians."

"We expect that such provocative statements will not be accepted by the addressees," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying. "This is a pure provocation."

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhiy countered that the Kremlin reaction "shows Russia’s disregard for its own people and their humanitarian needs, as well as fear of allowing international observers to see the real situation. Quite telling."

Since its incursion began in Kursk in early August, Kyiv claims to have gained control of more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory. Kyiv has hinted that the operation was intended to better position it in the event of peace talks amid some calls for more intense efforts to end the war.

On September 16, Kursk regional Governor Aleksei Smirnov ordered residents in two districts -- Ryisky and Khomutovsky -- to evacuate settlements within 15 kilometers of the Ukrainian border.

Nearly 31 months into the full-scale invasion with Russian regular and mobilization forces reporting gains in eastern Ukraine and international debate mounting to better equip Ukrainian forces and lift restrictions on Kyiv's long-range attacks on Russian territory, Putin on September 16 reportedly ordered an increase in troop numbers in the Russian military by 180,000 individuals, to a total of 1.5 million soldiers.

Earlier on September 16, Ukraine's air force said it shot down 53 of 56 Russian drones it detected overnight that were targeting a handful of regions and said the "main direction" of a "massive" overnight bombardment was Kyiv that was the eighth attack on the capital this month.

Kyiv's regional military administration head, Ruslan Kravchenko, said one woman was hospitalized after being injured by fragments of a downed drone.

City military administration chief Serhiy Popko said Kyiv had been under attack for more than three hours overnight as air defenses shot down "almost two dozen enemy UAVs...around the capital."

Farther east, Ukrainian officials said the body of a woman was found under rubble late on September 15 at the scene of a Russian air strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said before dawn on September 16 that rescue operations were ongoing at the scene in Kharkiv of the bombardment by at least four missiles or other explosives, which struck a multistory residential building.

He said the latest information suggested 35 people were injured, including three children.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has said that 42 people were injured.

Zelenskiy said 128 Russian guided bombs had targeted Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

In Russia, officials said eight residents of the southern Belgorod region that borders Ukraine were injured by shelling and drone attacks by Ukrainian forces.

Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also said a gas pipeline was damaged during the shelling, which he said affected at least 10 settlements over the past 24 hours.

RFE/RL cannot independently corroborate claims of battlefield developments by either side in areas of the heaviest fighting.

Russia has bombarded Ukraine with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), rockets, and various kinds of missiles for much of the 36-month-old full-scale invasion.

Many of the most recent attacks have targeted power and other infrastructure, but bombs have frequently also struck hospitals, schools, and residential buildings, despite Moscow's assertion that it is not targeting civilians.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on September 15 that Russia is seeking "to achieve a decisive victory in Ukraine by 2026 before likely medium- to long-term economic and force generation constraints begin to significantly degrade Russia's ability to sustain its war effort in Ukraine."

It also said that, amid "growing challenges" in production and procurement of military equipment and munitions, "the Kremlin will likely become increasingly reliant on foreign partners to meet its materiel needs."

Zelenskiy recently urged the United States and other allies to "promptly implement" agreements on weapons and other supplies to help fight the invasion, underscoring Western debates on the extent and current restrictions on military aid to Kyiv.

Zelenskiy told CNN that he expects to present Joe Biden with a four-point plan to win the war when he meets with the U.S. president later this month.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on September 10 expressed hope for a second major peace summit to build on a similar gathering in Switzerland three months ago aimed at ending the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's allies are seemingly growing more receptive to loosening restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to allow Kyiv to hit targets deep inside Russia.

NATO, of which Ukraine is not a member, is also facing growing calls to do more to fend off Russian missiles and drone strikes, some of which have violated NATO members' airspace.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is set to make an official visit to neighboring Georgia on September 16, media reports in Georgia stated, although no official announcement has yet been made. Pashinian is expected to hold a meeting with Georgian counterpart Irakli Kobakhidze, after which public statements will be made, the reports said. Kobakhidze visited Armenia in March, declaring that both countries recognize both nations' territorial integrity in the tense south Caucasus region. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, click here.

Team McLaren and its driver Oscar Piastri claimed victory at the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 15, an event marred since its launch eight years ago by ongoing complaints of rights problems in the Caucasus state, and this year by a spat with France.

The race through the Baku City Circuit on a mostly sunny day in the capital was tightly contested by Ferrari pole-sitter Charles Leclerc before the Australian Piastri outpaced the Monacan for the checkered flag.

Rights groups questioned Formula 1 organizers for allowing dynastic President Ilham Aliyev to host an annual grand prix when the event arrived there in 2016 despite what they called a dire rights situation that included arrests and harassment of dissidents that have continued in many cases in the intervening eight years.

This year, the competitors in Baku had to abandon a weather radar usually used to plan strategy due to the French system's provider's absence after French nationals were warned against traveling to Azerbaijan, which has been accused of waging a disinformation campaign and stoking violent unrest in the French-ruled Pacific island of New Caledonia.

Sixty-two-year-old Aliyev has tightened his grip on the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus nation since taking over from his ailing father in 2003.

Two decades into his rule, Azerbaijan ranks near the bottom of Transparency International's latest Corruption Perception Index.

The chief executive of Anglo-American mining company Rio Tinto has alleged via local media that his company and its controversial multibillion-dollar plans to create Europe's largest lithium mine in Serbia are the target of a "carefully designed and well-organized" disinformation campaign.

Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm used the text reportedly prepared for the online Serbian outlet Politika to push back against widespread public protests at the recently revived project, which has enflamed fears of further environmental damage in one of the Balkans' most polluted regions.

"The topics of the project's development confuses, disturbs, and divides people," he wrote, according to a Beta news agency report of the forthcoming letter, adding, "Our employees are exposed to threats and intimidation on the Internet."

The report did not include details regarding any alleged threats.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has long backed the 250-hectare Rio Tinto mine project in the western Jadar Valley, saying it will create jobs.

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Vucic's Delicate Balancing Act

Vucic and Rio Tinto representatives met and took public questions at a forum last week in Ljubovija designed to address some of the Serbian public's concerns.

Vucic ally and recently appointed Prime Minister Milos Vucevic then vowed his government would insist on written guarantees about the safety of the project before allowing it to go ahead.

Rio Tinto says the mine's potential capacity of 60,000 tons per year of lithium could supply nearly one-fifth of the continent's needs for a budding market for batteries for electric cars.

It has repeatedly said it will operate the mine safely and maintain high environmental standards.

Protests across Serbia erupted after the Constitutional Court nullified a previous government's nixing in 2022 of some initial permits, clearing the path for fulfillment of Vucic's pledge to ensure the Jadar mine complex's completion.

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Protests Flare Up In Serbian Towns Over Reversal On Huge Lithium Mine

Environmental and other local groups quickly accused Rio Tinto and the government of ignoring their concerns.

But German and EU officials visited Serbia after that decision to ink a document signaling support for "a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles."

"This is the first time in the company’s long history that it is facing such a situation," Stausholm reportedly said.

But Rio Tinto has faced a local backlash before, including against operations in western Australia that destroyed part of a sacred Aboriginal site.

Stausholm, who took the Rio Tinto helm in 2021 following the Australian scandal, said in the Politika contribution that all environmental impact assessments include a review period in which citizens are informed and can ask questions and comment.

Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said recently that "we have already lost two years" but added it could take another two years for Rio Tinto to secure the proper permits for construction of the mine.

Lithium is also used to power computers and smartphones.

Iran's President Masud Pezeshkian will attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Russia, state media cited Tehran's ambassador in Moscow as saying on September 15, amid tensions with the West over military cooperation between the two countries. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatened wider European security. The United States, Germany, Britain, and France imposed new sanctions on Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran did not deliver any ballistic missiles to Russia and that sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the three European countries against Iran were not a solution. Iran's ambassador in Russia, Kazem Jalali, reportedly confirmed that Pezeshkian will attend the summit of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, scheduled to be held in Kazan, Russia, on October 22-24.

Sources close to the family of the late Iranian-Kurdish student Mahsa Amini have told Radio Farda on September 15 that security forces "have surrounded their home" in Saghez and prevented them from leaving the house as the second anniversary passed of her death in custody.

A source said Amini's father, Amjad Amini, received a call from Iran's Intelligence Ministry earlier in the day telling the family not to leave their house.

The caller reportedly said Amjad Amini and his wife would be arrested if they went outside.

The source also told Radio Farda that they could hear helicopters flying over Saghez.

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Iranian Diaspora Marks Student's Death That Sparked Protests

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The 22-year-old Amini's death after reports of beating and abuse when she was detained by morality police over an alleged dress-code violation sparked massive nationwide protests over official abuses and the country's treatment of women.

Amjad Amini told Radio Farda last week that the family had the right to mark the anniversary and was hoping to do so if allowed by authorities.

Over the past two days, reports have said several members of the families of those killed in the state crackdown on the protests have been also arrested.

There have also been reports of activists and families of those killed being summoned by authorities, especially in Iran's Kurdistan.

On September 15, the foundation of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said 34 women prisoners in Iran have gone on hunger strike to mark two years since the start of the protest movement.

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'Women, Life, Freedom': Iran's Protest Movement Magnifies Defiance, Camaraderie 2 Years On

"Today, on the 15th September 2024, 34 female political prisoners in Evin Prison have gone on a hunger strike in commemoration of the second anniversary of the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement and the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini," the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said on its website.

The foundation did not provide specifics or indicate how long the hunger strike might last, but it said the women sought to "show solidarity with the protesting people of Iran against the government’s oppressive policies."

Mohammadi, 52, has been campaigning for human rights in Iran for decades and has been in and out of prison for the past 20 years. She has been convicted five times since March 2021 and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for "spreading propaganda" against the Islamic republic.

Following Amini's death after days reportedly in a coma in September 2022, vans carrying the police force notorious for its strong-armed enforcement of the "hijab law" temporarily disappeared from the streets as protesters across Iran staged daily demonstrations for months.

The authorities claimed she had died due to medical problems, but her family and witnesses at the scene of her arrest said she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.

The anger gave rise to the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, which Iranians say has left an indelible mark of public defiance on the country and observers say has presented one of the biggest threats to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.

KYIV -- President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again urged the United States and other allies to "promptly implement" agreements on weapons and other supplies to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, underscoring Western debates on the extent and current restrictions on military aid to Kyiv.

In a new video message late on September 14, he said "it is critically important that all states, and especially the United States, really promptly implement the agreements reached with Ukraine."

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.

"It should be felt at the front," Zelenskiy said. "Every delay with military packages has its own negative consequence at the front. Every really timely, fast delivery has a positive impact."

As unprecedented international military supply efforts continue to Ukraine, NATO has faced escalating calls among some members to rescind limits on Western-supplied weapons and supply more advanced weaponry.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces, an argument that has found some support among NATO officials.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on September 13 to discuss whether to approve Kyiv's request to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia but did not announce any shift.

Britain is reportedly nearing a decision on possibly letting Ukraine use its Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on September 14 that Biden is "determined to use the four months [he has left in office] to put Ukraine in the best possible position to prevail."

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Calls Grow For NATO Members To Help Ukraine Shoot Down Russian Drones And Missiles

Threats voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and, more recently by former President Dmitry Medvedev -- who on September 14 suggested a nuclear strike on the Ukrainian capital could turn that city of some 2 million residents into a "gray spot" on the map -- have seemingly sought to ratchet up Moscow's discouragement of Western support for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy said later on September 14 that he had spoken with a delegation of U.S. Congress members and "informed [them] about the current situation and prospects."

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on September 15 that Putin had repeatedly threatened the West that supplies of tanks and missiles "would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia."

"We sent them," Lammy said repeatedly, adding that "Putin threatens every few months to use nuclear weapons."

Lammy said there was "a lot of bluster" but "we cannot be blown off course by an imperialist fascist" who "wants to move into countries willy-nilly."

He said talks between Starmer, Biden, and Zelenskiy would resume at the UN General Assembly later this month.

Debate has sharpened since Ukrainian forces' surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia over paths to bolster Kyiv's position ahead of potential cease-fire talks.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Closer To Long-Range Strike Permission As Biden, Starmer Meet

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal last week pressed for a second major international peace summit that he said he hoped could attract at least 150 countries, following up on a similar event hosted by Switzerland in June.

In a fresh wave of Russian attacks overnight on September 14-15, Ukrainian authorities said a married couple had been killed in the southern Odesa region and that other key cities had been hit.

Ukraine's military said that the country's air defenses had shot down 10 of 14 attack drones that Russia launched. It also said two Iskander ballistic missiles and a guided air missile, the latter of which was shot down, had targeted Odesa.

In a Telegram post, Zelenskiy said at least 30 people were injured when a Russian guided bomb slammed into a residential building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on September 15.

"The rescue operation in Kharkiv continues. A Russian air strike. An ordinary residential building…was damaged. There is a fire and rubble between the ninth and 12th floors."

"This terror can be stopped. But to stop terror, one must stop the fear of strong decisions that are objectively needed," he added in another reference to allied reluctance to allow the use of Western-provided weapons to strike launching sites deep inside Russia.

In Pokrovsk, an important logistics and supply hub for Ukrainian troops on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, the military administration said a civilian was killed on September 15 as the result of Russian shelling. Russian forces have crept closer to taking the city with a brutal offensive in recent days.

SEE ALSO:

Interactive Map: Ukraine's Surprise Invasion Of Russia's Kursk Region

Zelenskiy has said Russia had fired roughly 30 missiles, more than 800 guided bombs, and nearly 300 attack drones at Ukraine in the past week.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on September 15 that its air defenses had destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight that were targeting seven regions of Russia, more than half of them over the Bryansk region.

Calls have also mounted among some NATO members for the alliance to do more to ward off Russian missiles and attack drones like those that members Romania and Latvia say have recently violated their airspace amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is not part of NATO but the alliance said in July that post-Soviet country was on an "irreversible path" to membership.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters

Residents and authorities continue to battle heavy rainfall and floodwaters throughout Central Europe on September 15 as officials in Romania said at least six people were dead and two more were missing there.

Rain appeared to be easing somewhat in Romania late in the evening, although additional rainfall and strong winds are forecast across the region through at least September 16, authorities said.

In Austria, a firefighter died during rescue operations and a drowning death was reported in Poland, while four people were said to be missing in the Czech Republic with first responders battling the result of historic rains that inundated low-lying parts of the region.

In southwestern Poland, two dams reportedly failed amid what local authorities said was a "critical" situation.

In Romania, around 20 municipalities in eight Romanian counties were severely affected by the flooding.

Thousands of homes were damaged and tens of thousands were affected or being evacuated.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced temporary shelters for people endangered by the floodwaters during a visit to one of the northernmost affected counties, Galati, on September 14. He said saving lives was officials' first priority.

The head of the county council in Galati, Costel Fotea, said early on September 15 that more than 20,000 residents in at least 24 communities had been severely affected in that county alone.

Fotea said engineers would be spreading out to begin assessing the condition of bridges and roads, many of which are damaged or closed.

Romania's National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management has issued a code-red advisory for Galati and Vaslui counties as rescuers including from the army used boats and other ways to try to reach trapped residents, some of them forced to flee to rooftops.

Floodwaters in some areas were 3 meters deep.

Late on September 15, Romanian officials said a 50-year-old man died in Suhurlui, becoming the sixth known fatality in that country.

Meanwhile the water-management authority in Wroclaw in southwestern Poland said the situation was critical after a nearly 30-meter-high dam at Miedzygorze in the Klodzko Valley on the Polish border with the Czech Republic was breached, forcing evacuations. Later, a dam at Stronie Slaski, in the Lower Silesia region, was said to have failed.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at an emergency briefing in Klodzko, near the Czech border, that the situation in southwestern Poland was "dramatic."

Tusk said he would announce a state of disaster and request aid from the European Union.

Train connections between Poland and the Czech Republic were suspended.

In Austria, dozens of municipalities were declared disaster zones.

The waters were swollen of the Kamp and Kremps rivers in Austria that flow into the Danube on its way to the Black Sea via the territory or borders of Hungary and Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia, and Romania and Bulgaria, and Moldova and Ukraine.

In the Czech Republic, police reported a search for three people who were riding in a vehicle that fell into an eastern river near Lipova Lazne.

Around 250,000 households were without power in the Czech Republic.

In the capital, Prague, authorities put flood prevention measures in place around the Vltava River.

More heavy rains were forecast through the day on September 15 for Austria, the Czech Republic, southern Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

Forecasters had said more than a third of the average annual rainfall of some areas could fall by September 15, with strong winds further complicating the situation.

International watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to promote human rights when he "makes history" this week as the first German chancellor to attend a summit in Central Asia with all five of that post-Soviet region's presidents.

Scholz's three-day trip started in Uzbekistan on September 15 with the signing of a migration deal and will continue in Kazakhstan on September 16-17 for the second meeting of the Central Asia-plus-Germany format that was launched a year ago in Berlin.

"The German government cannot pretend closer ties with Central Asia are possible without a significant improvement in human rights in the region," HRW said. "The upcoming summit offers a chance to make this clear."

In its statement, HRW cited persistent rights issues across the region including the "suppression of the rights to protest and express opinions, including online, jailing of activists, torture in detention, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity for abusive security forces, and a lack of free and fair elections."

It argued that "little or no progress is possible on the many topics the six leaders highlighted as common priorities" a year ago.

Germany has long been interested in boosting energy relations with Central Asia, but Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has further encouraged Germany and other European nations to look elsewhere for energy and mineral imports.

This week's summit with the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek heads of state is expected to focus heavily on energy along with broader economic and development talks.

The leaders are also expected to discuss international sanctions on Russia.

Upon arrival in the historic city of Samarkand, the German leader met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev and signed a migration agreement that would allow skilled workers from Uzbekistan to travel to the EU nation, with a focus on the health-care sector.

It is also intended to speed repatriation of Uzbek citizens living in Germany without legal residence authorization, who he said "must go back." An estimated 13,700 Uzbeks reside in Germany, with the vast majority holding legal residency permits, according to dpa.

“With our agreement on migration and mobility signed today in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, we are enabling people with great talents to enter our country. Also, we committed to un-bureaucratic processes so that those who cannot stay in our country must go back,” Scholz wrote on X.

Scholz is scheduled to meet with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev on his first stop in Tashkent to sign a migration deal that could enable skilled Uzbek workers to travel to Germany and lay out repatriation terms.

In the Kazakh capital, Astana, Scholz should meet with President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.

Kazakhstan, the largest and wealthiest of the five regional states, has been accused of failing to adequately ensure compliance with sanctions on Russia.

But energy cooperation has been on the rise with Kazakhstan.

Crude oil from Kazakhstan began flowing last year through the 4,000-kilometer Druzhba pipeline from Russia's southern Tatarstan republic through Belarus and Poland to Germany, as part of a pivot to make up for lower supplies of Russian oil.

Scholz hailed that step as the start of "a completely new direction in bilateral cooperation" with Kazakhstan, which also lies on huge reserves of natural gas.

In June, international rights groups urged Central Asian governments to take specific steps to end "widespread" torture of detainees and political prisoners in the region.

Such groups allege that Kazakhstan is among the worst offenders.

HRW last month demanded that Kazakhstan stop limiting freedom of expression and end its persecution of comedians, citing the jailing of 31-year-old stand-up comic Aleksandr Merkul.