AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Ukraine official: Zelenskyy meets top-level US delegation

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. secretaries of state and defense met Sunday night with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the highest-level visit to the country’s capital by an American delegation since the start of Russia’s invasion.

The meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which was confirmed by a senior Ukrainian official, came as Ukraine pressed the West for more powerful weapons against Russia’s campaign in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow’s forces sought to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port of Mariupol.

“Yes, they’re meeting with the president. Let’s hope something will be decided on further help,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told Russian lawyer and activist Mark Feygin on his YouTube show “Feygin Live.” The United States has not yet commented.

Before the session with Blinken and Austin, Zelenskyy said he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in arms and security guarantees.

“You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he said.

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To Europe’s relief, France’s Macron wins but far-right gains

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron comfortably won a second term Sunday, triggering relief among allies that the nuclear-armed power won’t abruptly shift course in the midst of the war in Ukraine from European Union and NATO efforts to punish and contain Russia’s military expansionism.

The second five-year term for the 44-year-old centrist spared France and Europe from the seismic upheaval of having firebrand populist Marine Le Pen at the helm, Macron’s presidential runoff challenger who quickly conceded defeat but still scored her best-ever electoral showing.

Acknowledging that “numerous” voters cast ballots for him simply to keep out the fiercely nationalist far-right Le Pen, Macron pledged to reunite the country that is “filled with so many doubts, so many divisions” and work to assuage the anger of French voters that fed Le Pen’s campaign.

“No one will be left by the side of the road,” Macron said in a victory speech against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower and a projection of the blue-white-and-red tricolor French flag. He was cheered by several hundred supporters who happily waved French and EU flags.

“We have a lot to do and the war in Ukraine reminds us that we are going through tragic times where France must make its voice heard,” Macron said.

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China promotes coal in setback for efforts to cut emissions

BEIJING (AP) — China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.

Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7% of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7% over 2020.

China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged last year and shortages caused blackouts and factory shutdowns. Russia’s attack on Ukraine added to anxiety that foreign oil and coal supplies might be disrupted.

“This mentality of ensuring energy security has become dominant, trumping carbon neutrality,” said Li Shuo, a senior global policy adviser for Greenpeace. “We are moving into a relatively unfavorable time period for climate action in China.”

Officials face political pressure to ensure stability as President Xi Jinping prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as ruling party leader in the autumn.

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DeSantis tests limits of his combative style in Disney feud

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ deepening feud with Walt Disney World is testing the limits of his combative leadership style while sending an unmistakable message to his rivals that virtually nothing is off limits as he plots his political future.

The 43-year-old Republican has repeatedly demonstrated an acute willingness to fight over the course of his decadelong political career. He has turned against former aides and rejected the GOP Legislature’s rewrite of congressional maps, forcing lawmakers to accept a version more to his liking and prompting voting rights groups to sue. He’s also leaned into simmering tensions with Donald Trump, which is notable for someone seeking to lead a party where loyalty to the former president is a requirement.

But DeSantis’ decision to punish Disney World, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations and one of Florida’s biggest private employers, took his fighter mentality to a new level. In retribution for Disney’s criticism of a new state law condemned by critics as “Don’t Say Gay,” DeSantis signed legislation on Friday stripping the theme park of a decades-old special agreement that allowed it to govern itself.

To critics, including some in his own party, such a raw exercise of power suggests DeSantis is operating with a sense of invincibility that could come back to haunt him. Others see an ambitious politician emboldened by strong support in his state and a mountain of campaign cash grabbing an opportunity to further stoke the nation’s culture wars, turning himself into a hero among Republican voters in the process.

“When you listen to Ron DeSantis, it’s righteous indignation: ‘Here’s why you’re wrong and here’s why I’m right,”” said Florida Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, a former state GOP chairman. “And it is that righteous indignation and that willingness to fight back that endears people to Ron DeSantis’ message. As long as he keeps on showing that he’s willing to fight, people are going to continue to keep flocking to him.”

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Georgia’s Kemp and Perdue clash over elections in debate

ATLANTA (AP) — The top two Republicans running for governor in Georgia launched the first of three debates Sunday by bickering over who was responsible for 2020 and 2021 Republican election losses, with former U.S. Sen. David Perdue pressing his attack that incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is to blame for Democratic control in Washington, while Kemp fired back that Perdue was trying to pass the blame for his own loss to Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Perdue continued to showcase support for debunked claims that Democrats fraudulently won the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia.

“The election in 2020 was rigged and stolen,” Perdue said during a debate sponsored by Atlanta’s WSB-TV. “All the madness we see today … all that started right here in Georgia when our governor caved and allowed out radical Democrats to steal our elections.”

Kemp said he followed the law, that Perdue was lying to voters about his claim that Kemp permitted a settlement agreement over how signatures on absentee ballots were verified, and that the secretary of state and State Election Board have primary responsibility for investigating election wrongdoing.

“I was Secretary of State for eight years,” Kemp said, “and I don’t need to be lectured by someone that lost their last election about what our voting laws are and who has responsibilities for those in our state.”

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Ads from soft-spoken Arkansas Sen. Boozman reflect GOP fury

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) —

At home, two-term Republican Sen. John Boozman is known as an unassuming figure who talks almost in a whisper and is more comfortable chatting about policy or the University of Arkansas Razorbacks’ football record than giving fiery speeches.

But you wouldn’t know that if you turned on the television lately.

“John Boozman has always stood up to the gun-grabbing liberals of Washington,” a local sheriff says in one Boozman ad. In another, fellow Republican Sen. Tom Cotton hails Boozman as “our conservative fighter.” Boozman promises to finish building the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico that Donald Trump promised.

The sharper tone is Boozman’s effort to deal with an awkward problem as he seeks reelection in a Republican stronghold that Trump won overwhelmingly two years ago: Conservative voters are restive with Trump out of power, and GOP candidates are expected to sound bristling mad about it.

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France’s youngest president wins again, troubles and all

PARIS (AP) — In just five years as France’s president, Emmanuel Macron has gone from a young newbie in politics to a key world player and weighty decision-maker in the European Union who has been deeply involved in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

And now he has won a second term, the first French president to do so in a generation.

The outspoken 44-year-old centrist, with his non-stop diplomatic activism, doesn’t always get his way but has earned his place on the international scene. He is expected to pivot back to his work on Ukraine.

At home, Macron managed to regain some popularity after the “yellow vest” protests against social injustice sent his approval to record lows in 2018. Opinion polls say many French praise his presidential stature and consider him up to the job to face major global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict.

They also show he is often perceived as arrogant and out of touch with ordinary people.

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Opposition wins Slovenia vote, defeating right-wing populist

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — An opposition liberal party convincingly won Sunday’s parliamentary election in Slovenia, according to early official results, in a major defeat for populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who was accused of pushing the small European Union country to the right while in office.

The Freedom Movement won nearly 34% of the votes, compared with around 24% for the governing conservative Slovenian Democratic Party, state election authorities said after counting over 97% of the ballots.

Trailing behind the top two contenders were the New Slovenia party with 7%, followed by the Social Democrats with more than 6% and the Left party with 4%.

The results mean that the Freedom Movement, a newcomer in the election, appears set to form the next government in a coalition with smaller leftist groups. The party leader addressed supporters via a video message from his home because he has COVID-19.

“Tonight people dance,” Robert Golob told the cheering crowd at the party headquarters. “Tomorrow is a new day and serious work lies ahead.”

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Warren calls McCarthy a ‘liar’ and ‘traitor’ over Jan 6 tape

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is slamming Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a “liar and a traitor” over recordings that show the House Republican leader — despite his denials — placing responsibility on then-President Donald Trump for the Capitol riot and suggesting Trump should resign.

It’s unusually strong language to use against the House Republican leader, who is in line to become speaker — second in presidential succession — if Republicans win control of the House in the November elections.

But Warren’s statement reflects a swell of Democratic criticism against McCarthy. They point to his recorded comments in January 2021 as proof that GOP lawmakers at the highest levels privately acknowledge Trump’s role in the insurrection at the Capitol yet continue to defend him in public.

McCarthy, R-Calif., denied a New York Times report last week that detailed phone conversations with House Republican leadership shortly after the riot that he thought Trump should resign. He called it “totally false.” But in an audio first posted Thursday by the newspaper and aired on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show, McCarthy is heard discussing the possibility of urging Trump to leave office amid the Democratic push to impeach him.

Asked Sunday about her reaction, Warren, D-Mass., called the circumstances “outrageous.”

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Emergency declaration for multiple wildfires in New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed emergency declarations as 20 wildfires continued to burn Sunday in nearly half of the state’s drought-stricken 33 counties.

One wildfire in northern New Mexico that started April 6 merged with a newer fire Saturday to form the largest blaze in the state, leading to widespread evacuations in Mora and San Miguel counties. That fire was at 84 square miles (217 square kilometers) Sunday and 12% contained.

An uncontained wind-driven wildfire in northern New Mexico that began April 17 had charred 81 square miles (209 square kilometers) of ponderosa pine, oak brush and grass by Sunday morning north of Ocate, an unincorporated community in Mora County.

Meanwhile in Arizona, some residents forced to evacuate due to a wildfire near Flagstaff were allowed to return home Sunday morning.

In Nebraska, authorities said wind-driven wildfires sweeping through parts of the state killed a retired Cambridge fire chief and injured at least 11 firefighters.