AFP Video

Samolva (Russia) (AFP) – Surrounded by dozens of men in chainmail and helmets playing dead in a field, an impersonator of mediaeval Russian prince Alexander Nevsky raises his sword and roars. “This land is Russian, always has been, and always will be!” It was on this spot near Lake Peipus on Russia’s border with Estonia that eight centuries ago Nevsky repelled a force of Teutonic Knights who wanted to convert Russia to Catholicism. For the hundreds of history enthusiasts re-enacting the battle on a recent August day, that victory is especially resonant today, as Russian forces wage an offensive in Ukraine framed by the Kremlin as part of an enduring conflict with the West.

Luanda (AFP) – Angola’s President Joao Lourenco promises to keep working on the ‘social and economic development’ of Angola after winning a second five-year term. His MPLA party emerged victorious with a thin majority in last week’s closely fought election, extending its decades-long rule in the oil-rich country.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – “If they want to survive, now is the time for the Russian soldiers to flee. Go home,” says President Volodydmyr Zelensky in his nightly address, as Ukraine’s troops press a counter-offensive across the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, occupied by Russia.

Buoux (France) (AFP) – The prolongued summer drought in France has come as ‘a big blow for wild fauna’ says Loriane Aubinais, the manager of a wildlife shelter in the heart of the Luberon Regional Nature Park in the country’s south.

Nowshera (Pakistan) (AFP) – Temporary camps have sprung up around Pakistan — in schools, on motorways and military bases — to give shelter to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by catastrophic floods. At one camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Yasmeen Shah says that “people send relief goods here but the distribution is not well organised at all.”

Baghdad (AFP) – Supporters of Moqtada Sadr storm Iraq’s Republican Palace – a key government building inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone – after the powerful Shiite cleric said he was quitting politics.

Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv volunteer to help municipal services clean up rubbles and debris from the Russian shelling near the city’s administration buildings. Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said residents are “madly in love with their city” and need no additional motivation to help rebuild the city.

Baghdad (AFP) – Shots are heard in front of the Green Zone during the night in Baghdad, a few hours after the powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said he was quitting politics, amid a nearly year-long political stalemate.

Kennedy Space Center (United States) (AFP) – A test flight of NASA’s powerful new Moon rocket may be possible on Friday, Artemis 1 mission manager Mike Sarafin says, after the US space agency scrubbed Monday’s launch because of an engine issue. “Friday is definitely in play,” Sarafin tells reporters.

Baghdad (AFP) – Iraqis disperse as shots are fired in Baghdad’s Green Zone after supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr stormed the government palace in the fortified area following the powerful Shiite leader’s declaration that he was quitting politics.