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Angry Russians displaced after Ukraine crossed the border and invaded the Kursk region last week have vented their frustrations online to President Vladimir Putin.

The criticisms represent an unusually public show of defiance in a country where any cracks at the leader or military can draw harsh punishments.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the daring military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

It was the first time Zelenskyy clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on Aug. 6. Previously, he had said the operation aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling.

Zelenskyy said “it is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory -– our operation in the Kursk region,” he said in his nightly address.

Turkey is penetrating ever deeper into the territory of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). According to information from the local NGO Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) on Sunday, the Turkish occupation offensive "Operation Claw Lock", which was expanded to parts of the Amêdî district in mid-June, now reaches fifteen kilometers deep into the country.

At least 602 villages in the Kurdistan region of Iraq are currently threatened with violent evacuation as a result of Turkish expansionism. This figure was also confirmed by CPT, which named 162 villages whose populations have already been displaced since the start of the Turkish "claw operations" in early summer 2020. In order to achieve the long-term goal of destroying the autonomous status of the Kurdistan region and securing Turkey's control over strategically important areas in northern Iraq, in addition to permanent bombings of guerrilla areas, the Turkish army is also carrying out targeted attacks on civilian settlements - under the guise of border security and an alleged "terrorist threat" to Ankara.

The US secretary of state has arrived in Israel for 11th-hour talks aimed at shoring up a deal for a lasting ceasefire in the war in Gaza, amid signals from Israeli and Hamas officials that a breakthrough may not be as close as international mediators had suggested.

Antony Blinken flew into Tel Aviv on Sunday as part of Washington’s renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire in the 10-month-old conflict, negotiations seen as even more urgentafter last month’s back-to-back assassinations of a top Hezbollah commander and the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

It is hoped a ceasefire would lower the temperature in the Middle East and dissuade Iran and Hezbollah from retaliatory action that could cause the war in Gaza to slide quickly into a region-wide conflict.

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Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17.1% in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year as the world's second-largest economy faces mounting headwinds.

China is battling soaring joblessness among young people, a heavily indebted property sector and intensifying trade issues with the West.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is responsible for economic policy, called Friday for struggling companies to be "heard" and "their difficulties truly addressed," according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was up markedly from June's 13.2%.

A ferris wheel caught fire late Saturday at Leipzig's Highfield Festival, leading to more than 30 injuries, police said. The German Red Cross said two of the cases were serious.

The German Foreign Ministry refuted claims that Berlin will not provide Kyiv with assistance next year, Suspilne media outlet reported on Aug. 18.

Germany’s bilateral assistance to Ukraine will be gradually redirected toward international programs in the future, the German Finance Ministry clarified. This specifically pertains to the G7 countries’ decision to offer Ukraine $50 billion in loans, utilizing frozen Russian assets.

. . .

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rejected claims that Germany will halt military aid to Ukraine, calling them a “manipulation.”

Kyiv said that the German budget is expected to be approved in November, and only then the level of support for Ukraine for next year will be known.

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Ukrainian forces operating in Russia's Kursk Oblast have destroyed a second key bridge, Commander of Ukrainian Air Force Mykola Oleshchuk said on Aug. 18.

In a post on Telegram, Oleshchuk published a video showing what he described as a "precise" air strike on the structure.

. . .

If confirmed, it would be the second key bridge destroyed by Ukrainian forces in recent days and will further hinder Russia's ability to resupply troops hoping to fend off Ukraine's incursion.

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Key civilian leader says attack on Russia’s Kursk region is first of ‘several stages’ in taking the fight to Moscow

Ukraine has captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the cross-border military operation that a key civilian official said was the first of “several stages” in taking the fight to Moscow.

Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, said the attack had fared better than expected and there had been only 15 casualties needing hospital treatment on the first day.

“Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war a day,” Drozdenko said. Many of the Russian troops who have been guarding the border are young conscripts. “They do not want to fight us,” he added.

Non-essential medical services paralysed as more than a million doctors expected to join 24-hour protest amid rising anger at violence against women

Hospitals and clinics across India have begun turning away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals started a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata.

More than 1 million doctors were expected to join Saturday’s strike, paralysing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases.

The strike, which began at 6am (0030 GMT), cut off access to elective medical procedures and outpatient consultations, according to a statement by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Casualty departments at hospitals, which deal with emergencies, will continue to be staffed.

Chinese authorities have called for gig workers to be treated with kindness after videos of a delivery rider kneeling before a security guard led to protests by dozens of riders.

Guards stopped the rider from leaving a building in Hangzhou on Monday - saying he damaged railings while scaling them during a rushed delivery.

Worried that his subsequent deliveries would be delayed, the rider got on his knees and pleaded to be let go, the city's police said in a statement.

The incident sparked outrage online, with many urging better protections for workers in the industry.

“Senior members of the Israeli government and military have expressed open genocidal intent, Israeli soldiers take videos deliberately burning, destroying and looting civilian property,” he wrote. “Whole streets and universities have been demolished, humanitarian aid is being blocked and civilians are regularly left with no safe quarter to flee to. Red Crescent ambulances have been attacked, schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are War Crimes.” He said there was “no justification for the UK's continued arms sales to Israel”.

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Bangladesh has been in the headlines for weeks: student-led protests which left more than 400 dead culminated with the government falling and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India on 5 August.

Celebrations escalated into violent unrest, with rioters targeting members of her ruling Awami League party which is made up of both Hindu and Muslim members.

And while reports on the ground have found violence and looting impacted Hindu people and properties, far-right influencers in neighbouring India shared false videos and information that gave a misleading view of the events.

They claimed to show communal violence against Hindus purportedly carried out by “Islamist radicals” with a violent agenda.

Extreme misogyny will be treated as a form of extremism under new government plans, the Home Office has said.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has ordered a review of the UK's counter-extremism strategy to determine how best to tackle threats posed by harmful ideologies.

The analysis will look at hatred of women as one of the ideological trends that the government says is gaining traction.

Ms Cooper said there has been a rise in extremism "both online and on our streets" that "frays the very fabric of our communities and our democracy".

The money Vladislav Klyushin made from stolen financial information literally piled up, filling a safe with stacks of hundred-dollar bills. At one point, he was hoarding over $3 million in illegal gains.

In less than three years, Klyushin’s cybersecurity scam amassed more than $93 million. His company, M-13, acted as a front for Russian hackers to steal information under the guise of protecting it, getting their hands on American corporate earnings reports before the rest of the world could see them. Then, they traded based on that insight, buying and selling stock from well-known American companies like Skechers, Snapchat and Roku.

M-13 once targeted Tesla, stealing its drafted earnings release and buying stock based on a historically successful quarter. Once the final earnings report went public, shares of Tesla soared in price, and Klyushin’s team walked away with yet another stack of cash.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to further restrict the carrying of knives in public, to combat a perceived rise in knife crime. The opposition has criticized the plan as impractical.

The German government has promised tougher knife laws after the police reported a rise in the number of stabbings, especially near train stations — though the statistics remain controversial.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called for the law to be changed so that only blades of 6 centimeters (2.36 inches) would be allowed to be carried in public, rather than the current 12 centimeters. An exception would be made for household knives in their original packaging. Switchblades would be banned altogether.

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The government pronouncement came after police statistics recorded a 5.6% year-on-year rise in cases of serious bodily harm involving a knife, with 8,951 incidents in 2023. The federal police, which is responsible for safety at Germany's airports and major railway stations, also reported a significant increase in knife attacks in and around stations, with 430 in the first six months of this year.

Supporters of Venezuela's opposition gathered across the country and abroad to demand the recognition of Edmundo Gonzalez as president. Protesters allege President Nicolas Maduro stole the July 28 election.