The Chui regional court in northern Kyrgyzstan on July 15 rejected an appeal filed by government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) against the five-year prison term he was handed in mid-May on a charge of making online calls for mass unrest. Shakir called the regional court's ruling "unjust." He was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government's decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called on President Sadyr Japarov and the chief of the State Committee of National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, to participate in public debates with him. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

A deal to split the assets of Russian technology company Yandex was finalized on July 15, with a Russian consortium of investors buying the bulk of Yandex's businesses in a cash and shares deal worth around $5.4 billion. The split marks the end of foreign ownership in Yandex, often dubbed "Russia's Google," while potentially tightening the Kremlin's control of the Internet space in Russia. The move is the largest corporate exit from Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine over two years ago. Yandex's Dutch parent company Yandex NV (YNV) said it had sold its remaining minority 28 percent stake as part of the deal's second closing. Yandex blazed a trail for Russian technology after setting up in the late 1990s dot-com boom.

A military court in Moscow ruled on July 15 to transfer jailed Major General Ivan Popov from pretrial detention to house arrest. The 49-year-old Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army who once complained about his forces' lack of support from Moscow, was arrested in May on fraud charges. He is one of several top military and Defense Ministry officials who have been arrested on corruption charges after President Vladimir Putin's dismissal of close ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister. Former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov was appointed to the post on May 12. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Media reports in Russia said on July 15 that a gas explosion in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya killed five people. According to the reports, more than 20 people were injured after gas tanks exploded at a construction site in the village of Bashin-Kali. The injured were rushed to hospitals; six people in very serious condition were transported to the Chechen capital, Grozny, the reports said. Authorities in Russia have yet to confirm the reports. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service, click here.

KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on July 15 that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot missile defense systems as he outlined three steps toward a second international peace summit at his first press conference since attending the NATO summit in Washington last week.

Zelenskiy described Patriot systems as the “most important” for Ukrainian air defense but also said Ukraine needs more F-16 fighter jets. At the NATO summit last week, officials announced that the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine had begun and would continue over the summer.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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"From the point of view of the structure of our air defense, in order to completely cover Ukraine, according to our military, we need 25 systems,” Zelenskiy said, referring to the U.S.-made Patriots. “I can't tell you how many we have or will have."

The NATO summit saw widespread pledges of additional military support for Ukraine, and on July 15, the Spanish Defense Ministry announced the donation of 10 Leopard 2A4 battle tanks, anti-tank missiles, and other equipment to Ukraine.

The ministry said the transfer of the tanks was already under way following repairs at a facility in Spain. They are expected to arrive in Poland by sea by the weekend and then be transferred by land to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Zelenskiy, speaking in Kyiv, said meetings on the preparation of the next peace summit will concern energy, freedom of navigation, and the release of prisoners.

Zelenskiy used the news conference to focus more on plans for an international peace summit than on Ukraine’s military growth. He said the second international peace summit should include officials from Russia.

During the first peace summit on June 15-16 in Switzerland, more than 90 countries focused on the most devastating conflict in Europe since World War II. As the delegations dispersed, participants lauded the launching of a process to keep the dialogue going and the prospect of a second summit in the near future.

But the fact that Moscow was not invited to the event and had derided it as a waste of time and effort cast doubts over the future of any peace process. While the summit’s final communiqué did not explicitly mention Russia, it noted that “reaching peace requires the involvement of and dialogue between all parties.”

At his news conference on July 15, Zelenskiy said, "I believe that Russia's representatives should be at the second summit."

Zelenskiy outlined three steps to a plan to a second international peace summit.

First, Zelenskiy said a meeting, most likely to be held in Qatar at the end of the month or in early August, would aim to resolve questions and prepare a plan around energy security.

That would be followed later in August by a meeting in Turkey to agree on a "fully developed" plan for food security, Zelenskiy said. A third meeting, to be held in Canada in September, is intended to create a plan on the exchange of prisoners and the return of children taken from Ukraine to Russia.

"I am setting a goal for us to have a fully ready plan in November. When the plan is ready, everything will be ready for the second summit," Zelenskiy told reporters.

Zelenskiy also responded to questions about the presidential candidacy of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

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"I think that if Donald Trump becomes president, we will work together. I'm not worried about this," Zelenskiy responded, but he did not elaborate.

He added that when he met with Republican governors while he was in Washington and was assured of the party's backing.

"There are hawks whose messages are more right-wing or more radical," Zelenskiy said on July 15. "But I want to tell you that the majority of the Republican Party supports Ukraine and the people of Ukraine."

In Washington, Zelenskiy met with several senior NATO officials and world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, as the United States heads toward a November 5 presidential election.

Biden, a Democrat and the party's presumptive candidate, expressed strong support for Ukraine throughout his presidency. But Trump, who is expected to be formally nominated as his party's convention this week just days after surviving an assassination attempt, has opposed expanded aid to Ukraine and, according to critics, has expressed pro-Russia sentiments.

Trump also has suggested that if elected in November he will resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict even before he takes office, without elaborating.

President Salome Zurabishvili has filed a challenge with Georgia's Constitutional Court over the validity of the recently passed "transparency of foreign influence" law, which has driven a wedge between the government and a considerable segment of society and drawn angry repercussions from Tbilisi's Western partners.

In a statement on the presidency's official website announcing its first-ever lawsuit before the court, Zurabishvili aide Giorgi Mskhiladze adopted the language of protesters to describe the law passed in late May over a presidential veto as "the so-called Russian law."

The law is "unconstitutional" and it contradicts the Georgian Constitution's Article 78, he said, which orders constitutional bodies including the government to "take all measures within the scope of their competences to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

"The lawsuit also challenges a number of norms of the law, which violate a number of basic rights guaranteed by the constitution," the statement said. "With this lawsuit, the president requests the suspension of the mentioned law and its final cancellation."

Zurabishvili has had a dramatic falling out with the governing Georgian Dream party since it backed her candidacy for president in 2018, culminating in an embarrassing squabble over her right to represent Georgia abroad and then an ultimately failed impeachment in 2023.

The government's enactment of the law, which imposes tight controls on foreign-funded media and NGOs that get more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, came one year after it originally abandoned a similar bill under public pressure.

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Interview: Georgian Dream 'Likely' To Try To Steal Election, But Its Support Is Deeper Than Many Think

This year's battle sparked massive street protests and intensified Zurabishvili's clash with the government over what she and demonstrators insist is fealty to their post-Soviet country's commitment to integration with the West.

When she vetoed the foreign-agent bill in mid-May, Zurabishvili called it "a Russian law in essence and spirit, which contradicts our constitution and all European standards" and "an obstacle on our European path."

Opponents have pointed to its similarity to legislation used by President Vladimir Putin to crush dissent in Russia and stifle independent institutions, prompting Georgians to refer to the measure as "the Russian law."

Georgian Dream and its alliance with the Democratic Georgia party hold 84 of the parliament's 150 seats. Lawmakers voted 84-4 to override Zurabishvili's veto in late May.

Brussels has paused ongoing EU accession negotiations with Tbilisi and the United States has undertaken a "comprehensive review" of relations with Georgia over the law's passage.

On July 15, Georgia's public defender, Levan Ioseliani, repeated his criticism of the "foreign influence" law and said his office would "definitely" be involved in the Constitutional Court's review.

Georgian Dream has insisted that it remains committed to joining Western institutions and the law was only meant to increase transparency on NGO funding.

Alongside the Constitutional Court challenge, Zurabishvili's office announced on July 15 the appointment of Kakha Tsikarishvili to the country's High Council of Justice, where the president gets to appoint one member.

Georgia's civil society has for years sought to move the country away from the influence of Russia, which still maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Tbilisi in 2008.

The Pakistani High Court in Peshawar has ruled in a case brought by 95 Afghan and Pakistani citizens that women married to Afghan nationals have the right to both Pakistani and Afghan citizenship, eliminating a problem for many women stemming from administrative obstacles arising from such dual registrations. Millions of Afghan nationals live in neighboring Pakistan, many of them for decades dating back to the Afghan-Soviet War of the 1980s. A number of Pakistani women recently protested in Peshawar after Pakistani authorities expelled their husbands. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

Latvia's State Revenue Service says that, as of July 16, passenger cars registered in Belarus will be barred from entering the European Union through crossing points along the Baltic state's borders with Belarus and Russia. The move is being taken in accordance with European Union laws to prevent the circumvention of EU sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus over Moscow’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Earlier this year, Latvia and several other EU nations banned cars with Russian license plates from their territories over the invasion. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

A Moscow court on July 15 sentenced self-exiled former municipal lawmaker Yelena Kotyonochkina to 7 1/2 years in prison in absentia on a charge of distributing false information about Russia's military. In March 2022, less than a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kotyonochkina and her colleague Aleksei Gorinov proposed canceling public events for children due to the invasion because many Ukrainian children and civilians were being killed. A probe was launched against the two, after which Kotyonochkina left Russia, while Gorinov was arrested, tried, and handed a seven-year prison term. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Pakistani Information Minister Atta Tarar said on July 15 that the coalition government led by the Muslim League would launch high-treason charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and two aides and ban Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) political party.

He accused the jailed Khan of damaging institutions, creating chaos, and breaking counterterrorism laws by improperly negotiating with militants during his tenure as prime minister in 2018-22.

Tarar said the PTI had waged "enmity" against Pakistan by "attacking" security and government agencies, lobbied the U.S. Congress against Pakistan's interest, and received funding from abroad without documenting their provenance. It would be banned under Article 17 of the constitution, he added.

“This country has to move forward. Pakistan and PTI can’t exist together,” Tarar said.

PTI leader Shibli Faraz called Tarar's statements laughable and said "it is very sad that the country has fallen into the hands of such incompetent people." He countered that Tarar and his governing allies "are trying to lead the country into chaos" and are failing to see the consequences of their actions.

Khan, 71, still enjoys huge popularity, but his political future and return to the political limelight is unclear.

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Khan remains in jail on charges that include taking improper gifts while further charges are pending against him.

He founded the PTI in 1996.

Other PTI leaders have also been charged with wrongdoing in cases that Khan and their defenders say are politically motivated.

Khan has alleged that powerful intelligence services intent on manufacturing cases against his party are damaging the country.

Last week, Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered that special seats in national and provincial assemblies for women and minorities be given to the PTI, reversing rulings by the Peshawar High Court and the national Election Commission regarding elections in February in which the PTI was barred.

The February 8 vote took place amid rising political tensions and an upsurge of violence that prompted authorities to deploy more than 650,000 army, paramilitary, and police personnel across the country.

Reported irregularities during the February 8 poll prompted the United States, Britain, and the European Union to voice concerns about the way the vote was conducted and to urge an investigation.

The military has run Pakistan for nearly half its history since partition from India in 1947 and it still wields huge power and influence.

With reporting by dpa

A Moscow court on July 15 sentenced Russian-American journalist, writer, and outspoken Kremlin critic Masha Gessen to eight years in prison on a charge of distributing "false" information about Russia's military. The charge stemmed from Gessen's interview with Russian journalist Yury Dud about alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians in Ukraine. In December, Russia's Interior Ministry added Gessen to its wanted list. Gessen led RFE/RL's Russian Service in 2012-2013. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Kazakh anti-war activist Maria Kochneva told RFE/RL on July 15 that Almaty city police summoned her over performing a rap song online that was critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Kochneva said that her online song sparked an outcry on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, adding that an investigator called her and ordered her to come to the police "for a conversation due to the public response" to her performance. Kochneva said the investigator did not tell her about her status, and she did not receive an official subpoena. According to Kochneva, she and her relatives have received threats from unknown individuals since her song was posted online. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

The Primorye regional court in Russia's Far East on July 15 rejected the appeal against a lower court's refusal in May to transfer Yakut shaman Aleksandr Gabyshev to a less restrictive psychiatric clinic. Gabyshev made headlines in 2019 by launching a march to Moscow in what he called an attempt to drive Putin out of the Kremlin. He walked some 2,000 kilometers before officials detained him in the Siberian region of Buryatia. Several recommendations to transfer Gabyshev to a general psychiatric clinic have been rejected since he was placed in a restrictive clinic against his will in July 2021. The Memorial human rights group has recognized Gabyshev as a political prisoner. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Ukraine's main investigative office said on July 15 that it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the death in the Odesa region of a serviceman who it suggested was shot after going AWOL and trying to get to Moldova illegally along with three other men.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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The incident comes with Ukrainian officials pressing conscription and other measures to bolster their fighting forces as the full-scale Russian invasion nears its 30th month.

The State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) said border guards detained the dead man and three other "fugitives" as they tried to cross the border into Moldova by foot on July 14.

It said one of the detainees attacked a border guard "while trying to escape."

"In response, he used a service weapon and shot the assailant," the investigators said.

The agency said its investigation was based on the death of a serviceman and was intended to clarify whether the guard used appropriate force.

More than 23,000 Ukrainian men have crossed the border illegally into neighboring Moldova since Russian troops poured into Ukraine in February 2022 in Europe's first all-out army invasion since World War II.

As part of early defense efforts, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 59 were banned from leaving the country.

In April, Ukrainian officials lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25.

To address a shortfall in troops, hundreds of thousands of whom are thought to have been killed or wounded so far in the war, they also required men to update their draft registration information.

They also imposed pressure and punishments on Ukrainians abroad who refused to register for possible military service.

Ukrainian border officials have detained small numbers of individuals trying to leave the country into Moldova.

They reported the deaths of at least a dozen people this year who were trying to cross a western river on the border between the two countries.

Finland-based cybersecurity firm WithSecure has warned that the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics "faces a greater risk of malicious cyber activity than previous Olympics." In a report on July 15, the company's director of threat intelligence called the threat "moderate" and predicted that “Hacktivists aligned with states that are pro-Russia will almost certainly try to disrupt the Olympics in some way." The report lists "threat actors" in four categories: Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean, and speculates as to their intentions and capabilities.

Media reports in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia said Sergo and Lyova Kabisov, two nephews of the region's former de facto leader, Anatoly Bibilov, were wounded in a shoot-out in the regional capital, Tskhinvali, on July 14. The reports cited witnesses as saying that Alik Gagloyev, a brother of the region's current de facto leader, Alan Gagloyev, was involved in the incident. Officials have not commented on the situation. South Ossetia's de facto Interior Ministry confirmed that two men were wounded in a shoot-out but did not identify them. Alan Gagloyev called on law enforcement to thoroughly and swiftly investigate the matter. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus, click here.

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh have declared a state of emergency after mudslides and flooding caused by heavy rains killed at least four people on July 14. As of July 15, the deaths of a 44-year-old woman and her three daughters, as well as the death of another woman, have been confirmed. The Ak-Buura River's currents became extremely dangerous over the weekend, officials said, and its banks were breached, flooding the local market as well as a village near the city. Kyrgyz officials said earlier that mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains in recent months killed 17 people. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas officially stepped down on July 15 to step aside and set up her expected move later this year to replace Spaniard Josep Borrell as the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. Kallas, a staunch supporter of support for Ukraine in its ongoing war against a Russian invasion, still faces hearings before her likely appointment in the fall. She is a longtime advocate for liberal democracy who was shaped by her personal experience growing up as a child under Soviet occupation and, if appointed, she will have a major role shaping and advancing the bloc's security and defense goals. She will stay on as a caretaker prime minister for now.

At least three soldiers are dead and 50 more injured after an explosion at a military cantonment that appeared to be under siege in Bannu city in northwestern Pakistan on July 15, security officials told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.

The incident began with an early-morning blast at the barricaded garrison, and fighting is said to be continuing with gunmen inside the facility.

A previously unknown group called Jaish-e Fursan-e Muhammad claimed responsibility for the attack in a WhatsApp message to media outlets.

Radio Mashaal could not independently confirm the existence of any such armed group.

There has been no official version of events shared by Pakistani central authorities.

Security officials who described the incident to Radio Mashaal asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Local residents told a Radio Mashaal correspondent that homes far from the blast were shaken and windows shattered.

Residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province have recently protested the lack of security provided by Islamabad and against the actions of extremists.

Pakistani security forces have reported conducting targeted operations against militants in several parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a longtime ally in Pakistan of the Afghan Taliban, has been blamed for a surge in violence in the region over the past year.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said on July 15 that its ambassador and embassy staff have returned to Tehran, a year and a half after a deadly attack on its diplomatic facility there. The diplomatic mission will work from new premises and Iran “will implement adequate steps to ensure diplomatic protection in front of the new building," it said. Baku closed its embassy and evacuated its staff at the end of January 2023, after an armed attack on the building. The attacker killed the mission security chief and wounded two other security officials. The suspect was detained, tried in court for a year, and, according to Iran’s Justice Ministry, sentenced to death. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

Note: This article has been amended to clarify that it is Azerbaijan which is reopening its embassy in Iran.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged President-elect Masud Pezeshkian and other Iranian authorities to end their use of "excessive and lethal force" against mostly Kurdish border couriers at the frontier with Iraq, saying such low-level smugglers frequently "come from marginalized communities." In a July 15 statement, the rights organization quoted Pezeshkian saying before his July 5 election that it was "shameful" that young people are forced into such roles "for a piece of bread." HRW has recently cited "serious violations against border couriers" and highlighted socioeconomic and other factors that contribute to the practice. Pezeshkian will be sworn in on July 30.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell plans to convene the bloc's foreign ministers for his own "formal" council meeting at the same time that EU Council presidency holder Hungary has scheduled a similar gathering in August, according to "three diplomats with direct knowledge of the plan" quoted by the Politico website. There has been no confirmation from Borrell. His purported move follows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's uncoordinated shuttle diplomacy with Ukraine, Russia, and China in the first week of Hungary's six-month term in the EU presidency, which enraged EU officials and many member states, who stressed that he was not acting on their behalf.

Novorossiisk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko has announced a state of emergency in the southern Russian port city due to forest fires engulfing the outskirts of several villages and threatening others in the Krasnodar region. Authorities have already evacuated hundreds of residents, with more leaving through mountainous terrain where the firefighters' operational center said fire had burned more than 50 hectares and was continuing to spread. "Coastal rescuers in boats are ready to provide the necessary assistance in evacuating people by sea," the Novorossiisk mayor said via Telegram. Hundreds of firefighters and at least two helicopters are battling the blaze. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here. To read to original story from Current Time, click here.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican challenger ex-President Donald Trump each appealed to the country for unity late on July 14 following the shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally that injured Trump and killed a supporter, while Biden ordered an independent investigation into a security lapse that was likely to reshape the campaign ahead of the elections in November.

Biden said he had a "short but good" conversation with Trump, who was struck in the right ear when an alleged gunman identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at Trump and the crowd from a nearby rooftop before he was killed by Secret Service officers on July 13.

The FBI said it was still seeking a motive in the attack, which came two days ahead of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the opposition party is expected to officially nominate Trump on July 18.

The 78-year-old Trump has already arrived in Milwaukee for the start of the convention on July 15.

Trump told the Washington Examiner newspaper that he was going to deliver a speech to the convention that is "a lot different than it would've been two days ago," saying, "This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together."

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Biden condemned the assassination attempt in a televised address to the nation from the White House late on July 14, and said he had ordered a review of how a man with an AR-15-style rifle got close enough to shoot at Trump despite U.S. Secret Service protection.

"There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can't allow this violence to be normalized," Biden said. "The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down."

Trump and Biden are poised to face each other in a tight rematch of the 2020 election, according to most opinion polls. The shooting reverberated around the world and through the presidential campaign, which had been focused on whether 81-year-old Biden might drop out amid intense focus on his age and medical state.

"In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined," Trump said on Truth Social.

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The FBI said they were not aware of any threats to the Republican convention, which gets launched on July 15, and the Secret Service said they do not anticipate any changes to the security plan in Milwaukee.

U.S. authorities were racing to identify a motive behind the assassination attempt.

SEE ALSO:

How The Assassination Attempt On Trump Could Upend The U.S. Presidential Race

The alleged shooter, Crooks, was reportedly from a town located about an hour south of Butler. Several U.S. news outlets reported that state voting records showed Crooks was a registered Republican, but that he had also made small donations to Democratic campaigns.

The FBI said the gun used in the attack appeared to have been purchased by Crooks' father at least six months before.

In a statement published on X shortly after the incident, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the shooter had fired "multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue." He also said the shooter had been "neutralized."

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro identified the rally attendee who died in the incident as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief from the area. Two other people were in serious condition but reportedly "stable."

Political analysts speculated about the likely effects of the assassination attempt on the race and pointed to a likely outpouring of sympathy for Trump and defiance at the violence, but said it was mostly too early to tell.

With reporting by Reuters and CNN

Chinese and Russian naval forces on July 14 kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China, the official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war in Ukraine. China's Defense Ministry said in a brief statement that forces from both sides recently patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean and that the operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations and didn't target any third party. Xinhua reported that Chinese and Russian naval forces carried out on-map military simulation and tactical coordination exercises after the opening ceremony in the city of Zhanjiang.