World Briefing: August 18, 2024
The commander of Ukraine’s air force says a second bridge in Russia’s Kursk region has been struck as Kyiv tries to weaken Russia’s combat operations in the area. “Minus one more bridge.” Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk wrote on Telegram on August 18. “The air force continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precise air strikes, which significantly affect the course of hostilities.” Earlier, Russian military bloggers had posted an image of a damaged bridge over the Seym river near Zvanne village in Kursk. Moscow has not yet commented on the strike on bridge. - RFE/RL
More than 3,000 people have been evacuated over the last 24 hours from areas in Russia's western Kursk region affected by the ongoing incursion of the Ukrainian army. The Russian Emergency Ministry said on Saturday that more than 10,000 local residents were staying at temporary accommodation centres in other parts of the country. The incursion, which Russian authorities say has led to the evacuation of more than 120,000 civilians, came as a shock to many people living in the Kursk oblast which borders Ukraine. “No one expected that this kind of conflict was even possible in the Kursk region," said Yan Furtsev, a member of the local opposition party, Yabloko. - Euronews
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was heading to Israel on Sunday to try to clinch a deal that could end the war in Gaza, even as the Middle East remained on edge amid the looming threat of wider regional conflict. The visit, part of an intensive diplomatic campaign led by the Biden administration, comes days after Israel’s negotiating team held talks in Qatar with senior American officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian representatives who are mediating between Israel and Hamas. Those talks ended without a major breakthrough, but the White House said in a statement on Friday that the United States had put forward a “bridging proposal,” with Egyptian and Qatari support, intended to close remaining gaps between the sides. It said teams would continue to hash out details for implementing the deal and that senior negotiators hoped to reconvene in Cairo before the end of this week to finalize an agreement. - NYT
President Joe Biden is spending the weekend readying his speech for the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, a moment markedly different than what he had prepared for just a few weeks ago before the Democratic Party coalesced around a new presidential nominee. The president’s keynote speech Monday will provide Biden with one of the most high-profile moments he has left to address the American people as his more than five decades in politics begins to wind down. The remarks will come nearly one month after Biden bowed out of the 2024 race and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris as his chosen successor. - CNN
Opposition supporters have gathered across Venezuela to protest against Nicolas Maduro's disputed victory in last month's presidential election. Opposition leader María Corina Machado joined thousands of protesters in the capital, Caracas, and urged them not to be afraid. Ms Machado, who had been in hiding after being accused of insurrection, said there was nothing above the voice of the people, and that the people had spoken. Police and the army were deployed in force as supporters of Mr Maduro also held a demonstration - BBC
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck off the northeastern coast of Russia, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The epicenter was located approximately 103 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a coastal city with a population of about 165,000. The quake had a depth of 29 kilometers and occurred in the early hours of August 18 local time, the USGS said on its website. According to CNN, the U.S. Tsunami Warning System said hazardous tsunami waves were possible within 300 kilometers of the epicenter along the coasts of Russia. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the capital of the Kamchatka region, a cold and sparsely populated peninsula about 2,600 kilometers west of Alaska. - RFE/RL
