Thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Belgrade on December 30 to call for opening voter lists and other anti-fraud efforts amid ongoing unrest over this month's national, regional, and municipal elections claimed by President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling party.

The protesters filled the spacious Terazije Square in the old Stari Grad neighborhood of the Serbian capital, and looked to number well into the thousands.

The show of anger in the streets by students and activists outside the formal political opposition pledging to challenge the conduct of the elections is the latest of nearly two weeks of public discontent since the December 17 voting.

The organizer, ProGlas, is a movement that includes public figures and launched an initiative before the elections that has been signed by nearly 200,000 citizens. It is demanding parliamentary and local elections in Serbia within six months, "after the process of fundamentally changing election conditions."

ProGlas says the citizens' electoral will was "betrayed."

One day earlier, Serbia's national election commission rejected the united opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence's call to nullify the voting, citing a technicality.

That decision came after a student-led, noon-to-noon traffic blockade was launched in downtown Belgrade ahead of the weekend demonstration.

Vucic declared a sweeping victory at nearly every level in the parliamentary and local voting, which also sparked a handful of hunger strikes by opposition leaders demanding a new vote and an internationally backed probe into the elections.

International observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have called the election process unfair and cited evidence of bused-in nonresidents to boost the ruling Serbian Progressive Party's (SNS) support, especially in Belgrade.

Vucic, who has tightened his hold on the Balkan state since his party came to power in 2012, has called it "the cleanest and most honest" elections ever.

In its ruling handed down late on December 29, the Republic Election Commission (RIK) dismissed an appeal by the opposition Serbia Against Violence alliance to annul the vote results.

The commission's deputy president, Marko Jankovic, said the challenge of nationwide results was rejected because it had been submitted by the opposition alliance's party list in Belgrade to the city's election commission, which then turned it over to the RIK.

Groups of students set up tents in downtown Belgrade shortly after noon on December 29 to blockade a main street near government buildings.

They were camped out on one of the busiest roadways in the capital, Kneza Milosa Street, near the Ministry for State Administration and Local Self-Government.

Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic have dismissed the international assessments as planned and untrue, and alleged without presenting evidence that foreign plotters are behind the postelection unrest.

A protest against the election process and results outside Belgrade city hall on December 24 turned violent when windows were broken and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Opposition leader Dragan Djilas denied allegations levelled by pro-government tabloids that the opposition was planning incidents at the rally on December 30.

"No one is planning any violence," he said on December 29. "We will not accept stolen elections and we will fight with all democratic methods."

OSCE observers concluded in their initial report that the national vote was conducted under "unjust conditions."

In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed on January 2 that the U.K. would "continue to stand steadfastly by Ukraine as they fight aggression and occupation." "The prime minister set out ongoing U.K. work to provide military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, including through further deliveries of lethal aid," a Downing Street spokesperson said. It comes as Moscow escalates its aerial attacks on Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin pledging to intensify the strikes following what is believed to have been unprecedented Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has rejected calls for an international probe into alleged voting irregularities during recent parliamentary and municipal elections that sparked weeks of opposition-led protests demanding the vote be annulled.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Belgrade and other cities and towns in Serbia since the disputed December 17 elections that were won by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), according to preliminary results.

The Serbia Against Violence coalition, which placed second in the general election, has accused the SNS of widespread vote fraud, which the authorities deny.

An international monitoring mission that followed the balloting said the SNS had gained an unfair advantage through media bias, the improper influence of Vucic, and voting irregularities such as vote-buying.

Serbian authorities rejected the allegations.

In ruling out any outside probe, Vucic said on January 2 that elections in Serbia are “a matter for [Serbian] state institutions.”

Vucic suggested that Serbia Against Violence, which has led the protests, objects to the results, particularly in the vote for Belgrade city authorities, because the party did not poll as well as it had expected.

Serbia Against Violence came second in the election with 23.56 percent of the parliamentary vote. The Socialist Party of Serbia was third with 6.56 percent.

Final results are expected to be published sometime this month.

Thousands rallied in Belgrade on December 30 in what was described as the biggest protest to date, with demonstrators chanting, “Thieves!”

That rally in the Serbian capital was organized by an independent civic initiative, ProGlas(Pro-Vote) that had campaigned for high turnout ahead of the ballot.

The crowd at the rally on December 30 roared in approval at the appearance of Marinika Tepic, a leading opposition politician who had been on a hunger strike since the ballot.

Tepic and two other opposition leaders, Jelena Milosevic and Branko Miljus, ended their hunger strikes on December 31 after about 12 days.

The opposition has urged an international probe of the vote after representatives of several global watchdogs reported multiple irregularities, including cases of vote-buying and ballot-stuffing.

Local election monitors also alleged that voters from across Serbia and neighboring countries were registered and bused in to cast ballots in Belgrade.

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.

The Ha-Ngao and Kurdpa news outlets reported on January 2 that Abdullahi was executed at the prison in Karaj and that his body has been handed over to family members.

News of the execution came just days after Abdullahi's family said they met with him before he was transferred to solitary confinement, often a step indicating a prisoner's death sentence is about to be carried out, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

Abdullahi and six other Kurds were arrested in November 2009 for allegedly murdering their teacher, Abdul Rahim Tina. Human rights organizations have repeatedly said the accused were "severely tortured" into giving forced confessions.

They were convicted of taking "action" against national security interests, propaganda against the regime, and "corruption on Earth."

The Supreme Court overturned their death sentences in 2015, but after a retrial in 2017, they were again put on death row. The Supreme Court confirmed the sentences in 2018.

The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of the widespread protests triggered by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody for an alleged hijab violation.

Iran Human Rights said that, as of December 2023, more than 700 people have been executed in Iran, with a marked increase in recent months.

Amnesty International says the regime in Tehran executed more people than any other country in the world other than China in 2023.

Official Iranian state news outlets have reported that nine people convicted of drug trafficking have been executed in recent days.

Amnesty has accused Iranian authorities of turning prisons into "killing fields" on the back of a sharp increase in drug-trafficking convictions.

"The shameless rate at which the authorities are carrying out drug-related executions, in violation of international law, exposes their lack of humanity and flagrant disregard for the right to life," Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a report in June.

Almost one-half of the presidential decrees signed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin last year were done in secret, a local media outlet said, more than any other year on record.

Mediazona said in a report on January 2 that according to its research based on data from Russia's official publications website, 49.5 percent of the 997 decrees Putin signed were done in secret. The previous highest rate was by Putin in 2001, during the Second Chechen War, when 47 percent of all decrees were secret. The number of decrees signed in 2022, the first year of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was 996, 45 percent of which were signed in secret.

The independent news outlet said that secret decrees are often used to reward the military and pardon convicts who were promised to be freed from prison if they served a six-month term with the military in the war against Ukraine.

In 2022 and 2023, data showed at least 17 people who committed murders were pardoned - all of them fought against Ukraine and then returned to Russia where they were granted their freedom.

On June 13, Putin confirmed he signed a decree absolving convicts of their crimes, saying, "the state must do everything to fulfill its obligations" to those who agreed to serve at the front.

Mediazona said it calculated the figures by looking at the registration numbers of the presidential decrees. Since they are done sequentially, the news outlet said that by totaling up the missing registration numbers, one could ascertain how many secret decrees were signed but never published.

The Kremlin has not commented on the report.

The return of convicts from the war -- dead or alive -- is causing controversy across Russia as the government recognizes them as heroes while victims and families suffering as a result of their preinvasion crimes stew in anger.

There have been several cases of Russian families expressing outrage that the convicted killer of a loved one has been released and amnestied because they completed a tour of duty in Ukraine, and some neighborhoods live in fear of violent returnees. Some families are also irate over the state honors bestowed upon former inmates who don't survive their stint in the war.

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. Paval Kuchynski was reported to have been a member of BYPOL, a group that unites former law enforcement officers who support opposition politicians. It was founded in 2020 in the wake of unprecedented mass protests questioning official presidential election results giving a victory and sixth term to authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka. In August 2022, BYPOL was designated a terrorist organization by the Supreme Court of Belarus. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, click here.

Moscow said its military accidentally bombed a village in the southern Voronezh region on January 2 during a massive Russian attack on Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said six buildings had been damaged but there were no casualties in Petropavlovka, some 150 kilometers east of the border with Ukraine. It came on the same day that Russia’s military launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Ukraine, with four killed and nearly 100 injured in Kyiv and Kharkiv, the two cities targeted in the Russian attacks. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Poland said on January 2 that planes protecting its airspace had returned to base after the threat level related to Russian strikes on Ukraine had reduced. Earlier, Poland had deployed two pairs of F-16 fighters and an allied tanker in the face of Russian attacks on Ukraine. "Due to the reduced level of threat, the operations of Polish and allied aircraft on duty in our airspace have been ended. The resources returned to their bases and standard operating activities," the Polish Army's operational command said on X, formerly Twitter.

Around 3,000 migrants were detained in St. Petersburg on New Year's Eve as part of a series of mass detentions across Russia, local media reported on January 2. The Fontanka news outlet said more than 100 of those arrested in St. Petersburg are going to be deported. The SOTA news website reported similar mass detentions in Moscow, though it said the number of migrants held was not known. Russian officials have reportedly used such raids on migrants in recent months to find those with Russian citizenship. Those people are then forced into military service. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party is being targeted by "systematic dismemberment" and "pre-poll rigging", a rights watchdog said on January 2, casting doubt on the fairness of upcoming elections. Nomination papers for Khan and the majority of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party candidates have been rejected by the electoral commission, according to PTI, shutting them out of the February 8 ballot. "The nature of the rejections seems systematic," Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) official Farhatullah Babar told the AFP news agency.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed six barbers before dawn on January 2 in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country's northwest near the Afghanistan border, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings in Mir Ali, a town in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said Jamal Khan, a local police chief. The incident shocked residents, who said the slain men all worked at various barbershops.

At least five people were killed and dozens wounded in Russian drone and missiles strikes in and around Kyiv as well as Kharkiv on January 2 that Ukraine’s military said were similar in scale to a massive Russian attack just days earlier.

In Kyiv and nearby, three people were reported killed in an attack that caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure, triggering fires in several spots. In Kharkiv, one person was reported killed and 20 wounded in a major Russian strike on that city.

The attacks came a day after Russia launched a record 90 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine during the early hours of the new year. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would “intensify” its attacks on its neighbor.

Putin's warning on January 1 came after shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod was reported to have killed more than two dozen people and wounded more than 100 others. Russia blamed Ukraine for that attack on December 30.

In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia had launched about 170 Shahed attack drones and dozens of different missiles at Ukraine since December 31.

"For the third day already, our air defenders are doing incredible work," Zelenskiy said. "I thank all partners who help to strengthen our air shield. And it's obvious it helps save hundreds of lives every day and every night that would have been taken by Russian terror if it weren't for Patriots and other defense systems."

In another social media post, Zelenskiy said "Russia will answer for every life [that it has] taken away.”

The Ukrainian Air Force commander said Russia’s air strike on January 2 was a repeat of its major attack on December 29 in terms of the number and type of missiles.

On December 29, Russia bombarded Ukraine with about 158 missiles and drones.

The Ukrainian military's commander in chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, said Ukrainian air defenses, strengthened with supplies by Kyiv’s allies, had downed all Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles in the January 2 attacks as well as 59 of the 70 cruise missiles and all three Kalibr cruise missiles.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on January 2 that the city of 1.4 million had been targeted by "at least four strikes," which damaged multistory buildings and civilian infrastructure in the center.

Synyehubov later said a 91-year-old woman had been killed in a missile attack that left a meters-deep crater near damaged residential buildings. He also said that 45 people had been wounded in the attack in Kharkiv.

Kyiv was rocked by explosions early on January 2, with Ukraine’s military saying air-defense systems had repelled a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital hours after Russian military drones were reported to have targeted the city.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said 10 people were wounded by debris from destroyed missiles that had fallen in several districts, including on residential buildings.

"Explosions in the capital," Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, urging people to stay safe.

Klitschko later reported that one person had died on the way to the hospital.

Klitschko also said that gas pipelines were damaged in Kyiv's Pecherskiy district and electricity was cut off in several buildings in the capital on January 2.

A married couple was killed and 11 people were hurt in the area outside Kyiv, the regional administration said. A dozen residential buildings and at least 60 cars were also damaged, it said, according to Reuters.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had destroyed all 35 attack drones that Russia launched after midnight that targetedseveral cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Kyiv's Western allies to accelerate supplies of air-defense systems, long-range missiles, and combat drones.

"We expect all states to strongly condemn the attack and take resolute action," Kuleba said on X, formerly Twitter, listing five steps that allies can take "right now."

"The terrorist regime in Moscow must realize that the international community will not turn a blind eye to the murder of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine," Kuleba said.

In an interview with The Economist, Zelenskiy said that any indication that Putin is seeking peace talks is just a reflection of the fact that he is running out of troops and armaments.

Zelenskiy said a major focus of Ukrainian counterattacks going forward would be to diminish Russian forces' strength in Crimea, even as his military defends under-pressure cities in the east, where civilians increasingly are becoming victims of Russian drone and missile attacks.

"I see only the steps of a terrorist country," he said in the interview.

In comments made on January 1 at a military hospital in the Moscow region, Putin called the shelling of Belgorod, which reportedly killed 25 people, a “terrorist attack” and vowed to intensify attacks against Ukraine.

Putin accused Ukraine of attacking civilian areas, while claiming that Moscow targets only military sites, despite Russian missile and drone strikes hitting residential and civilian areas in Ukraine.

Kyiv has not commented on the attack on Belgorod, although officials regularly state that Russia has used the region to launch assaults against Ukrainian sites.

A policy by the Norwegian government allowing direct sales of weapons and defense-related products to Ukraine went into effect on January 1, authorities in Oslo said. “Russia's war of aggression threatens Ukraine as a state and nation,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement. ‘It is crucial that we continue to support Ukraine. Support for Ukraine is important for Norwegian and European security.” It said the policy change means that Norwegian companies can apply to the Foreign Ministry for export licenses for direct sales of such products to Ukraine and that approval will be decided on a case-by-case basis. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, click here.

A Pakistan-based rights group slammed the government's “blatant manipulation” of the electoral process ahead of next month’s scheduled parliamentary elections, which it said are unlikely to be “free, fair, or credible.”

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on January 1 said it “is deeply concerned by the overall deterioration in human rights, which needs urgent attention as the new year unfolds.”

“Foremost is the blatant manipulation of the electoral landscape in which one political party among others has been singled out for systematic dismemberment,” it added.

The group said the process has “assumed a familiar pattern,” including arrests of party workers and supporters, lack of transparency of any charges filed, and a crackdown on party workers’ right to peaceful assembly.

HRCP also alleged “enforced disappearances, obvious signs of pressure on party leaders to resign or exit politics altogether and, most recently, the large-scale rejection of candidates’ nomination papers.”

“At this point, there is little evidence to show that the upcoming elections will be free, fair, or credible,” it added.

HCRP officials raised concern about the rejection by authorities of the candidacies of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other members of his Tehrik-e Insaf party (PTI).

Pakistan's Election Commission has rejected Khan's nomination to participate in the national elections in two constituencies. The 71-year-old former cricket star has been involved in a series of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 and has been in prison since August.

Pakistani politicians often compete for a seat from more than one constituency to increase their chances of winning.

The commission said Khan's nomination was rejected because he was not a registered voter of the constituency where he was seeking to run and because he is "convicted by the court of law and has been disqualified."

Speaking at an Islamabad news conference, HRCP co-chairperson Munizae Jahangir said Khan's party was “being dismembered in a systematic manner” and that rejection of nomination papers for most of its proposed candidates raised concerns about the Election Commission's actions.

Jahangir blasted the government’s clampdown on dissent, saying it has severely limited civic discourse “at a time when people must be allowed to express their will freely ahead of [the February 7] national election.”

In a statement, Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt assailed the government for its “mass expulsion of vulnerable Afghan refugees and asylum seekers — in violation of international customary law and without consideration for their prospects of safety in their country of origin — has put many women, children, elderly and disabled Afghan nationals at risk.”

Islamabad in early October announced that all 1.7 million “undocumented foreigners,” most reportedly from Afghanistan, should leave the country by November 1.

Most Afghans returning from Pakistan have complained of harassment, abuse, and mistreatment during the expulsion process, allegations Islamabad has denied.

According to its website, the HRCP was established in 1986 and is a nonpolitical, not-for-profit organization committed to defending human rights in the South Asian nation.

With reporting by AP

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. The Tasnim news agency, which has ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said the move was connected to developments involving the Tehran-backed Huthi rebels operating in the region. The United States has established a multination naval task force to protect shipping in the region against Huthi attacks. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, click here.

Citizens of Kosovo began visa-free travel within the European Union’s Schengen Area on January 1 under a new regime that enables Kosovars to travel without a visa within the zone for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

Kosovo was the last of the six countries of the Western Balkans to attain the waiver, which is perceived as a key step for the country’s ambition to join the EU. The new visa regime is intended for tourism and personal travel and does not include permission to work.

At a ceremony at the Pristina airport on January 1, Prime Minister Albin Kurti urged citizens to use the privilege responsibly, saying, “This is how we respect and elevate our country.”

“We have waited too long and have been denied many opportunities,” Kurti added. “Therefore, this is an important day because a great injustice has been eliminated and an important right has been won.”

Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani congratulated Kosovo’s 1.8 million citizens on Facebook, writing, “The people of Kosovo have proved with unwavering commitment that they are not giving up their rightful place in the European family.”

She added that 2024 was “a year that begins with freedom of movement.”

The president and the prime minister of neighboring Albania also stressed the waiver was “an overdue achievement” for Kosovo.

“I hope this step will speed up the entire process of Kosovo’s membership in the EU and other international organizations,” Albanian President Bajram Begaj wrote on Facebook.

WATCH: Starting from January 1, Kosovars no longer need visas to enter the Schengen Area. Among the first who used the opportunity were 50 winners of a Vienna tour lottery organized by Kosovo's government. "It's a feeling beyond description," a happy traveler told RFE/RL at the Pristina airport. The visa liberalization is not valid for Spain, the only Schengen country that doesn't recognize Kosovar travel documents.

The European Commission ruled that Kosovo had met the necessary criteria for the waiver in 2018, but its approval was held up by France and the Netherlands, which feared a possible new wave of migration.

Kosovo’s participation in the scheme was also opposed by Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain, which do not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia.

Before the new regime enabled access to the 27 Schengen zone countries, Kosovars could only travel visa-free to 14 countries globally.

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 five were accused of stealing livestock in rural areas west of Tehran. Iran executes more people than any country except China. Activists say at least 31 people have been executed by hanging in the last week. At least 823 people were executed in 2023. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, click here.

Imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is serving a 19-year sentence at a prison above the Arctic Circle on charges widely believed to be politically motivated, sent “Arctic hugs” for the New Year to his supporters. In a post on Telegram on December 31, Navalny said he misses his family and he illustrated the post with a montage photo of himself together with his wife and two children. He added, though, that “I do not feel alone, abandoned, or isolated.” “Remain good, honest people and in the coming year try to become a little better and more honest,” he added. To read the original story from RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

Ukraine said at least 56 combat clashes with Russian forces took place on the first day of the year after a “record number” of drone and missile attacks struck Ukrainian cities over the past 24 hours, while Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to intensify attacks in the days ahead.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff on January 1 said clashes took pace in the Donetsk region and near the long-fought-after towns of Bakhmut, Bohdanyivka, Klishchiyivka, and Andriyivka and that the Russian attacks had been repelled.

Ukrainian military authorities did not comment on casualties by the Russian side or their own.

In an interview with The Economist published on January 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again blasted Russia as a "terrorist country" and said the Kremlin is showing no signs of seeking peace despite its continued losses on the battlefield.

Zelenskiy said any indication that Putin is seeking talks is just a reflection of the fact that he is running out of troops and armaments.

Zelenskiy said a major focus of Ukrainian counterattacks going forward would be to diminish Russian forces' strength in Crimea, even as his military defends under-pressure cities in the east, where civilians increasingly are becoming victims of Russian drone and missile attacks.

"I see only the steps of a terrorist country," he said in the interview.

In his New Year’s Eve video address, Zelenskiy thanked his country’s citizens for resisting the Russian invasion and called on them to live by the rule “either you work or you fight.”

“Because the world’s largest terrorist organization is against us,” he said. “And it is obvious how much more we should do, how more actively we should work, and how much stronger our unity and our struggle should be.”

Meanwhile, Putin, speaking at a military hospital in the Moscow region on January 1, called the December 30 shelling of the Russian city of Belgorod, which reportedly killed 25 people, a “terrorist attack” and vowed to intensify attacks against Ukraine.

"What happened in Belgorod is, of course, a terrorist act," Putin said. "They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within the country. We're going to step up the punches."

Putin accused Ukraine of attacking civilian areas, while claiming that Moscow targets only military sites, despite Russian missile and drones routinely hitting residential and civilian areas in Ukraine.

Kyiv has not commented on the attack on Belgorod, although officials regularly state that Russia has used the region to launch assaults against Ukrainian sites.

Attacks from the air by both sides were reported on the first day of 2024 as the anniversary of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion moves closer.

The Ukrainian Air Force wrote on Telegram that it had destroyed 87 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones fired at its cities overnight, adding that air defenses were working across the country.

The air force later said it had shot down nine of 10 additional Russia-launched drones "from the north" during New Year's Day and that two further Shahed drones near Kryviy Rih in the south.

Battlefield claims made by either side cannot immediately be verified because of the fighting in the regions.

Oleh Kiper, the Ukrainian head of the Odesa regional administration, said that one civilian was killed and nine were injured in a Russian attack on the Black Sea port city.

Ukraine’s military said the drone attack on Odesa targeted port infrastructure and that a fire had broken out at one port terminal.

“A large number of drones were directed from the sea toward the coastal zone,” the Southern Military Command said in a statement on Telegram.

The command also said Russia had three surface-to-air missile carriers on duty in the Black Sea armed with 24 Kalibr cruise missiles.

“The missile threat level is extremely high,” the statement said.

In the western city of Lviv, a drone strike destroyed a museum devoted to controversial World War II-era military commander Roman Shukhevych, who fought for Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union and collaborated with Nazi Germany.

Although the building was destroyed, most of its holdings had been removed in the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion.

A drone strike also damaged a university in the Lviv region city of Dublyany, where there is a museum to Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, who led an insurgent war against Soviet forces and also collaborated with the Nazis and who studied in Dublyany in the 1930s.

WATCH: Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, woke up to Russian missile and drone strikes on December 31.

In the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, the regional administration said a Russian-launched Shahed drone hit a two-story residential building, killing one woman and trapping a number of other people under the rubble.

In the Russia-occupied city of Donetsk, Moscow-installed officials said four people were killed and 13 others injured in overnight shelling. A local official said one of the killed was a journalist with Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, although the person was not identified.

The Iranian Embassy in Madrid said Tehran had released from detention Santiago Sanchez Cogedor, who was arrested after entering Iran in October 2022 in an incident reportedly related to protests over the death in custody of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

"The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is pleased to announce the release of Santiago Sanchez Cogedor, the only Spanish citizen detained in Iran," the Iranian Embassy posted on X on December 31.

"His release comes amid friendly and historic relations between the two countries and in accordance with the law," the embassy statement added.

Sanchez arrived in Iran in mid-October 2022 during the Women, Life, Freedom protests. His family in early November 2022 said he was an adventurer who was planning to walk to the World Cup venue in Qatar.

Sanchez had cycled to the Arabian region on previous adventures as part of efforts to raise funds for hospitals and other organizations, his family said.

According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), the 41-year-old Sanchez was arrested in Saghez after visiting Amini’s burial place.

Ana Baneira Suarez, a 24-year-old activist who works for a human rights NGO, was arrested and detained along with fellow Spaniard Sanchez but was released in February.

The 22-year-old Amini died in custody on September 16, 2022, shortly after being detained by the so-called “morality police” for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code. Supporters say she was subjected to physical abuse while in custody.

Iranian authorities launched a brutal crackdown against mass demonstrations that became some of the most daunting challenges faced by the Islamist government since Iran’s 1979 revolution.

Iran’s government for years has been accused of charging foreign citizens with espionage and using them as hostages to receive the easing of sanctions against the country imposed for its financing of terrorism in the region. Tehran denies it has links to regional terror groups despite widespread evidence.

With reporting AFP

Police in Germany on January 1 arrested another suspect in connection with a possible planned terrorist attack on Cologne Cathedral, saying it was a 41-year-old man with German and Turkish citizenship. A total of five suspects have now been detained in connection with the terrorism alert. On Christmas Eve, a 30-year-old Tajik was taken into custody "to avert danger." On December 31, three men were arrested in western Germany. The police said they were a 25-year-old, a 30-year-old, and a 38-year-old and were described as being of "Tajik and Uzbek nationality."

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told his Iranian counterpart in a call that Tehran shares responsibility for preventing attacks by Huthi rebels in the Red Sea. “I spoke to [Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian] today about Huthi attacks in the Red Sea, which threaten innocent lives and the global economy. I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Huthis,” he wrote on social media on December 31. Huthis rebels have claimed attacks on ships they say have Israeli links or are en route to Israeli ports.

BELGRADE – Three additional opposition leaders associated with the pro-Europe Serbia Against Violence coalition have ended their hunger strikes that were launched to demand annulment of general elections that took place in the country earlier this month.

Officials on December 31 confirmed that Marinika Tepic, Jelena Milosevic, and Branko Miljus had ended their hunger strikes after about 12 days, joining Janko Veselinovic and Danijela Grujic, both members of parliament, who on December 28 announced they were ending their hunger strikes on the advice of doctors.

In addition to the hunger strikes, pro-Europe opposition supporters and student groups have held daily protests in Belgrade since the day after the December 17 election. They are demanding annulment of the parliamentary and local elections across Serbia, claiming fraud after President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was declared victorious in the elections.

Opposition figures said there would be a pause in daily protests – held for 13 straight days – with some saying that further major demonstrations would be organized at specific future dates.

On December 30, several thousand protesters filled Terazije Square in the old Stari Grad neighborhood of the Serbian capital.

Tepic, a leading figure in Serbia Against Violence, began her hunger strike on December 18. She was placed on intravenous drips on December 25 following a deterioration in her health. She vowed to continue the hunger strike but later indicated that the health concerns were forcing her to call if off.

On December 30, Tepic briefly addressed the crowd at a protest against alleged election theft in downtown Belgrade, after which she went to the hospital.

Opposition leader Dragan Djilas, who is head of the Freedom and Justice Party, on December 31 confirmed the hunger strike had ended and told the FoNet agency on December 31 that Tepic was feeling fine and had started consuming minimal amounts of food.

Local media reports said Milosevic ended the hunger strike after doctors at the Clinical Center in Nis concluded that the continuation of the strike could lead to organ damage.

Miljus confirmed to RFE/RL that he had suspended his hunger strike. He is out of the hospital and undergoing home treatment.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international observers denounced what they called a series of "irregularities" in the December 17 voting. Domestic nongovernmental election-monitoring groups also alleged that irregularities took place in the voting process.

Viola von Cramon, a member of the observation mission of the European Parliament to the parliamentary and local elections, condemned the alleged irregularities and said the European Parliament expects “higher democratic standards from an EU candidate country.”

Vucic and SNS politicians have denied allegations of fraud and vote-buying, saying the elections were held in a democratic atmosphere.

Serbia's national election commission on December 29 rejected the call by Serbia Against Violence to nullify the voting.

Many Western observers have raised concerns over deteriorating political rights and civil liberties in Serbia and increased government pressure on independent media outlets.

Vucic has attempted to maintain good relations with Moscow, even as Serbia seeks closer ties with the European Union. Serbia has not joined the bloc and other Western powers in imposing sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow accused the West, without providing evidence, of orchestrating the Belgrade protests following the elections.

Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government on December 31 claimed that Tajik and Pakistani nationals have been responsible for most of the attacks inside the country since the extremist group took power and that dozens of the alleged perpetrators have been killed or arrested. Mohammad Mujahid, the Taliban defense minister, didn’t provide evidence during a Kabul news conference. Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been high over claims by Islamabad that Afghanistan is providing a safe haven for terror groups who conduct operations inside Pakistan. Islamabad has also cracked down on more than 1.7 million “undocumented foreigners,” predominantly Afghans, living in the country. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, click here.

A brief New Year's address by Russian President Vladimir Putin has been broadcast on state television as the country’s eastern regions usher in 2024. Putin called on Russians not to look back but to “move forward and create the future.” He praised Russia’s military, which launched an unprovoked full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022 and has been fighting there ever since. Putin stood against a background of the Kremlin during the low-key address. He did not mention a December 30 incident in the western city of Belgorod in which Moscow claimed a Ukrainian air strike killed 24 people and injured more than 100. To read the original story in Russian, click here.

The European Council has voted to admit Romania and Bulgaria to the free-travel Schengen Area beginning in March. Air and maritime border controls will be lifted on March 31, while land controls will be eliminated at a later date. Within the Schengen Area, people are allowed to travel, work, and live in another member country without visas or permits. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated both countries on “this great achievement.” To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Romanian Service, click here.