WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker led a growing parade of U.S. lawmakers calling on Sen. Bob Menendez to resign on Tuesday, saying the sweeping federal bribery charges against his fellow New Jersey Democrat contain “shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing.”

More than 15 Democratic senators so far are saying Menendez must resign. He has firmly rejected that idea.

Menendez, the longtime chairman of and top Democrat serving on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife, Nadine, are accused in an indictment released Friday of using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend, among other allegations of corruption. The three-count indictment says they were paid bribes — gold bars, a luxury car and cash — by three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for the corrupt acts.

In his statement, Booker said that while Menendez deserves the presumption of innocence, senators should adhere to a higher standard, and the details of the allegations against Menendez have “shaken to the core” the faith and trust of his constituents.

“As senators, we operate in the public trust,” Booker said. “That trust is essential to our ability to do our work and perform our duties for our constituents.”

Menendez has denied any wrongdoing, saying he merely performed as any senator would and that the nearly half a million dollars in cash found in his home — including some stuffed in pockets of clothing — was from personal savings and kept at hand for emergencies. Authorities recovered about 10 cash-filled envelopes that had the fingerprints of one of the other defendants in the case on them, according to the indictment.

Menendez, along with his wife and two of the businessman co-defendants, are to be arraigned Wednesday.

Another defendant, Wael Hana, was arrested at New York’s Kennedy Airport on Tuesday after returning voluntarily from Egypt to face the charges.

The indictment says Hana served as a conduit to Menendez for Egyptian military and intelligence officials, passing messages to and from the senator and arranging meetings.

Prosecutors say Hana gave the senator’s wife a “low-show or no-show job,” paid $23,000 toward her home mortgage, wrote $30,000 checks to her consulting company, promised her envelopes of cash, sent her exercise equipment and bought some of the gold bars that were found in the couple’s home.

Hana made his initial court appearance Tuesday. A judge ordered him freed pending trial on $300,000 cash bail and a $5 million bond.

Hana’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said after the hearing that his client is not guilty.

Menendez’s defiance in recent days is similar to his insistence that he was innocent after he first faced federal bribery charges eight years ago — a case that ended with a deadlocked jury in 2017.

As he did then, he is stepping down from his leadership position on the Foreign Affairs panel, as per Senate Democratic caucus rules. But he has otherwise made clear that he’s not going anywhere.

Canada’s speaker resigns: The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons is resigning for inviting a man who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II to attend a speech by the Ukrainian president.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday. Canadian lawmakers moment later gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.

It later was publicized that the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.

Ukraine death inquiry: Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it was “clarifying” whether the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had died in a recent missile strike on Moscow’s naval headquarters in Crimea, acknowledging uncertainty after Russia released a video appearing to show him at a meeting of top defense officials.

The authenticity and timing of the video released by Russia’s Defense Ministry could not immediately be verified, but Russian state news media said the meeting took place Tuesday.

The clip, posted on Telegram, appears to show the fleet’s chief, Adm. Viktor Sokolov, taking part in a videoconference with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top military officials. The video is edited to show Sokolov multiple times at the meeting, possibly to offer evidence he is alive. There is a Sept. 26 timestamp on the clip, which matches the date in the video’s metadata.

Ukraine’s special operations forces claimed Monday to have killed Sokolov, 61, in the attack last week, along with 33 other Russian officers. After Russia released its video of the meeting, Ukraine’s special operations forces said in a statement that, since the “Russians were forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive,” it was “clarifying the information” concerning the admiral.

The death of Sokolov would be one of the biggest blows to Russia’s navy since Ukraine sank the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet last year.

Russia sentences Navalny: A court in Moscow has upheld a 19-year prison sentence for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was convicted on charges of extremism in August.

Navalny, 47, was found guilty on charges related to the activities of his anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His supporters see it as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent. Navalny’s 19-year sentence will be backdated to Jan. 17, 2021, the day he was arrested, meaning he is expected to be in prison until January 2040.

In an August statement, Navalny called on Russians to “personally” resist and encouraged them to support political prisoners, distribute flyers or go to a rally.

Ethiopia fatal hunger: Researchers say they have verified 1,329 deaths from hunger in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region since a cease-fire ended a two-year conflict there in November.

A study by local health authorities and Mekele University in the regional capital found that hunger is now the main cause of death in Tigray, accounting for more than 68% of deaths investigated by the researchers. The total number of hunger deaths is almost certainly far higher than the sampling shows.

One factor is the suspension of food aid by the United States and United Nations after the discovery in March of a huge scheme to steal humanitarian grain.