A community in southern Madagascar has pulled together to save thousands of critically endangered tortoises that were swept away from their sanctuary and left swimming for their lives in floods this month caused by a tropical cyclone. The 12,000 radiated and spider tortoises that were housed at the Lavavolo Tortoise Center had been confiscated from poachers and illegal wildlife traffickers. They faced a new and unexpected ordeal when Cyclone Dikeledi hit the southern part of the island in mid-January. A sanctuary representative says a rescue operation involving staff, volunteers and even local police officers has saved more than 10,000 tortoises.

The Philippines has launched a comic book to counter what the country says is China’s disinformation campaign to push its expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. The title of the 40-page comic book is “The Stories of Teacher Jun.” It was unveiled by Philippine officials on Friday. The comic book contains colorful caricatures of a Filipino teacher and his young students discussing the complex territorial disputes in simple terms and highlights the Philippine position. One fictional student in the book describes China as a bully and another says Beijing’s “behavior is outrageous.” There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Get caught up on the Australian Open with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch th…

Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. are being urged to stay at home as hurricane-force winds disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions. Ireland was hit with wind gusts of 114 miles (183 kilometers) an hour overnight, the highest since World War II, as a winter storm spiraled in from the Atlantic before hitting Scotland. Schools were closed and trains, ferries and hundreds of flights were canceled in the Republic of Ireland, neighboring Northern Ireland and Scotland as the system, named Storn Éowyn by weather authorities, roared in. Forecasters issued a rare “red” weather warning, meaning danger to life, for Friday across the whole island of Ireland and central and southwest Scotland.

South Korea’s military says it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers already deployed on the Russian-Ukraine war fronts suffered heavy casualties. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also assessed in a report Friday that North Korea is continuing its preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile. Trump’s return to the White House could brighten prospects for the resumption of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea as he met Kim Jong Un three times during his first term.