AP News Digest 6:15 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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NEW/DEVELOPING
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Adds TRUMP-FLYNN PARDON, FEDERAL-RESERVE-MINUTES, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THINGS-TO-KNOW, VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE-Q&A, SOC-MARADONA-ARGENTINA-WEEPS, SOC-OBIT-MARADONA-WORLD-REACTS, REL-VATICAN-POPE-MARADONA, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GERMANY, VIRUS OUTBREAK-VENEZUELA HOSPITAL, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA-HOMELESS, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE-GOOD-THING-CHANGE-DONATIONS, ELECTION-2020-NEVADA-MAIL-LOOKBACK, UN-ISRAEL-GAZA-BLOCKADE, BRITAIN-JOHNNY-DEPP, BRAZIL-BUS ACCIDENT, BERTELSMANN-SIMON-&-SCHUSTER
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-THANKSGIVING TRAVEL — Millions of Americans took to the skies and the highways ahead of Thanksgiving at the risk of pouring gasoline on the coronavirus fire, disregarding increasingly dire warnings that they stay home and limit their holiday gatherings to members of their own household. By Lisa Marie Pane. SENT: 870 words photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THINGS-TO-KNOW, VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (both sent)
BIDEN — On a day of grace and grievance, President-elect Joe Biden summoned Americans to overcome their divisions and join in common purpose while the man he will replace stoked the fading embers of his campaign to overturn the election. By Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 900 words, photos. With BIDEN-THE LATEST (sent)
TRUMP-FLYNN PARDON — President Donald Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
SCI-VIRUS OUTBREAK-SURFACES — To avoid any traces of the coronavirus that might be lurking on surfaces, Americans have been wiping down groceries, wearing surgical gloves in public and leaving mail packages out for an extra day or two. But experts say the national fixation on scrubbing can sometimes be overkill. By Candice Choi. SENT: 930 words, photos.
ECONOMY — Gripped by the accelerating viral outbreak, the U.S. economy is under pressure from persistent layoffs, diminished income and nervous consumers, whose spending is needed to drive a recovery from the pandemic. A flurry of data suggested that the spread of the virus is intensifying the threats to an economy still struggling to recover from the deep recession that struck in early spring. By Martin Crutsinger and Paul Wiseman. SENT: 1,150 words, photos. With FEDERAL-RESERVE-MINUTES — As economy struggles, Fed weighs boosting bond purchases. SENT: 520 words, photo.
SOC-OBIT-MARADONA — Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer great who scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and led his country to that year’s World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity, has died. He was 60. Maradona’s spokesman, Sebastián Sanchi, said he died of a heart attack two weeks after being released from a hospital in Buenos Aires following brain surgery.. By Debora Ray. SENT: 1,500 words, photos. With SOC-MARADONA-AP-WAS-THERE — The quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup encapsulated the best and worst of Diego Maradona. SENT: 850 words, photos; SOC-MARADONA-NAPOLI MOURNS — If there’s one place outside Argentina that will likely match the outpouring of mourning for Diego Maradona it’s in Naples. SENT: 440 words, photos. SOC-MARADONA-ARGENTINA-WEEPS, SOC-OBIT-MARADONA-WORLD-REACTS, REL-VATICAN-POPE-MARADONA (all sent)
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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BRITAIN-DUCHESS-OF-SUSSEX — The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. SENT: 510 words, photos.
BRITAIN-JOHNNY-DEPP — UK judge refuses Johnny Depp permission to appeal libel ruling, SENT: 230 words.
BRAZIL-BUS ACCIDENT — Bus-truck collision on Sao Paulo highway leaves 40 dead. SENT: 150 words, photos.
ODD-HOLIDAY HOOT — Rocky the stowaway owl is back in the wild. The tiny Saw-whet owl was named Rockefeller after it was found by a worker setting up the holiday tree at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. SENT: 200 words, photos.
HOUSE FIRE-NURSE DIES — The Louisiana state fire marshal says a 64-year-old home nurse has died saving her 71-year-old paraplegic patient from a fire. SENT: 160 words.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE-Q&A — AstraZeneca and Oxford University have acknowledged a manufacturing error that is raising questions about preliminary results of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine. SENT: 720 words.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GERMANY — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors on Wednesday agreed to extend a partial shutdown well into December in an effort to further reduce the rate of COVID-19 infections ahead of the Christmas period. SENT: 480 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VENEZUELA HOSPITAL — The humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders is pulling out of a hospital in a Venezuelan slum that had been one of the nation’s best-equipped to treat COVID-19 patients, saying government restrictions made work impossible. SENT: 590 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA-HOMELESS — Some California counties are pushing ahead with plans to wind down a program that’s moved homeless people into hotel rooms amid the coronavirus pandemic despite an emergency cash infusion from the state aimed at preventing people from returning to the streets in colder weather as the virus surges. SENT: 960 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EUROPE-VACCINES — Vaccinations against the coronavirus could start in the 27 European Union nations by Christmas and member countries must urgently prepare their logistical chains to cope with the rollout of hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines, according to a top EU official. SENT: 550 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government faced fury after ditching its long-standing target for overseas aid in the wake of what it described as the deepest recession in over three centuries. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TOURIST FREE HAWAII — For months, Hawaii locals had Waikiki’s famous beaches and other tourist hot spots to themselves as a mandatory two-week quarantine on travelers curbed tourism during the coronavirus pandemic. Residents could drive along Oahu’s famed North Shore without spending hours in traffic from tourists gawking at sea turtles or take walks along Waikiki’s main drag without having to sidestep throngs of awestruck tourists. But now officials are allowing visitors to produce a negative COVID-19 test to avoid the quarantine. SENT: 950 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE-GOOD-THING-CHANGE-DONATIONS — While Salt Lake Tribune sports writer Andy Larsen was sorting his spare change, it struck him: Other people in Utah could use the money more than he could. He composed a tweet to his 27,000 followers, hoping to quickly find someone who could use the $165.84. Within a minute, someone offered to nearly double his donation with a deposit into his Venmo account. Then someone else pitched in, and another. Soon he had collected more than $52,000. SENT: 500 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-MIGRANT NURSE — A migrant’s odyssey from boat to COVID-19 nursing job in Spain. SENT: 810 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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ELECTION-2020-NEVADA-MAIL-LOOKBACK — Nevada’s decision to send all active voters mail-in ballots ahead of the November election put the swing state at the center of the nationwide debate over voting procedures. Though the decision has been a flashpoint in 2020, its effects ended up being different from the expectations of proponents and detractors when the policy was under consideration in late July and early August. Both parties say they’re prepared to address election procedures when the Legislature reconvenes in 2021, with Democrats pushing to make the policy permanent and Republicans arguing it undermined faith in the election process. SENT: 970 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS-VACCINE — Congress is bracing for President-elect Joe Biden to move beyond the Trump administration’s state-by-state approach to the COVID-19 crisis and build out a national strategy to fight the pandemic and distribute the eventual vaccine. The incoming administration’s approach reflects Democrats’ belief that a more comprehensive plan, some of it outlined in the House’s $2 trillion coronavirus aid bill, is needed to get the pandemic under control. Republicans have resisted big spending but agree additional funding is needed. By Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 960 words, photos.
SENATE-LAMAR ALEXANDER — Sen. Lamar Alexander says the “internet democracy” in which an angry president can quickly tweet to tens of millions of people has driven division in the U.S. But he says it’s something Americans need to figure out if they are going to solve big problems. A dealmaker from another era, Alexander says his final years have involved a lot of decision-making about how to react to President Trump’s incendiary tweets without losing a partner in the White House. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the retiring Tennessee Republican said many Democrats wish he spent more time criticizing Trump’s behavior. SENT: 890 words, photos.
SENATE-GEORGIA-PERDUE-STOCKS — Republican Sen. David Perdue of Georgia carried out a series of well-timed stock transactions at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Perdue sold up to $5 million worth of stock in the Atlanta-based tech company Cardlytics in January, then bought much of it back in March after it had plunged in value. It’s roughly quadrupled in value since. Perdue sat on the company’s board but stepped down in 2014 after his election. SENT: 1,240 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-HOUSE 2-IOWA — The historically close race for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat could be approaching a tie. Democrat Rita Hart has cut Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ lead to 35 votes out of more than 394,400 cast, with all but three of the district’s 24 counties reporting the results of their recounts. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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OPIOID CRISIS EMERGENCY FUND — A $200 million account set aside as part of Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy case is going unused because attorneys involved in lawsuits against the OxyContin maker can’t agree how to spend it. Advocates for addiction treatment want it spent to help those struggling with opioid addiction. One attorney says leaving the money sitting in a bank account is a “travesty of epic proportions.” The spending is being held up because of disagreements among state attorneys general and others who are suing the company. SENT: 940 words, photos.
PEBBLE MINE — The Trump administration has effectively killed a contentious proposed mine in Alaska, a gold and copper prospect envisioned to be nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon and could fill an NFL stadium nearly 3,900 times with waste — all near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. SENT: 900 words, photo.
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UN-ISRAEL-GAZA-BLOCKADE — Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has cost the seaside territory as much as $16.7 billion in economic losses and sent poverty and unemployment skyrocketing, a U.N. report said Wednesday, as it called on Israel to lift the closure. SENT: 800 words, photos.
ETHIOPIA-MILITARY-CONFRONTATION — Ethiopia’s prime minister is rejecting growing international consensus for dialogue and a halt to deadly fighting in the Tigray region as “unwelcome,” saying his country will handle the conflict on its own as a 72-hour surrender ultimatum runs out. SENT: 770 words, photos.
PAKISTAN-TRANSGENDER CHURCH — Pakistan’s Christian transgender people, often mocked, abused and bullied, say they have found peace and solace in a church of their own. Shunned by other churches, they can raise their voices high here. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
THAILAND-PROTESTS — Pro-democracy demonstrators in Thailand again took to the streets of the capital, even as the government escalated its legal battle against them, reviving the use of a harsh law against defaming the monarchy. SENT: 930 words, photos.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN — In a global push to end violence against women, activists have held rallies and world leaders called for action to stop the abuse, which worsened during the coronavirus pandemic this year. Protests from France to Ukraine were held Wednesday on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to draw attention to domestic violence in what is an uphill struggle to protect millions of women killed or abused every year by their partners and close relatives. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks gave back some of their recent gains Wednesday as a batch of discouraging economic data prompted investors to take a pause a day after the market’s record-setting climb. SENT: 680 words, photos.
BERTELSMANN-SIMON-&-SCHUSTER — German media giant Bertelsmann said Wednesday that its Penguin Random House division is buying rival Simon & Schuster in a megadeal that would reshape the U.S. publishing industry. SENT: 600 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVESTREAM SHOPPING — Merchants have turned themselves into amateur home shopping network hosts, broadcasting live to thousands of people on Amazon, Facebook or their store’s apps. With their shops closed during the pandemic, business owners took to livestreaming to sell anything from animal print sweaters to heated eyelash curlers. And people stuck at home and bored made for a captive audience. SENT: 820 words, photos.
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MACY’S THANKSGIVING PARADE — At last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the big fear was high wind. This year it’s a deadly pandemic. But the show will go on thanks to an overhaul and creative thinking. By Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy. SENT: 900 words, photos.
FILM-CHANGING HOLLYWOOD — Until recently, Hollywood’s big-budget spectacles have largely tried to wait out COVID-19. Eight months into the pandemic, that’s changing. WarnerMedia last week announced that “Wonder Woman 1984” -- a movie that might have made $1 billion at the box office in a normal summer -- will land in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously next month. Much remains uncertain about how the movie business will survive the pandemic. But it’s increasingly clear that Hollywood won’t be the same. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 1,370 words, photos. An abridged version of 890 words is also available.
TV-KALEY CUOCO-THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT — After 12 seasons on CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory,” Kaley Cuoco stumbled on her latest role while online. She came across Chris Bohjalian’s best-selling novel “The Flight Attendant’ and the cover and its one sentence summary made her want to adapt it for television. She instructed her team to option it and pretended she had read the book to save time. Fast forward to now and the eight-episode series “The Flight Attendant” debuts on HBO Max on Thursday. SENT: 420 words, photos.
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FBN-VIRUS OUTBREAK-NFL — The Thanksgiving night game between the Ravens and Steelers has been switched to Sunday because of coronavirus issues with Baltimore. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.
FBC-VIRUS OUTBREAK-COLLEGE SPORTS — Alabama football coach Nick Saban has tested positive for COVID-19 just days before the Iron Bowl. Team physician Dr. Jimmy Robinson and head trainer Jeff Allen said in a joint statement that the positive test came Wednesday morning. The top-ranked Crimson Tide host No. 22 Auburn on Saturday. The statement says Saban has “very mild symptoms, so this test will not be categorized as a potential false positive.” SENT: 770 words, photos
BKO-COLLEGE BASKETBALL BEGINS — College basketball is set to begin after a string of delays and cancelations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The strangeness is sure to continue on the court as teams play in empty arenas across the country. By Basketball Writer John Marshall. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 6 p.m.
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HOW TO REACH US
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