WASHINGTON

Biden, Trump to meet at the White House

President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, extending a presidential tradition to his onetime rival that Trump did not offer four years ago after Biden defeated him.

In a brief statement, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Biden had invited Trump to join him in the Oval Office, but she did not provide any additional details about the meeting.

In remarks after Trump’s recent victory, Biden congratulated his successor and pledged to help him make an orderly transition back into the White House.

election 2024

Trump wins Arizona, reversing state’s blue trends

PHOENIX>> President-elect Donald Trump has won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, The Associated Press said, flipping another battleground state and adding to his Electoral College tally.

Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris is a reversion to Arizona’s traditionally conservative status: It has voted for a Democrat only twice since the 1940s, including in 2020, when Joe Biden eked out a win over Trump by slightly more than 10,000 votes.

WAR IN UKRAINE

Russia sentences soldiers over killing of family of nine

A court in Russia has sentenced two Russian soldiers to life in prison for killing a family of nine after breaking into their home in occupied Ukraine, a rare legal case against atrocities committed by Moscow’s soldiers in the war.

Anton Sopov and Stanislav Rau, two contract soldiers from the Russian Far East, were found guilty Friday of using guns equipped with silencers to murder the family because of “political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred,” Russian state news agencies reported.

The killings occurred in October 2023 in the Ukrainian town of Volnovakha, a logistics hub in southeastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces occupied shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than 21/2 years ago.

WAR IN UKRAINE

Pentagon letting defense contractors fix weapons

WASHINGTON>> The Pentagon is easing restrictions to allow a small number of private American defense contactors to work inside Ukraine, helping repair and maintain equipment, U.S. officials said Friday.

The contractors will be far away from the front lines during Russia’s invasion and will not be taking part in combat, the officials said. The department is soliciting bids now.

Ukraine has been receiving billions of dollars of American weapons and equipment over the past two years, including a number of sophisticated systems.

For much of that time, U.S. and allied troops have been providing real-time maintenance advice using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms with Ukrainian forces.

Officials said the Pentagon is allowing contractors to go because some equipment — including F-16 jets and air defense systems — requires high-tech expertise to repair. Using contractors, they said, will ensure weapons are fixed quickly so Ukrainian forces can continue to use them in combat.

— Denver Post wire services