One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico struck off the country's southern coast, toppling hundreds of buildings and sending panicked people fleeing into the streets in the middle of the night. At least 61 people were reported dead.

The quake that hit minutes before midnight Thursday was strong enough to cause buildings to sway violently in the capital city more than 650 miles (1,000 kilometers) away. As beds banged against walls, people still wearing pajamas ran out of their homes and gathered in frightened groups.

Florida has ordered 5.6 million people to evacuate as massive Hurricane Irma menaces the southeastern US state, according to its Division of Emergency Management.

Irma regained strength as a Category 5 storm late Friday as it made landfall on the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba, and is now swirling about 275 miles (440 kilometers) away from Miami packing maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour.

An "active shooter" at an Ohio high school was arrested Friday and no injuries were reported, after police swarmed the campus within minutes of an emergency call.

Police in Columbus, the U.S. state's capital, received the first call from Scioto High School at 8:33 am (1233 GMT). Special tactical officers known as SWAT arrested the suspect 25 minutes later, according to police.

Dutch troops were fanning out across part of the hurricane-hit island of St Martin on Friday as shots were heard and officials admitted there had been some looting.

Turkey on Friday launched a probe into a main opposition party MP for accusing the government of killing and wounding civilians with drones, and said only terrorists had been targeted.

Malian and Burkinabe soldiers have killed, tortured and disappeared civilians while trying to root out jihadists in central Mali, Human Rights Watch said Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday it was too early to talk about a vote at the U.N. Security Council on new North Korea sanctions, insisting any pressure should be balanced against restarting talks.

Civilians in a central province of the strife-torn Central African Republic are enduring "a horrifying surge in torture, pillage and forced displacement," Amnesty International reported Friday.

Italian police officers are under investigation for the alleged rape of two U.S. students in Florence, media said Friday.

Boko Haram jihadists killed eight people in a series of raids on farming communities in northeast Nigeria, civilian militia members and local residents told the AFP news agency on Friday.