The European Union is calling for financial sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian head of the world chess federation, a historian who is a close adviser to President Vladimir Putin, and other top officials.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government used live fire to disperse a protest in the western city of Herat over new restrictions on women, eyewitnesses told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Afghan Talliban forces used gunfire to disperse a women’s rights protest in the western city of Herat on June 9 after residents demonstrated against the recent arrest of women accused of violating the mandatory dress code. One eyewitness said at least one person was killed.

Residents of Russian-occupied Crimea are reporting empty shelves in grocery stores and purchase limits on a number of basic goods. This comes amid a regional transportation collapse and fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and vital infrastructure.

The US House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring the administration to produce a detailed assessment of Russian and Chinese intelligence activities in Georgia

In this week's briefing, RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak is drilling down on two issues: a damning rule-of-law assessment for Serbia and the latest Franco-German EU enlargement proposal.

Kyiv Residents have mixed reactions over the removal of a statue of writer Mikhail Bulgakov, author of The Master And Margarita. Born in Kyiv, the novelist penned sharp satires of Soviet society. But Ukrainian officials said Bulgakov also symbolized Russian imperial thinking.

The Gulf conflict has underscored the growing importance of mass-produced, low-cost weapons systems, particularly drones and munitions, and exposed the limitations of relying on expensive defensive technologies to counter them, according an executive at the defense tech firm Mach Industries.

RFE/RL spoke with Nathan Diller, a retired US Air Force colonel and current executive at defense technology firm Mach Industries, about the continued diplomatic engagement between Iran, Israel, and the United States.

The summer tourist season is starting in Russian-occupied Crimea, but with Ukrainian drone attacks and fuel shortages, how many people will visit? Current Time correspondent Andrey Cherkasov explains, tour operators are trying to put a positive spin on the crisis, but it's being met with skepticism.

Iran launched ballistic missiles at northern Israel on June 7, describing the attack as retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Israel responded with a "large-scale strike" on Iran's strategic defense systems. US President Donald Trump urged both sides to avoid further escalation.

Russian authorities suspended train service for Crimea after a Ukrainian drone knocked out a locomotive, further squeezing commerce to the occupied Black Sea peninsula struggling with fuel shortages.

The Israeli military said its forces targeted Iranian regime sites early on June 8 in retaliation for Tehran's latest attacks on Israel and shortly after US President Donald Trump said he would tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to conduct such strikes.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian early on June 8 declared victory for his Civil Contract party over several pro-Russia groupings, with his party hovering around 50 percent as votes are counted, higher than pre-vote surveys suggested.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran to turn a cease-fire into a peace settlement is still "very close," even after Iran launched its first wave of air strikes against Israel since the fragile April truce took effect.

Russian forces hit a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said June 7. He called the strike an "extremely vile" attack as international atomic energy monitors announced it did not lead to a spike in radiation.

When Kazakhstan launched Central Asia’s first large-scale cloud-seeding program on May 17, it called it a high-tech response to drought, water scarcity, and accelerating desertification.

The ruling Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has taken a big lead in a crucial parliamentary election, gaining 51.4 percent of the vote as initial ballots are counted.

Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at targets across Russia, including the St. Petersburg region, around 1,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Residents filmed drones overhead and smoke rising from military sites. The attack came on the final day of Russia’s flagship investment forum.

Kazakhstan has offered to host Iran's enriched uranium in order to streamline a potential peace deal between Tehran and Washington. The offer comes more than 30 years after a massive haul of weapons-grade uranium was taken out of the Central Asian country and flown to the US.