MEXICO CITY (AP) — The first hurricane of the season formed off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast Sunday and rapidly gained power ahead of an expected strike along a stretch of tourist beaches and fishing towns as a major storm.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard says it has seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The Guard’s statement on Friday night said the ships were seized over unspecified violations. It did not elaborate. The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet had said it was investigating earlier reports that Iran seized two Greek tankers.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The biggest convoy of aid since Ethiopia’s government declared a unilateral "humanitarian cease-fire" in the country’s long-encircled Tigray region two months ago has departed for Tigray, a U.N. official told The Associated Press, as the conflict gripping Africa’s second most populous nation continued to ease.

DJIBO, Burkina Faso (AP) — African leaders have gathered for a summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to address growing humanitarian needs on the continent, which is also facing increased violent extremism, famine and a run of military coups. Leaders on Friday called for increased mobilization to resolve a humanitarian crisis that has left millions displaced and more than 280 million suffering from malnourishment.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — About two weeks after North Korea acknowledged its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak, it says about 3.3 million people have come down with fever but only 69 have died. If they were all virus patients, it would suggest the coronavirus fatality rate of 0.002%, something no other country has achieved.

BEIJING (AP) — Residents in China's largest city of Shanghai have become bolder in demanding the lifting or easing of coronavirus restrictions that have left millions locked up in their compounds for almost two months.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are pounding the last Ukrainian strongholds in a separatist-controlled eastern province of Ukraine. Ukraine’s foreign minister warned that without a new injection of foreign weapons, Ukrainian forces would not be able to stop Russia from seizing Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Moscow is pressing the West to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis. That crisis is worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products because of the conflict.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — No matter where Ukrainians live, the 3-month-old war never seems to be far away. Those in towns and villages near the front lines hide in basements from constant shelling, struggling to survive with no electricity or gas — and often no running water. But even in regions out of the range of the big guns, frequent air raid sirens wail in a constant reminder that a Russian missile can strike at any time, even for those walking their dogs, riding bicycles or taking their children to parks in cities like Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has responded to an investigative report on government parties that took place during coronavirus lockdowns by saying he takes “full responsibility for everything that took place.” But while the report published on Wednesday said the blame for rule-breaking lies at the top of government. Johnson insisted again that he did not knowingly break any rules.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing has extended orders for workers and students to stay home and ordered additional mass testing as cases of COVID-19 again rise in the city. Numerous residential compounds have restricted movement in and out, although conditions remain far less severe than in Shanghai, where millions of citizens have been under varying degrees of lockdown for two months.

LONDON (AP) — Across Britain, food banks and community food hubs that helped struggling families, older people and the homeless during the pandemic are now seeing soaring demand. Skyrocketing energy and food bills are pushing millions deeper into financial hardship, and increasing numbers cannot afford to buy groceries.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities say that workers digging through rubble found 200 bodies in Mariupol. That's another grim discovery in the ruined port city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, it had hoped to overtake the country in a blitz lasting only days or a few weeks. Many Western analysts thought so, too. Three months later, however, Moscow appears to be bogged down in what increasingly looks like a war of attrition, with no end in sight and few successes on the battlefield.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for “maximum” sanctions against Russia during a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland. He said Monday that sanctions need to go further to stop Russia’s aggression, including an oil embargo, blocking all of its banks and cutting off trade with Russia completely.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A fire on a ferry in the northeastern Philippines has killed seven people and forced many others to jump into the water, where they were rescued by other vessels. The coast guard says all of the 134 passengers and crew aboard the vessel have been accounted for, with 24 injured people taken to a hospital.

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Houses on fire. Artillery blasting through thick apartment walls. People hiding in basements without electricity, water or gas as their towns are pulverized. Civilians fleeing areas near Ukraine's eastern front are describing scenes of devastation as their towns and villages came under sustained attack from Russian forces.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court has sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison for killing a Ukrainian civilian. It is the first conviction for war crimes since Russia’s invasion three months ago.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A large number of North Koreans including leader Kim Jong Un have attended a funeral for a top official despite outside worries about its COVID-19 outbreak. Photos showed leader Kim Jong Un carrying the coffin of the late official and throwing earth into his grave.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Belarusians are among the foreign fighters who have volunteered to take up arms in Ukraine against Russian forces. They consider the Ukrainians defending their homeland to be their brethren.

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over” despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the omicron wave. He told governments on Sunday that “we lower our guard at our peril.”

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have begun enforcing an order requiring all female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on-air. The move Sunday is part of a hard-line shift drawing condemnation from rights activists.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda has traveled to Kyiv to support Ukraine's goal of European Union membership. Duda became the first foreign leader to address Ukraine's parliament since Russia invaded nearly three months ago.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs are fighting each other and seizing territory in Haiti's capital with a new intensity and brutality. That's horrified and frightened many who feel the country is swiftly unraveling as it tries to recover from the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the United Nations prepares to debate the future of its presence there.

The ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been devastating for families of all kinds, including those who have seen their prospective adoptions put on hold. Ukraine has stopped all …