TORONTO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada remain without power and officials are trying to assess the scope of devastation from former Hurricane Fiona. It swept away houses, stripped off roofs, and blocked roads across the country’s Atlantic provinces. Officials said they found the body of a woman swept into the sea.

ARIDA BORDER CROSSING, Lebanon (AP) — At least 77 people were killed when a boat carrying migrants sank off Syria this week, the country’s health minister said Friday, amid fears the death toll could be far higher. The incident was the deadliest so far as a surging number of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians have been trying to flee crisis-hit Lebanon by sea for a better future in Europe.

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Busan on Friday ahead of  joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea that aim to show their strength against growing North Korean threats. The joint drills will be the first involving a U.S. aircraft carrier in the region since 2017.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Voting has started in Russian-held regions of Ukraine on referendums to become part of Russia. The Kremlin-orchestrated referendums, which have been widely denounced by Ukraine and the West as shams without any legal force, are seen as a step toward annexing the territories by Russia. The votes are being held in the Luhansk, Kherson, and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

GENEVA (AP) — A team of experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body to look into rights violations in Ukraine says its initial investigation has turned up evidence of war crimes in the country following Russia’s invasion nearly seven months ago. Presenting their most extensive findings so far, the team cited testimonies by former detainees of beatings, electric shocks and forced nudity in Russian detention facilities, and expressed grave concerns about executions in the four areas alone.

Iranian counterprotesters have gathered across the country in a show of support for authorities after nearly a week of anti-government protests and unrest. A few thousand people attended a rally in the capital, where they waved Iranian flags, and similar demonstrations were held in other cities. Authorities claim the rallies are spontaneous.

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is pounding Bermuda with heavy rains and winds as it sweeps by the island and is forecast to approach northeastern Canada as a still-powerful storm late Friday. Authorities in Bermuda opened shelters and closed schools and offices ahead of Fiona. Premier David Burt urged residents to “take care of yourself and your family.”

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck Mexico, causing at least two deaths, damaging buildings and setting off landslides. The earthquake struck at 1:19 a.m. near the epicenter of a magnitude 7.6 quake that hit three days earlier in the western state of Michoacan. It was also blamed for two deaths. The U.S. Geological Survey says Thursday’s earthquake was centered 31 miles south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan.

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach them four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding. For now, government officials are working with religious groups, nonprofits, and others braving landslides, thick mud, and broken asphalt by foot to provide food, water, and medicine for people in need.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian forces have exchanged missile and artillery barrages that killed at least six people. The fighting on Thursday indicated that neither side is ready to concede any ground despite recent military setbacks for Moscow and the toll on the invaded country after almost seven months of war. The exchange of fire came hours after the two sides made a major prisoner swap and the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin called up reserve troops to supplement his forces.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranians experienced widespread internet disruptions on Wednesday amid days of mass protests against the government, including a loss of access to Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last Western social media platforms available in the country.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia on Wednesday, risking a deeply unpopular step that follows a string of humiliating setbacks for his troops nearly seven months after invading Ukraine.

HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales have been stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island off the Australian state’s northwestern coast.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Devastating floods in Pakistan’s worst-hit province have killed 10 more people in the past day, including four children, officials said Wednesday as the U.N. children’s agency renewed its appeal for $39 million to help the most vulnerable flood victims.

CAYEY, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 storm Wednesday after devastating Puerto Rico, then lashing the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is raking the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says hurricane conditions are slamming Grand Turk, the British territory’s capital island. The government had imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prime Minister Liz Truss kicked off her first visit to the United States as Britain’s leader with an admission that a U.K-U.S. free trade deal is not going to happen for years. On her way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Truss said “there (aren’t) currently any negotiations taking place with the U.S., and I don’t have an expectation that those are going to start in the short to medium term.”

IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Izium, in far eastern Ukraine, was among the first cities taken by Russian forces after the war started on Feb. 24 and became a command center for the occupying forces. By early March, the city was almost completely isolated — no cell phones, no heat, no power. Residents didn’t know what was going on in the war, whether their relatives were alive, or whether there was still a Ukraine.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A nighttime bus crash that killed 27 people in southwest China this week has set off a storm of anger online over the harshness of the country’s strict COVID-19 policies. The passengers on the bus were traveling to a quarantine location outside their city of Guiyang. Following public anger, Guiyang fired three officials in charge of Yunyan district, where the residents had been picked up.

LONDON (AP) — Britain and the world are saying a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers. Crowds massed along the streets of London on Monday to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s was filled with spectacle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The family of a U.S. veteran and civilian contractor Mark Frerichs, held for more than two years in Afghanistan by Taliban, says he has been freed by the Taliban. Frerichs’ release appears to have been part of a swap and came as an imprisoned Taliban drug lord also said in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday that he had been freed from American custody. Frerichs’ sister said in a statement that her family had prayed every day for his release.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile strike hit some 330 yards from a nuclear power plant in the country's south. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry called the attack an act of “nuclear terrorism.” Ukraine's atomic energy operator said the strike just after midnight Monday struck an industrial complex in the southern Mykolaiv region that includes the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant.

TOKYO (AP) — A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds, leaving one person dead and another missing. Residential streets were flooded with muddy water from rivers, and swathes of homes lost power. In Miyazaki prefecture, a man was found dead in a car sunk in water on a farm and another person was missing after a cottage was caught in a landslide.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. aircraft carrier is to visit South Korea this week for its first joint training with South Korean warships in five years in an apparent show of force against increasing North Korean nuclear threats. South Korea's navy says the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its battle group will arrive at a South Korean naval base on Friday for a combined training meant to boost military readiness by the allies.

BUREIJ, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Palestinian farmer in the Gaza Strip has discovered a rare mosaic on his property. The man says he stumbled upon it while planting an olive tree last spring and quietly excavated it over several months with his son. Experts say the discovery of the mosaic — which includes 17 well-preserved images of animals and birds — is one of Gaza's greatest archaeological treasures.