AP News Digest 7 a.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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VIRUS OUTBREAK — Joe Biden faces a decision unlike any other incoming president: whether to back a short-term national lockdown to finally arrest a raging pandemic. For now, it’s a question the president-elect would prefer to avoid, but the debate has been livelier among members of his coronavirus advisory board. By Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 900 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST.
TRUMP — President Donald Trump offers a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus as he delivers his first public remarks since his defeat by President-elect Joe Biden, even as he refuses to concede the election. By Zeke Miller, Kevin Freking and Aamer Madhani. SENT: 990 words, photos, video.
ELECTION 2020-ELECTORS — Republican leaders in four critical states won by President-elect Joe Biden say they won’t participate in a legally dubious scheme to flip their state’s electors to vote for President Donald Trump. Their comments effectively shut down a half-baked plot some Republicans floated as a last chance to keep Trump in the White House. By Bob Christie and Nicholas Riccardi. SENT: 940 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-BLOOMBERG — After pouring more than $1.2 billion of his personal fortune into presidential politics this election, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has little to show for it, raising questions about his ability to use his vast financial resources to sway politics in the future. By Brian Slodysko. SENT: 1,020 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SURVIVING-THE-SURGE — Experience in how to fight and beat COVID-19 is proving invaluable at the hospital in Paris that recorded the epidemic’s first death in Europe. Critical care doctors have learned not to put patients on ventilators if possible and to keep them awake and bathed in oxygen with face masks. There are steroid treatments that weren’t available to them when the virus first swept across the continent. By John Leicester. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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VIETNAM-ASEAN — Trump skips Southeast Asia summit for third year in a row. SENT: 580 words, photos.
SYRIA-MISSING-AMERICAN — Lebanese general was in Syria over missing American reporter. SENT: 420 words.
FRANCE-US-POMPEO — US top diplomat arrives in France on touchy 7-nation tour. SENT: 330 words, photos.
BRITAIN-BABY-DEATHS — UK nurse accused in murder of 8 babies denied bail. SENT: 200 words, photos.
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS-BRIBERY — Ex-tennis club chief gets 3 months in prison in college scam SENT: 370 words, photos.
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MORE ON ELECTION 2020
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BIDEN-PROGRESSIVES — Leading progressives are pressuring President-elect Joe Biden to embrace their policy solutions to major issues like combating climate change, reducing economic inequality and expanding access to health care even after the election left many Democrats feeling they came up short. SENT: 980 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-POPULAR VOTE — Democrats have won the popular vote in 7 out of 8 presidential elections, but few are celebrating. That’s because the party still lost seats in the House and in statehouses around the country, signaling a growing gap between Democrats’ popular vote tallies and their political power. SENT: 820 words., photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — India’s overall tally of new coronavirus cases has remained steady, but officials are watching a surge of cases in the capital that comes as people socialize during the festival season. SENT: 420 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH DAKOTA — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ordered a statewide mask mandate and imposed several business restrictions late Friday in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has stressed the state’s hospital capacity. SENT: 460 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MASK PROTECTION — U.S. health officials are taking a new tack to encourage Americans to wear masks: They’re emphasizing recent research that a mask protects the person who wears it. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CZECH-PHOTO-GALLERY — With all of Prague’s theaters shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, the new La Putyka Circus has adapted a practice that restaurants are using to stay in business. SENT: 350 words, photos.
TURKEY-VIRUS OUTBREAK — Turkish health ministry statistics show 93 people died in one day of COVID-19 amid a surge in infections, bringing the daily death toll to numbers last seen in April. SENT: 150 words, photo.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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PERU-POLITICAL CRISIS — The shock vote to oust now ex-President Martín Vizcarra has sparked protests unlike any seen in recent years in Peru. The demonstrations are fueled largely by young people typically apathetic to the country’s notoriously turbulent politics who are now organizing demonstrations through social media. Police have tried to repress the protests with tear gas and rubber bullets and are being criticized for excessive use of force. SENT: 790 words, photos.
ETHIOPIA-MILITARY CONFRONTATION — Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray regional government has fired rockets at two airports in the neighboring Amhara region as a deadly conflict threatens to spread into other parts of Africa’s second most populous country. SENT: 520 words, photos.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean Sea, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by a Category 4 Hurricane Eta. SENT: 360 words, photos.
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SCOTT PETERSON-CONVICTION — No one outside of San Quentin State Prison will be seeing Scott Peterson in person anytime soon as officials consider if he should face a new trial in the headline-grabbing slayings of his pregnant wife and unborn child, a California judge decides. SENT: 630 words, photos.
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MASTERS REVIEW — It’s peak 2020 that even the Masters is being forced to slow-walk the results. According to the schedule, we’ve reached the halfway point … except roughly half the field has yet to arrive. So pay attention. Here’s what we know so far. By Sports Writer Jim Litke. SENT: 780 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, (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.