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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TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an extraordinary end to the defeated president’s tenure in the White House. The timing, though, is not set, and depends heavily on when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decides to transmit the article of impeachment to the Senate. By Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 1,085 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 1,100 words by 5 p.m., photos. WITH: TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-WHO PRESIDES? — The Constitution says the chief justice is to preside at the impeachment trial of a president. But what about an ex-president? Like so much else about the Constitution, the answer is subject to interpretation. SENT: 430 words, photos. WITH: TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS — Meet the nine Democrats Speaker Nancy Pelosi has entrusted to argue the case for President Donald Trump’s impeachment in the Senate. UPCOMING: 900 words by 6 p.m., photos.
TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-SENATORS — For a second time, Republican senators face the choice of whether to convict President Trump in an impeachment trial. GOP leader Mitch McConnell says he’s undecided, one of several key senators to watch. UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos. WITH: CONGRESS-EXPLAINING 2ND IMPEACHMENT — What’s ahead as the Senate prepares for the impeachment trial of an American president who will no longer be in office. SENT: 1,100 words. UPCOMING: 1,050 words by 5 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus action plan aims to bring new urgency to the nation’s vaccination campaign coupled with another round of economic relief for hunkered-down Americans. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Bill Barrow. SENT: 850 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 890 words by 5 p.m., with updates from Biden 7:15 p.m. speech. WITH: BIDEN — Joe Biden already faces the daunting task of steering a massive coronavirus relief bill through an evenly-divided Senate as the pandemic and its economic fallout grows. UPCOMING: 800 words by 6 p.m., photos.
CAPITOL BREACH-RACIST SYMBOLS — Amid the American flags and Trump 2020 posters at the U.S. Capitol during last week’s insurrection were far more sinister symbols: A man walking the halls of Congress carrying a Confederate flag. Banners proclaiming white supremacy and anti-government extremism. A makeshift noose and gallows ominously erected outside. By Christine Fernando and Noreen Nasir. SENT: 1,050 words, photos. WITH: CAPITOL BREACH-THE LATEST, developing.
CAPITOL BREACH-SOCIAL MEDIA EXTREMISM — Online supporters of President Trump are scattering to smaller social media platforms, fleeing what they say is unfair treatment by Facebook, Twitter and other big tech firms looking to squelch misinformation and threats of violence. By David Klepper and Amanda Seitz. SENT: 830 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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AUSTRALIA-PIGEON — A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 8,000-mile Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it. SENT: 580 words, photos.
LOTTERY JACKPOTS — Wednesday night’s Powerball jackpot was worth at least $550 million and grew to an estimated $640 million without a winner. The next drawing is Saturday. SENT: 200 words, photos.
BILKED INVESTORS-MEGACHURCH PASTOR — Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 67, a Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to two U.S. presidents, has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars. SENT: 390 words.
OBIT-TRUMP-DOCTOR BORNSTEIN — Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, the physician who once declared that Donald Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” has died. He was 73. SENT: 440 words.
FRANCE-TINTIN — A Tintin drawing by the Belgian artist Herge has sold in Paris for 2.6 million euros ($3.1 million), breaking the record for the most expensive comic book art in history. SENT: 190 words, photos.
DOLLY PARTON STATUE — Lawmaker wants a Dolly Parton statue at Tennessee Capitol. SENT: 210 words, photos.
VENEZUELA-STREET ARTIST — AP PHOTOS: Venezuelan street artist seeks to inspire. SENT: 315 words.
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA-INVESTIGATORS — A global team of researchers arrived in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries. SENT: 760 words, photos, video. WITH CHINA-WHO-EXPLAINING THE MISSION-EXPLAINER: What is WHO team in Wuhan looking for? SENT: 510 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CREEPING CURFEWS — Trying to fend off the need for a third nationwide lockdown that would further dent Europe’s second-largest economy and endanger more jobs, France is instead opting for creeping curfews. Big chunks of eastern France are under restrictions that prohibit people from being away from home without a valid reason from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The threat of mounting fines for curfew-breakers is increasingly making weekday life in those places all work and no play. SENT: 860 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-CURFEW AND LOCKDOWNS-GLANCE (sent).
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE EMPLOYERS — As vaccinations continue across the U.S., some companies are offering financial incentives to encourage their workers to get the shots. SENT: 215 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-LEBANON — Lebanese authorities have begun enforcing an 11-day nationwide shutdown and round-the-clock curfew, hoping to limit the spread of coronavirus infections amid a dramatic surge after the holiday period. SENT: 490 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY — Germany has too many loopholes in its coronavirus lockdown rules, the head of the country’s disease control agency said as figures published showed the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic. SENT: 375 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-JAPAN — Japan’s expanded state of emergency has gone into effect as the government seeks to stop a surge of the coronavirus, though with the restrictions not binding many people appeared to be ignoring the requests to avoid nonessential travel. SENT: 520 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — China is seeing a new surge in coronavirus cases in its frozen northeast as a World Health Organization team arrived to investigate the origins of the pandemic. China also reported its first new death attributed to COVID-19 in months, raising the toll to 4,635 among 87,844 cases. SENT: 470 words, photos.
ONE GOOD THING-SANTIZER PACKAGES — Corinna Dewar usually bakes cookies for neighbors in her Sacramento, California, suburb, and drops them off at their doors at Christmas. This holiday season, instead, she gave them Santa-decorated care packages of sanitizing products to help them stay safe during the pandemic. SENT: 440 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VIRAL-QUESTIONS-VACCINES-PREGNANCY —What should I know about COVID-19 vaccines if I’m pregnant? Vaccination is likely the best way to prevent COVID-19 in pregnancy, when risks for severe illness and death from the virus are higher than usual. SENT: 280 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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TRUMP-SIX QUESTIONS — A look at the last six days of President Trump’s tenure. Are more pardons afoot? When will he leave? Where will he go? UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos.
SUPREME COURT-BUSINESS AS USUAL — Amid insurrection and impeachment, the Supreme Court’s big news Thursday was a decision in a bankruptcy case. Wednesday brought arguments over the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to recapture ill-gotten gains. At this unusual moment in U.S. history, the court is doing its best to keep its head down, going about its regular business and putting off as many politically charged issues as it can, including whether President Donald Trump’s tax returns must be turned over to prosecutors in New York. UPCOMING: 750 words by 4 p.m., photos.
IMMIGRATION-SEPARATING FAMILIES — Justice Department leaders under President Trump knew their 2018 “zero tolerance” border policy would result in family separations but pressed on with prosecutions even as other agencies became overwhelmed with migrants, a government watchdog report finds. SENT: 760 words, photo.
JILL BIDEN-MILITARY FAMILIES - Days before Joe Biden becomes president, incoming first lady Jill Biden is taking a step toward fulfilling a campaign promise to revive a support program for military families that she once led with former first lady Michelle Obama. SENT: 285 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 400 words by 4 p.m., photos.
BIDEN-DNC HARRISON — Jaime Harrison, the failed South Carolina Senate candidate and longtime Democratic Party official, is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the national party, according to multiple party officials. SENT: 265 words, photo.
UNITED STATES-CHINA — The Trump administration imposes new sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea. The penalties are yet another Trump administration move that may make President-elect Joe Biden’s diplomacy with China more difficult when he takes office next week. SENT: 300 words, photo.
PENTAGON-TEMPORARY SECRETARY Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist has been asked to serve as the acting secretary of defense for President-elect Joe Biden until a permanent Pentagon chief can be confirmed by the Senate. SENT: 285 words, photo.
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UGANDA-ELECTION — Ugandans voted in a presidential election tainted by widespread violence that some fear could escalate if security forces try to stop supporters of leading opposition challenger Bobi Wine from monitoring the process. Internet access remained cut off. SENT: 910 words, photo.
TUNISIA-REVOLUTION-10-YEARS — Tunisia is commemorating the 10th anniversary since the flight into exile of its iron-fisted leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, pushed from power in a popular revolt that foreshadowed the so-called Arab Spring. But there will be no festive celebrations Thursday marking the revolution in this North African nation, ordered into lockdown to contain the coronavirus. SENT: 590 words, photos.
CUBA-ECONOMIC REFORMS — For more than 60 years, Cuba supplied at least some rice, milk, beans, sugar, chicken, electrical power and even cigarettes to its people nearly free of cost regardless of whether they worked, allowing many to survive without a job or depend solely on remittances. But this year, the government is implementing a deep financial reform that reduces subsidies, eliminates a dual currency that was key to the old system and raises salaries. SENT: 750 words, photos.
BREXIT-FISHING — UK fishers cry foul as Brexit red tape leaves catch rotting. SENT: 560 words, photos.
INDONESIA-PLANE CRASH — An aerial search for victims and wreckage from a crashed Indonesian plane has expanded as divers continue combing the debris-littered seabed looking for the cockpit voice recorder from the lost Sriwijaya Air jet. The jet disappeared Saturday minutes after taking off from Jakarta with 62 people aboard. SENT: 545 words, photos.
EGYPT-ASWAN DAM — Egyptians are marking 50 years since the inauguration of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River, a massive feat of construction that has shaped the course of modern-day Egypt. SENT: 735 words, photos.
HONG-KONG-CRACKDOWN — Hong Kong police said they arrested 11 people on suspicion of assisting offenders who are believed to be the 12 Hong Kong activists detained at sea by mainland Chinese authorities while attempting to flee the city last year. SENT: 415 words, photos.
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FLINT WATER — Two former Michigan health officials were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of nine people who got Legionnaires’ disease during the Flint water crisis, as prosecutors revisiting how the city’s water system was contaminated with lead and bacteria also hammered a key adviser to ex-Gov. Rick Snyder with extortion and perjury crimes. SENT: 690 words, photos.
FEDERAL-EXECUTIONS-JOHNSON — A Virginia man who murdered seven people in 1992 in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities is scheduled for execution at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Cory Johnson shot and killed each of the seven victims for perceived slights or rivalry in the drug trade. SENT: 800 words, photos, developing.
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general sued the New York Police Department, calling the rough treatment of protesters against racial injustice last spring part of a longstanding pattern of abuse that stemmed from inadequate training, supervision and discipline. SENT: 625 words, photos.
POLICE SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-KENOSHA — A Black man who was shot in the back by a white police officer in Wisconsin, triggering several nights of violent protests over the summer and leaving him partially paralyzed, said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he was prepared to surrender just before the officer opened fire. SENT: 650 words, photos.
FORCED LABOR LAWSUIT — Eleven students from Brazil and Chile have filed a federal lawsuit accusing a northwest Iowa community college, a recruitment company, a pet food manufacturer and a packaging company of human trafficking and involuntary servitude. SENT: 690 words.
MIT PROFESSOR-CHINA-CHARGED — A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has been charged with hiding work he did for the Chinese government while he was also receiving U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research. SENT: 420 words.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI-HOTTEST YEAR — Scientists say 2020 was either the hottest year on record or a close second or third. Several weather groups calculated that 2020 globally was extremely hot, but just how hot depended on who was measuring and how they were doing it. SENT: 925 words, photos.
GRAY WOLVES — Wildlife advocates asked a federal court to overturn a U.S. government decision that stripped Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across most of the nation. SENT: 255 words, photo.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS — The number of people seeking unemployment aid soared last week to 965,000, the most since late August and a sign that the resurgent virus has likely escalated layoffs. SENT: 775 words, photos.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks were ticking higher, despite a dismal report on the number of layoffs sweeping the country, as investors continue to balance their hopes for a better economy ahead against its current pain. SENT: 800 words, photos.
TOYOTA-EMISSIONS SETTLEMENT — Toyota will pay $180 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it failed to report pollution control system defects in its vehicles for a decade. SENT: 380 words, photo.
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GERMANY-OBIT-SIEGFRIED-FISCHBACHER — Siegfried Fischbacher, the surviving member of the magic duo Siegfried & Roy who entertained millions with illusions using rare animals, has died in Las Vegas, his publicist tells The Associated Press. He was 81. SENT: 710 words, photos.
MUSIC-TYLER HUBBARD — Country stars Tyler Hubbard and Tim McGraw are asking people to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes in a call for unity on their new duet “Undivided.” SENT: 400 words, photos, video.
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FBN--JAGUARS-MEYER — Urban Meyer could soon become the coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the AP is told. The coach who won three NCAA titles would be leaving the broadcast booth and returning to the sidelines after a two-year absence that followed another health scare. SENT: 600 words, photos.
FBN--TERRIFIC TURNAROUNDS - Three teams left in the NFL playoffs are trying to do what the Kansas City Chiefs did last year when they won their first title after decades of trying -- Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Cleveland. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
FBN--ALTERNATE BROADCASTS-WHAT’S NEXT? - Nickelodeon’s kids-oriented NFL playoff broadcast is drawing high praise. Nickelodeon was Twitter’s No. 1 trending topic during the Bears-Saints game. The presentation provided a template for alternate broadcasts. SENT: 700 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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