AP News Digest 2 p.m.
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
------------------
-------------------
VIRUS-OUTBREAK — U.S. unemployment fell to 11.1% in June as the economy added a solid 4.8 million jobs, the government reported Thursday. But the job-market recovery may already be faltering because of a new round of closings and layoffs triggered by a resurgence of the coronavirus. The data was gathered during the second week of June, just before a number of states began to reverse or suspend the reopenings of their economies to try to beat back the virus again. By Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber. SENT: 760 words, photo. WITH: FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks rise on jobs data, S&P 500 nears week-long sweep. SENT: 600 words, photo, developing.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-ECONOMY — As Republicans and Democrats fight to spin Thursday’s jobs numbers to their advantage, both sides face tremendous political risks as they navigate an issue likely to decide November’s presidential election more than any other. By Steve Peoples. UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GLOBAL — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed to an all-time high of more than 50,000 per day, with the infection curve rising in 40 out of 50 states in a reversal that has largely spared only the Northeast. In yet another alarming indicator, 36 states are seeing a rise in the percentage of tests that are coming back positive for the virus. By Jake Coyle, Terry Spencer and David Rising. SENT: 710 words, photos.
IRAN NUCLEAR — A fire and an explosion struck a centrifuge production plant above Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, analysts said, one of the most tightly guarded sites in all of the Islamic Republic after earlier acts of sabotage there. By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN-ASSOCIATE —British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested by the FBI on charges she helped procure underage sex partners for financier Jeffrey Epstein. An indictment made public said Maxwell, who lived for years with Epstein and was his frequent travel companion on trips around the world, facilitated Epstein’s crimes by “helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” girls as young as 14. It also said she participated in the sexual abuse. By Jim Mustian and Larry Neumeister. SENT: 830 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-MUELLER GRAND JURY — The Supreme Court denies Congress access to secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation through the November election. The justices agree to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court order for the material to be turned over to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 686 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 800 words by 5 p.m., photos.
-----------------------------------------------
MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
-----------------------------------------------
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SCIENCE OF KINDNESS -- Science finds that being kind pays off. Numerous studies show that when people perform acts of kindness they feel better, are happier and in some cases healthier. Scientists have also study how kindness is ingrained in humanity. SENT: 970 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SIMPLER-FOURTH - The Fourth of July was always a time for communities to come together. This year, people are being urged to stay home. Coronavirus concerns are changing the way the holiday is celebrated. SENT: 925 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BARS — Authorities are closing honky tonks, bars and other drinking establishments in some parts of the U.S. to stem the surge of COVID-19 infections — a move backed by sound science about risk factors that go beyond wearing or not wearing masks. In the words of one study, it comes down to the danger of “heavy breathing in close proximity.” SENT: 860 words, photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-TOBACCO BAN — South Africa is three months into a ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products, an unusual tactic employed by a government to protect the health of its citizens during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-KANSAS --Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly issued an order directing Kansas residents to wear masks in public places and their workplaces, likely provoking a backlash from the Republican-controlled Legislature even though enforcement is expected to be lax. SENT: 540 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAKS-FRENCH LAWSUITS -- A collective of health care workers is seeking a broad legal inquiry into France’s failure to provide adequate masks, gloves and other protective equipment as the coronavirus swept across the country. SENT: 490 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BOLIVIA — Deserted during months of quarantine, the streets of Bolivia are roiling again with protests that have forced the government into an uncomfortable challenge: trying to resolve the country’s long-term political crisis with elections in the middle of a rising pandemic. SENT: 820 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-AFGHANISTAN OXYGEN -- For seven years, Najibullah Seddiqi’s oxygen factory sat idle in the Afghan capital Kabul. He shut it down, he says, because corruption and power cuts made it impossible to work. But when the novel coronavirus began racing through his country, he opened the factory’s dusty gates and went back to work. Now he refills hundreds of oxygen cylinders a day for free for COVID-19 patients — and at reduced rates for hospitals. SENT: 570 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVES LOST-BRAZILIAN TODDLER — The coronavirus death toll in Brazil keeps rising and among the dead is a little girl named Vitoria Gabrielle from a working class Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-MASKS — Does wearing a mask pose any health risks? No, not for most people. SENT: 320 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ATLANTIC CITY CASINOS — Eager to hit the slot machines and table games after a 108-day absence, gamblers endured wearing face masks and did without smoking and drinking as five of Atlantic City’s nine casinos reopened amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 710 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
A separate wire advisory has moved detailing the AP's complete coronavirus coverage.
————————————————————-
MORE ON RACIAL INJUSTICE
————————————————————-
RACIAL INJUSTICE-PUBLIC OPINION — It’s rare for public opinion on social issues to change sharply and swiftly. And yet in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Americans’ opinions about police brutality and racial injustice have moved dramatically. SENT: 990 words, photo.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-LEE STATUE -- Since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, has become a focal point for protesters against police brutality and racism. The iconic statue is now covered in colorful graffiti, much of it denouncing police and demanding an end to systemic racism and inequality. Clashes between police and protesters gathered near the statue have become a regular occurrence. SENT: 845 words, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-BLACK-BUSINESSES — Black-owned businesses are enjoying a surge in support amid the national reckoning on racism sparked by George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. But the increased demand hasn’t been without growing pains for some. SENT: 970 words, photos.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice in AP Newsroom.
---------------------------------------------
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
---------------------------------------------
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VANILLA ICE -- Vanilla Ice has indefinitely postponed a Texas concert that was drawing fierce criticism because of the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 500 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-COVID PARTIES-ALABAMA -- Several college students in an Alabama city organized “COVID-19” parties as a contest to see who would get the virus first, officials said. SENT: 250 words.
ELECTRONIC WASTE -- The world’s mountain of discarded flat-screen TVs, cellphones and other electronic goods grew to an estimated record of 59.1 million tons last year. SENT: 200 words.
AIRBNB-HOUSE PARTY PLAN — Airbnb will ban some younger U.S. guests from booking local homes as part of a continuing effort to crack down on unauthorized parties. SENT: 245 words.
FINLAND-AIR FORCE-SWASTIKA — Finland’s Air Force Command has discreetly dropped a swastika logo from its unit emblem and replaced it with a neutral insignia featuring a golden eagle. SENT: 460 words, photo.
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
UNITED STATES-RUSSIA-INTELLIGENCE-Q&A — The White House says President Donald Trump was never briefed on intelligence that Russia had put a bounty on U.S. soldiers because there wasn’t corroborating evidence. But former intelligence officials say presidents are routinely informed about intelligence even when it’s not definitively confirmed. Some questions and answers about how presidents are briefed on intelligence. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 990 words, photo. WITH: UNITED STATES-RUSSIA — The U.S. intelligence chiefs conduct classified briefings for congressional leaders who have demanded more answers about intelligence assessments that Russia offered bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. SENT: 840 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 890 words by 5 p.m., photo.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION CLINIC-BUFFER ZONES — The Supreme Court turns away pleas from anti-abortion activists to make it easier for them to protest outside clinics, declining to wade back into the abortion debate just days after striking down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics. SENT: 570 words, photo.
SUPREME COURT-EQUAL PAY ACT — The Supreme Court leaves in place a decision that employers can’t use past salary history to justify a pay disparity between male and female employees. SENT: 283 words.
SUPREME COURT-OVERSEAS ABUSES — The Supreme Court will consider ending a lawsuit that claims Nestle and Cargill facilitated the use of child slave labor on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, a case that could further limit access to U.S. courts by victims of human rights abuses abroad. SENT: 350 words, photo.
SUPREME COURT-NAZI ART — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving the descendants of a group of Jewish art dealers from Germany who say their ancestors were forced to sell a collection of religious art to the Nazi government in 1935. SENT: 290 words, photo.
FEDERAL EXECUTIONS — A Zen Buddhist priest has filed a lawsuit arguing the Bureau of Prisons is putting him at risk for the coronavirus by moving forward with the execution of an inmate he has been counseling. SENT: 935 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the 2020 U.S. Elections in AP Newsroom.
------------------———
————————————
US-IMMIGRATION LOSING LOTTERY WINNERS -- Noha, an Egyptian engineer, is an unlucky winner of this year’s lottery for about 50,000 green cards in the United States. She, her husband and their two children were randomly selected by computer for the giveaway but their hopes of moving the family vanished last week when President Trump extended a ban on many green cards issued outside the United States to the end of this year, including “diversity visas” that have been issued every year since 1990 to people from countries that are underrepresented. SENT: 1,175 words, photos.
BRITAIN-VENEZUELA — A British judge has refused to give Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro control of nearly $2 billion in gold sitting in a Bank of England vault. SENT: 740 words, photos. With VENEZUELA-IRAN-SHIPS — U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking to seize four tankers they say are sailing toward Venezuela with 1.1 million barrels of gasoline supplied by Iran. SENT: 720 words, photos.
IRAQ-MASS GRAVE — Iraqi authorities have uncovered a new mass grave site left by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq this week, believed to contain more than 100 bodies. SENT: 620 words, photos.
RUSSIA-CONSTITUTIONAL VOTE -- A vote that has cleared the way for President Vladimir Putin to rule Russia until 2036 is being denounced by his political opponents as a “Pyrrhic victory” that will only further erode his support and legitimacy. SENT: 860 words, photos.
HONG KONG — China’s government and pro-Beijing activists in Hong Kong condemned what they called foreign meddling in the territory’s affairs as countries moved to offer Hong Kongers refuge and impose sanctions on China over a new security law. SENT: 930 words, photos.
ISRAEL SHOOTING-OUTCRY — The family of a Palestinian man with autism who was fatally shot by Israeli police said on Thursday that it took a month for authorities to confirm the existence of security-camera footage of the shooting, raising concerns that no one will be punished for killing their son. SENT: 715 words, photo.
PAKISTAN-DANIEL PEARL — A British Pakistani man and three others convicted in the kidnapping and killing of a U.S. journalist, whose sentences were overturned in April, will remain in government custody for another three months, officials said. SENT: 320 words, photo.
—————————————-
HEALTH & SCIENCE
——————————————
GLOBAL WARMING-FISH - Global warming’s toll on the world’s fish species is likely to be far worse than originally figured because scientists have just calculated that spawning fish and embryos are more vulnerable to hot water than adult fish. UPCOMING: 400 words, photos by 4 p.m.
————————————
————————————
FILM-THE OUTPOST — The stars of “The Outpost,” which depicts a fierce battle between U.S. and Taliban troops in Afghanistan, say they set out to tell an authentic story about real soldiers and the challenges they face in war zones. The shoot started out with its own hurdle: star Scott Eastwood’s broken ankle, which required changing the shooting schedule and some painful moments for the actor. SENT: 800 words, photos, video.
——————
——————
FBN-ON-FOOTBALL SHORTER SEASON — Fewer preseason games following an offseason without on-field workouts creates more challenges for new coaches, players who changed teams and rookies. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 7 p.m.
----------------------—————
HOW TO REACH US
----------------------—————
At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Courtney Dittmar (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Phil Holm (ext. 7636). Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.