Global Protests, Ukraine Strikes, and Gaza Tensions Dominate the Week in 20 Pictures

Key facts

• A Russian jet drone strike damaged a supermarket in Odesa, Ukraine, where a firefighter worked at the site.
• The White House's unilateral effort to negotiate an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine collapsed as Moscow sent a record swarm of drones to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine.
• Kyiv appeared to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries despite warnings from Donald Trump.
• In Kyiv, a wounded woman sat on the ground at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian missile strike.
• Russia continued heavy strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, using hypersonic and ballistic missiles to target key power plants, leaving cities including Kyiv without power and water for hours.
• Donald Trump called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries 'a disgrace' and criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the energy ceasefire failed to take hold.
• In Gaza, a Palestinian girl stood amid the rubble of destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike.
• Israel is refusing to allow a key military outpost project for Donald Trump's Board of Peace to proceed in Gaza.
• In early August, the board, an international organisation authorised in 2025 by the UN and chaired by the US president, issued its first construction contract for Gaza: Louisiana-based Arkel International would construct a military outpost for 150 international troops that would be the vanguard of an international stabilisation force.
• Palestinians looked out of a window at the site of a house targeted in an airstrike after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate al-Zawayda.
• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the country's attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet security service to reveal the identities of soldiers and officers interviewed in the investigative documentary NAZA and prosecute them for causing 'harm to Israel's diplomatic and security interests'.
• In Turmus Ayya, West Bank, firefighters doused a burnt car after Israeli militant settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
• The UK is expanding its sanctions powers to freeze assets and target entities enabling illegal Israeli settlements, obstructing humanitarian aid or unlawfully holding prisoners.
• In Long Beach, California, a girl took shelter from sea spray caused by a post-tropical cyclone.
• The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel hit Baja California in Mexico over the weekend, as well as southern California and Las Vegas.
• While meteorologists said Rachel had weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it approached California, it still left a trail of destruction.
• Storm waves created by Tropical Storm Rachel crashed into the boardwalk and homes.
• In California, especially in the southern part of the state, the El Niño climate phenomenon carries higher risks of severe storms, and with them elevated threats from landslides, debris flows and flash floods.
• In Tirana, Albania, flames engulfed a kiosk during clashes between police and demonstrators during an anti-government protest by students.
• Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, said he will not resign as the protest movement, initially prompted by a proposal to build a Trump family-backed resort, turned violent, with clashes convulsing the capital for a third day.
• Demonstrators clashed with police during an anti-government protest in Tirana.
• The violence has created an atmosphere of unpredictability, with predictions that public patience may finally be running out for the socialist government after 13 years in power.
• In Paris, police officers in riot gear stood guard during a demonstration by high school students as part of a nationwide high school mobilisation.
• French lawyers and rights groups said several teenagers suffered war-like injuries from police weapons used during the school protests, and an unprecedented number of children were held in police custody, some of whom reported being hit or racially insulted.
• In Delhi, protesters were detained by security personnel during a protest by the Students' Federation of India demanding the resignation of India's chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.
• The response by the Modi government to the protests that have erupted nationwide has drawn criticism from the UN human rights commissioner and human rights groups such as Amnesty.
• Police officers tried to stop a detained protester escaping from a bus during a protest by the Cockroach Janta party.
• Two leaders of the movement were sent to jail for five days for violating a ban on protests at a site in central Delhi.
• In Istanbul, damaged cars piled up on a street after heavy rain.
• In Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, the visitor walkway at the Iguazu Falls was closed due to high water levels and strong current.
• Heavy rainfall fuelled by a supersized El Niño weather pattern briefly forced Argentinian authorities to close tourist access to the site, amid fears that rapidly rising water levels would cause the river to burst its banks.
• In Palangkaraya, Indonesia, people walked through a thick haze from wildfires.
• Singapore is threatening to prosecute companies responsible for some of the worst fires in years in neighbouring Indonesia, as the region grows increasingly frustrated with a persistent, acrid haze that could fray diplomatic relations.
• In Liverpool, England, a former prisoner left HM Prison Liverpool.
• About 2,000 criminals, including domestic abusers and violent offenders, are being freed this month to ease overcrowding, with another 3,000 to follow in stages over the next year.
• In Shanghai, China, cyclists crashed in the women's omnium scratch race at the 2026 Track World Championships at the Shanghai Velodrome.
• In Northumberland, England, the aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, lit up the skies over the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumberland coastline.
• The aurora borealis is a natural light display driven by solar activity and geomagnetic storms interacting with the upper atmosphere.
• In Cape Canaveral, Florida, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Nasa's CRS-35 mission created the distinctive space jellyfish effect as it lifted off.
• The timing of the blastoff, 48 minutes before sunrise at Florida's Cape Canaveral space force station, provided a perfect example of the colourful effect, which is fully visible from Earth only during dusk and dawn launches.