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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he is sending $2.98 billion in new military aid to Ukraine that will enable forces there to fight for years to come. Biden's announcement Wednesday comes six months after Russia invaded Ukraine and as Ukraine is celebrating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. The new U.S. aid will train and equip Ukrainian forces for a longer-term fight.

CAIRO (AP) — A Sudanese official says the death toll from flash floods across the country since the start of the rainy season has climbed to at least 83. The downpours continue to inundate villages across the east African nation. The spokesman for Sudan’s National Council for Civil Defense said on Tuesday that at least 36 people have been injured since May.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — On the eve of Ukraine’s independence day, warnings that Moscow might attack significant government and civilian targets are causing unease in the war-weary country. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged U.S. citizens in Ukraine to depart the country immediately. The Kyiv regional government banned mass events until Thursday due to fears of Russian missile attacks.

BEIJING (AP) — With China’s biggest freshwater lake reduced to just 25% of its usual size by drought, work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to irrigate crops. The dramatic decline of water coverage in Poyang Lake in southeastern China otherwise had cut off irrigation channels in one of China’s key rice-growing regions. But state media report the crews are working only after dark due to the extreme daytime heat.

CHARLEROI, Belgium (AP) — A Belgian-British teenage pilot is set to become the youngest person to fly around the world solo in a small plane. Mack Rutherford landed Tuesday in southern Belgium ahead of the penultimate leg of his global odyssey. Weather permitting, the 17-year-old aviator is due to land in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on Wednesday, some five months after setting out. That would break the record set by 18-year-old Travis Ludlow in 2021.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The two top officials of Hungary’s meteorological service have been fired after an inaccurate rain forecast prompted the postponement of a fireworks display on the country’s most important national holiday. The firings of the head and deputy head of the National Meteorological Service on Monday are prompting accusations of political interference from Hungary’s nationalist government.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A tropical storm lashed the northern Philippines with strong winds and rain, injuring at least two people and prompting the president to close schools and government offices in the capital and outlying provinces. The closures come just one day after schools across the Philippines held their first face-to-face classes in two years. Storm Ma-on weakened slightly as it barreled through mountainous northern provinces after slamming into Maconacon town in Isabela province Tuesday morning.

The two top officials of Hungary’s meteorological service have been fired after an inaccurate rain forecast prompted the postponement of a fireworks display on the country’s most important …