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The Egyptian government continues to target gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in a "systematic fashion" through arbitrary arrests, torture and other forms of abuse, including forced "virginity tests," Human Rights Watch said Thursday. The watchdog group accused police personnel and officers of Egypt’s National Security Agency of routinely picking up suspected LGBT people off the streets and detaining them in “inhuman conditions,” often after illegally searching their phones. Security forces have also “entrapped LGBT people through social networking sites and dating applications,” Human Rights Watch said. (Raghavan, 10/1)

Russian journalists working for two state-owned media outlets are among the first to be offered the new Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine outside of the framework of a clinical trial, according to one of the outlets and four employees. Russia began vaccinating members of the general public seen at high risk of coronavirus infection earlier this month, while separately launching a large-scale trial. So far about 400 people have received the jabs under that scheme, the health ministry said this week. (Zverev and Ivanova, 10/2)

Bread in Subway's hot sandwiches contains too much sugar to meet Ireland's legal definition for bread, the country's Supreme Court has ruled. The judgment was handed down on Tuesday in response to a Subway franchisee who had appealed for a tax refund, arguing that its bread is a "staple" food and therefore subject to a 0% tax rate. (Guy, 10/1)