Headlines- A "final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached" between the US and Iran, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with "next steps" still to be decided.
- Iranian state media's description of an agreement, according to US President Trump earlier on Friday, has "nothing to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing."
- Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has stated that a deal with the United States to put an end to fighting in Iran is close and includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
- A mass shooting in Midland, Texas, on Friday morning resulted in one death and ten injuries. The alleged gunman is dead after a confrontation with police, according to authorities.
- Monitoring group SITE reported on Friday that an Iran-affiliated hacking group known as Handala claimed to have breached FBI drones and vowed to target the 2026 World Cup.
Tag: RFE/RL
‘He’s Innocent’: Activist’s Wife Reflects On...
It’s been 10 years since Azimjon Askarov was arrested by Kyrgyz security forces in connection with ethnic Uzbek-Kyrgyz clashes that first erupted in the city of Osh. The violence left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. His wife, Khadicha Askarova, told RFE/RL that in that time “our grandchildren have been born. Some of them have passed away.” A court in Bishkek recently upheld the ethnic Uzbek human rights activist’s life sentence, despite international pressure for his release
Video Report Digest
A group of NGOs has launched a website providing the public with information on a controversial mass-surveillance system that is currently being installed in Belgrade.Activists were detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg on May 29 after protesting against a 15-day jail sentence handed down to prominent Russian journalist Ilya Azar. He was arrested for holding a one-person protest in support of activist Vladimir Vorontsov
Afghan Boy Gets Prosthetic Hands And...
A 14-year-old Afghan boy who lost both hands after being hit by a roadside bomb is getting used to new prosthetic limbs. An international NGO and a human rights group helped him after he was featured in an RFE/RL report
I’m Truly Devastated’: Babies Left Motherless...
Medical staff in the Afghan capital, Kabul, have been caring for newborn babies left motherless in a deadly attack on a maternity hospital by gunmen on May 12. Volunteers have come forward to breastfeed the children. It’s still unclear who was behind the atrocity
Love is in the Air
Afghan shopkeeper Saeed Wali has finally married his fiancee after taking 12 years to pay a $2,800 bride price..Armenian newlyweds Georgy and Tatev Kantaria work as a doctor and a nurse. They went straight from their honeymoon to treating COVID-19 patients and say married life can wait
COVID-19: Stuck in Lockdown
Police in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, detained several people who gathered to demonstrate against the government’s COVID-19 lockdown measures. Some protesters were forced into police cars and fined around $1,000 after officers broke up the April 23 demonstration
COVID-19: Video Reports
People gathered for Friday prayers at mosques in Pakistan’s capital, defying an official ban on gatherings to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Several mosques across Islamabad were open on April 17 and clerics delivered sermons after religious leaders and authorities failed to reach a consensus on exemptions for the government’s COVID-19 measures..Kazakhstan is urgently building three hospitals as part of measures connected to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Central Asian nation. The construction company said the first two would be ready next week
‘Believers Can Catch It Too’: Taliban...
RFE/RL gained exclusive access to a makeshift clinic west of Kabul in an area controlled for years by Taliban militants. Despite past suspicions about health workers dealing with epidemics like polio, some insurgents appear to be taking the threat from COVID-19 seriously