Ukrainians aren’t rushing to sign up for military service as they did in the early days of Russia’s invasion, causing manpower issues and frustrating many on the front lines. A new bill in parliament aims to rectify the problem, but politicians and military officials seem leery of backlash.
A court in Minsk has convicted and sentenced a former member of the military to 19 years in prison for “treason against the state,” RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reports.
Dawood Abdullahi, a Kurdish prisoner of conscience, has been executed in Iran's Qazalhasar prison, local media reports said, after spending more than 14 years in prison.
Iran’s judiciary announced on January 1 that five unidentified people had been executed after being convicted of multiple armed robberies “that rendered roads unsafe and spread fear among people.”
The Iranian destroyer Alborz – a 51-year-old warship – has entered the tense Red Sea through the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Iranian state media reported on January 1.