Full coverage from the 2023 Oscars, tensions increase between Russia and the U.S., and more news from the week

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 95th Academy Awards are here. With the champagne carpet already rolled out, here's what you can expect from the Oscars Sunday night. 

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HOW TO WATCH THE OSCARS

The 2023 Oscars air live on ABC at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific. If you're looking to tune into the red carpet, there's an Oscars' official pre-show beginning at 1:30 p.m. on YouTube. The Associated Press will livestream the first 90 minutes of arrivals on YouTube as well.

Here's more on how to watch and stream the Oscars:

Entertainment

Everything you need to know about the 2023 Academy Awards

• By The Associated Press

ALL CALM ON THE CHAMPAGNE CARPET

The Associated Press's roving red — sorry, champagne — carpet reporter Lindsey Bahr reports that for at least a few moments, the champagne carpet was calm at the 95th Academy Awards as press, photographers and publicists took their places outside the Dolby Theatre before 4 p.m. Pacific.

Some chattered about the possibility of a Lady Gaga performance, while others took last-minute selfies in front of the larger-than-life Oscars. Others wondered if the light colored carpet was going to stay clean the whole night.

BET ON IT

For those who don’t want to wait, go ahead and offer congratulations to “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Oddsmakers say it’ll win at least six Oscars this year.

Yes, you can bet on the Oscars (in some states, anyway). FanDuel Sportsbook is among the many that has offered odds on the biggest categories, and it predicts — as many others do — that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is the night’s big winner.

A breakdown of some of their bets:

— Best picture, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

— Best actress, Michelle Yeoh

— Best actor, Brendan Fraser

— Best director, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Entertainment

2023 Oscar Predictions: Will 'Everything' take everything?

• By JAKE COYLE and LINDSEY BAHR, AP Film Writers

BEST ACTOR LOOKAHEAD

A first-time best actor winner awaits for certain — since none of the nominees has won an Oscar.

It's likely a two-man battle between Brendan Fraser ("The Whale") and Austin Butler ("Elvis") for the award. Colin Farrell ("The Banshees of Inisherin") is a potential stealer, with Paul Mescal ("Aftersun") and Bill Nighy ("Living") potentially pulling off a surprise.

Will Smith was last year's winner for "King Richard," though few may remember that given the extracurricular events of that night.

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BEST ACTRESS LOOKAHEAD

The best actress category at Sunday's Oscars has the potential for history.

Michelle Yeoh ("Everything Everywhere All At Once") would become the first Asian woman to win in this category if she — as many expect — gets the Oscar.

The top threat to Yeoh's win has to be Cate Blanchett, the two-time Oscar winner who starred in "Tár" — depicting Lydia Tár, the fictional conductor of a German orchestra. Blanchett learned to play piano, speak German and conduct an orchestra for the film.

There was a surprise nomination of Andrea Riseborough for her performance as an alcoholic Texas single mother in the scantly seen indie drama "To Leslie." Five-time nominee Michelle Williams ("The Fabelmans") is also in the mix, as is Ana de Armas for her performance in the divisive "Blonde."

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‘RRR’ SINGER PROMISES UNIQUE PERFORMANCE

“Naatu Naatu” singer Kaala Bhairava promised that tonight's performance of the “RRR” song will be unlike anything the audience has seen before. He told the AP on the carpet that the performance will feature a mix of old and new choreography. Bhairava will perform alongside Rahul Sipligunj.

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FANS IN THE BLEACHERS

A few dozen lucky and well-dressed fans practiced their cheers before the stars started arriving. Nominees often make the bleacher one of their first stops to shake hands and pose for selfies.

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LADY GAGA TO PERFORM ‘TOP GUN’ SONG, AFTER ALL

AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr — our roving reporter tonight — reports that a person close to the production with knowledge of the performance confirmed that Lady Gaga will sing “Hold My Hand,” the Oscar-nominated original song from “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Producers had said just days before that the superstar's filming schedule for the “Joker” sequel would keep her from performing. Now that she's been added to the lineup, all five original song nominees will be performed tonight.

SUPER BOWL TO OSCARS

Rihanna stole the show at halftime on football's biggest night, and now she'll have a chance to leave her mark on Hollywood's biggest night.

She's scheduled to perform "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

"Lift Me Up," with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson and lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler, is nominated for original song. It is Rihanna's first Oscar nomination.

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YEAR OF THE SEQUEL

For the first time, two sequels ( "Top Gun: Maverick,""Avatar: The Way of Water" ) are nominated this year for best picture.

And, of course, The Slap will be revisited.

There likely won't be a sequel to Will Smith striking Chris Rock during last year's Oscars — would anyone dare? — but it'll be talked about early and probably often. Host Jimmy Kimmel has already revealed the obvious, that it'll come up in his opening monologue. We'll be keeping a tally of how often it comes up.

The task of keeping the show going along smoothly — and only in headlines for the right reasons — falls to Kimmel. He was brought in partly to have a steady hand on the telecast, which will restore all categories to the live show. The Oscars also has a "crisis team" ready, just in case there is an unwanted sequel.

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THREE FOR KIMMEL

Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the Oscars on Sunday night, the third time that he's held that distinction — which puts him into rare company.

He becomes only the fifth person to be the solo host of the Oscars at least three times, joining Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, Johnny Carson and Whoopi Goldberg.

Hope hosted solo 14 times, and five times with others. Crystal was a nine-time solo host, Carson a five-timer and Goldberg a four-timer.

There are four others who have been host at least three times, but lack the three solo gigs. Jack Lemmon hosted twice alone and twice with others; Steve Martin and Jerry Lewis each hosted by themselves twice and with others once; and David Niven was a three-time host, but never did the job solo.

In all, there have been 84 people to be recognized as having a hosting role at the Oscars. That list does not include one waterfowl; Donald Duck was credited as a host in 1958.

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GLENN CLOSE OUT DUE TO COVID

Glenn Close has tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be presenting at the Oscars as planned.

A representative for the actor says she is isolating and resting. There’s no immediate word on who will replace Close as a presenter. She was one of roughly 40 stars including Halle Berry, Andrew Garfield, Jessica Chastain, Michael B. Jordan and Sigourney Weaver who will be presenters Sunday.

Last year, Oscar nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda had to bow out of the show after his wife tested positive for COVID-19.

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ARGENTINA SEEKING MORE GOLD

Not even three months have passed since Argentina celebrated one gold trophy — the World Cup, hoisted for all to see by the legendary Lionel Messi.

Another trophy hoist might be coming Sunday. And it, too, would prompt a national celebration.

Up for best international film is “Argentina, 1985,” which details how prosecutors brought leaders of Argentina’s bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship to trial. It won a Golden Globe in January, which was big news in the South American nation, and now Oscar buzz could be the latest reason to party.

“After the World Cup win, this is an immense joy,” the film’s star Ricardo Darín said in Spanish at January’s Golden Globe Awards. But it’s up against Germany’s “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which was also nominated for best picture.

The metaphysical multiverse comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” wrapped its hot dog fingers around Hollywood’s top prize Sunday, winning best picture at the 95th Academy Awards, along with awards for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Though worlds away from Oscar bait, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s anarchic ballet of everything bagels, googly-eyed rocks and one messy tax audit emerged as an improbable Academy Awards heavyweight. The indie hit, A24’s second best-picture winner following “Moonlight,” won seven Oscars in all.

Fifty years after “The Godfather” won at the Oscars, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” triumphed with a much different immigrant experience. Its eccentric tale about a Chinese immigrant family – just the second feature by the Daniels, as the filmmaking duo is known – blended science fiction and alternate realities in the story of an ordinary woman and laundromat owner.

“Everything Everywhere,” released all the way back in March 2022, helped revive arthouse cinemas after two years of pandemic, racking up more than $100 million in ticket sales. And despite initially scant expectations of Oscar glory, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” toppled both blockbusters (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water”) and critical darlings (“Tar,” “The Banshees of Inisherin”).

Read more about the show, and keep scrolling for a list of winners and a photos from the show and champagne carpet:

Oscar winners 2023:

BEST PICTURE

• WINNER: "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "Avatar: The Way of Water"
• "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• "Elvis"
• "The Fabelmans"
• "Tár"
• "Top Gun: Maverick"
• "Triangle of Sadness"
• "Women Talking"

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• WINNER: Brendan Fraser, "The Whale"
• Austin Butler, "Elvis"
• Colin Farrell, "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• Paul Mescal, "Aftersun"
• Bill Nighy, "Living"

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• WINNER: Michelle Yeoh, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• Cate Blanchett, "Tár"
• Ana de Armas, "Blonde"
• Andrea Riseborough, "To Leslie"
• Michelle Williams, "The Fabelmans"

DIRECTOR

• WINNER: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• Martin McDonagh, "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• Steven Spielberg, "The Fabelmans"
• Todd Field, "Tár"
• Ruben Ostlund, "Triangle of Sadness"

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• WINNER: Jamie Lee Curtis, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• Angela Bassett, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
• Hong Chau, "The Whale"
• Kerry Condon, "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• Stephanie Hsu, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• WINNER: Ke Huy Quan, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• Brendan Gleeson, "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• Brian Tyree Henry, "Causeway"
• Judd Hirsch, "The Fabelmans"
• Barry Keoghan, "The Banshees of Inisherin"

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

• WINNER: "All Quiet on the Western Front," Germany
• "Argentina, 1985," Argentina
• "Close," Belgium
• "EO," Poland
• "The Quiet Girl," Ireland

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

• WINNER: "The Elephant Whisperers"
• "Haulout"
• "How Do You Measure a Year?"
• "The Martha Mitchell Effect"
• "Stranger at the Gate"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• WINNER: "Navalny"
• "All That Breathes"
• "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed"
• "Fire of Love"
• "A House Made of Splinters"

ORIGINAL SONG

• WINNER: "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR"
•  "Applause" from "Tell It like a Woman"
• "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun: Maverick"
• "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
• "This Is A Life" from "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• WINNER: "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio"
• "Marcel the Shell With Shoes On"
• "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish"
• "The Sea Beast"
• "Turning Red"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• WINNER: "Women Talking"
•  "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery"
• "Living"
• "Top Gun: Maverick"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• WINNER: "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
•  "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• "The Fabelmans"
• "Tár"
• "Triangle of Sadness"

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• WINNER: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "Avatar: The Way of Water"
• "Babylon"
• "Elvis"
• "The Fabelmans"

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• WINNER: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths"
• "Elvis"
• "Empire of Light"
• "Tár"

COSTUME DESIGN

• WINNER: "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
• "Babylon"
• "Elvis"
• "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris"

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND

• WINNER: "Top Gun: Maverick"
•  "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "Avatar: The Way of Water"
• "The Batman"
• "Elvis"

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

• WINNER: "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse"
• "The Flying Sailor"
• "Ice Merchants"
• "My Year of Dicks"
• "An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It"

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

• WINNER: "An Irish Goodbye"
• "Ivalu"
• "Le Pupille"
• "Night Ride"
• "The Red Suitcase"

ORIGINAL SCORE

• WINNER: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
  
• "Babylon"
• "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• "The Fabelmans"

VISUAL EFFECTS

• WINNER: "Avatar: The Way of Water"
  
• "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "The Batman"
• "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
• "Top Gun: Maverick"

FILM EDITING

• WINNER: "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
• "The Banshees of Inisherin"
• "Elvis"
• "Tár"
• "Top Gun: Maverick"

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

• WINNER: "The Whale"
• "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• "The Batman"
• "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
• "Elvis"

A Chicago man is suing Buffalo Wild Wings over their boneless wings that he claims are just chicken nuggets.

Plaintiff Aimen Halim said in his complaint that the chain’s wings are “not wings at all, but instead, slices of chicken breast meat deep-fried like wings. Indeed, the products are more akin, in composition, to a chicken nugget rather than a chicken wing.”

The class action suit claims Buffalo Wild Wings is guilty of false and deceptive marketing and advertising of its boneless wings and said the name of the products should be changed or the content – chicken breast meat – disclosed on the menu.

The complaint was filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois.

Hamlin is seeking damages and injunctive relief.

According to Business Insider, Halim has filed at least three other class-action lawsuits, including one against Hefty over claims its bags were recyclable. The Hefty case was dismissed last year.

50 most popular chain restaurants in America

50 most popular chain restaurants in America

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Ryan Redington on Tuesday won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, bringing his six dogs off the Bering Sea ice to the finish line on Nome’s main street.

Redington, 40, is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” He helped co-found the arduous race across Alaska that was first held in 1973.

“My grandpa, dad and Uncle Joee are all in the Mushing Hall of Fame. I got big footsteps to follow,” Ryan Redington wrote in his race biography. He previously won the Junior Iditarod in 1999 and 2000. His father, Raymie, is a 10-time Iditarod finisher.

Redington, who is Inupiat, becomes the sixth Alaska Native musher to win the world’s most famous sled dog race.

The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race started March 5 in Willow for 33 mushers, who traveled over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and on the Bering Sea ice. Since then, three mushers have scratched. A fan-friendly ceremonial start was held in Anchorage the day before.

It was the smallest field ever to start a race, one short of the first race run.

Among those who scratched was defending champion Brent Sass, who was leading when he withdrew Saturday over concerns for his health. because of periodontal issues.

He was doing OK and resting in the community of Unalakleet, he posted on Instagram Sunday. The Iditarod was caring for his dogs, he said.

Sass said he had been sick the entire race with a bad cold. Then on Friday “some cracked teeth started giving me issues and over a 12-hour period turned into nearly unbearable pain," he said. "My body basically shutdown and for two runs I just hung on. Ultimately I couldn’t care for the dogs.“

He said the colder temperatures, dipping to minus 30 F (minus 34 C), were making his dog team stronger, but it made him weaker.

For the first part of the race, mushers dealt with high temperatures, causing some to alter their strategies.

Redington will earn about $50,000 for winning. The exact amount won’t be calculated until the total number of finishers are known to split the prize purse.

Besides Redington, the two mushers chasing him to Nome are also Alaska Natives, Pete Kaiser, who is Yup’ik and won the 2019 Iditarod, and Richie Diehl, who is Dena’ina Athbascan.

Redington won the Iditarod in his 16th try. He scratched from seven of those races, but his performance this decade has been the best of his career. He finished ninth last year, seventh in 2021 and eighth in 2020 — his only other top 10 finishes before this year's race.

Redington splits his time between Alaska and Wisconsin. He trains his dogs in Brule, Wisconsin, in the fall and winter. He races in Alaska and Minnesota beginning in December. In the summers, he has a sled dog tour for tourists in the ski community of Girdwood, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Anchorage.

In January 2022, Redington was training in northern Wisconsin when a snowmobile driver veered into his dog team, injuring two dogs, before speeding off.

One of the dogs, Wildfire, suffered a broken rear tibia, fibula and femur but recovered after multiple surgeries and started this year’s race. However, Redington dropped him at the checkpoint in Skwentna a day after the official start.

“His heart was there, but he was just a little sore,” Redington told the Iditarod Insider webpage.

KYIV, Ukraine — The Pentagon has released footage of what it says is a Russian aircraft conducting an unsafe intercept of a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone in international airspace over the Black Sea.

The 42-second video, released Thursday, shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone and beginning to release fuel as it passes, the Pentagon said.

The U.S. military said it ditched the MQ-9 Reaper in the sea on Tuesday after the Russian fighter jet poured fuel on the unmanned aerial vehicle, in an apparent attempt to blind its optical instruments and drive it out of the area, and then struck its propeller.

The released excerpt does not show events before or after the apparent fuel-dumping confrontation.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley have spoken to their Russian counterparts about the destruction of the U.S. drone following the encounter with Russian fighter jets.

The calls with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov on Wednesday were the first since October.

While intercept attempts are not uncommon, the incident amid the war in Ukraine has raised concerns it could bring the United States and Russia closer to direct conflict.

That the two countries' top defense and military leaders were talking so soon after the encounter over the Black Sea underscored its seriousness.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its report of the call with Austin that Shoigu accused the U.S. of provoking the incident by ignoring flight restrictions the Kremlin had imposed because of its military operations in Ukraine.

Russia also blamed "the intensification of intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation."

Such U.S. actions "are fraught with escalation of the situation in the Black Sea area," the Defense Ministry said, warning that Russia "will respond in kind to all provocations."

25 stills from television were curated by Stacker with an emphasis on a diverse range of genres, protagonists, styles, and time periods. Can you guess every TV show?

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time in three decades, the U.S. has a new favorite dog breed, according to the American Kennel Club.

Adorable in some eyes, deplorable in others, the sturdy, push-faced, perky-eared, world-weary-looking and distinctively droll French bulldog became the nation's most prevalent purebred dog last year, the club announced Wednesday. Frenchies ousted Labrador retrievers from the top spot after a record 31 years.

Why?

"They're comical, friendly, loving little dogs," says French Bull Dog Club of America spokesperson Patty Sosa. City-friendly, with modest grooming and exercise needs, she says, "they offer a lot in a small package."

Yet the Frenchie's dizzying rise — it wasn't even a top-75 breed a quarter-century ago — worries its fans, to say nothing of its critics.

Story continues after top 10 ranking

The buzzy little bulldogs have been targeted in thefts, including last month's fatal shooting of a 76-year-old South Carolina breeder and the 2021 shooting of a California dog walker who was squiring singer Lady Gaga's pets.

There's concern that demand, plus the premium that some buyers will pay for "exotic" coat colors and textures, is engendering quick-buck breeders and unhealthy dogs. The breed's popularity is sharpening debate over whether there's anything healthy about propagating dogs prone to breathing, spinal, eye, and skin conditions.

The British Veterinary Association has urged people not to buy flat-faced breeds, such as Frenchies. The Netherlands has prohibited breeding very short-snouted dogs, and the country's agriculture minister aims to outlaw even owning them.

"French bulldogs can be a polarizing topic," says Dr. Carrie Stefaniak, a Glendale, Wisconsin-based veterinarian who's on the Frenchie club's health committee.

She has treated French bulldogs with breathing difficulties, and she stresses that would-be owners need to research breeders and health testing and to recognize that problems can be expensive to treat.

But she's no Frenchie foe. She owns two and has conditioned them to run agility courses and take hilly hikes.

"These dogs can be very fit, can be very active," Stefaniak said. "They don't have to be sedentary dogs that can't breathe."

The AKC's popularity rankings cover about 200 breeds in the nation's oldest canine registry. The stats are based on nearly 716,500 puppies and other dogs newly registered last year — about 1 in every 7 of them a Frenchie. Registration is voluntary.

The most rarely owned? English foxhounds.

The rankings don't count mixed-breeds or, at least for now, Labradoodles, puggles, Morkies and other popular "designer" hybrids. The AKC's top 10 were: French bulldogs, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, poodles, bulldogs, Rottweilers, beagles, dachshunds and German shorthaired pointers.

With roots in England and then France, French bulldogs became chic among American elites around the turn of the 20th century, then faded from favor.

That changed, rapidly, in this century. Social media and celebrity owners (ranging from Leonardo di Caprio to Megan Thee Stallion to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) gave the dogs fresh exposure. Still more came last year, when U.S. TV audiences watched a Frenchie named Winston take second place at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and then win the National Dog Show hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia.

Last year, about 108,000 newly registered French bulldogs surpassed Labs by over 21,000.

As a longtime breeder and a veterinarian, Dr. Lori Hunt sees Frenchies as ideal companions but their popularity as "a curse, not a blessing."

"They're being very exploited" by unscrupulous breeders, she said. The Westlake, Ohio-based vet has seen plenty of Frenchies with problems but rejects arguments that the breed is inherently unhealthy. Some of her own do canine performance sports.

Some other breeds are prone to ailments ranging from hip dysplasia to cancers, and mixed-breed dogs also can get sick. But recently published research involving about 24,600 dogs in Britain suggested that Frenchies have "very different, and largely much poorer" health than do other canines, largely due to the foreshortened, wrinkly face that encapsulates the breed's je ne sais quoi.

With such findings in mind, the British Veterinary Association has said it "strongly recommends" against buying flat-faced dogs and has campaigned to scrub them from ads and even greeting cards.

The American Veterinary Medical Association is exploring ways to improve flat-faced dogs' welfare, President Dr. Lori Teller says.

To animal rights and welfare activists, the French bulldog frenzy puts a snorting, panting face on problems with dog breeding in general.

"A lot of the breed characteristics that are bred into these dogs, they're for looks, not necessarily health and welfare, and Frenchies are probably one of the most exaggerated examples of that," said Dr. Lorna Grande of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, a professional group affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States.

"It is a welfare issue. These dogs are suffering," she says.

The AKC notes that its Canine Health Foundation has donated $67 million since 1990 for research and education on many breeds, and the kennel and Frenchie clubs say there have been advances. A new breathing test made its U.S. debut on Frenchies, bulldogs and pugs at a show in January.

Prospective purebred owners should explore breeders' history and health testing, accept waiting for a puppy, and ask themselves whether they're prepared for the responsibility, the AKC says.

"Research what goes into owning a dog," says spokesperson Brandi Hunter Munden, "and really take an assessment of your lifestyle to make sure that you're really making the best decision, not just for you, but for the animal."

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said in a social media post that he expects to be arrested Tuesday as a New York prosecutor is eyeing charges in a case examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network early Saturday that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney's office indicate that “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.”

Messages left Saturday with the district attorney’s office were not immediately returned. Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Trump did not provide any details on social media about how he knew about the expected arrest. In his postings, he repeated his lies that the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen and he urged his followers to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” That language evoked the message from the then-president that preceded the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted.

There has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.

Trump's posting echoes one made last summer when he broke the news on Truth Socia that the FBI was searching his home as part of an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents.

The grand jury in Manhattan has been hearing from witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.

Daniels and at least two former Trump aides — onetime political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks — are among witnesses who have met with prosecutors in recent weeks.

Cohen has said that at Trump’s direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign. ___

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

GENEVA (AP) — Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, according to a report from a U.N.-backed inquiry released Thursday.

The sweeping human rights report, released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theater in Mariupol killed hundreds sheltering inside, marked a highly unusual condemnation of a member of the U.N. Security Council.

Among potential crimes against humanity, the report cited repeated attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure since the fall that left hundreds of thousands without heat and electricity during the coldest months, as well as the "systematic and widespread" use of torture across multiple regions under Russian occupation.

A commission of inquiry is the most powerful tool used by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council to scrutinize abuses and violations around the world. The investigation released Thursday was set up during an urgent debate shortly after Russia's invasion last year.

The commission's three members are independent human rights experts, and its staff gets support and funding from the council and the U.N. human rights office.

The report's authors noted a "small number" of apparent violations by Ukrainian forces, including one they said was under criminal investigation by Ukrainian authorities, but reserved the vast majority of their report for allegations against Russia.

Russia did not respond to the inquiry's appeals for information.

Most of the abuses highlighted by the investigation were already well known, but the findings come with the imprimatur of the international community: The experts work under a mandate overwhelmingly created last year by the Human Rights Council, which brings together the governments of 47 U.N. member countries.

Latest Headlines

Pentagon releases footage of Russian aircraft dumping fuel on US drone over Black Sea

• Associated Press

Ultimately, the report may add to efforts to boost accountability for crimes committed in the war — whether by the International Criminal Court or by some individual countries that have taken on the right to apply "universal jurisdiction" to prosecute atrocities, wherever they may take place.

NOTE: The following photo gallery contains graphic images