BC-AP News Digest 7 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — For the second time this month, there’s promising news from a COVID-19 vaccine candidate: Moderna said Monday its shots provide strong protection, a dash of hope against the grim backdrop of coronavirus surges in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from the company’s still ongoing study. A week ago, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced its own COVID-19 vaccine appeared similarly effective — news that puts both companies on track to seek permission within weeks for emergency use in the U.S. By Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 630 words, photos. DEVELOPING.
ELECTION 2020-PENNSYLVANIA — President Donald Trump’s campaign withdrew a central part of its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to capture the state and help win the White House. By Marc Levy. SENT: 550 words, photos.
TRUMP — President Trump worked to take back an apparent acknowledgement that Joe Biden won the White House and was making clear he would keep trying to overturn the election result. By Kevin Freking. SENT: 860 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-WOMEN — From nearly the moment Donald Trump took the presidential oath, it was women who were the face of the resistance -- marching in enormous numbers in their pussy hats and fueling Democratic gains in the 2018 midterm elections. In 2020, many had expected a dramatic repudiation of Trump with a widened gender gap. The results were a bit more complicated. By National Writer Jocelyn Noveck. SENT: 1,260 words, photos.
THE EVER-PRESENT PRESIDENCY — You can adore Donald Trump or despise him. But there’s one thing it has been almost impossible to do with the president of the United States these past four years: ignore him. As another administration prepares to take the reins, it’s hard to imagine a Joe Biden presidency generating as much drama or commanding as much daily mindshare. Or have the Trump years forever changed the place the presidency occupies in American life and Americans’ lives? Only time will tell. By Ted Anthony. . SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MALL SANTAS — Santa Claus is coming to the mall — just don’t try to sit on his lap. Malls are doing all they can to keep the jolly old man safe from the coronavirus, including banning kids from sitting on his knee, completely changing what a Santa visit looks like. Kids will have to tell him what they want for Christmas from six feet away, and sometimes from behind a sheet of plexiglass.. By Joseph Pisani SENT: 920 words, photos. This is the Tuesday Spotlight.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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FRANCE-TRAIN ATTACK-TRIAL — An Islamic State operative goes on trial in France on terror charges for appearing on a train with an arsenal of weapons and shooting one passenger in 2015. He was brought down by three American vacationers in an electrifying capture that director Clint Eastwood turned into a Hollywood thriller. SENT: 870 words, photos.
ALASKA-JET-ACCIDENT-BEAR — An Alaska Airlines jetliner struck a brown bear while landing at an airport in the southeastern part of the state, killing the animal and causing damage to the plane, officials said. SENT: 340 words.
GREECE-ANCIENT-BUST — A bust of the ancient Greek god Hermes, dating back to around 300 B.C., has been discovered in central Athens during work on the sewage system, authorities said. SENT: 140 words.
BELGIAN RACING PIGEON — Belgian racing pigeon fetches record price of $1.9 million. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-US — Michigan and Washington on Sunday joined several other states in announcing renewed efforts to combat the coronavirus as more than 11 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported in the United States — with the most recent million coming in less than a week — and as many Americans prepare to observe a Thanksgiving holiday marked by the pandemic. SENT: 750 words, photos;
BRITAIN POLITICS — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is as “fit as a butcher’s dog” after being instructed to self-isolate for 14 days because he recently came in contact with someone who has since contracted coronavirus. In a video message posted Monday on Twitter from his London apartment at Downing Street, Johnson said it didn’t matter that he has already endured COVID-19 and is “bursting with antibodies.” By Pan Pylas. SENT: 410 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BELGIUM-NURSING HOMES — Amnesty International said Belgium authorities “abandoned” thousands of elderly people who died in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic in a report Monday that described those actions as “human rights violations.” Between March and October, Amnesty International said “a staggering 61.3% of all COVID-19 deaths” in Belgium took place in nursing homes. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GERMANY — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will assess the effects of a nearly two-week-long partial lockdown with state governors in a video conference. Germany went into a partial lockdown at the beginning of November with new rules that closed restaurants, cafes and cultural institutions but left open schools and stores after virus figures spiked exponentially in October. SENT: 210 words, photos. DEVELOPING.
BACK TO SCHOOL — As schools reopen in some African countries after months of lockdown, relief is matched by anxiety over everything from how to raise tuition fees amid the financial strain wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic to how to protect students in crowded classrooms. Although the pandemic has disrupted education around the world, the crisis is more acute in Africa, where up to 80% of students don’t have access to the internet and distance learning is out of reach for many. SENT: 760 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE — President-elect Joe Biden’s scientific advisers plan to meet with vaccine makers in coming days even as a stalled presidential transition keeps them out of the loop on government plans to inoculate all Americans against COVID-19. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Will Weissert. SENT: 820 words, photos.
CONGRESS-BIDEN — Joe Biden says he wants to “restore the soul of America.” But first the president-elect will need to fix a broken Congress. Biden is rushing headlong into a legislative branch that’s been ground down by partisanship, name-calling and, now, a refusal by some to acknowledge the Democrat’s win over President Trump. At a time when the country needs a functioning government to confront the COVID-19 crisis, the teetering economy and racial injustice, Washington is being challenged by the next president to do better. By Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 910 words, photos.
FACT-CHECK-WEEK — President Donald Trump is rebelling against Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election with a litany of falsehoods. That’s the finding of an AP Fact Check, which examined his past week’s statements. Trump raged about widespread cases of fake ballots in Pennsylvania and Georgia that aren’t fake and undertook legal challenges in several states that even state Republican election officials say can’t overcome Biden’s lead. As the coronavirus surged nationwide, Trump said little about public safety efforts and instead tried to take full credit falsely for drugmaker Pfizer Inc.’s news that its COVID-19 vaccine may be 90% effective. SENT: 3, 040 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-PROTESTS — Demonstrations over President Donald Trump’s loss at the polls have resulted in charges against nearly two dozen people in Washington. Among those arrested in connection with Saturday’s events were a person accused of setting off a commercial firework and four people accused in an assault that left the victim unconscious on the street. SENT: 370 words, photos, videos.
BIDEN’S-BEACH-TOWN — Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is a resort town that’s known known for Atlantic waves that are sometimes surfable, as well as fresh-cut French fries and a mile wooden boardwalk that dates to the 1870s. It’s long prided itself on being the “Nation’s Summer Capital.” Now, it may soon sport a beach White House. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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PERU-POLITICAL-CRISIS — Who is the president of Peru? That answer to that question early Monday is no one. The Latin American nation’s political turmoil took a chaotic turn Sunday when interim leader Manuel Merino quit and Congress couldn’t decide on his replacement. That leaves Peru rudderless and in crisis less than a week after legislators ignited a storm of protest by removing President Martín Vizcarra, an anti-corruption crusader highly popular among Peruvians. By Franklin Briceño and Christine Armario SENT: 850 words, photos.
TROPICAL WEATHER — A fast-strengthening Hurricane Iota is sweeping over the western Caribbean and has become a very dangerous Category 4 storm as it heads for the same part of Central America battered by a similarly powerful Hurricane Eta just over a week ago. Evacuations were being conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their shared border, which appeared to be Iota’s likely landfall. . SENT: 580 words, photos.
SYRIA-OBIT-WALID-AL-MOALLEM — Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad has died at 79. SENT: 900 words, photos.
HONG KONG — Hong Kong authorities said a fire at an apartment building in a crowded residential district has killed at least seven people and injured another 11. The blaze occurred Sunday night in Yau Ma Tei, a usually bustling area in Kowloon packed with old apartment blocks, shops and businesses. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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ELECTION 2020-MARIJUANA LEGISLATION Recreational marijuana initiatives passed in four states this year, from liberal New Jersey to conservative Montana and South Dakota. The results prove how broadly accepted marijuana has become throughout the country and across party lines. In South Dakota and Montana, where President Donald Trump won handily, recreational marijuana passed with at least 16 percentage points more of the vote than President-elect Joe Biden received. SENT: 890 words, photos.
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BUSINESS
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Shares started out the week on a strong footing after the Standard & Poors 500 hit a fresh high on Friday, with strong robust from Japan and China fueling optimism over economic recoveries even as coronavirus caseloads surpass earlier records. Stock benchmarks rose Monday in Hong Kong, Tokyo and most other regional markets. SENT: 710 words, photos.
JAPAN-ECONOMY — Japan’s economy grew at an annual rate of 21.4% in the last quarter in a recovery from the shocks of the pandemic driven by both private spending and exports. SENT: 550 words, photos.
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SCIENCE
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SPACEX-CREW LAUNCH — SpaceX has launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. By AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn. SENT: 900 words, photos. WITH: SPACEX-CREW (sent).
PUERTO RICO-TROUBLED TELESCOPE — Giant, aging cables that support one of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes are slowly unraveling in this U.S. territory, pushing an observatory renowned for its key role in astronomical discoveries to the brink of collapse. The Arecibo Observatory, which is tethered above a sinkhole in Puerto Rico’s lush mountain region, boasts a 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish featured in the Jodie Foster film “Contact” and the James Bond movie “GoldenEye.” SENT: 960 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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GLF-MASTERS — Dustin Johnson overcame a jittery start at the Masters that conjured memories of past majors he failed to finish off. He turned that into a command performance to cement a win, making sure this one-of-a-kind Masters with no fans also had no drama. By AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson. SENT: 900 words, photos. WITH: MASTERS-NOTEBOOK — Amateur Andy Ogletree was getting ready to tee off in the Masters for the first time when his playing partner, a fellow U.S. Amateur champion, came up to introduce himself. Guy by the name of Tiger Woods. SENT: 2,000 words, photos.
BENGALS-STEELERS — Ben Roethlisberger threw for a season-high 333 yards and four touchdowns despite being forced to stay away from the team facility all week due to COVID-19 protocols, and the Steelers improved their record to 9-0 with a 36-10 victory over the Bengals. SENT: 600 words, photos.
TOKYO-BACH VISIT — Olympic participants and fans arriving for next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics are likely to face requirements to be vaccinated to protect the Japanese public, IOC President Thomas Bach said Monday after meeting with new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. It was Bach’s first meeting with Suga and his first trip to Japan since the Olympics were postponed almost eight months ago. SENT: 470 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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