An official in the Kursk border region of Russia on Monday urged more residents to evacuate due to the "very tense situation" in the area, where Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to a surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting.

Russia's emergency authorities say more than 76,000 people have fled their homes in areas of Kursk, where Ukrainian troops and armor poured across the border on Aug. 6, reportedly driving as deep as 30 kilometers (19 miles) into Russia and sowing alarm.

It's Los Angeles' turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA's local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.

The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here's a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA.

A slow-moving storm has been dumping intense rains on northern Japan, swelling rivers, sending residents to shelters and disrupting traffic during a Japanese Buddhist holiday week.

The storm was once Typhoon Maria but has weakened, with winds now blowing up to 72 kph (45 mph). It made landfall near Ofunato City in Iwate prefecture Monday morning and was expected to cut across the Tohoku region as it moved northwest at 20 kph (12 mph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

A major forest fire was raging out of control on the northern fringes of the Greek capital Monday, triggering numerous evacuation orders for Athens suburbs and outlying areas as strong winds hampered the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and dozens of water-dropping planes.

The blaze that began Sunday afternoon was racing through pine forests left tinder-dry by repeated heat waves this summer. June and July of this year were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece, which also recorded its warmest winter ever.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has proposed former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi as the country's new foreign minister and also sought to appoint a woman as roads and housing minister. If approved, she would be Iran's first female minister in more than a decade.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf read out the list of proposed ministers to lawmakers. The hard-line-dominated chamber will have two weeks to review qualifications and give a vote of confidence to the proposed ministers.

At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, "Thank you for bringing back the joy." The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket "joyful warriors."

Contrast that with former President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida a few days later by saying, "We have a lot of bad things coming up," and predicting the U.S. could fall into an economic depression unseen since the dark days of 1929 or even another world war.

Hamas appeared to push back against resuming negotiations on Thursday on any new cease-fire proposals.

In a statement, it urged mediators United States, Egypt and Qatar to submit a plan to implement what was agreed on last month, based on U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal, "instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation's aggression."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday.

The moves come as the U.S. and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

The European Union’s top diplomat says it should consider sanctions in response to calls by Israel’s far-right national security minister to cut off aid to Gaza.

Writing on the X platform late Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the recent remarks by Itamar Ben-Gvir constitute “incitement to war crimes,” adding that “sanctions must be on our EU agenda.”

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain have endorsed calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid.

In a joint statement released Monday, they endorsed the latest push by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war.