Arizona sheriff steps up security around ballot drop boxes

PHOENIX - The sheriff in metropolitan Phoenix said Monday he’s stepped up security around ballot drop boxes after a series of incidents involving people keeping watch on the boxes and taking video of voters after they were apparently inspired by lies about the 2020 election.

On Friday, deputies responded when two masked people carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests showed up at a drop box in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb. The secretary of state said her office has received six cases of potential voter intimidation to the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a threatening email sent to the state elections director.

People watching the boxes and voters showing up to vote have covered their license plates, according to photos shared on social media.

“Every day I’m dedicating a considerable amount of resources just to give people confidence that they can cast a vote safely, and that is absurd,” Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said during a news conference. Penzone said his office has referred two incidents to county prosecutors for potential criminal charges.

Fla. Gov. DeSantis refuses to commit to serving full term

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A defiant Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to commit to serving a full four-year term if reelected when pressed by his Democratic rival, Charlie Crist, at their only gubernatorial debate on Monday.

Crist, a former congressman and one-term governor, accused DeSantis, a rising Republican star considered a likely 2024 presidential contender, of being too distracted by his national political ambitions to lead properly. DeSantis skirted several attempts by Crist to get him to say he’d serve a full second term.

“I know that Charlie is interested in talking about 2024 and Joe Biden, but I just want to make things very, very clear: The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist,” DeSantis said of his 66-year-old opponent.

Later, Crist slapped back, “You won’t even say if you want to be the governor of Florida after this election.”

German president visits Kyiv as West mulls rebuilding plan

KYIV, Ukraine - Germany’s president arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday for his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, as Western countries mulled a massive plan for Ukrainian rebuilding when the war eventually ends.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after arriving that “it was important to me in this phase of air attacks with drones, cruise missiles and rockets to send a signal of solidarity to Ukrainians.”

Eight months of pummeling by the Kremlin’s forces has ruined homes, public buildings and the power grid. The World Bank estimates the damage to Ukraine so far at 350 billion euros ($345 billion).

The German president, whose position is largely ceremonial, made it to Ukraine on his third try.

In April, he was planning to visit the country with his Polish and Baltic counterparts, but said his presence “apparently … wasn’t wanted in Kyiv.” Steinmeier has been criticized in Ukraine for allegedly cozying up to Russia during his time as Germany’s foreign minister.

Thomas temporarily blocks Graham testimony in Georgia

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily blocked Sen. Lindsey Graham’s testimony to a special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in the state.

Thomas’ order is intended to prevent Fani Willis, Fulton County district attorney, from compelling Graham to testify while the Supreme Court weighs the senator’s request for a lengthier halt to the proceedings.

Willis has a deadline Thursday to tell the high court why Graham should have to answer the grand jury’s questions. Lower courts have ruled that his testimony can take place. Thomas acted on his own, as the justice who handles emergency appeals from Georgia.

Sunak promises to work for stability as Britain’s next PM

LONDON - Britain’s new Conservative leader says the country faces a “profound economic challenge” and has promised to work for “stability and unity.”

Rishi Sunak won a Conservative Party leadership contest on Monday and will take over as prime minister from Liz Truss. She stepped down last week after her tax-cutting economic plans sent the financial markets into a tailspin.

In his first public statement since winning the race, Sunak said he would make it his “utmost priority” to unite the party and the country.

Biden targets Nicaragua’s gold in new move against Ortega

MIAMI (AP) - The Biden administration is ratcheting up pressure on President Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian rule in Nicaragua, threatening a ban on Americans from doing business in the nation’s gold industry, raising the possibility of trade restrictions and stripping the U.S. visas of some 500 government insiders.

The actions, stemming from an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Monday, are the latest and perhaps most aggressive attempt by the U.S. to hold the former Sandinista guerrilla leader accountable for his continued attacks on human rights and democracy in the Central American country as well his continued security cooperation with Russia.

- The Associated Press