Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Corpses lie in the streets of Mariupol. Hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of Russian shells pounding this strategic port city.

“Why shouldn’t I cry?" Goma Janna demanded as she wept by the light of an oil lamp below ground, surrounded by women and children. “I want my home, I want my job. I’m so sad about people and about the city, the children."

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city.

Nearly two weeks into the invasion, the Russians have advanced deep along Ukraine's coastline in what could establish a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days.

Mariupol, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, is in a “catastrophic situation.”

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US strikes harder at Putin, banning all Russian oil imports

WASHINGTON (AP) — Striking harder at Russia’s economy, President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered a ban on Russian oil imports in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s onslaught in Ukraine. The major trade action, responding to the pleas of Ukraine’s embattled leader, thrust the U.S. out front as Western nations seek to halt Putin’s invasion.

Americans will feel pain, too – at the gas pump – Biden acknowledged, declaring, “Defending freedom is going to cost.”

The imports have been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion. Energy exports have kept a steady stream of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.

“We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden said, calling the new action a “powerful blow” against Russia's ability to fund the ongoing offensive.

Biden said the U.S. was acting in close consultation with European allies, who are more dependent on Russian energy supplies and who he acknowledged may not be able to join in immediately. The announcement marked the latest Biden attempt at cutting off Russia from much of the global economy and ensuring that the Ukraine invasion is a strategic loss for Putin, even if he manages to seize territory.

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Poland offers fighter jets to US in plan to help Ukraine

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland said Tuesday it would give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S., potentially advancing an arrangement that would allow the warplanes to be passed along to Ukraine's military as it confronts invading Russian forces.

The United States did not immediately confirm the deal, although Western nations have been discussing possible ways to answer Ukraine's appeal for warplanes. Any such decision would be a morale booster for Ukraine as Russian attacks on its cities deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. But it also raises the risks of a wider war.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Poland’s announcement, and a senior U.S. diplomat expressed surprise.

“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they plan to get these planes to us,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, who told lawmakers she learned of the proposal as she was driving to testify about the Ukraine crisis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“I look forward ... to getting back to my desk and seeing how we will respond to this proposal of theirs, to get the planes to us,” Nuland said.

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'Don't Say Gay' bill passes in Florida, goes to governor

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's Republican-dominated legislature passed a bill Tuesday to forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, rejecting a wave of criticism from Democrats that it marginalizes LGBTQ people.

The proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now moves to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.

Since its inception, the measure has drawn intense opposition from LGBTQ advocates, students, national Democrats, the White House and the entertainment industry, amid increased attention on Florida as Republicans push culture war legislation and DeSantis ascends in the GOP as a potential 2024 presidential candidate.

“This bill, from its introduction, has been used as vehicle to marginalize and attack LGTBQ people," said Rep. Carlos G. Smith, a Democrat who is gay, adding that it "sends a terrible message to our youth that there is something wrong with LGBTQ people, that there is something so dangerous or inappropriate about us that we have to be prohibited and censored from the classroom.”

The bill states: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” Parents would be able to sue districts over violations.

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1st trial in Capitol riot ends in conviction on all counts

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas man was convicted on Tuesday of storming the U.S. Capitol with a holstered handgun, a milestone victory for federal prosecutors in the first trial among hundreds of cases arising from last year’s riot.

A jury also convicted Guy Wesley Reffitt of obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021, of interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and of threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after the attack. Jurors deliberated about three hours and convicted him on all counts.

The verdict could be a bellwether for many other Capitol riot cases. It could give Justice Department prosecutors more leverage in plea negotiations and discourage other defendants from gambling on trials of their own.

Gregg Sofer, a former federal prosecutor who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas from October 2020 to February 2021, said before Reffitt's trial started that it would be “the canary in the coal mine.”

“If you’re a defendant awaiting trial at this point, the canary just died,” said Sofer, now a partner at the law firm Husch Blackwell. “I do think it is likely to affect people’s perceptions about the likelihood of their success.”

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Jury picked for alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A jury was selected Tuesday for the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 because they were angry over pandemic restrictions the Democratic governor imposed.

Opening statements were scheduled for Wednesday in the federal court in Grand Rapids. Prosecutors have said they will present secret recordings and other evidence against the men, including of a trip to check Whitmer’s vacation home and training with weapons and explosives.

Defense attorneys say the men deny any conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer, and have signaled an entrapment defense, criticizing the government’s use of undercover FBI agents and confidential informants.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker on Tuesday told prospective jurors: “This isn’t your average criminal case" because of the extraordinary allegations of violence planned against an elected official.

He also said they must put aside any personal feelings about politics, Whitmer and her administration’s response to COVID-19, to fairly hear the case. Several said they weren't sure they could be impartial.

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'The best of us': Biden promises improved care for veterans

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said U.S. veterans were the “backbone, the spine, the sinew” of the nation, has he pushed for better help for members of the military who face health problems, including after exposure to burn pits.

“You're the best of us," Biden said.

For the president, the issue is very personal. In last week's State of the Union address, Biden raised the prospect of whether being near the chemicals from pits where military waste was incinerated in Iraq led to the death of his son Beau.

“We don’t know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops,” Biden said in the speech. “But I’m committed to finding out everything we can.”

Biden traveled with Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough to Texas, where they visited a VA clinic in Fort Worth. There, he met with veterans, including one who was stationed near a pit and later had six weeks of treatment and chemotherapy. Biden greeted a veteran named John, who was seated in a wheelchair, asking him, “How are you?”

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Russia underestimated Ukraine's resistance, US officials say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States believes Russia underestimated the strength of Ukraine’s resistance before launching an invasion that has likely caused thousands of Russian casualties, the Biden administration's top intelligence official told lawmakers Tuesday.

The testimony, in a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, amounted to the first public assessment of the 2-week-old war by the nation's senior intelligence officials, who offered their insights into the thinking and motives of Russian President Vladimir Putin as his forces continue their march through Ukraine.

The officials made clear that Russia's assault has been slowed by unexpected resistance by Ukrainian defenders and that it was now uncertain if Putin would proceed with a “maximalist” strategy to try to capture all of Ukraine or would settle for something short of that. Either way, they said they believed he was determined to press his invasion forward despite mounting casualties, global sanctions and efforts by Western nations to isolate the Kremlin, including a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports.

“We assess Putin feels aggrieved the West does not give him proper deference and perceives this as a war he cannot afford to lose,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said. “But what he might be willing to accept as a victory may change over time given the significant costs he is incurring.”

The U.S. officials who testified Tuesday noted that the invasion has played out largely as they had forecast, in contrast to Putin's own overly rosy assessments of the speed with which he could take the country. U.S. officials, for instance, assess that Putin had banked on being able to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within the first two days of the campaign but he has yet to be able to fully encircle the city, CIA Director William Burns said.

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Q&A: Forecasters say gasoline prices likely to remain high

DALLAS (AP) —

Gasoline prices have smashed a 2008 record and are likely to head even higher, further fueling inflation and hitting consumers and businesses that are still coming to grips with the pandemic.

The national average topped $4.17 a gallon on Tuesday, according to auto club AAA, and several states on each coast could soon join California in the $5-and-up club.

Prices at the pump have been rising for more than a year, and analysts expect further increases after President Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban imports of Russian oil to punish Russia more severely for invading Ukraine.

As painful as this week’s prices are, they are still not the highest that Americans have paid when you consider inflation. In today’s dollars, that 2008 record of $4.10 a gallon would be equal to about $5.24.

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AP sources: Seahawks agree to trade Russell Wilson to Denver

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos have finally landed a worthy successor to Peyton Manning.

Six years and a day after Manning retired, Broncos general manager George Paton agreed to send a massive haul of players and draft picks to the Seattle Seahawks for nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson, two people familiar with the negotiations confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the blockbuster trade, which is pending Wilson passing a physical, can't become official until the start of the new league year on March 16.

The teams cannot comment on the deal until then, but the Broncos cleverly tweeted a clip of Tom Hanks' character in “Cast Away” drawing a face on the volleyball he named “Wilson.”

About an hour later, the Seahawks tweeted another clip from that movie in which Hanks' scraggly, skinny character loses the volleyball at sea and hollers, " Wilson, where are you? Wilson! Wilson! ”

News from © The Associated Press, 2022