IRAN: An outspoken lawyer who has publicly criticised how the government handled the 2022 protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody has been arrested, state media reported today.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said that Mohsen Borhani had already been sentenced, but gave no further details of his case or the length of his prison term.

RUSSIA: A village in a western border region was evacuated today following a series of explosions after debris from a downed Ukrainian drone set fire to a nearby warehouse.

Governor Aleksandr Gusev said that falling wreckage had triggered the “detonation of explosive objects.”

No casualties were reported, but residents of a nearby village in the Podgorensky district were evacuated, he said. 

TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that he was willing to restore ties with Syria, extending an “invitation” to return relations to “how they were in the past.”

Over 12 years ago, diplomatic ties between Ankara and Damascus were cut as protests in Syria turned into a civil war. Turkey supported armed opposition groups in the north-west that aimed to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

INDIA: Two soldiers and six rebels have been killed in two separate gun battles in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, raising concerns about the worsening security situation in the disputed Himalayan region.

Kashmir police Inspector General Vidhi Kumar Birdi told reporters today that the two soldiers had died as security forces “carried out two different operations” in villages in the Kulgam district.