KYIV (AP) — A U.N. nuclear watchdog team has set off on an urgent mission to safeguard the endangered Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant at the heart of fighting in Ukraine. The world hopes this long-awaited trip will help avoid a nuclear catastrophe. The trip is to a country where the world’s worst nuclear accident, at Chernobyl in 1986, sent radiation throughout the region, shocked the world and intensified a global push away from nuclear energy.

BAGHDAD (AP) — An influential Shiite cleric has announced he would resign from Iraqi politics and hundreds of his angry followers stormed the government palace in response, sparking violent clashes with security forces in which at least five protesters were killed. Medical officials said at least 15 protesters were wounded by gunfire and a dozen more were injured by tear gas and physical altercations with riot police in the protests Monday that followed the announcement by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — International aid is reaching Pakistan, as the military and volunteers desperately tried to evacuate many thousands stranded by widespread flooding driven by “monster monsoons” that have claimed more than 1,000 lives this summer. Two cargo planes from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates landed near Islamabad on Sunday and more help arrived.

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military says it will launch sweeping military drills in the country’s east that will involve forces from China. The maneuvers that start on Thursday reflect increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid the tensions with the West over the Kremlin’s action in Ukraine.

BEIJING (AP) — More than 100,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas as heavy rains bring flood risks to a region of southwest China that was devastated by heat and drought for most of the summer. Heavy rain is forecast for parts of Sichuan province and Chongqing city through at least Tuesday. Chongqing, a megacity built in a hilly area and including mountains and countryside, issued a flash flood warning.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday. Flash flooding from the heavy rains has washed away villages and crops as …

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan health ministry officials say clashes have broken out between rival militias in Libya’s capital, killing at least 23 civilians and wounding 140 others. An emergency services spokesman said Saturday the dead included a comedian known for his social media videos who was shot in the chest. The spokesman says many other civilians were wounded in the clashes that centered in the capital city of Tripoli.

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine have traded claims of attacks at or near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. These reports Sunday intensified fears that the fighting could damage the Zaporizhzhia plant and cause a massive radiation leak. Ukraine’s atomic energy agency painted an ominous picture of the threat by issuing a map forecasting where radiation could spread. Ukrainian officials say Russian strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from the power plant.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say a team from the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant next week after it was temporarily knocked offline. More shelling was reported in the area Friday. Ukraine says Russia is seeking to sabotage the IAEA visit. Fire damage to a transmission line at Europe’s largest nuclear plant caused a blackout across the region on Thursday.

LONDON (AP) — British residents will see an 80% increase in their annual household energy bills. The U.K.’s energy regulator announced Friday that costs will go from 1,971 pounds a year to 3,549 pounds in October. It follows a record 54% annual spike in April. The costs are roiling the British economy, which has the highest inflation rate among the Group of Seven wealthiest democracies and seen disruptive strikes for months as workers push for pay to keep pace with the increasingly expensive cost of living.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The deadly siege of a hotel in Somalia's capital over the weekend was the longest such attack in the country's history. It took more than 30 hours for security forces to subdue the al-Shabab extremists who invaded the hotel. In a national address this week, Somalia’s president spoke of “total war” to confront the group that has controlled parts of the country for years.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's leader says China and Russia are “disrupting and threatening the world order" with Beijing's recent large-scale military exercises near the island and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. President Tsai Ing-wen spoke during a meeting in Taipei with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is on the second visit by members of Congress since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip prompted China to launch the exercises.

Scientists have created “synthetic” mouse embryos from stem cells without a dad's sperm or a mom's egg or womb. The lab-created embryos mirror a natural mouse embryo up to 8 ½ days after fertilization, containing the same structures, including one like a beating heart. In the near term, researchers hope to use these so-called embryoids to better understand early stages of development and study mechanisms behind disease without the need for as many lab animals. The feat could also lay the foundation for creating synthetic human embryos for research in the future.

HONG KONG (AP) — Tropical Storm Ma-on has made landfall in southern China’s Guangdong province after bringing rain and stiff winds to Hong Kong, where the stock market was closed for the morning session. Residents of coastal areas around the city of Maoming were urged to stay away from the shore Thursday morning as the typhoon arrived.

LONDON (AP) — The moving vans have already started arriving at Downing Street, as Britain’s Conservative Party prepares to evict Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Debate about what mark he will leave on his party, his country and the world will linger long after he departs in September. Johnson led the U.K. out of the European Union and won a landslide election victory before his government collapsed in a heap of ethics scandals.

CHAPLYNE, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian official says the death toll from a Russian rocket attack on Ukraine's Independence Day has risen to 25. The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office reported Thursday that the victims included an 11-year-old boy found under the rubble of a house and a 6-year-old killed in a car fire near a train station that was the target. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces used an Iskander missile to strike a military train carrying Ukrainian troops and equipment to the front line in eastern Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to increase the size of the country's armed forces by 137,000 amid Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Putin’s decree signed Thursday didn’t explain whether the military will beef up its ranks by drafting a bigger number of conscripts, increasing the number of volunteer soldiers or using a combination of both. The Kremlin has said that only volunteer contract soldiers take part in what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, rejecting claims that it was pondering a broad mobilization.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say that recent heavy rains have wreaked havoc across Pakistan since mid-June, with 903 dead and about 50,000 people homeless. The National Disaster Management Authority said on Wednesday that 126 people were killed in flood-related incidents in the past 48 hours. It says most of the victims are women and children.

Ukraine’s president says Russian forces have launched a rocket attack on a train station in central Ukraine on the country’s Independence Day, killing 22 people. The lethal strike Wednesday came after warnings from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days that the Russians might “try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel” this week. Wednesday is a national holiday in Ukraine commemorating the country’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A 17-year-old pilot became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft after he landed in Bulgaria. That's the country where Mack Rutherford's journey kicked off five months ago. Rutherford landed on an airstrip west of Bulgarian capital Sofia on Wednesday to complete his task and to claim two Guinness World Records.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Authorities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region say Ethiopia’s military has launched a “large-scale” offensive for the first time in a year. But Ethiopia's government says Tigray forces attacked first. It's a significant setback to mediation efforts and humanitarian work to feed millions of people starved of food and other needs.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is nervously bracing for what President Volodymr Zelenskyy warns could be especially brutal Russian attacks as the country observes its Independence Day and marks the war’s six-month point. Conditions are considered too dangerous to allow any major public celebrations in the capital. Residents of Kyiv woke up to air raid sirens Wednesday, but there were no immediate attacks.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians have taken up bird trapping in recent years, capturing parakeets along the heavily guarded frontier with Israel and selling them to pet shops. It’s a rare if meager source of income in Gaza, which has been under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the militant Hamas group seized power 15 years ago. The ring-necked parakeet is an invasive species of tropical bird that has proliferated in Israel and the Palestinian territories in recent years.

BEIJING (AP) — Tropical Storm Ma-on is headed for Hong Kong and other parts of southeastern China after displacing thousands in the Philippines. The Hong Kong Observatory on Wednesday warned of flooding in low-lying areas and advised people to stay away from the shoreline. The storm is expected to make landfall around noon Thursday in Guangdong province, about 120 miles west of Hong Kong, before moving inland toward the Guangxi region and northern Vietnam.

BEIJING (AP) — Twin giant pandas have been born at a breeding center in southwestern China, a sign of progress for the country’s unofficial national mascot as it struggles for survival amid climate change and loss of habitat. The male and female cubs are the second pair of twins born to their mother, Qin Qin.