Turkey Kurds: Many Dead In Violence In Cerze

The city of Cizre has been under curfew for a week now as the Turkish military carries out an operation against the Kurdish militant organisation, the PKK. Officials say they've already killed dozens of militants. They've also seized some 800 kilogrammes of explosives. But the Kurdish minority say a humanitarian crisis is unfolding there. Newsday speaks to the Dutch journalist, Frederike Geerdinke who earlier this week was arrested and has since been deported from Turkey, with officials there accusing her of of links to the banned PKK.

There are regional elections in Russia on Sunday and Kostroma is the only place the opposition have been allowed to register. The last elections held in Russia led to mass protests after allegations of vote rigging. It was the biggest challenge yet to Putin's rule. We look into the state of the Russian opposition.

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is fronting a campaign to come to the aid of refugees. While the Australian rock band Crowded House has just released a new song called "Help is Coming" to raise awareness to the issue.