The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20.

The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.

The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

The new aid comes as Russia has launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s power facilities in recent days, although Ukraine has said it intercepted a significant number of the missiles and drones. Russian and Ukrainian forces are also still in a bitter battle around the Russian border region of Kursk, where Moscow has sent thousands of North Korean troops to help reclaim territory taken by Ukraine.

Earlier this month, senior defense officials acknowledged that that the Defense Department may not be able to send all of the remaining $5.6 billion in Pentagon weapons and equipment stocks passed by Congress for Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.

Bird flu mutated in human, CDC says

A genetic analysis suggests the bird flu virus mutated inside a Louisiana patient who contracted the nation’s first severe case of the illness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

Scientists believe the mutations may allow the virus to better bind to receptors in the upper airways of humans — something they say is concerning but not a cause for alarm.

Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher, likened this binding interaction to a lock and key. To enter a cell, the virus needs to have a key that turns the lock, and this finding means the virus may be changing to have a key that might work.

“Is this an indication that we may be closer to seeing a readily transmitted virus between people? No,” Osterholm said. “Right now, this is a key that sits in the lock, but it doesn’t open the door.”

The virus has been causing sporadic, mostly mild illnesses in people in the U.S., and nearly all of those infected worked on dairy or poultry farms.

NASA solar probe survives sun passage

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has successfully made the closest approach to the sun, the space agency confirmed Friday.

Earlier this week, the spacecraft passed within a record-breaking 3.8 million miles of the scorching star. NASA received an all-clear message from Parker on Thursday night confirming it survived the journey.

Launched in 2018 to get a close-up look at the sun, Parker has since flown straight through its crownlike outer atmosphere, or corona. With its close brush complete, the craft is expected to circle the sun at this distance through at least September.

It’s the fastest spacecraft built by humans, and hit 430,000 mph at closest approach. It is outfitted with a heat shield that can withstand scorching temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Judge: Georgia Senate can subpoena Willis

A judge has ruled that the Georgia state Senate can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of a inquiry into whether she has engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump but is giving Willis the chance to contest whether lawmakers’ demands are overly broad.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram filed the order Monday, telling Willis she has until Jan. 13 to submit arguments over whether the subpoenas seek legally shielded or confidential information. Ingram wrote that the would issue a final order later saying what Willis had to respond to.

Willis, though, wants the ruling overturned.

“We believe the ruling is wrong and will appeal,” former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing Willis in the case, wrote in an email to the Associated Press.

Man indicted in subway burning death

The man accused of burning a sleeping woman to death inside a New York City subway train has been indicted on murder and arson charges, prosecutors announced Friday, as authorities continue working to identify the victim.

Sebastian Zapeta is accused by prosecutors of lighting the woman on fire on a stopped F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station Sunday morning, then fanning the flames with a shirt, causing her to become engulfed in the blaze, before sitting on platform bench and watching as she burned.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Zapeta has been charged with multiple counts of murder as well as an arson charge. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The indictment will be unsealed on Jan. 7.

Zapeta, 33, was not present at the hearing, and his attorney declined to comment afterwards.

Zapeta, who federal immigration officials said is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was taken into custody later Sunday. During questioning by police, prosecutors say he claimed not to know what had happened, noting that he consumes alcohol, but identified himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.

No charges for officer after man’s neck broke

Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general dismissed a felony assault charge Friday against a police officer who slammed a 71-year-old man to the ground, breaking his neck, during an argument over a traffic ticket.

Gentner Drummond announced that he had intervened in the case and dismissed the aggravated assault and battery charge against Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Joseph Gibson, 28.

Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna charged Gibson this month after body-worn camera video released by police showed Gibson throwing Lich Vu to the ground after Vu touched Gibson during the argument following a non-injury traffic accident Oct. 27.

“As attorney general, I will not permit Oklahoma police officers to face criminal prosecution for conduct adhering to their training,” Drummond said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Vu suffered a brain bleed and a broken neck and eye socket.

Behenna said in a statement that she was “surprised and disappointed that Attorney General Gentner Drummond took this case away from my office and the citizens of Oklahoma County.”

She said previously that after evaluating the case, prosecutors determined Gibson’s actions were an unreasonable use of force.

Drummond said Vu should not have touched Gibson during the argument.

The use of force prompted outrage in Oklahoma City’s Vietnamese community, particularly since the video shows Vu had difficulty communicating with Gibson and appeared not to understand what the officer was telling him.

One square mile joins Grand Teton for $100M

Wyoming will sell a 1-square-mile parcel of pristine land bordering Grand Teton National Park to the U.S. government for $100 million after Gov. Mark Gordon signed off on a deal Friday that ends the state’s longstanding threats to unload it to a developer.

Under the agreement the federal government will pay the appraised value of $62.5 million for the property, while privately raised funds will supply the rest.

Carpeted by a mix of trees, shrubs and sagebrush, the rolling land has a commanding view of the iconic Teton Range and is prime habitat for animals including elk, moose and grizzly bears.

Gordon, a Republican, announced in a statement that he was approving the deal to add the land to the national park after his office ensured that a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan for managing a vast area of southwestern Wyoming doesn’t carry too many restrictions on development including oil and gas drilling.

Man accused of attacking TV reporter

A Colorado man is facing possible bias-motivated charges for allegedly attacking a television news reporter after demanding to know whether he was a citizen, saying “This is Trump’s America now,” according to court documents.

Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested Dec. 18 in Grand Junction, Colo., after police say he followed KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex’s vehicle for around 40 miles from the Delta area. Alex told police that he believed he had been followed and attacked because he is Pacific Islander.

After arriving in Grand Junction, Egan, who was driving a taxi, pulled up next to Alex at a stoplight and, according to an arrest affidavit, said something to the effect of: “Are you even a U.S. citizen? This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”

Alex, who had been out reporting, drove back to his news station in the city where Egan chased Alex as he ran toward the station’s door and demanded to see his identification, according to the police document. Egan then tackled Alex, put him in a headlock and “began to strangle him,” the affidavit said. Coworkers ran out to help.

Egan was arrested on suspicion of bias-motivated crimes, second degree assault and harassment.

Workers taken out of ‘slavery-like conditions’

Dozens of Chinese workers found by authorities in poor condition at a construction site in Brazil for electric vehicle automaker BYD have been taken and placed in hotels in the country’s tropical northeast region.

Local prosecutors alleged that the laborers are victims of human trafficking who were living in “slavery-like conditions” under contractor Jinjiang Group, but offered no evidence to back up their claims.

It’s unclear if the Chinese workers were in Brazil without proper papers and working permits. The Bahia state Labor Prosecutor’s Office revealed on Monday the discovery of the 163 workers and their circumstances, and urged the company to place them at local hotels in Camacari, about 997 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

Oldest living survivor of Pearl Harbor attack dies

Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died. He was 105.

Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, after suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

The Utah, a battleship, was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes began bombing the Hawaii naval base in the early hours of Dec. 7, 1941, in an attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II.

Upton told the Associated Press in 2020 that he had been getting ready to shave when he felt the first torpedo hit the Utah. He recalled that no one on board knew what made the ship shake. Then, the second torpedo hit and the ship began to list and capsize.

The then-22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, where he jumped in a trench to avoid Japanese planes strafing the area. He stayed for about 30 minutes until a truck took him to safety.

Upton said he didn’t mind talking about what happened during the attack. Instead, what upset him was that he kept losing shipmates over the years. By 2020, there were only three crew members of the Utah still alive, including himself.

— From news services