Rescuers evacuated stunned survivors on a large barrier island cut off by Hurricane Ian and Florida’s death toll climbed sharply, as hundreds of thousands of people were still sweltering without power days after the monster storm rampaged from the state’s southwestern coast up to the Carolinas.

Brazilians cast their votes on Sunday in the first round of their country's most polarized election in decades, with leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expected to beat right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

The death toll in Florida from Hurricane Ian now stands at 23, the southern US state’s Department of Law Enforcement said Friday.

Turkey yesterday said Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian provinces was a “grave violation” of international law and called for negotiations to end the conflict.

President Joe Biden said Friday the United States and Nato will not be intimidated by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and warned that the Western alliance would defend “every inch” of its territory if attacked.

Fighting escalated in Ukraine yesterday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed four territories of the country, earning condemnations from both friends and allies.

Iranians based abroad and their supporters gathered in cities around the world yesterday in solidarity with protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s notorious morality police.

Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina waited for daylight to assess damage from its strike there as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north.

The World Bank has announced $530 million in supplemental funding for Ukraine to enable it to "meet urgent needs created by Russia's invasion."

India abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that would have declared Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories as invalid.

NATO accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday of provoking "the most serious escalation" of the war in Ukraine since it began, but said he would not succeed in deterring the alliance from supporting Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday directly accused the United States and its allies of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.

The United States condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.

A defiant Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia’s annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony yesterday, promising Moscow would triumph in its “special military operation” against Kyiv even as some of his troops faced potential defeat.

After years of decline, the planet is now witnessing a “worrying upsurge” in cholera outbreaks, the World Health Organization warned yesterday.

A resurgent Hurricane Ian yesterday barrelled north toward a second landfall in South Carolina, a day after carving a path of destruction across central Florida that left rescue crews racing to reach trapped residents along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Britain is not yet in recession, revised data showed yesterday in a boost for under-fire Prime Minister Liz Truss, but its economy may still face a downturn on soaring interest rates.

Climate change increased the rainfall from Hurricane Ian by more than 10 percent, according to a new quick-fire analysis, as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States devastated parts of Florida.

Iranian security forces opened fire on angry protesters as street violence sparked by the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini entered a third week yesterday, foreign-based opposition media reported.

Finland’s long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor has reached full power to become the most powerful electricity production facility in Europe, operator TVO said yesterday, a boost amid a continent-wide energy crunch.