Lawyers representing U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in her Moscow-area trial for illegal drug possession told the court on July 15 that she was prescribed medical cannabis in the United States two years ago for a chronic injury.
The 31-year-old Griner has been detained in Russia since authorities said they found cannabis oil in vape cartridges in her luggage when she passed through Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February.
U.S. officials say she was "wrongfully detained" and have assigned a special official for "hostage" situations to her case.
Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the drugs possession charges in a case that critics fear is an attempt by Moscow to extract concessions from Washington amid Russia's war on Ukraine and with relations at a low point.
She has already acknowledged possessing the vape cartridges.
The court in Khimki, outside the Russian capital, heard supportive testimony on July 14 from the head of the Russian club Griner plays for and a teammate.
Griner did not testify during the hearing, but the others who did backed her as character witnesses and told the court what she has meant for women's basketball in Russia.
Also in court were Elizabeth Rood, charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and other consular officials, and they were able to speak to Griner, who told them she appreciated their presence, the U.S. State Department said.
The U.S. government is under pressure at home to do more to secure her freedom.
U.S. and Russian media reported earlier this week that veteran U.S. hostage negotiator Bill Richardson could travel to Russia to seek the release of Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
When she was detained, Griner was returning to play for the Yekaterinburg team in the off-season of the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on July 15 dismissed Russia’s appeals of decisions by soccer governing bodies FIFA and UEFA to ban them from all competition after the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The CAS ruling upholds the decisions in February by European soccer’s governing body UEFA and global soccer’s governing body FIFA to exclude the Russian national and club teams.
FIFA and UEFA decided shortly after the invasion that all Russian teams would be suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions. CAS in March rejected a request from the Russian soccer federation to freeze FIFA's suspension, which ended Russia’s hopes of competing in the 2022 World Cup.
The Football Union of Russia (FUR) and a group of Russian clubs appealed to CAS against the ban. Six appeals in all were lodged -- one by the FUR against FIFA, one by the FUR against UEFA, and one each from four clubs, Zenit St. Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow, FC Sochi, and CSKA Moscow, against UEFA.
The CAS panel determined that in all cases the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the worldwide response “created unforeseen and unprecedented circumstances to which FIFA and UEFA had to respond."
In determining that Russian teams and clubs should be barred from FIFA and UEFA competitions under their aegis, the panel held that both parties acted “within the scope of the discretion granted to them under their respective statutes and regulations."
CAS also said its panel found it unfortunate that the current situation for which Russian soccer teams, clubs, and players have no responsibility had such an adverse effect on them and on Russian soccer generally.
Those effects, however, are “offset by the need for the secure and orderly conduct of football events for the rest of the world,” CAS ruled.
The written decision did not refer to the fighting as an invasion or a war -- terms rejected by Russia, which calls its actions a “special military operation.”
Russia's national soccer federation said it “strongly disagrees with the CAS decision and reserves the right to continue protecting its own interests.” Next steps could include a demand for compensation or a new appeal to the Swiss supreme court.
The decision had been widely anticipated by Russian clubs. They have been making plans to schedule domestic cup games on the dates when European games will be played next season.
Belarusian national teams and clubs can still compete, but UEFA has insisted any home matches involving sides from that country must be played in a neutral territory and with no spectators.
The families of the victims and survivors of the 1988 mass executions in Iran expressed relief after a court in Sweden convicted ex-official Hamid Nouri of murder and other charges in connection with the executions.
Iraj Mesdaghi, a former political prisoner who spent more than 10 years in Iranian prisons between 1981 and 1991, told Radio Farda, "Our voice will be heard more every day," he said. "Nothing can stop our movement for justice, and every day more people will realize what happened in Iran."
Hamid Ashtari, a former political prisoner who together with Iraj Mesdaghi filed the first complaint against Nouri, said in an interview with Radio Farda that "this verdict is a condemnation of the Islamic republic, and this verdict will be a document for future courts."
Nouri, 61, was convicted of committing a "serious crime against international law" and "murder" and sentenced to life in prison, the Stockholm district court said on July 14. Iran condemned the decision, saying it was politically motivated. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said it had "no legal validity."
Esmat Vatanparast, who lost 11 family members in the executions, said after the sentence was announced that President Ibrahim Raisi, who was a chief of Iran's judiciary at the time of the executions and Nouri’s boss, should also be tried.
"I slept many nights with sadness, but today I am happy," Vatanparast added.
Nouri was arrested at a Stockholm airport in 2019 and was charged with war crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj in 1988.
The killings initially targeted members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), a political-militant organization that advocated the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime, but eventually encompassed all left-wing opponents of the regime, including communists, Trotskyists, Marxist-Leninists, and others.
Amnesty International estimated that at least 5,000 people were executed on Khomeini's orders, saying in a 2018 report that "the real number could be higher." Iran has never acknowledged the killings.
Sweden's principle of universal jurisdiction allows its courts to try a person on serious charges such as murder or war crimes regardless of where the alleged offenses took place.
Nouri is the only person so far to be tried in the mass executions. He has denied the charges.
The Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, approved at its extraordinary session on July 15 Denis Manturov, the minister of industry and trade, as a deputy prime minister in charge of weapons industries.
Manturov, 53, was officially nominated for the position on July 13 after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the number of deputy prime ministers to 11.
Russian news agencies quoted Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin earlier as saying the introduction of the new position was necessitated by the need to make quick decisions in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions leveled against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Shortly after the lawmakers' approval, Putin signed the decree on Manturov's appointment to the post.
The State Duma's extraordinary session also approved dozens of bills regulating measures to support Russian citizens, military personnel, and the economy.
The session also announcement that Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, who used to supervise weapons industries, has been named to replaced Dmitry Rogozin as head of the state-controlled Roskosmos space agency.
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say they have detained notorious criminal boss Chyngyz Jumagulov, who has been linked to another infamous kingpin for whom the United States has offered a $1 million reward.
The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on July 15 that Jumagulov, known under the nickname Giant Chyngyz, is suspected of "organization of a criminal group and systemic extortion of money in extremely large amounts from entrepreneurs."
The UKMK called on all citizens who consider themselves victims of Jumagulov's group to turn to authorities.
Last week, media reports said that Jumagulov was involved in a shoot-out in Bishkek's outskirts, giving controversial details about his alleged arrest later dismissed by the Interior Ministry.
The 41-year-old kingpin has a long criminal career and a lengthy criminal record.
Kyrgyz authorities have said Jumagulov is linked to a larger criminal group led by notorious kingpin Kamchy Kolbaev, who also goes by the name Kolya Bishkeksky.
The 47-year-old Kolbaev was detained in October 2020 on suspicion of organizing a criminal group and participating in the activities of an organized criminal group but was unexpectedly released in March last year.
The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek expressed concerns over his release at the time and described Kolbaev as a "transnational organized crime boss" and a "convicted murderer whose criminal network engages in drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms trafficking and other dangerous criminal activity."
In 2014, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Kolbaev's criminal network.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's Constitutional Court has annulled an attempt by the country's Serb-dominated republic to prevent genocide denial from being punishable, keeping a year-old ban in place from the international community's overseer to the fractious Balkan country.
The court's judges on July 15 announced their decision to declare unconstitutional a law passed in the Republika Srpska entity that makes up half Bosnia alongside the Bosniak and Croat federation.
Outgoing international High Representative Valentin Inzko imposed a genocide-denial ban in July of last year, infuriating the Bosnian Serb member of the current three-man presidency, Milorad Dodik.
Inzko used his powers to criminalize the denial of internationally or Bosnian-recognized genocides, like the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 mostly Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb troops. He also outlawed hate speech and some public honors for convicted war criminals.
Dodik has continued to press for measures to establish competing authorities in Republika Srpska and further his declared aim of secession for the Serb-majority republic from the rest of Bosnia.
Bosnia is still governed under an ethnically based architecture set out by the 1995 Dayton Agreements that ended three years of intense war in the former Yugoslav republic marked by ethnic cleansing and brutality.
Inzko has since been replaced by German Christian Schmidt.
In July of last year, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted a law on "non-implementation" of Inzko's decree inside the republic.
The massacre in Srebenica has been declared an act of genocide by two international courts.
But some Serbs and many in Republika Srpska's leadership continue to dispute that designation as well as other assignations of blame for atrocities during the Bosnian War.
Republika Srpska representatives have boycotted the work of state institutions since the Inzko decree on genocide denial.
Data from the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office shows that since the beginning of the ban, about 40 complaints have been filed against citizens and officials around the country.
Dodik is among the targets of those complaints.
So far, prosecutors say, no indictments have been filed.
Britain has expressed shock over the death of a British aid worker while in the custody of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine and summoned the Russian ambassador to demand an explanation.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss responded on July 15 to reports that British citizen Paul Urey, who was captured by forces fighting against pro-Kyiv troops in Ukraine, died "due to illness and stress" while in detention.
"I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine," she said in a statement on Twitter. "Russia must bear the full responsibility for this."
She said Urey was captured while trying to help Ukrainians "in the face of the unprovoked Russian invasion."
A representative of a separatist group in Donetsk announced Urey's death earlier on July 15.
"He died on July 10," the representative, Darya Morozova, said on Telegram. The 45-year-old died "due to illness and stress," she added.
Morozova also said Urey suffered from diabetes.
Urey was detained in April at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhya along with another British man. They had been operating on their own in the war zone, helping to evacuate civilians.
The Russia-backed fighters described Urey as a "professional" soldier and accused him of "mercenary activities."
Dominik Byrne, co-founder of the charity group Presidium Network, said the Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region knew Urey needed a regular supply of insulin to treat his diabetes.
“It’s obvious that his welfare was not looked after,” Byrne said.
The Russian authorities and the separatists denied the Red Cross access to him and the aid group was never able to verify his actual conditions in prison.
Byrne said the Red Cross and other agencies along with the British government tried in vain to secure Urey’s release.
“We are formally calling for his captors to release his body and help us repatriate it back to the U.K. for his family,” he said. “We really feel that is of ultimate importance and the least they can do at this stage.”
Urey's distraught daughters told Sky News in May that they were "preparing for the worst."
His mother, Linda Urey, said she was "absolutely devastated" to learn of her son's death.
In a message since deleted from Facebook, she accused the separatist leaders of being murders.
She indicated that she had informed her son's captors that he was diabetic.
Host Indonesia has urged G20 leaders gathered in Bali to make progress countering the threats to the global economy from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, warning that the conflict's humanitarian fallout could be catastrophic.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said hopes are high that the G20 can meet the challenges stemming from the threat of war, spiking commodity prices, and fallout hampering poorer countries' ability to repay debt.
"We are acutely aware that the cost of our failure to work together is more than we can afford. The humanitarian consequences for the world, and especially for many low-income countries would be catastrophic," she said.
Some Western ministers began their visit with criticism of Russia at the talks, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying President Vladimir Putin's "brutal and unjust war" is the primary factor behind the world's current economic crisis.
Sri Mulyani urged members to "build bridges between each other" to solve the raft of current problems.
The G20 includes countries that have imposed unprecedented sanctions against Russia and accuse its forces of war crimes in Ukraine but also countries like China, India, and South Africa, which have avoided stern measures in response to the invasion.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov addressed the G20 meeting in person, while Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov reportedly took part virtually.
"It's no secret that there were very frank statements being made [in the meeting], yet what matters is we are at the moment of enormous distress and disruption in our global economy as well as our geopolitical context," Reuters quoted Achim Steiner, a UN Development Program administrator who attended one of the sessions, as saying.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of a G20 session in Bali last week, blaming "frenzied criticism" of Russia for his exit.
Dozens of Iranian cultural and art activists living outside the country have condemned a recent wave of arrests in Iran whose targets have included three filmmakers and a political activist, and accused officials and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of colluding "against the people."
The 140 signatories to the July 15 statement call for the detainees' release and an end to repression.
"In order to prevent the creation of an atmosphere of intimidation and fear in the society and to prevent the silencing of basic and principled criticisms and protests against the behavior and policies of the Islamic government, we support all political activists and civil activists inside the country," the statement said.
The signatories include singers, authors, journalists, composers, and filmmakers.
Recent arrests in Iran of prominent activists and filmmakers have been met with widespread international criticism.
The U.S. State Department, Human Rights Watch, the Iranian Writers' Association, and multiple European film and art festivals have condemned the government over the detentions.
The activists' statement on July 15 said that amid a critical situation inside the country "multiple security institutions and the main decision-makers of the regime at the top levels of the government, following the direct will of Ali Khamenei, have openly fought against the people."
They emphasized "the right to freedom of criticism by any individual or any political and civil group, as well as support for holding strikes, protests and demonstrations of all classes of people."
They singled out the imprisonment of activists Mohammad Rasulof, Mostafa Al-Ahmad, and Jafar Panahi and demanded their "unconditional release as soon as possible."
Panahi is among more than 300 Iranian filmmakers and cultural activists who issued a statement on July 9 condemning the arrests of Rasulof and Ahmad.
Rasulof and Ahmad had joined a group of Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter calling on Iran's security forces to "lay down their arms" in the face of outrage over alleged "corruption, theft, inefficiency, and repression" following a violent crackdown against those protesting a building collapse in the southwestern city of Abadan that killed 41 people in May.
More than 100 Iranian filmmakers backed the statement, which said that soldiers "have turned into the people's oppressors.”
The Kremlin has dismissed the controversial head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, ending a term that was dogged by rampant allegations of corruption and major tensions with other space agencies, including NASA.
Dmitry Rogozin will be replaced as the agency's director general by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, who previously served as deputy defense minister, the Kremlin said in its July 15 announcement.
No reason for Rogozin’s dismissal was given. It was unclear whether he had been pushed out of government entirely or would be given a new position elsewhere.
Rogozin made no public statement after the dismissal. However, a couple hours after the order was published, Roskosmos’s press service published a video on its YouTube channel showing highlights of Rogozin’s tenure. The video concluded with the words: “Rogozin. This is just the beginning.”
Also not long after the Kremlin order was released, Roskosmos announced a new partnership agreement with NASA, providing for “integrated crews” on both Russian and U.S. space flights.
NASA has not released any information about a new partnership agreement or commented on Rogozin's dismissal.
A nationalist politician who previously served as a pugnacious ambassador to NATO, Rogozin had overseen Russia’s storied space agency since 2011, first as a deputy prime minister and then as director general after President Vladimir Putin reorganized the country’s space and military industrial complex.
Roskosmos is a sprawling, billion-dollar state-controlled corporation that inherited an infrastructure and reputation for ambitious space exploration during the Soviet era.
It’s also been a key partner in building and operating the International Space Station (ISS), working closely with foreign space agencies including NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) for decades.
Under Rogozin’s tenure, Roskosmos suffered from a steady stream of critical reports about alleged corruption and theft.
Putin ordered the building of a new spaceport in Russia’s Far East, but hundreds of millions of rubles have gone missing from the ongoing construction of the facility, called Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Prosecutors have launched criminal investigations into subcontractors, and the head of Russia’s Audit Chamber, Aleksei Kudrin, has documented more than 30 billion rubles' ($512 million) worth of financial violations at the agency, most recently last month.
Kudrin’s reports on Roskomos’s embezzlement problems have frequently been released publicly in televised meetings with Putin.
Rogozin’s tenure has also been marked by serious strains with NASA, Russia’s largest space partner.
Despite a decade of worsening relations between Washington and Moscow, NASA and Roskosmos maintained a working relationship. NASA relied exclusively on Roskosmos to ferry astronauts and supplies to and from the space station after the U.S. shuttle program ended -- a lucrative source of income for Russia.
That began to change in 2020, when the private U.S. company SpaceX successfully flew astronauts to the station, signaling the end of Russia’s virtual monopoly on transport to the station.
The relationship strained further in 2018 when a small hole was found in the hull of part of the space station. Rogozin suggested publicly that a U.S. astronaut may have drilled the hole deliberately as a way to get back to Earth ahead of schedule.
In 2021, a Russian cargo craft arriving at the station had a misfire, nearly knocking the station out of its orbit.
Later that year, Russia defense officials conducted a test of an anti-satellite weapon, sending a cloud of debris hurtling around the Earth and threatening the ISS. Anonymous officials at Roskosmos said they were unaware of the test, and quietly voiced their own concerns. But the United States responded angrily.
Earlier this month, Roskosmos again drew a rebuke from NASA when three cosmonauts aboard the station posed for photographs with the flags of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
The timing of the stunt coincided with Russian claims that its forces completely controlled the Ukrainian region of Luhansk and that its troops were advancing slowly in what appeared to an effort to take all of Donetsk, as well.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Tajikistan to fully disclose information on the whereabouts of two detained bloggers with a history of critical views and immediately release them.
Zavqibek Saidamini and Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda were detained separately last week and no information has been made public about what charges they might face or where exactly they are being held.
Both Saidamini and Pirmuhammadzoda worked with journalists Daler Imomali and Abdullo Ghurbati, who were detained in mid-June, and have published calls for their release.
“Tajik authorities’ failure to provide information on the whereabouts of Zavqibek Saidamini and Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda is wholly unacceptable and a further sign of their blatant disregard for the law while attempting to stifle discussion of inconvenient topics,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a July 14 statement. “Authorities should immediately disclose Saidamini and Pirmuhammadzoda’s whereabouts and release them without delay.”
The bloggers' relatives have told RFE/RL that neither journalist appears to have been given access to a lawyer.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has been criticized by international human rights groups for years over his administration's alleged disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
Ukraine has touted the effectiveness of international sanctions over Russia's unprovoked invasion after Hungary's leader criticized Europe for "shooting itself in the lungs" with ill-considered financial and economic punishments.
Unprecedented sanctions on business, trade, and travel have been imposed by the European Union, the United States, and other governments since a simmering war with Russia-backed separatists was overtaken by tens of thousands of Russian troops pouring across the border into Ukraine in late February.
"It is not sanctions that are killing the European economy, but Russia's hybrid war," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on July 15.
Earlier in the day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told an interviewer that if the sanctions aren't rolled back they risk killing off the European economy.
"Initially I thought we had only shot ourselves in the foot, but now it is clear that the European economy has shot itself in the lungs, and it is gasping for air," Orban told Hungarian radio.
He cited rising gas and fuel costs, and called the current situation "unbearable."
Orban predicted a "moment of change" in Brussels and said "the sanctions policy was based on wrong assumptions and it must be changed."
Orban has expanded ties with Moscow while defiantly challenging Brussels in recent years, and he has pushed back hard in negotiations on Russian gas cutoffs with Hungary's fellow EU members.
Moscow has responded to international sanctions with countersanctions and other measures including trying to force previously agreed payments for gas and other goods into rubles instead of dollars or euros.
Orban said the sanctions "don't help Ukraine" and threaten to "kill off the European economy."
"Let me remind you that [sanctions] were introduced in response to the full-scale war launched by Russia against our state, which has already claimed tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, left hundreds of thousands of critical infrastructure facilities in ruins, and forced millions of people to leave their homes," the Ukrainian ministry countered. "Sanctions help hold the aggressor state accountable for its crimes, as well as weaken its ability to continue waging war."
Orban's national populist Fidesz party won national elections by a wide margin in April to keep him in power for another four years, based in part on a strategy of handouts and caps on some essential goods like fuel.
MOSCOW -- Russian authorities have added a formerly prominent Russian journalist who currently works for a Kyiv-based Ukrainian TV channel to their fugitives list.
Yevgeny Kiselyov's name appeared on the Interior Ministry's wanted list on July 15 without explanation.
Kiselyov is a former managing director of Russia's once-independent NTV television channel and currently works for the Ukraina 24 television channel in Kyiv.
In early April, Russia's Justice Ministry added Kiselyov to the registry of alleged foreign agents, saying he was involved in political activities sponsored by Ukraine.
Russian officials' long-running clampdown on media and independent criticism has dramatically increased since President Vladimir Putin launched his large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The 66-year-old Kiselyov was one of Russia's best-known journalists in the late 1990s and early 2000s in part for his coverage of corruption in the government.
He left NTV in 2001 after the state-controlled energy giant Gazprom took it over.
Kiselyov moved to Kyiv in 2008, citing greater freedom of expression in Ukraine.
His current programs at Ukraina 24 television channel in Kyiv are critical of Russia's ongoing invasion.
The Finance Ministry of Belarus has accused international debt-rating agency Moody's of a provocation that Minsk says is intended to affect its eurobond market.
Belarus tripped toward default as unprecedented sanctions largely cut off both it and ally Russia from international financial markets and reportedly led Minsk to miss a payment on its dollar bonds.
Moody's issued a comment on July 14 suggesting actions by Belarus "constitute a default."
Russia fell into default last month on its foreign debts for the first time since 1918, a result of sanctions and countermoves over its war on Ukraine that have included Moscow's efforts to force outsiders to make or accept payments in rubles rather than dollars or other hard currencies.
Countries that default generally lose access to global investors and are forced to pay higher costs of borrowing due to increased credit risk.
The Belarusian ministry added that it hadn't requested any assessment of Belarus's debt situation from Moody's nor had the agency contacted the ministry on the debt issue.
Belarus is a key Russian ally whose international isolation intensified amid a brutal crackdown after a flawed presidential election in 2020 in which longtime President Alyaskandr Lukashenka claimed re-election to a sixth term.
Lukashenka's regime has since sparked a migrant crisis on its borders with EU members, diverted an international flight to Minsk in an apparent scheme to detain a regime critic, and allowed thousands of Russian troops to stage part of the invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
The Finance Ministry on July 15 said Moody's accusation of default on sovereign debt was "provocative" and aimed at creating an "artificial shock" around Belarus eurobonds, according to Reuters.
The European Commission says it is referring Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over alleged discrimination against LGBT people, restrictions on media freedom, and gasoline pricing that discriminates against foreign-registered vehicles.
The commission announced the moves in a statement on July 15 as part of its regular package of decisions on infringements that endanger rights, fundamental freedoms, or rule of law among member states.
Entrenched Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been battling Brussels on a range of issues from perceived democratic and rights backsliding, to sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, to enlargement and other EU internal issues.
The LGBT issue has been a particular source of irritation between Brussels and Budapest.
"The Commission is...referring Hungary to the Court for (i) discrimination of LGBTIQ people and (ii) for restricting media freedom and the rights of Klubradio to use radio spectrum," the European Commission said on July 15.
Orban's government passed legal changes in June 2021 that drew sharp criticism from the European Commission, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, and members of the LGBT community who say they stigmatize sexual minorities and stifle discourse on sexual orientation.
The Hungarian law "discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity," the commission charged again in its infringements update.
The EU's executive arm has balked at taking Orban's government to court on the LGBT legislation over worries its interference could fuel anti-EU resentments.
Orban has repeatedly rejected accusations of discrimination and said the legislation allows parental control of what kind of sex education children receive at school.
Orban has also used his supermajority for more than a decade to exclude independent media and force a consolidation of friendly media owned by allies or under a nonprofit umbrella his party established several years ago.
The Klubradio case stems from a refusal by the Fidesz-dominated Hungarian Media Council to extend that independent broadcaster's license last year.
A Hungarian requirement introduced in May excludes motorists with foreign license plates from a price ceiling introduced last November -- along with other giveaways seen as luring voters ahead of national elections in April that were dominated by Fidesz.
It forces foreign vehicle owners instead to pay market prices for fuel at Hungarian gas stations.
"Finally, to protect the fundamental principles of free movement, which are the cornerstone of the EU's single market, the Commission is launching an infringement procedure against Hungary for having introduced discriminatory fuel prices for vehicles with a foreign number plate," the European Commision said on July 15.
A representative of Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine said on July 15 that Briton Paul Urey, who was captured by forces fighting against pro-Kyiv troops in Ukraine, has died in detention.
There was no immediate confirmation from British authorities.
"He died on July 10," Darya Morozova, a representative of a separatist group in Donetsk, said via Telegram.
She said the 45-year-old died "due to illness and stress."
Morozova also said Urey suffered from diabetes, a claim that could not immediately be confirmed.
Urey's capture in April by anti-Kyiv forces in the midst of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine that began in late February led to Russian television showing his interrogation in handcuffs.
Nongovernmental organizations and colleagues have described Urey as an aid volunteer.
The Russia-backed fighters have described him as a "professional" soldier and had accused him of "mercenary activities."
Urey's distraught daughters told Sky News in May that they were "preparing for the worst."
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh officials have banned the new Disney and Pixar film Lightyear over a scene showing two animated female characters kissing each other, sparking a backlash that includes a call for the culture minister's removal.
Culture and Sports Minister Dauren Abaev announced the screening blackout "due to numerous requests by citizens and media outlets" in the Central Asian nation on July 14. Abaev did not elaborate.
The computer-animated spinoff from the Toy Story series had been expected to premiere in Kazakh cinemas the same day.
In the days leading up to the expected release in the mostly Muslim nation of around 19 million people, some critics had attacked the same-sex kiss as "inappropriate."
An online petition demanding a ban was signed by more than 37,000 users.
Prominent Kazakh actor and director Nurtas Adambai issued an open letter urging President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to ban the film, saying "the state must restrict values not shared by us among our children."
Although homosexual relations were decriminalized in Kazkahstan in the 1990s, the European Parliament noted last year that LGBT citizens are still discriminated against, and members of that community routinely face violence or harassment.
There are no Kazakh laws banning LGBT scenes or related themes from films.
An online petition arose on July 14 urging an end to the ban and the resignation of Abaev, featuring a poll in which about two-thirds of around 9,000 respondents said they want the restriction lifted.
"[T]he Republic of Kazakhstan is a secular country and no religion can be recognized as leading or obligatory," it reads in part. "We consider Dauren Abaev's actions unconstitutional and unacceptable for the minister."
Lightyear is the latest installment based on the action figure Buzz Lightyear, who first appeared in the wildly successful Disney/Pixar Toy Story series.
It follows the exploits of a human "space ranger" named Buzz Lightyear within a fictional universe.
The new film has also been banned in more than a dozen other countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Malaysia.
KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, Russia -- A court in Siberia has acquitted LGBT activist and artist Yulia Tsvetkova in a high-profile case over drawings and other artwork depicting women's bodies that she posted online.
Tsvetkova’s mother, Anna Khodyreva, told RFE/RL on July 15 that the central district court in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur found Tsvetkova innocent in a trial that was held behind closed doors because prosecutors said they needed to show the images as evidence.
The acquittal will come into force in 10 days unless authorities appeal the ruling.
Last month, prosecutors said they were seeking a conviction and a 38-month prison sentence in the case.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tsvetkova was charged with producing and distributing pornographic material for administering a social media page called The Vagina Monologues that showed abstract art resembling female genitalia.
The artist, an activist who draws women's bodies, is known for her advocacy of LGBT issues.
Tsvetkova’s trial began in April 2021 after a nearly 1 1/2-year investigation during which she was fined for spreading LGBT "propaganda" and put under house arrest. In May of last year, she launched a hunger strike to protest the case against her.
Amnesty International has said the case against Tsvetkova amounts to political repression and “Kafkaesque absurdity.”
Russian prosecutors have declared investigative news outlets Bellingcat and The Insider "a threat" to the country and banned them as "undesirables" from operating inside Russia.
They also barred a Prague-based group that seeks to advance the rule of law and safeguard rights called the CEELI Institute, according to the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office website.
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The Prosecutor-General's Office alleges that the groups' work "poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the Russian Federation."
Prosecutors reportedly informed the Justice Ministry so it could include the groups on a national list of "undesirable" organizations. That list now includes 56 organizations.
The move threatens individuals who cooperate with those groups with possible criminal penalties.
The Dutch-based open-source sleuthing group Bellingcat has published hard-hitting investigative reports on the downing of the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine eight years ago, Russian intelligence activities including alleged attempted assassinations abroad, and other sensitive topics.
It was founded by British journalist Eliot Higgins in 2014, shortly after Russia annexed Crimea and Russia-backed separatists launched armed warfare in eastern Ukraine.
The Insider is based in Riga and was founded by journalist and activist Roman Dobrokhotov. It has frequently collaborated with Bellingcat on investigative work.
The Insider has reported extensively on suspected Russian poisonings, including of Kremlin critics like Aleksei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, as well as on alleged covert Russian actions abroad.
Both Bellingcat and The Insider are also reporting extensively on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The CEELI Institute lists its mission as strengthening judicial independence and integrity, fighting corruption, supporting civil society, and building legal skills and capacity. It says it is funded by corporate and individual donations.
The "undesirable" list has been used to punish or muzzle many critics of Russian authorities, and its use has intensified since Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in February.
A court in Krasnodar Krai is expected to issue a verdict on July 15 in the case of Andrei Pivovarov, the former executive director of the pro-democracy Open Russia movement, on charges that he headed an “undesirable” organization.
He's called the prosecution "ridiculous."
President Vahagn Khachaturian appointed a new chief of the Armenian Army's General Staff, filling a position that has been vacant for nearly five months after a handful of dismissals spearheaded by the prime minister.
The appointment of Major General Edward Asrian was announced just over a week after Armenia's parliament approved a government bill that made the country’s top general directly subordinate to the defense minister.
Asrian was the choice of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the top army job.
The previous army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Artak Davtian, and six other senior generals were fired in February through presidential decrees also initiated by Pashinian.
The sackings came one year after Davtian’s predecessor, Onik Gasparian, and 40 other high-ranking officers issued a joint statement accusing Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanding its resignation.
Asrian was among the signatories of the February 2021 statement welcomed by the Armenian opposition but condemned by Pashinian as a coup attempt.
Some pro-government lawmakers have acknowledged that Pashinian’s administration hopes a bill passed by the National Assembly on July 7 will prevent the army top brass from challenging them in the future.
Under the bill criticized by the opposition, the chief of the General Staff will also hold the post of first deputy defense minister, although he won't assume ministerial duties in the case of the defense minister's absence.
Pashinian promised a major reform of the military shortly after Armenia’s defeat in the intense flare-up of its decades-old war with Azerbaijan in 2020.
He has replaced three defense ministers since a Russian-brokered cease-fire ended the six weeks of hostilities in November 2020.
Opposition forces blame Pashinian for the disastrous fighting that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead and say his administration is doing little to rebuild the armed forces.
Ukrainian authorities say Russian troops heavily shelled the northeastern Kharkiv region overnight on July 14-15, as rescue efforts continued in a historic city to the southwest where dozens were killed or are unaccounted for after an apartment building was bombed.
Meanwhile, finance leaders from the G20 leading economies are gathering in Bali for what host Indonesia says is a crucial meeting to mitigate the catastrophic humanitarian fallout from Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine.
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, worldwide reaction, and the plight of civilians and refugees. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
The Ukrainian State Service for Emergency Situations reported that the Kharkiv Oblast and the regional center were struck with rockets beginning around 3 a.m. overnight.
It said rockets had struck at least one home, as well as near an educational facility. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Kyiv has been saying for weeks that Russian forces are trying to make Kharkiv a "frontline city" in the war, which has otherwise shifted heavily to eastern regions around where Russia-backed separatists have held territory since 2014.
Meanwhile, rescue teams were trying to locate some of at least 39 people unaccounted for after Russian missiles struck the historic town of Vinnytsya in central Ukraine on July 14, leaving scores more civilians dead and injured.
Ukrainian authorities said at least 23 people, including three children, were killed in the midday attack on a city hundreds of kilometers from the front line, which came as EU officials convened in The Hague to discuss war crimes in Ukraine.
State Emergency Services said at least 52 people were injured in Vinnytsya. The city council there said many of them were in serious or critical condition.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said three children were among those killed and tweeted what he said was a photo of the body of one of the children, calling it the "deliberate murder of civilians to spread fear" and calling Russia "a terrorist state."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the Vinnytsya attack "an open act of terrorism.”
Across the globe, host Indonesia has warned that G20 finance leaders gathering in Bali must make progress tackling the global economic threats sparked by Russia's war on Ukraine or face catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned Russia's "brutal and unjust war" in Ukraine and said Russian finance officials taking part in the meeting share responsibility for the "horrific consequences" of the war.
During his visit to Israel, U.S. President Joe Biden said on July 14 that "Putin’s war must be [made into] a strategic failure."
A court in Russia's southwestern city of Krasnodar has handed a four-year prison term to Andrei Pivovarov, the former executive director of the pro-democracy Open Russia movement, on charges of heading an “undesirable” organization.
The Lenin district court sentenced Pivovarov on July 15 after finding him guilty of leading the Open Russia group. The court also barred Pivovarov from being elected to public office.
In his last statement at trial, Pivovarov said the case against him was trumped up and politically motivated.
"Although those who are calling to stand for the future are being oppressed and jailed, I know that progress is unstoppable, changes for a better life are inevitable, and they are close. See you in our new, desirable, and open Russia. We will make it!" Pivovarov said.
The accusation against Pivovarov stems from a law that has repeatedly been used to target critical voices.
Pivovarov was first detained in May 2021 when he was taken off a Warsaw-bound plane just before takeoff from St. Petersburg.
Leaders of the Russia-based Open Russia dissolved the group more than a year ago after authorities designated it an "undesirable" organization. They said they did so to protect supporters from further "harassment" by the Russian authorities.
Open Russia was financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin politically.
The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
The Russian State Duma has since dramatically widened the scope of the law, including to bar Russian nationals and organizations anywhere in the world from taking part in activities of such "undesirable" groups.
Putin this week signed into law an expansion of the so-called foreign agents law to allow punishment for anyone deemed to be "under foreign influence," a change that critics say will make it even easier for the state to target its domestic critics.
The United States on July 14 sought to reassure businesses that facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports that their transactions would not breach sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued statements on its website aimed at reassuring banks, shipping, and insurance companies that handle certain Russian commodities that their activities are not restricted by sanctions.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which oversees U.S. sanctions, issued a broad general license to authorize certain transactions related to agricultural commodities, agricultural equipment, medicine, and medical devices.
Enabling exports of Russian food and fertilizer is a key part of attempts by the United Nations and Turkish officials to broker a deal with Moscow that would also allow for shipments of Ukrainian grain that are stuck in silos because of Ukrainian Black Sea ports have been blockaded by the war.
The Treasury Department's announcement says the United States "strongly supports efforts by the United Nations to bring both Ukrainian and Russian grain to world markets and to reduce the impact of Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine on global food supplies and prices."
The department also issued a fact sheet “to further clarify that the United States has not imposed sanctions on the production, manufacturing, sale, or transport of agricultural commodities (including fertilizer), agricultural equipment, or medicine relating to the Russian Federation (Russia).”
The U.S. clarification came a day after Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and UN officials met in Istanbul for talks aimed at resuming Ukraine's grain exports.
Turkey said after the talks that the parties would return next week to sign a deal.
Moscow has denied responsibility for worsening the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.
Eduard Zernin, head of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, described the U.S. move as "an act of goodwill" and a "real step in the fight against world hunger."
"We sincerely hope that other countries involved will follow this example and issue the necessary clarifications and licenses in order to remove hidden sanctions that hinder the supply of grain to countries in need," he told Reuters.
The war in Ukraine has sent prices soaring for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer, raising concerns that the situation could worsen a global food crisis affecting some of the world’s poorest countries.
Ukraine and Russia are major global wheat suppliers. Russia is also a large fertilizer exporter, while Ukraine is a significant producer of corn and sunflower oil.
Hundreds of protesters blocked a downtown Budapest bridge on July 14 for the third day in a row to demonstrate a tax change backed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.
The protesters who blocked Elisabeth Bridge over the Danube River oppose the proposal put forth by Orban's conservative government that would increase the tax rate for hundreds of thousands of small businesses.
Traffic was blocked for three hours on July 12, the first night of the protest, which represents one of the first major shows of public disconnect with the nationalist leader’s government since his reelection in April.
The turnout on the evening of July 14 was lower than the night before when several thousand people demonstrated, shouting, "We've had enough!" and "Dirty Fidesz!" and chanting anti-Orban slogans.
Peter Marki-Zay, the opposition candidate who ran against Orban in the April election, told protesters on July 14 that Orban's Fidesz party since the election had proved “that all its words were lies."
The Central European country already faces soaring inflation and a plunging local currency amid talks with Brussels over EU funding.
Inflation has hit double digits in recent months for the first time in 20 years despite a range of price caps set by Orban.
His government submitted the new amendments to the tax law to parliament on July 12 and used its supermajority to push it through on July 13. It proposes to tighten eligibility for a simplified tax regime that many small businesses opted into because of the eased administration and low tax rate.
Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has been accused by his Western partners of abuses in the EU and NATO member country and of chipping away at media freedom and other civil liberties.
SKOPJE -- Lawmakers in North Macedonia have resumed a contentious debate on a French compromise deal to lift Bulgaria's veto blocking Macedonian talks on joining the European Union.
The recent French Presidency's proposal is the only item on the National Assembly's agenda, but arguments could continue into the weekend.
There have been no reports of disruptions or violence.
Thousands of people protested in Skopje and police sealed off the parliament from protesters on July 14 as lawmakers held a raucous first day of debate on the deal, which was recently endorsed by the Bulgarian side.
Opposition deputies inside the parliament chamber blew horns as Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski asked deputies to accept the deal to "move forward, with a protected past, with a certain and stable present, and ultimately a better future."
Deputies loyal to the government applauded him, while some of the opposition shouted, "Traitor! Traitor!"
Rock-throwing and other unrest erupted after reports that Paris floated the compromise late last month.
Bulgaria invoked its veto power on negotiations with would-be members in 2020 to block North Macedonia's candidacy based on accusations that the Macedonian language was simply Bulgarian by another name and that Skopje was disrespecting its shared cultural and historic ties to Bulgarians.
The dispute has underscored regional resentments and risks a further erosion of Balkan faith in the European Union.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the parliament before the debate on July 14, urging lawmakers to approve the deal.
“We want you in the EU,” von der Leyen said in the Macedonian language in her speech, telling deputies the Macedonian language is protected in the compromise deal.
The nationalist opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) has led daily protests since the beginning of July over the deal, which opponents say endangers the language and identity of North Macedonia.
North Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership for 17 years but its approval had been blocked first by Greece over a name dispute and now by Bulgaria, both members of the bloc.
The Bulgarian parliament lifted its veto last month in anticipation of approval in Skopje, also causing unrest in that country and contributing to a no-confidence vote that toppled Kiril Petkov's government.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said last week that in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, advancing the path to EU membership for North Macedonia, along with that of Albania, is important to all of Europe.
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