April 5, 2022, 7:06 PM PDT / Source: Associated Press
By Associated Press
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court declined Tuesday to consider a request by the Arizona Republican Party to eliminate the early voting system used by 90 percent of the state’s voters and require nearly all voters to cast ballots in person on Election Day.

The court ruled that the case did not meet the limited criteria for a lawsuit filed directly to the state’s high court but said the GOP could take its case to Superior Court.

The lawsuit filed in February argued absentee voting is unconstitutional and asked the justices to get rid of it or at least eliminate the no-excuse absentee balloting system Arizona adopted in 1991 and has steadily expanded ever since.

The lawsuit comes amid GOP efforts on many fronts to remake the system for casting and counting votes as former President Donald Trump repeats the lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud in Arizona and other battleground states. It was blasted by Democrats and voting rights advocates who said the argument was deeply flawed and aimed at undermining elections.

The U.S. has uncovered "credible information" that Russian forces "are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps," and that Russian troops will "likely use lethal measures to disperse peaceful protests," according to a recent letter to a U.N. high commissioner, sent by a U.S. ambassador.

The undated letter—published by The Washington Post on Sunday and written by Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker, U.S. representative to the Office of the United Nations, and addressed to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet—warns of a potential "human rights catastrophe" in the coming days.

"I would like to bring to your attention disturbing information recently obtained by the United States that indicates that human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion are being planned," Crocker wrote. "These acts ... would likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons

The Russian-held Kherson International Airport and Air Base near the southern Ukrainian port city has successfully been struck by Ukrainian forces, according to a number of satellite images.

The Ukrainian attack on Tuesday appears to have destroyed a number of Russian helicopters, with images obtained by Planet Labs PBC showing a cloud of thick, black smoke rising from burning helicopters.

The first image shown above—the one in color—was taken at 1:35 p.m. local time on March 15, 2022.

The satellite images appear to show at least three helicopters on fire, as well as several vehicles. At a pad further away, other helicopters appeared to have been damaged by an earlier strike.

In rare backing for Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday assured Vladimir Putin of his "strong support" in a telephone call, according to a Kremlin statement.

In the call initiated by Caracas, the Venezuelan leader also condemned "destabilizing actions of the United States and NATO" and spoke out against a Western campaign of "lies and disinformation," it said.

Dozens of people have been killed and nearly 680,000 have fled Ukraine since Putin ordered his troops into the country last week after failing to get guarantees that NATO will not expand its military alliance eastward.

In the call with Maduro, Putin insisted the objectives of the military assault were to "protect the civilian population" of the Donbass separatist region and to get Kiev to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is committing 100 billion euros to a special fund for its armed forces—the latest in a series of major shifts in German defense and security policy this weekend in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"It's clear we need to invest significantly more in the security of our country, in order to protect our freedom and our democracy," Scholz told a special session of the Bundestag in Berlin Sunday morning, according to The Associated Press.

As well as announcing the country would raise its defense spending above two percent of GDP, Scholz said Germany will build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and up its natural gas reserves to cut its dependence on Russian gas after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We will do more to ensure secure energy supply for our country," he told lawmakers. "We must change course to overcome our dependence on imports from individual energy suppliers."