SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The United Nations Security Council is evaluating options including the immediate activation of foreign troops to help free Haiti from the grip of gangs that has caused a scarcity of fuel, water and other basic supplies. Such a force would “remove the threat posed by armed gangs and provide immediate protection to critical infrastructure and services."

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says its recent barrage of missile launches was the simulated use of its tactical battlefield nuclear weapons to “hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and U.S. targets. Its leader Kim Jong Un has signaled he would conduct more provocative tests. Monday's North Korean statement released on the 77th birthday of its ruling Workers’ Party is seen as an attempt to buttress public unity behind Kim as he is struggling to overcome difficulties such as pandemic-related economic hardships.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities Monday, smashing civilian targets including downtown Kyiv where at least six people were killed amid burnt-out cars and shattered buildings that brought back into focus the grim reality of war after months of easing tensions in the capital.

LAS TEJERÍAS, Venezuela (AP) — A landslide fueled by flooding and days of torrential rain swept through a town in central Venezuela, leaving at least 22 people dead as it dragged mud, rocks and trees through neighborhoods, authorities said Sunday. Dozens of people are missing.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government has agreed to request the help of international armed forces as gangs and protesters paralyze the country and basic supplies including fuel and water dwindle, a top-ranking Haitian official has told The Associated Press. The official, who was not authorized to speak about the issue publicly, said Friday that a formal request in writing has not yet been submitted.

LA COLOMA, Cuba (AP) — Cuban soldiers fix roofs and raise power poles under a blazing sun. Teachers salvage school supplies, and residents dry mattresses and cook over wood fires. Much needs to be done in La Coloma, a fishing and industrial town on Cuba’s coast that took the brunt of Hurricane Ian. Ten days after the storm left still unquantified devastation across western Cuba, and knocked out the power grid nationwide, many Cubans are still without electricity, water or many basic goods.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian missile attack on apartment buildings in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has risen to 11. The regional governor said Friday that more missiles hit the city on Friday along with explosives from Iranian-made drones. He said the Russian S-300 missile strikes on the city a day earlier were “not a random hit, but a series of missiles aimed at multi-story buildings.”

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Uganda next week will host a ministerial meeting on the outbreak of the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus which has no proven vaccine and has caused alarm in the East Africa region. The Ebola outbreak in Uganda has a 69% case fatality rate, which Ogwell called “very high,” and four health workers are among the 10 people confirmed to have died of Ebola.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Babies in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region are dying in their first month of life at four times the rate before the war cut off access to most medical care for over 5 million people. That's according to the most sweeping study yet of how mothers and small children are succumbing to deprivation during the conflict.

KYTHIRA, Greece (AP) — Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage in the water off a Greek island Thursday as the death toll from the sinking of two migrant boats rose to 21, with many still missing. The boats went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort, as residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.

PRAGUE (AP) — The leaders of 44 European countries are meeting in what many say is a united stand against Russia’s war on Ukraine amid an energy crisis and high inflation fueled by the conflict. The inaugural summit of the European Political Community on Thursday involves the 27 European Union member countries, aspiring partners in the Balkans and Eastern Europe and as well as neighbors like Britain and Turkey. Russia is the one major European power not invited along with its neighbor and supporter in the war Belarus.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched two missile attacks that hit apartment blocks in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, killing one person and trapping at least five in the city close to Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, the governor of the mostly Russian-occupied region said.

BANGKOK (AP) — A former policeman burst into a daycare center in northeastern Thailand, killing dozens of children and teachers and then firing on more people as he fled. It was the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history. Authorities said the assailant was fired from the force earlier this year because of a drug offense. He took his own life after killing his own wife and child at home.

DOLLOW, Somalia (AP) — Somalia is in the midst of the worst drought anyone there can remember. More than 1 million have fled. A rare famine declaration could be made within weeks. Thousands of people have died, many of them children.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it plowed into the ground during a drill with the United States that was a reprisal for North Korea’s launch a day earlier of a weapon that flew over Japan and has the range to strike Guam.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia. His move finalizes an annexation carried out in violation of international law. In a defiant move, the Kremlin on Wednesday held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.”

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has conducted its longest-ever weapons test, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that flew over Japan and could reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond. The launch early Tuesday forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains. It was the most provocative weapons demonstration by North Korea this year, as it pushes to develop a fully-fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening U.S. allies and the American homeland and earning the country recognition as a nuclear state.

LYMAN, Ukraine (AP) — The bodies of Russian soldiers lying in the streets of a key eastern Ukrainian city on Tuesday are evidence of a hasty retreat that marked a new military defeat for Moscow as it struggles to hang on to areas it illegally annexed last week. Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Tuesday, following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed as illegal and fraudulent.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden's navy says it has sent a vessel capable of “advanced diving missions” to the Baltic Sea area where ruptured undersea pipelines leaked natural gas for days. The Swedish navy said Monday the vessel is a submarine rescue ship. One of the gas leaks off Sweden has increased again, the Swedish coast guard said.

MAZATLAN, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Orlene is heading toward Mexico’s Pacific coast near the tourist town of Mazatlan, and authorities along the coast have suspended classes and set up shelters. Orlene lost some strength after roaring over the Islas Maria, a former prison colony being developed as a tourist draw. The main island is sparsely populated, mainly by government employees and most buildings there are made of brick or concrete.

MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police said they were investigating over a dozen officers responsible for firing tear gas that set off a crush that killed 125 people at a soccer match, as families and friends grieved Monday for the victims that included 17 children.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops pushed forward with their offensive that has embarrassed Moscow, with Kyiv officials and foreign observers hinting at new gains in the southern strategic region of Kherson. The area has been one of the toughest battlefields for the Ukrainians, with slower progress when compared to Kyiv’s breakout offensive around Kharkiv that began last month.

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — The British government has dropped plans to cut income tax for top earners. The move was part of a package of unfunded cuts that sparked turmoil on financial markets and sent the pound to record lows. Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday that he would abandon plans to scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds a year.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded publicly to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of silence to condemn the “rioting” and accuse the United States and Israel of planning the protests. Khamenei said he was saddened by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, which set off the nationwide protests. But he sharply condemned the protests as a foreign plot to destabilize Iran, echoing authorities’ previous comments.

BEIRUT (AP) — An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has documented a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million. The AP and “Frontline” used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track three dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to ports in the Middle East.