The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of Microsoft Outlook users reported issues with accessing and using the email platform Monday morning.

Microsoft 365 outage and problem reports peaked at almost 18,000 shortly after 11 a.m. Eastern Monday morning, according to outage tracker Downdetector. Reports have appeared to significantly decline since then.

Most of the reports expressed issues with Outlook. Many users of Microsoft’s emailing platform shared frustration on social media, with some noting they were unable to sign into or load their accounts.

The company said that it was “investigating an issue with accessing Outlook on the web” in a Twitter thread posted on its Microsoft 365 Status account — and added that a “downstream impact” was also identified for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.

Microsoft 365 Status later said it had reverted an update and saw an improvement in service — soon confirming recovery for impacted services.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press Monday afternoon, Microsoft said it had “resolved an issue preventing users from accessing some of our services.”

By SARAH BRUMFIELD and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilot of a business jet that flew over Washington and crashed in a remote part of Virginia appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S. officials said Monday, recounting observations by fighter pilots who intercepted the wayward flight.

The revelations came as federal investigators trudged through rugged terrain to reach the site where the plane slammed into a mountain Sunday, killing four people. The officials who said that the fighter pilots saw the civilian pilot slumped over had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation.

The plane’s owner told news outlets that his daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter were aboard.

The New York-bound plane took an erratic flight path — inexplicably, turning around over Long Island to fly directly over the nation’s capital — which prompted the military to scramble fighter jets. This caused a sonic boom heard in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

Remote terrain around the crash site posed major challenges to the investigation. It took investigators several hours to hike into the rural area near the community of Montebello, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Charlottesville, said NTSB spokesperson Eric Weiss. They expect to be on the scene for at least three to four days.

Speaking at a briefing Monday morning, NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage is “highly fragmented” and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence at the site, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined. The plane is not required to have a flight recorder but it is possible that there are other avionics equipment that will have data that they can examine, Gerhardt said.

The Virginia State Police issued a statement saying that because of the severity of the crash, human remains will be transported to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy and identification. The Federal Aviation Administration said that the victims included the pilot and three passengers but didn’t release their names. There were no survivors.

Investigators will look at when the pilot became unresponsive and why aircraft flew the path that it did, Gerhardt said. They will consider several factors that are routinely examined in such probes including the plane, its engines, weather conditions, pilot qualifications and maintenance records, he said. A preliminary report will be released in 10 days.

According to a timetable released late Monday by NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris, the plane took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 1:13 p.m. Sunday, headed for MacArthur Airport in Long Island, N.Y. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the airplane during its ascent.

Preliminary information indicates the last ATC communication attempt with the airplane was at approximately 1:28 p.m., when the plane was at 31,000 feet (9,449 meters). The plane climbed to 34,000 feet (10,363 kilometers), where it remained for the rest of the flight until 3:23 p.m. when it began to descend and crashed about nine minutes later. The plane was flying at 34,000 feet (10,363 kilometers), when it flew over MacArthur Airport at 2:33 p.m., the NTSB said.

The White House expressed its “deepest condolences” on Monday to the family of those on board the plane.

“We need to keep them front and center,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

Kirby deferred questions about a follow-up report on the security response over Washington airspace to the Pentagon and U.S. Secret Service. But he said, “What I saw was just a classic, textbook response.”

The White House was continuously informed as the military jets tried to contact the pilot of the civilian plane and monitored the small aircraft’s path from Washington airspace to rural Virginia, Kirby said.

Air Traffic Control audio from the half-hour before the plane crashed captures voices that identify themselves as military pilots trying to communicate with the pilot of the private plane, according to recordings on LiveATC.net.

“If you hear this transmission, contact us,” said one pilot who identifies herself as being with the Air National Guard.

Several minutes later, a military pilot says: “You have been intercepted. Contact me.”

The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital. According to the Pentagon, six F-16 fighter jets were immediately deployed to intercept the plane. Two aircraft from the 113th Fighter Wing, out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, were the first to reach the Cessna Citation to begin attempts to contact the pilot. Two F-16 aircraft out of New Jersey and two from South Carolina also responded.

Flight tracking sites showed the plane suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.

In Fairfax, Virginia, Travis Thornton was settled on a couch next to his wife, Hannah, and had just begun recording himself playing guitar and harmonica when they were startled by a loud rumble and rattling that can be heard on the video. The couple jumped up to investigate. Thornton tweeted that they checked in with their kids upstairs and then he went outside to check the house and talk to neighbors.

The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, a pilot who runs the company said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina.

Rumpel told the New York Times he didn’t have much information from authorities but suggested the plane could have lost pressurization.

“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.

In interviews with the Times and Newsday, Rumpel identified his daughter, Adina Azarian, and 2-year-old granddaughter Aria, as two of the victims.

Azarian, 49, was well-known in real estate circles both in New York City and Long Island, described by friends and relatives as a fiercely competitive entrepreneur who started her own brokerage and was raising her daughter as a single parent.

“Being a mom was everything to her,” said Tara Brivic-Looper, a close friend who grew up with Azarian on the Upper East Side. “That they were together (at the end) is fitting.”

Friends say Azarian moved to East Hampton fulltime to raise Aria, with the help of a nanny. But she made frequent trips back home, bringing both Aria and the nanny to meet her tight-knit extended family on multiple occasions in recent months.

“She seemed so happy out there,” her cousin, Andrew Azarian, recalled. “Both of their lives hadn’t even started.”

“How could this happen?” he continued. “No one can explain it.”

___

Brumfield reported from Silver Spring, Maryland. Associated Press reporter Jake Offenhartz and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York, and White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Two teens were arrested last week in Newport News following an investigation into the shooting death of another teen last year in Georgia, according to a release from police.

With the help of federal and local law enforcement, detectives with the Marietta Police Department arrested on May 30 Ne’riyah Vargas,17, and Ne’cquo Vargas,17, both of Cobb County, Georgia. The pair are each charged with eight felonies including murder and violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act related to the shooting death of 17-year-old Grayson Green in May 2022, according to a Friday news release from Marietta police.

They also charged Tahkel Beverly Smart, 21, of Paulding County, Georgia, who was already in custody in Douglas County, Georgia, with the same eight charges.

The investigation is ongoing.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, [email protected]

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.

After years of speculation, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the arrival of the sleek goggles — dubbed “Vision Pro” — at the the company’s annual developers conference held on a park-like campus in Cupertino, California, that Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs helped design. The device will be capable to toggling between virtual reality, or VR, and augmented reality, or AR, which projects digital imagery while users still see can see objects in the real world.

“This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology,” Cook told the crowd.

Although Apple executives provided an extensive preview of the headset’s capabilities during the final half hour of Monday’s event, consumers will have to wait before they can get their hands on the device and prepare to pay a hefty price to boot. Vision Pro will sell for $3,500 once it’s released in stores early next year.

“It’s an impressive piece of technology, but it was almost like a tease,” said Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen. “It looked like the beginning of a very long journey.”

Instead of merely positioning the goggles as another vehicle for exploring virtual worlds or watching more immersive entertainment, Apple framed the Vision Pro as the equivalent of owning a ultrahigh-definition TV, surround-sound system, high-end camera, and state-of-the art camera bundled into a single piece of hardware.

“We believe it is a stretch, even for Apple, to assume consumers would pay a similar amount for an AR/VR headset as they would for a combination of those products,” D.A. Davison Tom Forte wrote in a Monday research note.

Despite such skepticism, the headset could become another milestone in Apple’s lore of releasing game-changing technology, even though the company hasn’t always been the first to try its hand at making a particular device.

Apple’s lineage of breakthroughs date back to a bow-tied Jobs peddling the first Mac in 1984 —a tradition that continued with the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, the Apple Watch in 2014 and its AirPods in 2016.

The company emphasized that it drew upon its past decades of product design during the years it spent working on the Vision Pro, which Apple said involved more than 5,000 different patents.

The headset will be equipped with 12 cameras, six microphones and variety of sensors that will allow users to control it and various apps with just their eyes and hand gestures. Apple said the experience won’t cause the recurring nausea and headaches that similar devices have in the past. The company also developed a technology to create three-dimensional digital version of each user to display during video conferencing.

Although Vision Pro won’t require physical controllers that can be clunky to use, the goggles will have to either be plugged into a power outlet or a portable battery tethered to the headset — a factor that could make it less attractive for some users.

“They’ve worked hard to make this headset as integrated into the real world as current technology allows, but it’s still a headset,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Yory Wurmser, who nevertheless described the unveiling as a “fairly mind-blowing presentation.”

Even so, analysts are not expecting the Vision Pro to be a big hit right away. That’s largely because of the hefty price, but also because most people still can’t see a compelling reason to wear something wrapped around their face for an extended period of time.

If the Vision Pro turns out to be a niche product, it would leave Apple in the same bind as other major tech companies and startups that have tried selling headsets or glasses equipped with technology that either thrusts people into artificial worlds or projects digital images onto scenery and things that are actually in front of them — a format known as “augmented reality.”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been describing these alternate three-dimensional realities as the “metaverse.” It’s a geeky concept that he tried to push into the mainstream by changing the name of his social networking company to Meta Platforms in 2021 and then pouring billions of dollars into improving the virtual technology.

But the metaverse largely remains a digital ghost town, although Meta’s virtual reality headset, the Quest, remains the top-selling device in a category that so far has mostly appealed to video game players looking for even more immersive experiences. Cook and other Apple executives avoided referring to the metaverse in their presentations, describing the Vision Pro as the company’s first leap into “spatial computing” instead.

The response to virtual, augmented and mixed reality has been decidedly ho-hum so far. Some of the gadgets deploying the technology have even been derisively mocked, with the most notable example being Google’s internet-connected glasses released more than a decade ago.

Microsoft also has had limited success with HoloLens, a mixed-reality headset released in 2016, although the software maker earlier this year insisted it remains committed to the technology.

Magic Leap, a startup that stirred excitement with previews of a mixed-reality technology that could conjure the spectacle of a whale breaching through a gymnasium floor, had so much trouble marketing its first headset to consumers in 2018 that it has since shifted its focus to industrial, health care and emergency uses.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives estimated Apple will sell just 150,000 of the headsets during its first year on the market before escalating to 1 million headsets sold during the second year — a volume that would make the goggles a mere speck in the company’s portfolio.

By comparison, Apple sells more than 200 million of its marquee iPhones a year. But the iPhone wasn’t an immediate sensation, with sales of fewer than 12 million units in its first full year on the market.

By SARAH BRUMFIELD and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilot of a business jet that flew over Washington and crashed in a remote part of Virginia appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S. officials said Monday, recounting observations by fighter pilots who intercepted the wayward flight.

The revelations came as federal investigators trudged through rugged terrain to reach the site where the plane slammed into a mountain Sunday, killing four people. The officials who said that the fighter pilots saw the civilian pilot slumped over had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation.

The plane’s owner told news outlets that his daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter were aboard.

The New York-bound plane took an erratic flight path — inexplicably, turning around over Long Island to fly directly over the nation’s capital — which prompted the military to scramble fighter jets. This caused a sonic boom heard in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

Remote terrain around the crash site posed major challenges to the investigation. It took investigators several hours to hike into the rural area near the community of Montebello, about 60 miles (97 km) southwest of Charlottesville, said NTSB spokesperson Eric Weiss. They expect to be on the scene for at least three to four days.

Speaking at a briefing Monday morning, NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage is “highly fragmented” and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence at the site, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined. The plane is not required to have a flight recorder but it is possible that there are other avionics equipment that will have data that they can examine, Gerhardt said.

The Virginia State Police issued a statement saying that because of the severity of the crash, human remains will be transported to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy and identification. The Federal Aviation Administration said that the victims included the pilot and three passengers but didn’t release their names. There were no survivors.

Investigators will look at when the pilot became unresponsive and why aircraft flew the path that it did, Gerhardt said. They will consider several factors that are routinely examined in such probes including the plane, its engines, weather conditions, pilot qualifications and maintenance records, he said. A preliminary report will be released in 10 days.

According to a timetable released late Monday by NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris, the plane took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 1:13 p.m. Sunday, headed for MacArthur Airport in Long Island, N.Y. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the airplane during its ascent.

Preliminary information indicates the last ATC communication attempt with the airplane was at approximately 1:28 p.m., when the plane was at 31,000 feet (9,449 meters). The plane climbed to 34,000 feet (10,363 kilometers), where it remained for the rest of the flight until 3:23 p.m. when it began to descend and crashed about nine minutes later. The plane was flying at 34,000 feet (10,363 kilometers), when it flew over MacArthur Airport at 2:33 p.m., the NTSB said.

The White House expressed its “deepest condolences” on Monday to the family of those on board the plane.

“We need to keep them front and center,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

Kirby deferred questions about a follow-up report on the security response over Washington airspace to the Pentagon and U.S. Secret Service. But he said, “What I saw was just a classic, textbook response.”

The White House was continuously informed as the military jets tried to contact the pilot of the civilian plane and monitored the small aircraft’s path from Washington airspace to rural Virginia, Kirby said.

Air Traffic Control audio from the half-hour before the plane crashed captures voices that identify themselves as military pilots trying to communicate with the pilot of the private plane, according to recordings on LiveATC.net.

“If you hear this transmission, contact us,” said one pilot who identifies herself as being with the Air National Guard.

Several minutes later, a military pilot says: “You have been intercepted. Contact me.”

The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital. According to the Pentagon, six F-16 fighter jets were immediately deployed to intercept the plane. Two aircraft from the 113th Fighter Wing, out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, were the first to reach the Cessna Citation to begin attempts to contact the pilot. Two F-16 aircraft out of New Jersey and two from South Carolina also responded.

Flight tracking sites showed the plane suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.

In Fairfax, Virginia, Travis Thornton was settled on a couch next to his wife, Hannah, and had just begun recording himself playing guitar and harmonica when they were startled by a loud rumble and rattling that can be heard on the video. The couple jumped up to investigate. Thornton tweeted that they checked in with their kids upstairs and then he went outside to check the house and talk to neighbors.

The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, a pilot who runs the company said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina.

Rumpel told the New York Times he didn’t have much information from authorities but suggested the plane could have lost pressurization.

“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.

In interviews with the Times and Newsday, Rumpel identified his daughter, Adina Azarian, and 2-year-old granddaughter Aria, as two of the victims.

Azarian, 49, was well-known in real estate circles both in New York City and Long Island, described by friends and relatives as a fiercely competitive entrepreneur who started her own brokerage and was raising her daughter as a single parent.

“Being a mom was everything to her,” said Tara Brivic-Looper, a close friend who grew up with Azarian on the Upper East Side. “That they were together (at the end) is fitting.”

Friends say Azarian moved to East Hampton fulltime to raise Aria, with the help of a nanny. But she made frequent trips back home, bringing both Aria and the nanny to meet her tight-knit extended family on multiple occasions in recent months.

“She seemed so happy out there,” her cousin, Andrew Azarian, recalled. “Both of their lives hadn’t even started.”

“How could this happen?” he continued. “No one can explain it.”

___

Brumfield reported from Silver Spring, Maryland. Associated Press reporter Jake Offenhartz and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York, and White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Thomas Hunter understands the need to improve energy use and reduce pollution in disadvantaged communities, so he developed a way to help.

He founded Edenic Energy, based in Portsmouth, as an “an urban visualization tool for energy efficient projects.” The software analyzes the energy use of a commercial building and its effect on the environment and overall health of the building’s daily operations.

Hunter won $2,000 in seed money from the Spark 757 entrepreneur competition at Jefferson Lab in Newport News on May 16. The Dominion Energy Innovation Center, NASA Langley Research Center and Tech Center Research Park partnered in the contest aimed at attracting clean energy entrepreneurs.

“Operating a building is like running a business; this is what building owners care about,” he said. “Yes, energy efficiency is great but staying in business and helping their tenants is top of mind, so we combine the business side of operating commercial buildings to the energy and operational efficiency of the physical asset to identify, design and manage improvements.”

“It’s like building data modeling — making sense of all the building information collected from A to Z,” Hunter added. “This could be from an energy perspective or daily operation perspective.”

The firm starts by researching both private and public data sets, including building codes, current blueprints, weather, lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation. Data is collected and entered into the software. All the combined information provides the building’s story. The project’s process is recorded digitally.

“It’s like creating Google Nest for a commercial building,” Hunter said.

Using artificial intelligence, the software tool can show common patterns and organize data to make it understandable.

Once a system is in place, operations and maintenance will be handled digitally through the smart building automated system. It uses sensors to track energy savings, check all the mechanical environmental control systems, sell energy back to the grid and predict malfunctions. Through the Internet of Things, the building is connected to its surroundings and the city. Monitoring traffic, occupancy, weather, air pollution, security and safety are a few ways a building is connected to the city.

“This is a way to create smart and sustainable cities,” he said.

Hunter decided to work with underserved communities because while growing up in Baltimore, he saw pollution along with poorly constructed and energy inefficient buildings. Those buildings negatively affect people’s health.

Hunter said he is answering the Department of Energy’s call for cleaner, more environmentally efficient buildings. The department launched a Justice40 initiative that includes investments in disadvantaged communities across one or more of the following seven areas: climate change, clean and efficient energy, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure.

“If we have healthy building, then we have a thriving economy,” he said.

N-Smart, another digital solutions and insights platform provider of Sterling took home the top prize of $2,500 from Spark 757. Other winners included Ellexco of Springfield, Scale Materials of Waynesboro, Helix Hydrogen of Harrisonburg, Tamer Space of Richmond, NearStar Fusion of Chantilly and Mehrdel LLC of Brambleton.

By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump met with Justice Department officials on Monday as a decision nears on whether to bring criminal charges over the handling of classified documents at the former president’s Florida estate.

The Trump lawyers two weeks ago requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to raise concerns about what they alleged was prosecutorial misconduct and overreach by the team led by special counsel Jack Smith. But a defense attorney meeting with Justice Department officials is also often used as an opportunity to try to persuade prosecutors against bringing charges in the final stages of an investigation.

It was not clear what was discussed during the meeting, but Trump, in a social media post and talk radio interview, signaled that he was prepared for the possibility that he would be charged and reiterated his attacks on the investigation.

A trio of Trump attorneys — James Trusty, John Rowley and Lindsey Halligan — exited the Justice Department headquarters in Washington on Monday morning after spending well over an hour inside. They got into a black sport utility vehicle and did not respond to reporters’ questions.

Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco were not present for the meeting but special counsel Jack Smith was. The Justice Department had no comment on the meeting.

After the meeting ended, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform in capital letters: “How can DOJ possibly charge me, who did nothing wrong” when no other presidents have been charged. He referenced the investigation into his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton, which ended without criminal charges, and a separate ongoing probe into the presence of classified documents at an office and home of President Joe Biden. And he characterized it as a “witch hunt.”

He also called into the Todd Starnes radio show, where he confirmed the meeting with his lawyers and said, “Well, I can just say this: They did go in and they saw ’em and they said very unfair. No other president has ever been charged with anything like his.’”

The Trump investigation differs from both the Biden and Clinton probes, though, in that prosecutors for months have examined whether Trump or his representatives sought to obstruct their inquiry and their efforts to recover classified documents. After suspecting that not all classified documents had been turned over, the FBI in August obtained a search warrant and returned to Mar-a-Lago and recovered an additional 100 documents with classification markings.

The Mar-a-Lago investigation into the potential mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, with a charging decision likely coming soon. Prosecutors have placed a broad cross-section of witnesses, including lawyers for Trump and close aides, before a grand jury.

Trump’s lawyers issued a letter to House lawmakers in April that laid out possible defenses and referred to the investigation as “misguided, politically infected, and severely botched.”

Besides the Mar-a-Lago investigation, Smith is leading a separate probe into efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

_____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www/twitter.com/etuckerAP

By AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday for Denmark’s role in a Western alliance “standing up” for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s 15-month-old invasion.

The Oval Office visit was the first of a pair of critical meetings Biden is holding with European allies this week that will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine — including the recently launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jets. Biden will meet Thursday with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Both Britain and Denmark are playing a pivotal role in the nascent joint international plan that Biden recently endorsed after months of resisting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for U.S. aircraft.

“There’s a shared commitment to the core values and that gives us our strength — at least that’s what I believe,” Biden said. “Together we’re working to protect those values — including standing up for the people of Ukraine against the brutal aggression of the Russians.”

Biden’s separate meetings with the leaders of two key NATO allies come at a crucial period in the 15-month war as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive. It’s also a moment when the U.S. and Europe are looking to demonstrate to Moscow that the Western-alliance remains strong and focused on cementing a longer-term commitment to Ukraine with no end to the conflict in sight.

Neither mentioned the F-16 agreement in their brief remarks before reporters at the start of the meeting, but White House officials said that coordination on training Ukraine on modern aircraft would be a central part of the talks.

Frederiksen for her part thanked Biden for leading the transatlantic alliance.

“I am looking forward to working even closer with you on defense and security,” she said.

Denmark has purchased dozens of American-made F-16s since the 1970s and has indicated it is open to the possibility of providing Ukraine with some. Britain strongly advocated for a coalition to supply Ukraine with fighter planes, and says it will support Ukraine getting the F-16s it wants. But the U.K. does not have any F-16s, and has ruled out sending Royal Air Force Typhoon jets.

Instead, Britain says it will give Ukrainian pilots basic training on Western-standard jets starting in early summer to prepare them to fly F-16s. The Ukrainian pilots will then go on to other countries for the next stages of training.

The F-16 agreement is among several recent high-profile efforts by the U.S. and Europe focused on bolstering Western resolve as the war grinds on. Moscow officials claimed that Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday. Kyiv authorities didn’t confirm the attacks and suggested the claim was a Russian misinformation ruse.

Asked by a reporter during his Oval Office meeting with Frederiksen whether he believed the Ukrainians would be successful in their counteroffensive, Biden said nothing but raised his hand and crossed his fingers.

Last week, Frederiksen and Sunak were among 45 European leaders who traveled to Moldova for the first summit of the European Political Community where they underscored support for Eastern Europe’s ambitions to draw closer to the West and keep Moscow at bay.

Biden was also expected to discuss with Frederiksen and Rishi preparations for next month’s NATO summit in Lithuania that comes amid growing pressure on the alliance from Zelenskyy on NATO to offer Ukraine concrete security guarantees and a defined path for Kyiv to eventually win membership into the group.

The 31-member alliance is also looking at boosting Ukraine’s non-member status in NATO and preparing a framework for security commitments that it can offer once the war with Russia is over.

Max Bergmann, a former senior State Department official during the Obama administration, said Biden and his European counterparts’ task is to stay on the same page for what comes after Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive.

“Throughout this conflict, we have not only underestimated the Ukrainians but we have also underestimated the Europeans,” said Bergmann, who is now director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They’re not wavering but they will also need to keep finding new funds to plow into military equipment to support the Ukrainians. There’s a question on both sides of the Atlantic: How much will it actually take to sustain Ukraine?”

Following the meeting, Frederiksen suggested in an exchange with reporters that she had dim hopes of an endgame to the conflict in the near term.

“It takes two to tango,” she said. “So we need some signals from Russia and I don’t think any of us in the alliance are willing to do anything without Ukraine. So it starts with them — what Ukraine wants out of this.”

Denmark’s centrist government said last week that it would look to invest some 143 billion kroner ($20.6 billion) in the country’s defense over the next decade, citing a “serious threat picture.” The government has an ambition to reach NATO’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on military budgets by 2030, in part as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The spending plan was announced as Frederiksen has emerged as a possible contender to succeed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg when his term ends in September. Asked whether she spoke to Biden about the expected vacancy, Frederiksen said she did not want to go “further in these speculations about NATO.”

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Virginia’s 8-3 victory East Carolina Sunday secured the Cavaliers a spot in the Super Regionals where they’ll host the winner of the Conway Regional at Disharoon Park.

Nine of the 11 spots on the All-Tournament team were awarded to players from Brian O’Connor’s squad who went undefeated in regional play.

Junior pitcher Connelly Early made the biggest splash of all the UVA players who earned a all-tournament team nod.

Early’s 10 strikeout outing on Sunday was so good it earned him the Charlottesville Regional’s Most Outstanding Player honor.

Junior Kyle Teel added to his already impressive season by being named the best catcher in the regional. Teel was a stellar 7 for 12 in three games and logged a 4-for-5 performance in Sunday’s game against ECU.

Teel was named to the All-ACC first team last month and was also named the ACC Player of the Year, UVA’s first since 2006.

Virginia Beach product Ethan Anderson (Cox High) was named the best first baseman in the regional. The sophomore was 3 for 12 from the plate but had two timely home runs in the first two games of the regional. Anderson also tallied four RBI and drew two walks.

Anderson was named to the All-ACC third team last month.

Junior Jake Gelof was named the best third baseman in the Charlottesville regional. Gelof, like Anderson was 3-for-12 over three games and also drew three walks. He hit a double in Saturday’s game against East Carolina that was inches away from being a home run, had the ball gone out he would have set the UVA single-season home run record.

More accolades could be coming for Gelof – an All-ACC first teamer – this season. He is currently a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award.

Virginia’s All-ACC shortstop Griff O’Farrell was named the regionals best shortstop. The sophomore was 5 for 14 over three games. In Virginia’s matchup against Army to open the regional O’Farrell was 3 for 4 and managed to gets two hits in the first inning after the Wahoos batted through the lineup.

Casey Saucke and Ethan O’Donnell were named to two of the three outfield spots on the all-regional team. Saucke went 6 for 12 from the plate and O’Donnell went 1 for 9. O’Donnell struggled from the plate in the regional, but a game changing home run late in Sunday’s matchup against ECU was enough for the first-team All-ACC player to land on the all-regional team.

Sophomore Anthony Stephan was named the regionals best designated hitter. Stephan had his best two games of the regional against East Carolina. He went 5 for 12, including a three-run home run in Sunday’s game to put the Cavaliers up big over the Pirates.

Early and graduate pitcher Nick Parker round out Virginia’s all-regional selections. Parker was just as dominant in his outing against ECU as Early was.

In the 2-1 win over the Pirates on Saturday, Parker threw 100 pitches over seven innings, striking out five batters and gave up just five hits.

Full Charlottesville Regional All-Tournament Team

C – Kyle Teel (Virginia)

1B – Ethan Anderson (Virginia)

2B – Jacob Starling (ECU)

3B – Jake Gelof (Virginia)

SS – Griff O’Ferrall (Virginia)

OF – Casey Saucke (Virginia)

OF – Bryce Madron (Oklahoma)

OF – Ethan O’Donnell (Virginia)

DH – Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma)/Anthony Stephan (Virginia)

P – Connelly Early (Virginia)

P – Nick Parker (Virginia)

Most Outstanding Player: Connelly Early (Virginia)

***Tie in the voting at DH makes it a 12-person team

Michael Sauls, [email protected], (757) 803-5775