AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST
Live updates: Johnson to seek UN Security Council meeting
The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war:
LONDON - The office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will seek an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting after Russian troops in Ukraine attacked a nuclear power plant and sparked a fire.
Johnson's office says he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the early hours of the morning. He says Britain will raise the issue immediately with Russia and close partners.
Johnson's office says he and Zelenskyy agree Russia must immediately cease attacking and allow emergency services unfettered access to the plant. The two agree a ceasefire is essential.
'œThe Prime Minister said the reckless actions of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin could now directly threaten the safety of all of Europe,'ť Johnson's office said in a statement. 'œHe said (the United Kingdom) would do everything it could to ensure the situation did not deteriorate further.'ť
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Russia attacks Ukraine nuclear plant as invasion advances
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Russian forces shelled Europe's largest nuclear plant early Friday, sparking a fire as they pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea.
The world's leading nuclear authorities were concerned - but not panicked - about the damage to the power station, but the assault triggered a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the U.S. Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.
The attack on the eastern city of Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant unfolded as the invasion entered its second week and another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.
Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the facility and had set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.
Firefighters cannot get near the flames because they are being shot at, he said, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a plea to the Russians to stop the assault and allow fire teams inside.
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EXPLAINER: Is stuck convoy in Ukraine a setback for Russia?
WASHINGTON (AP) - For days, a massive Russian military convoy has sat, largely stalled about 15 miles (25 kilometers) outside Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, which is believed to be the central target of Moscow's war.
Eight days into the war, the expanse of Russian supply trucks, troops and weapons has been plagued with fuel and food shortages and logistical challenges, including weather and mud. Ukrainian troops have managed to attack and incapacitate some vehicles at the front, creating a traffic jam, but the Russians have largely shielded the convoy from attack by air, according to Western officials and analysts.
The convoy's lack of measurable progress has triggered questions about the short- and long-term implications and what it says about Russia's war planning. But will it affect the war's outcome?
Mason Clark, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, says the convoy saga may be emblematic of shortcomings in the Russian army, which is relatively inexperienced in the execution of large-scale operations that combine air, ground and naval forces. But it is unlikely to prevent Russia from prevailing against the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian defenders.
'œEventually the Russians will be able to quite simply wear down Ukrainian forces,'ť and take Kyiv, Clark said.
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Purdue Pharma, US states agree to new opioid settlement
Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement Thursday over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to staunch a flood of lawsuits facing the maker of OxyContin.
The deal follows an earlier settlement that had been appealed by eight states and the District of Columbia. They agreed to sign on after the Sacklers kicked in more cash and accepted other terms. In exchange, the family would be protected from civil lawsuits.
In all, the plan could be worth more than $10 billion over time. It calls for members of the Sackler family to give up control of the Stamford, Connecticut-based company so it can be turned into a new entity with profits used to fight the crisis. The deal would not shield members of the family from criminal charges, although there's no indication any are forthcoming.
Sackler family members have not unequivocally offered an apology but issued a statement of regret about the toll of OxyContin, its signature painkiller, which users learned could be manipulated to produce quick highs. Purdue Pharma had promoted its use for a broad range of pain issues for which doctors previously had shied away from prescribing opioids.
"While the families have acted lawfully in all respects, they sincerely regret that OxyContin, a prescription medicine that continues to help people suffering from chronic pain, unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis that has brought grief and loss to far too many families and communities,'ť said the statement from the Sackler family.
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Ex-officer cleared in shooting during Breonna Taylor raid
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A former Kentucky police officer was found not guilty Thursday on charges he endangered neighbors the night he fired into Breonna Taylor's apartment during a botched drug raid that resulted in Taylor's death.
The panel of eight men and four women delivered its verdict for Brett Hankison about three hours after it took the case following closing arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys.
None of the officers involved in the March 13, 2020, raid were charged with Taylor's death, and Hankison did not fire any of the bullets that killed the 26-year-old Black woman. His acquittal likely closes the door on the possibility of state criminal charges against any of the officers involved in the raid. A federal investigation into whether the officers violated his civil rights is underway.
Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, and a group of friends and family left quickly without commenting after the verdict.
Hankison did not appear outside the courtroom after the verdict was read. But his attorney Stewart Mathews said he and Hankison were 'œthrilled.'ť
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As refugee numbers soar, many haunted by terror of war
PRZEMYSL, Poland (AP) - It took Tatyana Pelykh and her 11-year-old son four days of travel and a wait of nearly 48 hours at the border crossing to escape their native Ukraine for Romania. There they found safety and a place to sleep, on the floor of a hotel conference room.
But Pelykh, a baker, says she still carries the terror of war inside her.
'œI feel that my body is here, but my heart and my soul are in Okhtyrka and Kharkiv,'ť the cities in Ukraine where her parents and best friend remain hunkered down in basements and garages under Russian attack.
In just one week, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has produced a refugee exodus so large that it almost matches the number of people who sought refuge in Europe in a whole year during the 2015 migration crisis.
The United Nations refugee agency said Thursday that 1 million people had fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion, the swiftest exodus of refugees this century.
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AP PHOTOS: Day 8, grim reality of Russian invasion
A father's grief. A tender touch. A new country.
Ukrainians faced another grim day in the Russian invasion Thursday as the bombardment claimed more victims and destroyed buildings. Russian forces seized a strategic seaport and threatened to overtake a major energy hub even as the two sides negotiated corridors to safely evacuate citizens.
Residents poured out of the country by bus and train, sometimes in unheated cars, to cross the border to Poland or Romania. Some desperate to escape the bombings crowded rail stations and squeezed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.
The outgunned Ukrainians have put up stiff resistance, staving off the swift victory that Russia appeared to have expected. Volunteer fighters constructed barriers and taught others how to use weapons as the invasion entered its second week.
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Father mourns son after shelling on Ukraine soccer field
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) - The surgeons leaving the operating room don't make eye contact. One of them holds up his hands. Another looks down, defeated. It's then that the father waiting at the doorway grabs his forehead, tears welling, and turns away, a wail about to escape his throat.
The man, identified only as Serhii, enters the room and finds his 16-year-old son, Iliya, is still and draped by a blood-stained sheet.
Serhii drops down, hugs Iliya's lifeless head and convulses with grief.
Iliya was fatally wounded Wednesday while playing soccer in Mariupol when shelling started amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The explosive hit the soccer field near a school in the Azov Sea city.
Elsewhere in Mariupol, shelling illuminated darkening skies as medics stood in a parking lot, with heavy fighting continuing on the city outskirts on Thursday. The city was plunged into darkness as the battle knocked out most phone services and raised the prospect of food and water shortages.
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As vaccine demand falls, states are left with huge stockpile
As demand for COVID-19 vaccines collapses in many areas of the U.S., states are scrambling to use stockpiles of doses before they expire and have to be added to the millions that have already gone to waste.
From some of the least vaccinated states, like Indiana and North Dakota, to some of the most vaccinated states, like New Jersey and Vermont, public health departments are shuffling doses around in the hopes of finding providers that can use them.
State health departments told The Associated Press they have tracked millions of doses that went to waste, including ones that expired, were in a multi-dose vial that couldn't be used completely or had to be tossed for some other reason like temperature issues or broken vials.
Nearly 1.5 million doses in Michigan, 1.45 million in North Carolina, 1 million in Illinois and almost 725,000 doses in Washington couldn't be used.
The percentage of wasted doses in California is only about 1.8%, but in a state that has received 84 million doses and administered more than 71 million of them, that equates to roughly 1.4 million doses. Providers there are asked to keep doses until they expire, then properly dispose of them, the California Department of Public Health said.
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Takeaways as Jan. 6 panel eyes Trump 'criminal conspiracy'
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol has previewed some of its findings in a federal court filing, and investigators for the first time said they have enough evidence to suggest then-President Donald Trump committed crimes.
That doesn't necessarily mean that Trump will be charged, or even that the Justice Department will investigate. But the legal document offers an early look at some of the panel's likely conclusions, which are expected to be submitted in coming months. The committee has interviewed more than 650 witnesses as it investigates the violent siege by Trump supporters, the worst attack on the Capitol in more than two centuries.
In the 221-page filing, the panel said it has evidence that the defeated Republican president and his associates engaged in a 'œcriminal conspiracy'ť to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. Hundreds of Trump's supporters violently bashed their way past police that day and sent lawmakers into hiding, interrupting but not stopping the certification.
The filing came in response to a lawsuit from John Eastman, a lawyer and law professor who was consulting with Trump while attempting to overturn the election and who is trying to withhold documents from the committee.
Eastman's attorney, Charles Burnham, responded to the legal filing by defending Eastman's efforts to protect his documents through attorney-client privilege. Investigating lawmakers argue there is a legal exception allowing a lawyer to disclose communications when they might be related to ongoing or future crimes.