AP News Digest 7 a.m.
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. 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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LEBANON-AP-PHOTO-SYRIAN-FAMILY — An image captured by an Associated Press photographer showing a dust-covered girl carried against a man’s shoulder, a gash bleeding from her forehead, has come to symbolize the devastation of the Aug. 4 blast at the Beirut port. The explosion took 193 lives and wounded 6,500. Among the dead are at least 43 Syrians, plunging a war-weary community into further misery. The story behind the photo reflects the particular pain of Syrian refugee families in Lebanon, which is now home to about a million Syrians. By Zeina Karam and Hassan Ammar. SENT: 1,360 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,000 words is also available.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-MILESTONE-POLITICS — The Trump administration has prioritized politics over science at key moments over the past six months, refusing to follow expert advice that might have contained the spread of the novel coronavirus. President Donald Trump and his people have routinely dismissed experts’ assessments and have tried to muzzle scientists who dispute the administration’s rosy spin. By Jason Dearen. SENT: 1,870 words, photos. An abridged version of 950 words is also available.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page on APNewsroom.
SUPREME COURT-GINSBURG MEMORIAL — Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects at the Supreme Court to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the women’s rights champion, leader of the court’s liberal bloc and feminist icon who died last week. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 670 words, photos. UPCOMING: Events begin around 9:30 a.m.
SUPREME COURT-PICKING A JUSTICE — Trump is flying by the seat of his pants with his frequent public deliberations on replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, a process that’s moving at warp speed. By Aamer Madhani, Jessica Gresko and Steve Peoples. SENT: 1,170 words, photos. With SUPREME COURT-VACANCY — Senate GOP plans vote on Trump’s court pick before election; SUPREME COURT-CHANGES — Some Democrats, not yet Biden, talk of expanding Supreme Court.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK — Johnson & Johnson is beginning a huge final study to try to prove if a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine can protect against the virus. The study starting Wednesday will be one of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccine studies so far, testing the shot in 60,000 volunteers in the U.S., South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. By Medical Writer Linda A. Johnson. SENT: 570 words, photos.
UN-GENERAL-ASSEMBLY-PANDEMIC SPEAKERS — For some world leaders, the pandemic brings an opportunity. This year’s virtual U.N. gathering means those who generally wouldn’t appear before the world body will have a chance to address the globe. Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old King Salman and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte are all scheduled to speak. By Christine Armario. SENT: 1,030 words, photo.
UN-GENERAL-ASSEMBLY-TELLING-COVID’S-STORY — The subject: coronavirus. The status: urgent. The solutions: as diverse as the nations they lead. With the 75th annual U.N. General Assembly reduced to recorded speeches because of the pandemic, leaders are using this week as an opportunity to depict the pandemic from the vantage points of their nations and themselves — and present their visions of efforts to fight the virus and advocate what they believe must be done. By Peter Prengaman. SENT: 1,110 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-SIERRA LEONE-DOCTOR’S MISSION — Dr. Mamadu Baldeh is one of only four physicians managing the COVID-19 unit at Sierra Leone’s Connaught Hospital, and the only one doing so while still overseeing the infectious diseases unit. SENT: 790 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY-TRACING APP — Germany’s coronavirus tracing app has been used to transmit 1.2 million test results from labs to users during the first 100 days, officials say. SENT: 240 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ISRAEL — Israel reports a new record level of daily cases of coronavirus, shortly before government officials were to meet to discuss tightening a new nationwide lockdown. SENT: 300 words, photos.
UN-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-WORKERS — The U.N. labor agency warns that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a massive drop in income for workers around the world and of rising inequality between rich countries that have injected government cash into their economies and poorer countries that can’t. SENT: 260 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRIA-SKI RESORT — An Austrian consumer protection group says it has filed four civil lawsuits against the country’s government for failing to contain a coronavirus outbreak at an Alpine ski resort during the early phase of the pandemic that has been blamed for thousands of infections around the world. SENT: 260 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — India reports more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases, showing some decline after reaching a record a week earlier. SENT: 270 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
A separate wire advisory has moved detailing our complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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RECORD-COLD — Cold diggers? U.N. finds a record low in Greenland ice in 1991. SENT: 280 words, photo.
EMIRATES-LEBANESE TEEN SINGER — Lebanese teen from Beirut joins global pop band. SENT: 300 words, photos.
BAHRAIN-ISRAEL — First direct commercial flight from Israel lands in Bahrain. SENT: 380 words, photo.
NEPAL-VETERAN SHERPA — Sherpa guide who climbed Everest 10 times cremated in Nepal. SENT: 220 words, photos.
DENMARK-SHIP-COLLISION — Russian frigate and container ship collide in Danish waters. SENT: 190 words.
BRITAIN-US-ISLAMIC STATE — Britain turns over evidence to U.S. in IS “Beatles" case. SENT: 240 words.
BLACK RUNNER ASSAULTED — Recorded attack on Black runner in New York is charged as a hate crime. SENT: 250 words, video.
JOSHUA TREE-ENDANGERED SPECIES — California accepts petition to protect western Joshua tree. SENT: 480 words, photos.
PENCE-PLANE — Vice President Mike Pence’s jet returns to airport after hitting bird on takeoff. SENT: 90 words, photos, video.
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CONGRESS-GOVERNMENT-FUNDING — Democrats and Republicans in a bitterly divided U.S. House vote to take a government shutdown off the table this fall, giving a big, bipartisan vote to a temporary government-wide funding bill. SENT: 940 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-ALWAYS LATE — Joe Biden’s tardiness on the campaign trail is becoming more conspicuous. SENT: 1,060 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-MESSAGING — The fight to fill a suddenly vacant Supreme Court seat has become an afterthought for Biden, but not for Trump. SENT: 830 words, photos.
CANDIDATE-FORUM — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Lauren Witzke defends a controversial meme in a Facebook post by her campaign after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. SENT: 550 words.
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FEDERAL EXECUTIONS — The U.S. government executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him. By Legal Affairs Writer Michael Tarm. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-DEPUTIES-FATAL-SHOOTING — A Black man shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies wasn’t holding a gun when they opened fire, attorneys for his family say, contradicting a claim that he had picked up a dropped weapon during a struggle. SENT: 600 words, photos.
SEATTLE-POLICE-BUDGET — Seattle will reduce the police department’s budget and reallocate some money to community programs after the City Council voted to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s vetoes of adjustments to this year’s budget. SENT: 470 words, photo.
TROOPER UNMASKING-TENNESSEE — A former Tennessee state trooper’s insistence that he never yanked the mask off a protester near the state Capitol has been refuted by surveillance footage and an eyewitness account from a fellow law enforcement officer, state records show. SENT: 960 words, photo.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-ALTON STERLING — A white Louisiana police officer who assisted in the arrest in which Alton Sterling was fatally shot has been dismissed from a wrongful death lawsuit. SENT: 200 words, photo.
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GERMANY-RUSSIA-NAVALNY — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month’s treatment for poisoning, with doctors now believing that a “complete recovery” from the nerve agent is possible. SENT: 590 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus assumes his sixth term of office during an inauguration ceremony that officials did not announce in advance after weeks of mass protests against the authoritarian leader’s reelection, which opposition activists maintain was rigged. SENT: 650 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-STRANDED-WHALES — More pilot whales were found stranded in Australia, raising the estimated total to nearly 500, including 380 that have died, in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the country. SENT: 450 words, photos.
BREXIT — The British government says there could be lines of 7,000 trucks at the English Channel and two-day waits to get into France immediately after the U.K. makes its economic break from the European Union at the end of the year. SENT: 570 words, photos.
CHINA-US-FORCED-LABOR — China lashes out at the passage of a bill by the U.S. House of Representatives that threatens sanctions over the alleged use of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, calling the accusation a lie. SENT: 300 words, photo.
PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE-CHINA — The Philippine president got rare praises from his key critics for invoking before the United Nations a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea, in a surprise move that will likely pique Beijing. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MALAYSIA-POLITICS — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says he has secured a majority in Parliament to form a new government, but parties in the ruling coalition called it a “cheap publicity” stunt. SENT: 660 words, photos.
KOREAS-MISSING-OFFICIAL — A South Korean official who disappeared off a government ship near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea this week may be in North Korea, South Korea’s Defense Ministry says. SENT: 270 words, photo.
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UNCLE-BEN’S-NAME-CHANGE — The Uncle Ben’s rice brand is getting a new name: Ben’s Original. By Business Writer Alexandra Olson. SENT: 530 words, photos.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — World stocks were mostly higher as European shares advanced despite fresh data showing the regional economic recovery may be faltering. By Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 680 words, photos.
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MILAN FASHION WEEK-WATCH — The Italian fashion industry is moving to inject optimism into luxury’s dismal year, staging 23 live runway shows and 37 presentations during a hybrid live-digital Milan Fashion Week that aims to excite consumers and connect with the buying network. SENT: 370 words, photo.
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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, Courtney Dittmar (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Phil Holm (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.