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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ONLY ON AP
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-NURSING HOME NEGLECT — As more than 90,000 of America’s long-term care residents have died in the coronavirus pandemic, advocates for the elderly say a tandem wave of death separate from the virus has quietly claimed tens of thousands more, often because overburdened workers haven’t been able to give them the care they need. An expert who conducted an analysis of nursing home deaths for the AP believes that non-COVID excess deaths, beyond what is normal, could total 40,000 this year. By Matt Sedensky and Bernard Condon. SENT: 2,400 words, photos, video. An abridged version of 890 words is available.
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-US-SURGE — Overwhelmed hospitals are converting chapels, cafeterias, waiting rooms, hallways, even a parking garage into patient treatment areas. Staff members are desperately calling around to other medical centers in search of open beds. Fatigue and frustration are setting in among front-line workers. Conditions inside the nation’s hospitals are deteriorating by the day as the coronavirus rages across the U.S. at an unrelenting pace and the confirmed death toll surpasses 250,000. By Paul J. Weber and Sarah Rankin. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
TRUMP-ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump has turned the nation’s free and fair election into a muddled mess of misinformation, specious legal claims and baseless attacks on the underpinnings of American democracy. The resulting chaos isn’t the byproduct of Trump’s post-defeat strategy — it is the strategy. By Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace. SENT: 900 words, photos.
TRUMP-VOTE CERTIFICATIONS — Finding no traction in the courts, Trump’s scattershot effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory shifts to obscure election boards, as he seeks sympathetic allies to upend routine but important steps in the electoral process, sow chaos and perpetuate unsubstantiated doubts about the vote. By Zeke Miller, Christina A. Cassidy and Colleen Long. SENT: 1,260 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-LEGAL SCORECARD — A look at Trump’s long-shot legal challenges; ELECTION 2020-THINGS TO KNOW.
ISRAEL-POMPEO — The U.S. State Department has announced that products from Israeli settlements can be labeled “Made in Israel,” breaking with longstanding policy. The move was announced shortly after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited a settlement in the occupied West Bank, a first by a top U.S. diplomat. By Joseph Krauss. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
IRAN-ELECTION-AP-INTERVIEW — An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader who is a possible 2021 presidential candidate is warning that any American attack on the Islamic Republic could set off a “full-fledged war” in the Mideast in the waning days of the Trump administration. Hossein Dehghan struck a hardline tone familiar to those in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force he long served in before becoming a defense minister under President Hassan Rouhani. By Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell. SENT: 1,020 words, photos. With IRAN — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launches aircraft-carrying ship.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SYRIA-IDLIB-ON-THE-BRINK — The staff at a hospital in the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria is overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. Although a shaky cease-fire in the civil war has temporarily halted fighting, the wards are still filled — this time with elderly patients gasping for air. Health authorities worry that the territory, which is home to 4 million people who are mostly displaced from elsewhere in the war-torn country, is on the brink of an emergency. By Ghaith Alsayed and Sarah El Deeb. SENT: 1,170 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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BRITAIN-PRINCESS-DIANA — Prince William welcomes new probe into 1995 Diana interview. SENT: 230 words, photo.
NAYA-RIVERA-DEATH — Wrongful death lawsuit filed over Naya Rivera’s drowning. SENT: 400 words, photo.
HOLIDAY-HOOT — Owl found in Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. SENT: 160 words, photos.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS — Charles Yu novel, Malcolm X bio win National Book Awards. SENT: 680 words, photo.
MUSIC-APPLE MUSIC AWARDS — Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Taylor Swift win Apple Music Awards. SENT: 130 words, photos.
2020-OUT100-LIST — Out magazine names Lizzo, Monae, Maddow to its Out100 list. SENT: 150 words, photo.
FLAMETHROWER STUNT — Rapper with flamethrower in custody over NYC bus stunt. SENT: 210 words.
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MORE ON ELECTION 2020
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SENATE-GEORGIA-2024 — Even as votes are still being tallied in the 2020 election, Georgia’s two high-profile Senate contests are drawing top GOP politicians to the state to campaign, network and raise their profiles for possible 2024 presidential runs. SENT: 910 words, photos.
TRUMP-REPUBLICANS — Though a growing number of Republicans have quietly acknowledged the result of the election, few are publicly challenging Trump, allowing the outgoing incumbent to make baseless claims that could fuel suspicions about the outcome and Biden’s legitimacy. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTE COUNT — Biden’s winning tally is approaching a record 80 million votes as Democratic bastions continue to count ballots and the 2020 election cracks turnout records. SENT: 710 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-GEORGIA GOVERNOR — Georgia’s Republican governor is staying on the sidelines amid a fight within his own party over unsubstantiated allegations that the state’s presidential election was tainted by fraud. SENT: 820 words, photos. With ELECTION-2020-GEORGIA — Georgia to release report on presidential race hand tally.
ELECTION-2020-WISCONSIN — The Wisconsin Elections Commission, after an hours long often-contentious debate, agree to issue an order to recount ballots cast in Milwaukee and Dane counties as requested by Trump. SENT: 500 words, photo.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFRICA — The African continent surpasses 2 million confirmed cases as health officials warn of infections starting to creep up again into a second surge. SENT: 620 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MIDEAST — As winter nears and coronavirus cases surge across the Middle East, the regional director for the World Health Organization says the only way to avoid mass deaths is for countries to quickly tighten restrictions and enforce preventative measures. SENT: 390 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-JAPAN — Japan reported a record number of daily coronavirus infections, amid a worrying spike in a country that has been spared the worst of the pandemic and hopes to host the Olympics next year. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ASIA — The leader of the small Pacific nation of Samoa appeals for calm after the country reported its first positive test for the coronavirus, although a second test on the same patient returned a negative result. SENT: 580 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GREECE — The head of the Orthodox Church of Greece has been hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19. SENT: 410 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-EMIRATES — At a highway-side restaurant in the industrial outskirts of Dubai, workers methodically assemble packaged takeout meals of biryani rice, dal and brightly colored chicken curry for people in poverty and desperate to eat. SENT: 720 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-IMMUNITY — Will social distancing weaken my immune system? In short, no. SENT: 200 words, graphic.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT-CHINA — The focus of the Justice Department under a new Biden administration may not look radically different when it comes to China. SENT: 920 words, photo.
TRUMP-LAST-MINUTE ROLLBACKS — Down to its final weeks, the Trump administration is working to push through dozens of rollbacks that could weaken century-old protections for migratory birds, expand Arctic drilling and hamstring future regulation of public health threats. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VENEZUELA-US-AMBASSADOR — Washington has its first ambassador for Venezuela in a decade despite the U.S. having no diplomats at its Caracas embassy amid a breakdown in relations. SENT: 510 words, photo.
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FEDERAL EXECUTIONS — The federal government prepared to execute an inmate who was condemned for kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old Texas girl, bludgeoning her with a shovel and burying her alive. SENT: 800 words, photo. UPCOMING: Execution scheduled for 6 p.m.
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G-20-A-DISCONNECTED-SUMMIT — This weekend’s summit of leaders from the Group of 20 stands out more for what it is not than for what it is. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
GERMANY-NAZI TRIAL ANNIVERSARY — Germany is marking the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, in what is now seen as the birthplace of a new era of international law. SENT: 590 words, photos.
APEC — China’s President Xi Jinping spurns suggestions that his country might decouple or separate itself from the U.S. and other trading partners amid tension with Washington and Europe over technology and security. SENT: 720 words, photos.
EU-BUDGET-BATTLE — The European Union is being tested as Poland and Hungary block passage of its budget for the next seven years and an ambitious package aimed at rescuing economies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 990 words, photos. With EUROPE-SUMMIT-BUDGET — EU leaders try to solve political fight blocking big budget.
ETHIOPIA-WHO-CHIEF — Ethiopia’s army chief without evidence has accused the head of the World Health Organization, a fellow Ethiopian, of lobbying neighboring countries to provide arms and other support to the country’s Tigray defiant region. SENT: 290 words, photo.
CHINA-FIVE-EYES-HONG-KONG — China rejects the latest attack on its Hong Kong policy by the U.S. and several of its allies, saying they “should face up to the reality” that the former British colony has been returned to China. SENT: 340 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Global stocks were mostly lower after Wall Street slid amid anxiety over the economic fallout from rising coronavirus infections in the United States and Europe. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. SENT: 490 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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HEALTH OVERHAUL-SIGN-UPS — A coalition of states, health care groups and activists is striving to drum up “Obamacare” sign-ups among millions of uninsured Americans as COVID-19 spreads uncontrolled in many communities. SENT: 530 words, photo.
CLIMATE — The U.N.’s climate chief says deadlines set by some of the world’s top polluters to end greenhouse gas emissions, along with Biden’s pledge to take the United States back into the Paris accord, have boosted hopes of meeting the pact’s ambitious goals. SENT: 670 words, photos.
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NBA DRAFT — The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Georgia freshman guard Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 pick in the delayed NBA draft. By Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney. SENT: 900 words, photos.
NFL-COVID-19 — The NFL is placing all teams in intensive protocol beginning Saturday to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 as the number of cases rises around the country. By Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi. SENT: 740 words, photos.
TOKYO-Q&A TOKYO — Tokyo Olympic officials are weighing dozens of scenarios about COVID-19 countermeasures: possible quarantines, vaccines, safe distancing, and making the Athletes Village a safe “bubble environment.” By Sports Writer Stephen Wade. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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