AP News Digest 6:40 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.
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NEW/DEVELOPING
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MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-CHARGES; UNITED STATES-CHINA-TRUMP; TRUMP-INSPECTORS GENERAL; TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE-FLYNN; UNITED STATES-LIBYA; VATICAN-SUMMER CAMP; VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK; VIRUS OUTBREAK-FRONTIER DAYS; ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-FUNDRAISING; NOT-REAL-NEWS
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MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-PROTESTS — The white Minneapolis police officer seen on video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck was arrested on murder charges. He was accused in court papers of ignoring another officer who was worried about the handcuffed black man, who died after pleading that he could not breathe. Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the case. SENT: 1,300 words, photos, videos, developing. WITH: MINNEAPOLIS-POLICE-DEATH-THE LATEST and MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-NATIONWIDE PROTESTS — A look at developments across the United States in connection with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. SENT: 1,350 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-I CAN’T BREATHE — “I can’t breathe.” Eric Garner said those words seven years ago as he fell unconscious, locked a police chokehold, and later died. Those words became a rallying cry for demonstrations across the country protesting killings of African-Americans by police. George Floyd uttered the exact same three words this week, galvanizing the movement anew and prompting mass protests around the country. Even as 40 million people are unemployed and 100,000 are dead from the coronavirus pandemic. By Colleen Long and Deepti Hajela. SENT: 925 words, photos.
TRUMP-MINNEAPOLIS DEATH — President Trump calls violent protesters outraged by the death of a black man in police custody “thugs” and revives a civil-rights era phrase fraught with racist overtones. He tweeted that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which Twitter quickly flagged as violating rules against “glorifying violence.” By Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,050 words, photos, video. With TRUMP-MINNEAPOLIS DEATH-QUOTE — A look at the history of the half-century-old quote Trump tweeted. SENT: 590 words, photo.
UNITED STATES-CHINA-TRUMP — President Trump says the U.S. will terminate its relationship with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak in China. He also says the U.S. will begin the process of withdrawing special trade benefits for Hong Kong because of the Chinese government’s imposition of a new security law. By Ben Fox. SENT: 600 words, photos.
TRUMP-ANALYSIS — Over two days in America, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 100,000, the number of people who filed for unemployment during the crisis soared past 40 million, and the streets of a major city erupted in flames after a handcuffed black man was killed by a white police officer. It’s the kind of tipping point moment where leaders are looked to for solutions and solace. President Donald Trump instead threw a rhetorical match into the tinderbox. By Julie Pace. SENT: 940 words, photos, video..
VIRUS OUTBREAK — With new U.S. economic numbers highlighting the rough road ahead for a hoped-for rebound, President Donald Trump took aim at the World Health Organization and China, blaming both for their roles in the pandemic’s devastation. By Martin Crutsinger and Dan Sewell. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE LATEST and VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHAT'S-HAPPENING.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GREECE-ORTHODOX-COMMUNION — For Orthodox Christians, the use of a shared spoon by a priest to distribute Holy Communion is a tradition that dates back thousands of years. Contrary to science, the Greek Orthodox Church insists is impossible for any disease, including the coronavirus, to be transmitted through Holy Communion. The faithful believe that the consecrated bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ. By Elena Becatoros and Costas Kantouris. SENT: 990 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
INTERIOR-ETHICS -- Investigators in a report obtained by The Associated Press say a senior Trump administration official misused his office for private gain by capitalizing on his government connections to help get a family member hired at the Environmental Protection Agency. The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General says Assistant Interior Secretary Douglas Domenech used his position to induce a senior EPA official to help his son-in-law get a job at the agency in 2017. By Matthew Brown. SENT: 650 words, photos.
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MORE ON MINNEAPOLIS PROTESTS
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MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-CHARGES — A former Minneapolis police officer who was seen on video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck could face the same 12 1/2-year prison sentence that was imposed against another former officer in his department if he’s convicted of third-degree murder. SENT: 200 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-OFFICERS — A white Minneapolis police officer and the black man who died in his custody both worked as security guards as recently as last year at the same Latin nightclub but its former owner says she’s not sure they knew each other. What she is certain of is how aggressive Officer Derek Chauvin, who was taken into custody and charged with murder, became when the club hosted African-American dance nights, responding to fights by taking out his mace and spraying everyone in the crowd, a tactic she pointed out to him was “overkill.” SENT: 750 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS DEATH-POLICE REACTION -- Murder. Brutality. Reprehensible. Indefensible. Police nationwide, in unequivocal and unprecedented language, have condemned the actions of Minneapolis police in the custody death of a handcuffed black man who cried for help as an officer knelt on his neck, pinning him to the pavement for at least eight minutes. SENT: 850 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-MISINFORMATION — Internet troublemakers, political activists and even celebrities are pushing misleading or unsubstantiated social media claims around the Minneapolis protests in response to George Floyd’s death in police custody, creating more confusion and further stoking racial divisions online across the U.S. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 7 p.m.
MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-CNN — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz apologized to CNN, saying he takes total responsibility for the arrest of one of the network’s crews as they reported on violent protests in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd. SENT: 535 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS POLICE-DEATH-MISSISSIPPI-MAYOR — A Mississippi mayor who sparked outrage when he said he “didn’t see anything unreasonable” about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody is resisting calls to resign, including from his own town’s board of aldermen. SENT: 525 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS-POLICE DEATH-PROTESTS-PHOTO GALLERY -- AP PHOTOS: Rage in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death. SENT: 200 words.
Find more AP coverage of Minneapolis Police Custody Death at AP Newsroom:
Minneapolis Police Custody Death (stories with linked content)
Minneapolis Police Custody Death Visuals
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ALABAMA — Sparsely populated Lowndes County, deep in Alabama’s old plantation country, has the sad distinction of having both the state’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases and its worst unemployment rate. The county and other rural areas in the state are now faced with a lack of access to medical care combined with poverty and the attendant health problems that can worsen the outcomes for those who become sick with the coronavirus. By Jay Reeves and Kim Chandler. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRANSPLANT TRANSPORT — Over the past two months, as air travel ground to a halt, Mishel Zrian has crisscrossed the Atlantic and the United States dozens of times, sleeping in empty airports and unable to return home to see his family in Israel, all in a race against time to deliver life-saving transplants. By Tia Goldenberg. SENT: 990 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-KILLING HOGS — Meatpacking plants have been up and running for weeks but hog farmers in Iowa are still having to euthanize hogs because slaughterhouses haven’t been able to clear production backlogs. The situation has prompted the state of Iowa to offer financial help in euthanizing the hogs, and it has led to confrontations between farmers and animal welfare advocates who argue pigs are being killed with inhumane practices, such as flooding barns with high heat and even steam. UPCOMING: 950 words, photos by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK--DIARY-THE NEW WAY -- Fear over how the virus could impact Pablo, a 4-year-old with Down syndrome, pushed his family to pull him from therapy sessions in March. Then the clinic closed altogether. When his therapists began offering online sessions, Pablo’s parents said no. They figured online therapy would never work for such a young child with special needs. After a few weeks, they decided to try. Two months and many successful therapies later, Pablo’s parents don’t ever want to go back to “normal” when it comes to therapy. SENT: 615 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LATIN AMERICA’S POOR -- In Latin America, the coronavirus appears to have initially been brought to the region by wealthy citizens or visitors coming from Europe and the United States but is now increasingly concentrated in poorer neighborhoods. SENT: 1,175 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AFRICA — South Africa says it has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed tests for the coronavirus, a striking example of the painful shortage of testing kits and reagents across Africa as cases steadily rise. SENT: 600 words, photos.
RELIGION-ANTI-ISLAM HISTORY -- Muslim American groups and the Anti-Defamation League are decrying the U.S. Agency for International Development’s hiring of a religious freedom adviser who has reportedly made past anti-Islam comments. Mark Kevin Lloyd started with the agency on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post, which reported his former post as Virginia field director for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. SENT: 550 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-HOSPITAL BOXER -- A world champion French boxer is taking his skills to hospitals, coaching staff to thank the medical profession for saving his father-in-law from the virus, and giving them new confidence and relief from their stressful jobs. SENT: 475 words, photos.
A separate wire advisory has moved detailing our complete coronavirus coverage.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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NOT-REAL-NEWS — This week’s Not Real News looks at a number of false posts that circulated around the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. SENT:2900 words, photos.
VATICAN-SUMMER CAMP — Papal ping-pong? Vatican opens summer camp amid virus. SENT: 250 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK — New York City eyes June 8 for first phase of reopening. SENT: 640 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FRONTIER DAYS — No rodeo festival dashes Wyoming city’s hopes amid COVID-19. SENT: 970 words, photos.
FATAL POLICE SHOOTING-KENTUCKY -- The mother of a police shooting victim in Kentucky is calling on protesters to keep the peace while demanding justice. SENT: 825 words, photos.
ITALY-ROMAN MOSAICS -- Archaeologists briefly revealed a well-preserved mosaic floor of an ancient Roman villa first discovered almost a century ago near the northern Italian city of Verona. SENT: 310 words, photos.
SOUTH KOREA-SAMSUNG-PROTESTER -- A former Samsung employee who spent nearly a year protesting his firing by living atop an 82-foot traffic camera tower in South Korea’s capital was helped back down after the business giant apologized over his plight. SENT: 225 words, photos.
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TRUMP-INSPECTORS GENERAL — Democrats say they will interview officials who may have information about the ouster of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, part of an effort to find out more information about President Trump’s recent firings of several independent government watchdogs. SENT: 630 words, photos.
TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE-FLYNN — The Trump administration’s new national intelligence director declassifies documents that allies of the president say bolster their contention that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was wrongly pursued. SENT: 320 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — Joe Biden says the “open wound” of systemic racism was behind the police killing of a handcuffed black man in Minnesota. He also swipes at President Trump, accusing him of inciting violence, without mentioning him by name. SENT: 890 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-FUNDRAISING — President Trump will resume in-person fundraisers for his reelection campaign next month with additional precautions for the coronavirus. SENT: 350 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NATION’S CAPITAL REOPENS — The nation’s capital begins its phased-in reopening in fits and starts, with not everyone ready for even a limited return to pre-pandemic normality after a three-month-old stay-at-home order is lifted. By Ashraf Khalil. SENT: 910 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-REPUBLICAN-CONVENTION -- North Carolina’s top health official has asked for more details on how GOP leaders will protect attendees of a Republican National Convention this summer during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump has threatened to move his formal renomination elsewhere if he doesn’t soon get guarantees of being able to hold a large-scale event. SENT: 575 words, photos.
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UNITED STATES-LIBYA — U.S. Africa Command flatly rejects Russian claims that Moscow did not deploy fighter jets to Libya. SENT: 460 words, photo.
PAKISTAN-LOCUST INVASION — Pakistani officials say an invasion of locusts is spreading across the country, damaging crops and posing a threat to food security. Massive swarms of desert locusts are damaging crops and orchards across Pakistan since a month ago. The locusts have come at a time when the country is also struggling to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, which has caused more than 1,300 deaths and infected more than 64,000 people. SENT: 520 words, photos.
IRAQ-ISLAMIC STATE - The Islamic State group in an audio message blasted Iraq’s new prime minister, calling him an “American agent,” and criticized the closure of Islam’s holiest shrine in the Saudi holy city of Mecca to limit the spread of coronavirus. SENT: 400 words, photos.
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SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN -- A woman who says Harvey Weinstein raped her when she was 17 is among four plaintiffs in a new lawsuit against the imprisoned movie mogul. The lawsuit filed Thursday in state court in New York is the latest action accusing him of decades of vile sexual behavior. The woman is now 43 and alleges Weinstein forced her to disrobe, demanded she perform a sex act and raped her in a hotel room in 1994. Weinstein’s lawyer said he intends to defend against the claims in the new lawsuit. SENT: 575 words, photo.
ABORTION-MISSOURI — Missouri’s only abortion clinic will be able to keep operating after a state government administrator decided that the health department was wrong not to renew the license of the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis. SENT: 650 words, photo.
RELIGION-JANE-ROE FALLOUT — Anti-abortion activists might seem to be dealt a blow from a new documentary that features Norma McCorvey admitting her conversion to their camp — after spending years as the face of abortion rights, “Jane Roe” of the historic 1973 Supreme Court case — came with payments. But the headline-making revelations McCorvey offered stand little chance of denting anti-abortion activists’ momentum in Washington, thanks to their close ties to President Trump’s administration. SENT: 865 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI--HOME LAUNCH --SpaceX is taking a second shot at launching astronauts, but rain and storm clouds are threatening more delays. Elon Musk’s company came within minutes Wednesday of launching NASA astronauts for the first time in nearly a decade from the U.S., before lightning interfered. SENT: 495 words, photos.
MED--CANCER DRUGS - Doctors are reporting success with newer drugs that control certain types of cancer better, reduce the risk it will come back and make treatment simpler and easier to bear. One study found that a daily pill of a gene-targeting drug greatly improved how long people with one form of lung cancer lived without their disease returning after surgery and chemotherapy. SENT: 775 words, photos.
CARIBBEAN-HURRICANE HAZARD -- Caribbean islands have rarely been so vulnerable as an unusually active hurricane season looms for a region battered by recent storms, a worsening drought and a pandemic that has drained budgets and muddled preparations. Puerto Rico and the Bahamas are especially struggling since reconstruction has not begun as thousands of families remain displaced and concerns grow over how to avoid a coronavirus contagion in shelters if a hurricane hits. SENT: 790 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks closed out a solid week on Wall Street with a late-afternoon rebound after worries that President Donald Trump would reignite a costly trade war with China faded. SENT: 575 words, photos.
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TV-NEVER HAVE I EVER -- In Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” Mindy Kaling has created a show that positively represents South Asians, something she never had as a kid growing up in a mostly white Boston suburb. The show follows a first-generation Indian American teen navigating not only her raging hormones, explosive temper and commitment to excellence, but also her culture and Hindu faith. SENT: 635 words, photos.
Q&A-ALEC BALDWIN — Alec Baldwin discusses hosting Match Game for fifth season, keeping his family safe during COVID-19 pandemic, and how he’s not sure his ambiguous comment on the “SNL” season finale means he done portraying President Donald Trump. By John Carucci. SENT: 700 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-GAMBLING EXPANSION — The pandemic could lead to quicker expansion of sports betting and internet gambling in the U.S. as states facing huge budget deficits look for tax revenue wherever they can find it. SENT: 700 words, photos.
BBM—VIRUS OUTBREAK-A TOUGH CALL — More and more, it looks as if there won’t be minor league baseball this season because of the pandemic. That means no income right now for the 236 umpires who work everywhere from Triple-A to rookie leagues. By Baseball Writer Ben Walker. SENT: 800 words, photos.
FBN—COLTS-PHILIP’S FIT — The Colts bet big on 38-year-old Philip Rivers. They’re hoping the $25 million investment in a starting quarterback pays off with a playoff appearance and perhaps a Super Bowl run. SENT: 900 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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