AP News Digest 2 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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CONGRESS-ELECTORAL COLLEGE — With mounting desperation, President Donald Trump personally pressures GOP lawmakers to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden when Congress convenes for a joint session Wednesday to tally the vote. The effort is splitting the Republican Party as an avalanche of current and former GOP officials try to stop Trump. By Lisa Mascaro. UPCOMING: 900 words by 4 p.m., photos.
TRUMP-ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to overturn the 2020 election results -- laid bare for the world in an hourlong weekend phone call with a Georgia election official -- demonstrate his unrestrained determination to maintain a grip on power no matter the consequences for the nation’s democratic traditions. By Jonathan Lemire and Kate Brumback. UPCOMING: 850 words by 5 p.m.
SENATE-GEORGIA — Vice President Mike Pence warns conservative Christians in Georgia that Tuesday’s high-stakes Senate runoffs may offer “the last line of defense” against a Democratic takeover in Washington, even as President Donald Trump continues to insist he’s not yet defeated. Trump and President-elect Joe Biden also visit the state ahead of elections to decide which party controls the Senate at the outset of Biden’s tenure. By Bill Barrow. SENT: 890 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from Pence, Biden and Trump appearances, 990 words by 7 p.m., with updates from Biden late afternoon rally and Trump 9 p.m. rally, photos, video. With EXPLAINING ELECTION 2020-GEORGIA RUNOFF — With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, all eyes are on a runoff election that has Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler facing Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Some things to keep in mind as the polls close Tuesday night. By Kate Brumback. SENT: 760 words, photos.
Find our complete coverage plan for Tuesday’s Georgia runoff election here.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — The campaign to vanquish the coronavirus is picking up speed, with Britain beginning to dispense the second vaccine in its arsenal Monday. But authorities in France and elsewhere in Europe are coming under fire for slow rollouts and delays. In the U.S., meanwhile, government officials reported that vaccinations have accelerated markedly after a sluggish start. By Danica Kirka and Aniruddha Ghosal. SENT: 950 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent)
BRITAIN-ASSANGE — A British judge rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges over the publication of secret U.S. documents a decade ago, saying he was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.. By Jill Lawless. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
QATAR-GULF CRISIS — Kuwait’s foreign ministry has announced that Saudi Arabia will lift a years-long embargo on Qatar, opening its air and land borders in the first steps toward ending the Gulf crisis. SENT; developing.
PERSIAN GULF TENSIONS — Iran began enriching uranium Monday to levels unseen since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and also seized a South Korean-flagged tanker near the crucial Strait of Hormuz, a double-barreled challenge to the West that further raised Mideast tensions. Both decisions appeared aimed at increasing Tehran’s leverage in the waning days in office for President Donald Trump, whose unilateral withdrawal from the atomic accord in 2018 began a series of escalating incidents. By Jon Gambrell and Isabel Debre. SENT: 670 words, photos.
REL-GLOBAL-MINISTRY-SEX-SCANDAL — A posthumous sexual misconduct scandal involving the man who founded, in his own name, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries has placed the global Christian organization in a wrenching predicament. It faces calls from within its own ranks to change its name, pay reparations to any victims and oust some top leaders, including Zacharias family members. By David Crary. SENT: 1,180 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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SLACK-OUTAGE — Slack kicks off 2021 with a global outage. SENT: 270 words, photo.
VOLCANO-ERUPTION-HAWAII — Lava spatters, flows inside crater of Hawaii volcano. SENT: 240 words, photos.
OBIT-TANYA-ROBERTS — Tanya Roberts, Bond girl and ‘That ’70s Show’ star, dies at 65. SENT: 360 words, photos.
CIA RECRUITMENT — To further diversify its ranks, the CIA launches a new website to find top-tier candidates who will bring a broader range of life experiences to the nation’s premier intelligence agency. SENT: 550 words, photo.
STATUE-STOLEN SWORD RETURNED — A veteran returned a sword he stole from a statue of a Revolutionary War general 40 years ago, telling the head of the Massachusetts town’s historical commission that he regretted taking it. SENT: 310 words.
GREECE-NEW-CABINET — Greece names first openly gay minister. SENT: 120 words, photo.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — Britain on Monday took another giant step in the fight against COVID-19, ramping up its immunization program by giving the first shots in the world from the vaccine created by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. SENT: 560 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE-VACCINES — The European Commission has defended its coronavirus vaccination strategy amid growing criticism from member nations about the slow rollout of COVID-19 shots across the region with 450 million inhabitants. SENT: 590 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VACCINES-BLACK-SURGEON — Dr. David Tom Cooke says his choice to participate in a clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine is like his grandmother’s decision to leave the Jim Crow South to work in California’s naval shipyards during World War II. She was determined to contribute even though the country didn’t recognize her as worthy of full rights. Today, it’s Cooke’s sense of duty and experience as a Black man that led him to test out Pfizer’s vaccine in August and make it his mission to allay concerns about its safety among Black friends, family and community members. SENT: 860 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NIGERIA-VARIANT — Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for COVID-19 will be effective against the country’s variant virus. The genomic studies being done in South Africa come as Britain’s health minister and other experts in the U.K. have said they worry that vaccines may not be effective against the South African variant. SENT: 390 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GREECE — Greece’s powerful Orthodox Church is rebelling against a government order to briefly close places of worship under a weeklong drive to tighten virus restrictions before the planned reopening of schools. SENT: 480 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MIDEAST — Lebanon is gearing up for a new nationwide lockdown, as officials vowed to take stricter measures against the coronavirus following the holiday season, which saw a large increase in infections and caused jitters in the country’s already-battered health sector. SENT: 480 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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BIDEN — As some Democrats call for impeaching President Donald Trump for demanding that Georgia’s top elections official “find” him votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win, Biden himself has stayed largely silent, with a senior adviser offering only a brief written statement decrying Trump’s “assault on American democracy.” It’s in keeping with Biden’s overall strategy to focus on the business of governing even as Trump goes to ever-greater lengths to subvert election results and undermine Biden’s win. By Alexandra Jaffe. UPCOMING, 800 words, photos by 3:30 p.m.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE-PROTESTS — The nation’s capital is bracing for potentially violent protests as supporters of President Donald Trump return to Washington this week in a last-ditch effort to overturn the results of the presidential election. Mayor Muriel Bowser has called in the National Guard to assist. By Ashraf Khalil and Lolita Baldor. SENT: 360 words, photos. UPCOMING: 900 words by 4 p.m.
CONGRESS-HOUSE RULES — House Democrats seek to tighten control of the chamber despite their narrow margin, ramming through a rules package that limits the potential for embarrassing votes and caters to the party’s progressive wing by weakening deficit-neutrality rules for considering legislation. UPCOMING: 700 words by 5 p.m., photo.
TRUMP-NUNES — President Donald Trump is set to present one of the nation’s highest civilian honors to two of his most outspoken congressional allies, California Rep. Devin Nunes and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, as he looks to reward loyalists with just over two weeks left in his term. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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SPAIN-GIBRALTAR — Fears of disruptions following Britain’s departure from the European Union were replaced by coronavirus-related restrictions on border traffic between Spain and Gibraltar on Monday, the first working day at the United Kingdom’s only land border with the European mainland. SENT: 440 words, photos.
NIGER-VIOLENCE — More than 100 civilians were killed in Niger over the weekend by extremists who attacked two villages, as insurgent violence mounts in the West African nation. SENT: 830 words.
MALAYSIA-TEEN DEATH — A Malaysian coroner has ruled the death of a French-Irish teen, whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle resort where she vanished while on holiday, was most likely a misadventure that didn’t involve other people. SENT: 710 words, photos.
MEXICO-PRESIDENTIAL-PRESS-CONFERENCES — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has held marathon press conferences every weekday since taking office on Dec. 1, 2018. That’s over 500 opened-ended news conferences, sometimes lasting as long as three hours. They are a platform for the president to relay information that he says the media ignore or misrepresent. Others say they are propaganda venues used by López Obrador to attack his critics. They are undeniably a break with the past in a country where some presidents could go years without taking an unvetted question from a reporter. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
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RACIAL INJUSTICE-KENTUCKY OFFICERS — Two Kentucky police detectives involved in the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead, including the one who shot her, were scheduled Monday to face a termination hearing. SENT: 320 words, photos.
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FIAT CHRYSLER-PEUGEOT-MERGER — Shareholders of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot voted to merge and create the world’s fourth-largest auto company which, its architects hope, can more readily take on an enormous technological shift in the industry. SENT: 950 words, photos.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — U.S. stocks are falling from their record highs Monday, as trading gets underway in a year where the dominant expectation is for a powerful economic rebound to eventually sweep the world. SENT: 770 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.
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TV-MR. MAYOR — There’s a government office right there in the very title of Ted Danson’s new series, but the new NBC comedy “Mr. Mayor” is anything but political. By Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy. SENT: 710 words, photos.
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FBC-HEISMAN TROPHY PREVIEW — Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy on Tuesday night. He would be just the fourth wide receiver to win the award but as the passing game becomes more prevalent is this the start of a trend? By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING 650 words, photos, by 6 p.m.
TOKYO-200 DAYS — The countdown clock for the postponed Tokyo Olympics has hit 200 days to go. Also, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said he’d consider calling a state of emergency as new coronavirus cases surge to record numbers in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. Japan has never had a lockdown for the coronavirus, attempting to juggle the economy and health risks. It’s nearing deadline time for Tokyo Olympic organizers, the International Olympic Committee, and various Japanese government entities as they try to pull off the Games in the middle of a pandemic. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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