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

US ramps up Ukraine warning, says Russia may invade any day

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday escalated dire warnings of a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, sayingit could happen at any moment,even as emergency diplomatic efforts continued. Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies.

As diplomatic options for averting war in Ukraine appeared to narrow, the White House said President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss the crisis by phone on Saturday.

Biden has said the U.S. military will not enter a war in Ukraine, but he has promised severe economic sanctions against Moscow, in concert with international allies.

Timing of possible Russian military action remains a key question.

The U.S. picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was, and the White House publicly underscored that the U.S. does not know with certainty whether Putin is committed to invasion.

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In reversal, FDA puts brakes on COVID shots for kids under 5

WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5 hit another monthslong delay Friday as U.S. regulators abruptly put the brakes on their efforts to speed review of the shots that Pfizer is testing for youngsters.

The Food and Drug Administration, worried about the omicron variant’s toll on kids, had taken the extraordinary step of urging Pfizer to apply for OK of the extra-low dose vaccine before it’s clear if tots will need two shots or three. The agency’s plan could have allowed vaccinations to begin within weeks.

But Friday, the FDA reversed course and said it had become clear the agency needed to wait for data on how well a third shot works for the youngest age group. Pfizer said in a statement that it expected the data by early April.

FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said he hoped parents would understand that the agency’s decision was part of its careful scientific review of the evidence Pfizer has submitted so far.

That information “made us realize that we needed to see data from a third dose from the ongoing trial in order to make a determination,” Marks told reporters. “We take our responsibility for reviewing these vaccines very seriously because we’re parents as well.”

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Canadian judge orders an end to blockade at border bridge

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — A judge on Friday ordered protesters at the Ambassador Bridge over the U.S.-Canadian border to end the 5-day-old blockade that has disrupted the flow of goods between the two countries and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production.

It was not immediately clear when or if law enforcement officers would be sent in to remove the demonstrators, who parked their pickups and other vehicles in a bumper-to-bumper protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and an outpouring of fury toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government.

Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court said during a virtual hearing that the order would be effective at 7 p.m. to give protesters time to leave.

Windsor police immediately warned that anyone blocking the streets could be subject to arrest and their vehicles may be seized.

The news was met with defiance by protesters.

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At Olympics and beyond, getting away with it is Russia’s way

BEIJING (AP) — Be it sports, politics, hacking or war, the recent history of Russia’s relationship with the world can be summed up in one phrase: They get away with it.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has perfected the art of flouting the rules, whether the venue is the Olympic arena, international diplomacy or meddling in other countries’ elections from the comfort of home. And it has suffered little consequence for its actions.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Russia the country isn’t here — technically. Its athletes are competing under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the second time. The national colors and flag are banned because of a massive state-sponsored doping operation that goes back to the 2014 Sochi Games, which Russia hosted.

And yet the 2022 Games’ first major scandal has managed to involve a 15-year-old figure skater who has tested positive for using a banned heart medication that may cost her Russia-but-not-really-Russia team a gold medal in team competition.

Her provisional suspension, like the so-called ban on Russia’s official participation in these Games, didn’t do much. Kamila Valieva continues to train even as her final disposition is considered, and she may yet compete in the women’s individual competition, in which she is favored.

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WHAT TO WATCH: Mixed team snowboardcross, US-Canada hockey

BEIJING (AP) — Mixed team snowboardcross is a variation on that chaotic event that is making its Olympic debut this year.

Each team consists of one man and one woman. The men go first, then the women start in a staggered fashion, based on how the men finished in their race. NBC is planning to show the mixed snowboardcross final live in prime time Friday night.

Elsewhere, the U.S. men’s hockey team faces Canada, and the quarterfinals continue on the women’s side.

Here are some things to watch (all times Eastern):

SNOWBOARDING

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Landlords finding ways to evict after getting rental aid

A day before she was due to be evicted in November from her Atlanta home, Shanelle King heard that she had been awarded about $15,000 in rental assistance. She could breathe again.

But then the 43-year-old hairdresser got a letter last month from her landlord saying the company was canceling her lease in March —- seven months early — without any explanation.

“I’m really pissed about it. I thought I would be comfortable again back in my home,” said King, whose work dried up during the pandemic and who now worries about finding another apartment she can afford. “Here I am back up against the wall with no where to stay. I don’t know what I am going to do.”

Although the $46.5 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Program has paid out tens of billions of dollars to help avert an eviction crisis, some tenants, like King, who received help are finding themselves threatened with eviction again — sometimes days after getting federal help. Many are finding it nearly impossible to find another affordable place to live.

“It is a Band-Aid. It was never envisioned as anything more than a Band-Aid,” Erin Willoughby, director of the Clayton Housing Legal Resource Center Atlanta, said of the program.

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Doping hearing to decide Russian skater’s Olympic fate

BEIJING (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s right to compete in the women’s event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Testing Agency — on behalf of the IOC — said Friday they would fight the decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to allow the 15-year-old Valieva to skate. The Russian agency provisionally banned Valieva on Tuesday because she failed a doping test in December. After an appeal, the agency lifted the ban Wednesday.

Valieva is the heavy favorite in her event, which begins Tuesday. She set world record scores this season and landed the first quad jump by a woman at an Olympics as the Russianathletes competing as ROC, short for Russian Olympic Committee, won the team event. The ROC said it will fight to keep that gold medal, and Valieva has passionate support from the Kremlin.

The ITA confirmed reports that Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in St. Petersburg six weeks ago.

The positive test was flagged by a laboratory in Sweden only on Tuesday — the day after Valieva helped the Russians win the team event and just hours before the medal ceremony, which was then postponed. Whether the Russians will lose that gold medal will be decided later.

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EXPLAINER: A look at what’s behind the protests in Canada

TORONTO (AP) — For five days, a blockade of pickups, cars and a handful of commercial trucks has choked off traffic at the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States. There are blockades at two other crossings as well. And for two weeks, downtown streets in Canada’s capital have been snarled by a convoy of semis and other vehicles as protesters rail against COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Here’s a look at the ongoing protests that have gripped Canada, disrupting international commerce and prompting Washington to pressure Ottawa to end the border siege.

HOW DID THE PROTESTS START?

Much of it can be tied to anger against Trudeau, a Liberal Party politician who has been prime minister since 2015 and is loathed by many conservatives, particularly in the western province of Alberta, the most conservative in the country.

In 2019, well before the current protests, demonstrators drove a convoy of hundreds of trucks from western Canada to Ottawa in opposition to the Trudeau government’s new carbon tax, an environmental measure they said would hurt the oil industry. Many wore yellow vests in solidarity with a French protest movement that same year against perceived economic injustice.

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Phoenix police say man shot ex-girlfriend before ambush

PHOENIX (AP) — A man who shot his ex-girlfriend at a Phoenix home early Friday ambushed the first officer on the scene, seriously injuring him, then opened fire on other police as they tried to rescue a baby that was left outside the door.

The woman later died. In all, five officers were shot, including four who were wounded while trying to take the baby to safety. Four more officers were injured by shrapnel or ricocheting bullets, police said.

Of the five shot, four remain hospitalized. All of the officers were expected to survive, and the baby girl was unharmed.

“A baby is safe today because of our Phoenix police officers,” Mayor Kate Gallego said at a news conference near the scene.

The most seriously injured officer was the first to arrive at the home, around 2:15 a.m., following a report of a woman shot. He was invited inside, Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Williams said.

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BEIJING DIARY: A taste of Tibet with Chinese characteristics

BEIJING (AP) — I can’t visit Tibet while I’m in China working at the Beijing Winter Olympics. But China can show me its own version of the remote region.

China’s “closed loop” system for the Games means it’s almost impossible for any of the thousands of athletes, sports officials, journalists and media workers who have arrived from overseas to get out and see the country.

Games attendees are staying at dozens of hotels, all fenced off from the rest of Beijing and accessible only by bus or taxi to the press center, competition venues or the airport.

By chance, part of The Associated Press’ Olympics team has been assigned to the Beijing Tibet Hotel, which has been built and outfitted to evoke the distant region on China’s western edge.

I’ve traveled widely in China but have never been to Tibet, a long-isolated place that’s always been hard for foreigners, especially journalists, to reach, well before pandemic travel restrictions. Foreign correspondents can only visit on government-organized tours. So I was curious to see what the hotel would be like.