【AZ】 AP News Summary at 7:25 a.m. EDT | National – Arizona News

IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Izium, in far eastern Ukraine, was among the first cities taken by Russian forces after the war started on Feb. 24 and became a command center for the occupying forces. By early March, the city was almost completely isolated — no cell phones, no heat, no power. Residents didn’t know what was going on in the war, whether their relatives were alive, whether there was still a Ukraine. They were liberated Sept. 10 in a Ukrainian counteroffensive that swept through the Kharkiv region, but more than a week later residents are still emerging from the confusion and trauma of six months of occupation. The city gained attention last week after the discovery of one of the war’s largest mass grave sites.

Fiona barrels toward Turks and Caicos as Cat. 3 hurricane

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is barreling toward the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm, prompting the government to impose a curfew. Forecasters say Fiona is expected to pass near Grand Turk, the British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning. Premier Washington Misick, who has been in London attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, has urged people to take every needed precaution. The intensifying storm is also keeping copious rain falling over the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Lawyers seek data in Georgia election equipment breach

ATLANTA (AP) — A new court filing says a former Republican Party official in Georgia who was a fake elector in 2020 misrepresented her role in an alleged breach of voting equipment at a rural elections office two months after the presidential election. The filing late Monday is part of a broader lawsuit challenging the security of the state’s voting machines that has been drawn into a separate investigation of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia. According to the latest filing, Cathy Latham helped coordinate the arrival of a computer forensics team at the Coffee County elections office on Jan. 7, 2021, and spent nearly all day there instructing them what to copy. The filing says that directly refutes her previous testimony.

WNBA players skipping Russia, choosing other places to play

SYDNEY (AP) — Top WNBA players are finding other places to compete this winter, not wanting to go back to Russia after the arrest and conviction of Brittney Griner on drug possession charges and the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones are going to Turkey. Courtney Vandersloot is headed to Hungary. All three were part of the same Russian super team as Griner. That club won five EuroLeague titles in the past eight seasons and has been dominant for nearly two decades with former greats DeLisha Milton Jones and Diana Taurasi playing there. Nearly a dozen WNBA players competed in Russia last winter and none of them are heading back this year.

Texas sheriff investigating flights to Martha’s Vineyard

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas sheriff has opened a criminal investigation into two flights of migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Monday did not say what laws may have been broken in putting 48 Venezuelans on private planes last week from San Antonio. The elected Democratic sheriff says investigators had so far only spoken to attorneys representing some of the migrants and did not name any potential suspects who might face charges. DeSantis’ office responded with a statement that said the migrants had been given more options to succeed in Massachusetts.

UN chief warns global leaders: The world is in ‘great peril’

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the world is in “great peril.” And he says world leaders meeting in-person for the first time in three years at the U.N. General Assembly must tackle conflicts and climate catastrophes, increasing poverty and inequality, and divisions among major powers that have gotten worse since Russia invaded Ukraine. The U.N. chief also cited the “immense” task not only of saving the planet but of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Guterres’ “state of the world” speech will be “a sober, substantive and solutions-focused report card.”

Britain’s Truss doesn’t expect UK-US trade deal anytime soon

NEW YORK (AP) — Prime Minister Liz Truss has kicked off her first visit to the United States as Britain’s leader with an admission that a U.K-U.S. free trade deal is not going to happen for years. On her way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Truss said “there (aren’t) currently any negotiations taking place with the U.S., and I don’t have an expectation that those are going to start in the short to medium term.” That’s a sharp contrast with the stance of her immediate predecessors, Boris Johnson and Theresa May. Both dangled the promise of a deal with the world’s biggest economy as one of the main prizes of Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Congress eyes strongest response yet to Jan. 6 attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are voting this week on changes to a 19th century law for certifying presidential elections. The measure is their strongest legislative response yet to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A vote to overhaul the Electoral Count Act is expected Wednesday. A bipartisan group of senators is moving forward with a similar bill. The Senate Rules Committee will vote on its version of the legislation next week. Lawmakers in both parties have said they want to change the arcane law before it is challenged again.

Kentucky school shooter seeks parole in high-stakes hearing

PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who killed three students and wounded five more in a school shooting 25 years ago will go before the state parole board on Tuesday in a high stakes hearing that could see him released or denied the chance to ever leave prison. Michael Carneal was a 14-year-old freshman on Dec. 1, 1997, when he fired a stolen pistol at a before-school prayer group in the lobby of Heath High School, near Paducah. The parole board on Monday heard from victims, many of whom asked that Carneal never be released. On Tuesday, they will hear from Carneal.

Q&A: James Cameron on the return of ‘Avatar’

NEW YORK (AP) — Thirteen years after James Cameron plunged moviegoers into the cosmic world of “Avatar,” the lush, distant moon of Pandora is finally orbiting back into view. Cameron’s “Avatar” industrial complex has been whirling in high gear for some time; production on the upcoming sequel began back in 2017. But after shuffling through half a decade’s worth of release dates, Cameron’s science-fiction epic is poised to again blanket movie screens and transport willing travelers back, in 3D, to the land of the Na’vi. To whet moviegoers’ appetites ahead of the Dec. 16 debut of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Cameron on Friday will rerelease “Avatar” in a remastered, 4K, HDR version that he says is “better than it’s ever looked.”