A bipartisan, bicameral group of US lawmakers is pressing for tougher action on what they describe as democratic backsliding, corruption, and growing Russian, Chinese, and Iranian influence in Serbia, just weeks before snap parliamentary elections.
Historian Margaret MacMillan warns that increasingly interconnected wars are increasing the risk of a wider conflict, as she discusses Ukraine’s future, Putin’s Russia, NATO’s vulnerabilities, and an emerging “new world disorder.”
Georgian-Israeli dentist Shota Musayev told RFE/RL that he feared he might not survive when he left his wife’s side to help after the lead pilot was allegedly stabbed by his co-pilot during a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Israel on September 30.
US authorities designated the A7 financial network as a "significant transnational criminal organization," the latest in a series of steps by Western authorities to try and choke the sprawling Kremlin-backed sanctions-evading scheme.
Tajikistan has begun receiving oil and petroleum products from Iran in a move to diversify supplies long dominated by Russia. The volume, price, and route of the shipments remain unknown, raising questions about the commercial scale of the trade and potential US secondary sanctions risks.
In the days between the elections and his arrest, Aleksandr Kynev had pointed to evidence of falsifications benefitting the United Russia party. Some analysts see his arrest and reported beating as a sign of a power struggle pitting security agencies against political operatives in Putin’s Kremlin.
Pakistani air strikes hit targets in Afghanistan's Kunar and Helmand provinces overnight on October 1. Pakistani authorities said they were targeting militants operating near the border, but Afghan witnesses said civilians were among the dead, including children.
Ukraine is now using a fence-like device designed to snag and cut the cables of fiberoptic drones, weapons that have confounded militaries throughout the world.
In mid-September, Belarus released 25 prisoners held in politically linked cases after the United States agreed to ease sanctions. Now three US senators are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to pursue a similar approach to free political detainees in Azerbaijan.
The Lenin District Court in Bishkek found activist and politician Mavlyan Askarbekov guilty and sentenced to two years in prison on offenses related to a law on incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious, or interregional hatred, a verdict he called "absurd."
Exports of crude oil from the Middle East hit their highest level in September since the war with Iran began, reinforcing a trend of increased supplies despite Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to analysis of shipping and commodity market data by industry observers.
Georgia has summoned Iran’s ambassador after his plans to publish a personal interpretation of Queen Ketevan’s history sparked criticism from ruling party lawmakers. Revered as a saint in Georgia, Ketevan was tortured and killed in Persia in the 17th century after refusing to renounce Christianity.
Pakistan carried out a round of air strikes on October 1 on two Afghan provinces near the border based on "credible evidence" of militant activity in the area.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry has summoned Iran's ambassador after he announced plans to publish his own research into Queen Ketevan. The 17th-century monarch was tortured and executed in Persia, and the Georgian Orthodox Church venerates her as a saint.
Afghan refugees being held at a camp in Qatar have been told it will be kept open for another nine months after a deadline for its closure passed, but they face continuing uncertainty over their fate amid an ongoing bar on entry to the United States.
Oleshky, a Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces 9 kilometers from Kherson, is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Since 2023, the city has been without electricity, gas, or drinking water. Now, Ukrainian teams are airlifting food supplies into the embattled area.
Hundreds of Afghan medical students in Pakistan face expulsion, including women and students nearing graduation. Courts in several parts of the country have temporarily allowed them to stay and continue their studies, but their long-term future remains uncertain.
The United States has new powers to increase economic pressure on Russia, but their impact will depend on whether the Trump administration uses them consistently and makes clear what it wants Moscow and other governments to do, former US diplomat Daniel Fried told RFE/RL.