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The Revolutionary Court of Isfahan has acquitted Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper who was sentenced to death over his protest songs against the Islamic Republic.

Salehi’s lawyer said the court that heard his client's case in 2022 on the charge of "corruption on Earth" issued the ruling on August 14.

Amir Raesian said on X that Branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan had issued a verdict of acquittal in the case.

He added that the court also "issued a suspension of the prosecution order on other charges” and sent two charges of publishing computer lies and disturbing order to Criminal Court 2 with a “disqualification order.”

Salehi was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in May on the "corruption on Earth” charge, but the Supreme Court overturned the punishment and referred the case to a parallel branch of the Revolutionary Court for reconsideration.

Salehi was serving a six-year prison sentence for his involvement in the 2022 protests that rocked Iran when he was sentenced to death on the "corruption on Earth” charge.

Salehi was initially arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in police custody for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly.

Salehi gained prominence for lyrics that rail against corruption, widespread poverty, executions, and the killing of protesters in Iran. His songs also point to a widening gap between ordinary Iranians and the country's leadership, accusing the authorities of "suffocating" the people without regard for their well-being.

After spending much of his pretrial detention in solitary confinement, he was sentenced to six years in prison but released in November 2023 on appeal after the Supreme Court found "flaws in the original sentence." But he was arrested with "beatings" only 12 days later after a video describing his torture in prison was published.

In a letter published in late May, Amnesty International said Salehi had been tortured and beaten repeatedly during his detention.

Russian forces launched a ballistic missile strike on Ukraine's southern city of Odesa on August 14, hitting port infrastructure and injuring the driver of a grain truck, the regional governor said.

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The attack came as the Ukrainian military continues to advance into the Kursk region, taking over more territory as they go.

The incident in Odesa occurred in the evening after the air force warned of a possible attack with ballistic weapons and declared an alarm.

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said the truck driver who was injured in the attack was hospitalized.

The forces advancing in Kursk took over as much as 2 kilometers of territory in some directions on August 14, according to the Ukrainian military. They are creating a "security zone," said Iryna Vereshchuk, deputy prime minister and minister of reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories. The goal is to help protect the border regions, primarily Sumy, from daily enemy shelling.

She noted that the Russian civilians in this zone are under the protection of international humanitarian law, which she said Ukraine fully complies with. Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets added that the Ukrainian military strictly adheres to the obligations stipulated by the Geneva and Hague Conventions.

Vereshchuk said Ukrainian forces plan to conducting humanitarian operations to support civilians within the security zone, open humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians to both Russia and Ukraine, admit international humanitarian organizations to the security zone, and monitor the humanitarian situation.

She announced the plans after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy regarding the situation in the Kursk region during which humanitarian aid was discussed.

Zelenskiy said authorities are considering creating military command posts in the Kursk region. Lubinets said these would be necessary to provide humanitarian aid to local residents.

Authorities in Russia's western Belgorod region earlier on August 14 declared a regional state of emergency [...] and a senior U.S. diplomat was in Kyiv to express continued support for Ukraine's war effort.

"The situation in our Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense," Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram on August 14. "There is daily shelling from the armed forces of Ukraine. Homes have been destroyed and civilians have been injured and killed."

Earlier, Belgorod announced the evacuation of thousands of civilians from districts bordering Ukraine and the Kursk region.

Moscow has declared an "anti-terrorism operation" in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien, who arrived in Kyiv on August 13, met with presidential administration head Andriy Yermak. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said the two men discussed the battlefield situation and security cooperation.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote on the X social-media site that O'Brien's visit sent "a powerful signal" that "U.S. support for Ukraine remains unwavering."

The Russian Defense Ministry said on August 14 that 37 Ukrainian drones had been "destroyed" over the Voronezh region, several hundred kilometers southwest of Moscow. Voronezh region Governor Aleksandr Gusev said no casualties had been reported, but several residential buildings were damaged.

In all, the ministry said 117 drones and "four tactical missiles" had been launched against Russia overnight, including 37 that were reportedly "destroyed" over the Kursk region.

A source within the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on August 14 that it had carried out a major strike on Russian military airfields in the Kursk, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod regions aimed at preventing Russia from using those bases to launch attacks against Ukraine.

The claim could not be independently confirmed.

Ukrainian state TV on August 14 broadcast footage purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers pulling down the Russian flag from a building in the Kursk region town of Sudzha, about 10 kilometers from the border between the two countries.

The Russian head of the Sudzha district told the TASS state news agency that the evacuation of civilians from the area was ongoing and that the situation there remained "difficult."

It is not possible to verify battlefield claims.

Russia's main soccer league announced that a match scheduled to be held on August 18 in Voronezh would be held in Moscow instead.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region on August 6 and claim to have occupied about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in Helsinki that Ukraine "has the right to self-defense and it's clear that they can do their operation in Kursk."

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The U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported on August 13, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that Russia had transferred some of its forces from Ukraine to the defense of the Kursk region, which analysts have said was a key goal for Kyiv.

The officials said it was unclear how many troops had been transferred or what impact the move could have on the fighting in Ukraine.

The Russian publication Vyorstka wrote on Telegram on August 13 that Russian conscripts who had been evacuated from the fighting in the Kursk region were facing increased pressure from military officials to sign volunteer contracts and return to the front.

With reporting by Reuters

An American citizen has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of using violence against a police officer, Russia's Investigative Committee said on August 14.

The man was detained on August 12 on a "hooliganism" charge, the Investigative Committee said.

"The defendant refused to provide documents proving his identity after which he used violence against a law enforcement officer," investigators said.

The Investigative Committee did not identify the man, but a Telegram channel monitoring Moscow courts identified the man as Joseph Tater and said he had been sentenced to 15 days in jail for petty hooliganism.

Interfax previously identified the man as Joseph Tager, 46, and said he was detained for hooliganism and subsequently assaulted a police officer, leading to a separate criminal case being opened against him.

U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington that the State Department is aware of reports that another American citizen has been arrested in Russia, and said "we're working to get as much information as we can, working to ascertain the consular situation, and see if consular access is available."

Several other Americans remain behind bars in Russia even after a prisoner swap on August 1 involving 16 people that Moscow agreed to free in exchange for eight Russians jailed in the United States and Europe.

One of them, Ksenia Karelina, has been held in Russia since January and is facing a possible 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to treason. Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in January in Yekaterinburg, where she had traveled to meet relatives. A verdict is expected on August 15.

Karelina was initially charged with hooliganism, reportedly for cursing at police officers. Security agents, however, searched her phone and said they discovered that prior to traveling to Russia she had made a $51 donation to a U.S-based organization that provides aid and assistance to Ukraine.

The August 1 prisoner swap involving the United States, Russia, and several European countries included three high-profile U.S. citizens, as well as five German citizens jailed in Russia and Belarus and eight Russian political activists held in Russia in connection with their opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

Among those freed by Russia were RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti on August 14 defended his government's plan to open the main bridge in Mitrovica, which divides the northern city into the Albanian-majority south and the Serb-majority north, despite international criticism.

Kurti informed Western diplomats in Pristina at the beginning of August of his plans to open the bridge to vehicle traffic, a move that was opposed by members of both NATO and Quint, an informal decision-making group consisting of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Britain.

The announcement sparked protests by Serbs in northern Kosovo, who expressed concerns that the move would increase ethnic tensions and impact their safety.

The U.S. ambassador to Pristina Jeffrey Hovenier has said that, while the United States believes the bridge should ultimately be open to vehicles, "this is not the time," due to security concerns.

"We believe there's real risk associated with taking this action right now," he said in an interview with RFE/RL's Kosovo Service on August 13, citing potential violence and threats to NATO soldiers, including Americans.

NATO forces have been operating in Kosovo to maintain peace and stability since 1999, when the military alliance intervened to stop escalating violence being perpetrated by Serbian forces against ethnic Albanians.

Soldiers from NATO's mission to Kosovo, KFOR, are currently stationed on the bridge in Mitrovica, while members of the Kosovo Police patrol nearby.

KFOR commander Ozkan Ulutash held a meeting with Kurti late on August 13, and called on "all the actors to refrain from unilateral statements and actions that could create tensions."

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But Kurti has defended the plans to open the bridge, saying that his government will continue consultations with international partners.

"The opening of the bridge is not against anyone, especially not against international partners," Kurti said during a government meeting on August 14.

He added that he and his government consider the move "to be the right, necessary, and beneficial thing for everyone."

Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement about the bridge in Brussels in 2014 and the European Union funded its revitalization worth 1.5 million euros. The bridge was supposed to open in 2017, but it is currently open only for pedestrians.

The EU has repeated its stance that the issue of opening of the bridge in Mitrovica should be resolved within the framework of official dialogue.

Kosovo's plan to open the bridge in Mitrovica comes amid rising tensions in the Serb-majority north of the country.

Earlier in August, the Kosovar authorities closed down nine branches of the Serbian post office in the north after determining that they were operating illegally and without a license, a move that was criticized by the United States and the European Union, which has mediated Serbia-Kosovo relations for over a decade.

There are an estimated 120,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo, mostly in the north, and many still receive benefits or pensions from Serbia, which has never recognized Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.

The Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of its return to power in Afghanistan with a military parade on August 14 amid what international aid groups say is one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian crises.

Taliban forces seized Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, after the U.S.-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile.

Their government remains unrecognized by any other state, with restrictions on women, who bear the brunt of the radical group's policies that the United Nations has branded "gender apartheid," remaining a key sticking point.

The Taliban takeover is marked both in mid-August around the date Kabul fell and at the end of the month, when the last U.S.-led international troops left Afghanistan amid a chaotic withdrawal.

The withdrawal, agreed by the United States and the Taliban on February 29, 2020, allowed the radical Islamist movement's return to power 20 years after being ousted by U.S. forces following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

The August 14 military parade was held at the Bagram airfield, some 40 kilometers north of Kabul, which was once the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. The audience of some 10,000 men included senior Taliban officials. Women were barred.

Uniformed soldiers marched carrying light and heavy machine guns, with a motorcycle formation bearing the Taliban flag. The parade was also an opportunity to showcase some of the military hardware abandoned by U.S. and NATO-led forces after decades of war: helicopters, Humvees, and tanks.

Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who had been scheduled to appear at Bagram, praised the Taliban authorities' victory over "Western occupiers" in a statement read by his chief of staff.

The Taliban government has "the responsibility to maintain Islamic rule, protect property, people's lives, and the respect of our nation," the statement said.

But international aid organizations have warned that millions of Afghans struggle in "one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian crises, three years after the change in power."

"Heavily dependent on humanitarian aid, Afghans are trapped in cycles of poverty, displacement, and despair. Afghanistan is at risk of becoming a forgotten crisis without sustained support and engagement from the international community," a statement by 10 organizations said on August 13.

The aid groups -- including Save the Children, World Vision, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and the International Rescue Committee -- said an estimated 23.7 million people are currently in need of assistance in Afghanistan, out of a population of around 40 million.

More than 6.3 million people are internally displaced in Afghanistan, the statement said, while unemployment has doubled over the past year.

Women and girls are among the most seriously affected by this humanitarian crisis, Human Rights Watch has said.

The Taliban has created "the world's most serious women's rights crisis," the organization said in a press release on August 11.

Since the Taliban's return to power, women have been squeezed from public life -- banned from many jobs as well as parks and gyms -- and barred from secondary and higher education.

"The issues of education -- women's education and work -- and their participation at national and international level have been completely nullified and pushed to the sidelines," a female resident of Kabul, who preferred not to be named due to security concerns, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Afghan women's rights activists have been campaigning to declare the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women and girls as gender apartheid.

With reporting by AFP, AP and dpa

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin discussed security issues and the "involvement of external forces" in Serbia with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Moscow, the Serbian government said on August 13.

Vulin thanked the Russian security agencies that "warned Serbian leadership about preparations for mass unrest and an attempted coup," a government statement said.

Vulin, who has been designated by the United States for sanctions due to his close ties to the Kremlin, met with Shoigu after a mass environmental protest over the weekend in Belgrade in which thousands of citizens demanded a ban on lithium mining. Three activists were jailed and several were questioned by police.

The Serbian government accused organizers and participants in the protests, which have been ongoing for weeks across Serbia, of attempting to violently overthrow Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic said last week that Russian security services "warned that mass unrest was being prepared in Serbia, with the ultimate goal of a coup and the overthrow of the country's leadership."

Foreign policy analyst Bosko Jaksic told RFE/RL this was "a colossal manipulation" and considers Vucic's statements "part of a multiyear game of swinging between East and West."

He said the Russians "use every situation everywhere in the world" to destabilize and "turn countries and politicians against the West."

Vulin, who is on an official visit to Russia, reiterated on August 12 that Serbia would not impose sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Serbia justifies its refusal citing friendly relations with Russia and the support it receives from Moscow.

The protesters demand a halt to Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto's lithium project in Jadar in western Serbia over fears it could pollute nearby land and water.

The organizers of the most recent mass protest demand the release of the three activists -- Ivan Bjelic, Nikola Ristic and Jevdenije Julijan Dimitrijevic.

Their lawyer, Marko Pantic, told RFE/RL they were charged with violating the Law on Public Order and Peace and released on August 13.

Pantic had filed an appeal against verdicts issued by the Misdemeanor Court, which told RFE/EL the three activists were convicted in the first instance for "indecent, insolent and reckless behavior."

The article referred to by the court provides for a sentence of 30 to 60 days in prison for those who "disturb public order and peace or endanger property or insult the morale of citizens by indecent, insolent or reckless behavior."

The court declined to answer RFE/RL’s inquiry on the specific allegations against the three activists.

Pantic told RFE/RL all three allegedly approached a journalist from a pro-government newspaper, surrounded her, obstructed her work, and yelled at her. In addition, Bjelic is charged with waving a sandwich in the journalist’s face and pushing it into her mouth.

"We hope and believe that the verdict will be quashed and that all three defendants will be released," Pantic said.

PRISTINA -- The U.S. ambassador to Pristina has expressed concerns about the partnership between the United States and Kosovo, especially regarding the government's handling of issues related to the country's Serb minority.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Kosovo Service, the ambassador, Jeffrey Hovenier, said "the quality of our partnership is not what we would hope it would be on some of these issues" and that the U.S. administration had been "challenged" by Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his government.

In recent weeks there has been an uptick of tensions in the Serb-majority north of the country, with ethnic Serbs protesting against the government's plan to reopen a controversial bridge and the closure of Serbian post office branches.

Ethnic Serbs are protesting the government's plan to reopen to vehicular traffic a bridge in the northern city of Mitrovica, which separates Serbian and Albanian communities and has been a flashpoint for violence in the past.

While the Kosovar government has said reopening the bridge can better integrate the Serbian population and boost the regional economy, locals Serbs are concerned that the move would increase ethnic tensions and impact their safety.

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Ambassador Hovenier said that, while the United States believes the bridge should ultimately be open to vehicles, "this is not the time" due to security concerns.

"We believe there's real risk associated with taking this action right now," he said, citing potential violence and threats to NATO soldiers, including Americans.

NATO forces have been operating in Kosovo to maintain peace and stability since 1999, when the military alliance intervened to stop escalating violence being perpetrated by Serbian forces against ethnic Albanians.

Before the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Kosovo was an autonomous province within Serbia, which was itself a constituent republic of Yugoslavia.

While acknowledging areas of positive cooperation between the United States and Kosovo, particularly in economic development and strengthening government institutions, Hovenier said Washington had been "challenged by the prime minister and by his government" regarding its handling of issues pertaining to the Serb minority.

Last week, the Kosovar authorities closed down nine branches of the Serbian post office in the north after determining that they were operating illegally and without a license, a move that was criticized by the United States and the EU, which has mediated Serbia-Kosovo relations for over a decade.

There are an estimated 120,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo, mostly in the north, and many still receive benefits or pensions from Serbia, which has never recognized Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.

Jeffrey Hovenier Speaks To RFE/RL

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Kosovo's Serbs have protested against Pristina's authority in areas such as health care, pensions, education, and customs controls.

In the interview, the U.S. ambassador expressed concern that Kosovo's drive for EU accession could be "negatively affected" by the government's actions.

As Kosovo seeks participation in international organizations such as NATO, the Council of Europe, and the EU, Hovenier stressed that the government's recent moves "reduce the appetite and reduce...the enthusiasm for supporting Kosovo on these paths."

"I have not seen a lot of enthusiasm in support of this government's efforts right now for new memberships in international organizations," he said.

Hovenier also emphasized how important it was for Kosovo to secure the support of existing members of international organizations, especially as "certain countries in those institutions...don't recognize Kosovo the way we do as a sovereign, independent state."

The United States and all but five EU members are among the more than 100 nations who acknowledge Kosovo's independence.

Hovenier urged the Kosovo government to take into account U.S. concerns, saying the U.S. requests were "heartfelt" and "humble."