AP News Digest 6 p.m.
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All Times EST. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
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NEWS/DEVELOPING
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Adds ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATS, VIRUS OUTBREAK-STATES, VIRUS OUTBREAK-UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, GUATEMALA-LANDSLIDE, OFFICER INDICTED-NYPD, STEELERS-HALFWAY ANALYSIS.
PERU-POLITICAL CRISIS — Timing of vote this evening uncertain.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — President-elect Joe Biden makes clear that his incoming administration is singularly focused on reining in the coronavirus pandemic. Biden urges Americans to double down on individual efforts to stem the disease even as the stock market and President Donald Trump react exuberantly to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announcing progress with its vaccine trial. By Will Weissert, Philip Marcelo and Aamer Madhani. SENT: 1,020 words, photos, video. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Passage of a new COVID-19 relief bill remains an open question as Congress returns for a lame-duck session. UPCOMING: 690 words by 7 p.m., photos; VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN TASK FORCE — A look at Biden’s coronavirus team. SENT: 430 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PFIZER-VACCINE — Pfizer says that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control. By Lauran Neergaard and Linda A. Johnson. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE EXPLAINER — What’s ahead for COVID-19 vaccines SENT: 790 words, photos.
TRUMP — His White House nearly empty and his legal challenges to the election failing, President Trump plunges the transition into tumult, firing the head of the Pentagon while instructing his government not to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden. By Jonathan Lemire and Zeke Miller. UPCOMING: 1,260 words by 7 p.m., photos. With CONGRESS-BIDEN-TRUMP — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Trump is “100% within his rights” to question election results. SENT: 470 words, photos.
TRUMP-PENTAGON — President Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper, an unprecedented move by a president struggling to accept election defeat and angry at a Pentagon leader he believes wasn’t loyal enough. The decision was widely expected as Trump had grown increasingly unhappy with Esper, including sharp differences between them over the use of the military during the civil unrest in June. By Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns. SENT: 1,210 words, photos.
HARRIS-MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS — For countless women and girls, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ achievement of reaching the second highest office in the country represents hope, validation and the shattering of a proverbial glass ceiling that has kept mostly white men perched at the top tiers of American government. By Kat Stafford and Christine Fernando. SENT: 770 words, photo.
Find more coverage below and on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
TROPICAL WEATHER — A deluge of rain from Tropical Storm Eta causes flooding across South Florida’s most densely populated urban areas, stranding cars, flooding businesses and swamping entire neighborhoods with fast-rising water that had no place to drain. The system made landfall in the Florida Keys and poses a serious threat across South Florida. By Freida Frisaro and Kelli Kennedy. SENT: 640 words, photos, videos.
SUPREME COURT-HEALTH CARE — When the Supreme Court weighs the fate of “Obamacare” on Tuesday, arguments will revolve around arcane points of law. But there are real-world consequences for just about every American, as well as the health care industry, a major source of jobs and tax revenues. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 870 words, photos. (Replaces SUPREME COURT-HEALTH CARE-WHAT’S AT STAKE from 2 p.m. digest.)
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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ZOOM-SECURITY SETTLEMENT — Federal regulators require Zoom to strengthen its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that it misled users about its level of security for meetings. SENT: 480 words, photo.
VATICAN-MCCARRICK-LAWSUITS — The Vatican is poised to release a long-awaited report on what it knew about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual misconduct during his rise through the church hierarchy. SENT: 940 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NOTRE DAME — The University of Notre Dame implements mandatory coronavirus testing for students after students rushed the school’s football field to celebrate an upset over Clemson and held numerous weekend parties. SENT: 490 words, photo.
OBIT-MOUNT WASHINGTON CAT — A cat who patrolled the U.S. Northeast’s highest peak for a dozen years as its weather observatory’s mascot has died. SENT: 160 words, photo.
COLLEGE BKB POLL — Gonzaga will begin the college basketball season at No. 1 for the first time. The Zags earned 28 first-place votes in the preseason Top 25 from the AP. SENT: 850 words, photos.
FILM-GRETA THUNBERG — Greta Thunberg is the subject of a new documentary, “I Am Greta.” SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
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MORE ON ELECTION 2020
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BIDEN — President-elect Joe Biden looks to build out his nascent White House staff with more traditional Washington insiders, a notable departure from four years in which President Trump staffed his team with outsiders and government antagonists. SENT: 1,080 words, photos. With BIDEN-FEDERAL AGENCIES — The course of Biden’s transition to power is dependent in part on an obscure declaration called “ascertainment.” SENT: 300 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BLACK VOTERS — Black voters were the main constituency to push Joe Biden to victory in the presidential race. Activists say the Biden campaign owes Black voters and the organizers who worked tirelessly to turn them out for that victory. SENT: 1,320 words, photos.
TRUMP-LEGAL CHALLENGES — Republican surrogates for President Trump resume their legal fight to try to stop the vote count in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan. SENT: 580 words, photos. With TRUMP-ELECTION-TWEETS — Trump continues to tweet out baseless claims about vote counting. UPCOMING: 580 words by 7 p.m., photo.
ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATS — The chairwoman of House Democrats’ campaign committee won’t seek the post again after her party unexpectedly lost seats in last week’s elections. SENT: 350 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-PHOTO GALLERY — AP PHOTOS: Joe Biden and his decades of public life. SENT: 280 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-STATES — As the coronavirus spreads faster, President-elect Joe Biden is calling for coordination with states, something that officials and public health experts say has not been strong enough so far. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE — Portugal and Hungary become the latest European countries to impose curfews against the renewed tide of coronavirus infections and deaths. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LATIN AMERICA-EDUCATION — The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF says an estimated 97% of children in Latin America and the Caribbean aren’t in school seven months after the continent’s first cases of coronavirus were discovered. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he has tested positive for the coronavirus and will be working in self-isolation while being treated. SENT: 200 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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TRUMP-CORONAVIRUS — The Trump campaign’s election night watch party in the White House East Room was supposed to be celebration. Instead, the event — with few masks and no social distancing — is being eyed as a potential coronavirus super-spreading event. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
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ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN — Armenia's prime minister says he has ordered an end to fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, though the decision was “extremely painful for me personally and for our people.” SENT: 550 words, photos.
BIDEN-RUSSIA-HOLDOUT — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t congratulate President-elect Joe Biden until legal challenges to the U.S. election are resolved and the result is official. SENT: 700 words, photos.
ETHIOPIA-MILITARY CONFRONTATION — An Ethiopian military official says the air force is “pounding targets with precision” as the government continues its offensive against the defiant northern region of Tigray. SENT: 370 words, photos.
PERU-POLITICAL CRISIS — Peru’s president faces a second impeachment vote in less than two months over new accusations of corruption. SENT: 300 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from vote; timing uncertain.
GUATEMALA-LANDSLIDE — Days after a landslide buried half the community of Queja in central Guatemala, rescuers have recovered only a handful of the more than 100 people believed to be buried there. SENT: 460 words, photos.
BOLIVIA — Former President Evo Morales is back in Bolivia following an election that returned his socialist party to power a year after he fled the nation amid a wave of protests. SENT: 300 words, photos.
ONE GOOD THING-BAHAMAS-REBUILD — After Hurricane Dorian, a buzzer-beating layup helped the Bahamas rebuild. SENT: 670 words, photos.
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CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES-WINE COUNTRY IN PERIL — California wine country has been forced to adapt to an annual wildfire threat. SENT: 960 words, photos.
US-HUMAN RIGHTS — The United States faces its first review in five years at the U.N.’s main human rights body, with the detentions of migrant children among issues high on minds. SENT: 400 words.
OFFICER INDICTED-NYPD — Federal authorities arrest a New York City police officer on charges he served as a lookout for drug traffickers who smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the United States. SENT: 250 words.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Brimming hopes that people will again return to office buildings, shopping centers and normal life send markets rallying worldwide, following encouraging data about a potential coronavirus vaccine. The Dow gains more than 830 points. SENT: 910 words, photos.
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SCIENCE/HEALTH
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AIDS-STUDY — Researchers stop a study early after finding that a shot of an experimental medicine every two months works better than daily pills to help keep women from catching HIV. By Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 440 words.
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BOOKS-TRUMP — The end of Donald Trump's presidency will not mean the end of one of publishing’s most thriving genres: Books about Trump. Expect a wave of them in the coming years. By National Writer Hillel Italie. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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STEELERS-HALFWAY ANALYSIS — The Steelers, the NFL’s lone unbeaten team, are halfway to a perfect season. Pretty impressive for a team that spends long stretches of games looking decidedly imperfect. By Will Graves. SENT: 950 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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