AP News Digest 7 a.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 5 years, 3 months AGO
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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BRAZIL-RAINFOREST — In May, facing urgent international demands for action after a string of massive wildfires in the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro put the army in charge of protecting the rainforest. Instead, the AP has found, the operation has had the opposite effect. Under military command, Brazil’s once-effective but recently declining investigation and prosecution of rainforest destruction by ranchers, farmers and miners has come to a virtual halt, even as this year’s burning season picks up. By Mauricio Savarese. SENT: 1,820 words, photos. An abridged version of 980 words is available.
SMALL BUSINESS STRUGGLES-ANN ARBOR — Small business owners in college towns across the U.S. are hoping for the best when students return — and bracing for the worst. That includes the owners of the bars, restaurants and other retailers near the University of Michigan, which have been hit hard financially since the COVID-19 pandemic sent tens of thousands of their customers back home in mid-March. By Larry Lage. SENT: 1,350 words, photos, video, graphic.
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ELECTION 2020-RNC — President Donald Trump blasts Joe Biden as a hapless career politician who will endanger Americans’ safety as he accepts his party’s renomination, defying his own administration’s pandemic guidelines to speak for more than an hour to a tightly packed, largely maskless crowd. By Jonathan Lemire, Michelle L. Price and Kevin Freking. SENT: 1,180 words, photos, videos. With ELECTION 2020-RNC-FACT CHECK; ELECTION 2020-RNC-TAKEAWAYS.
ELECTION 2020-RNC-ANALYSIS — As he laid out his case for reelection, Trump deployed a powerful political tactic: fear. He painted a grim portrait of violence in American cities run by Democrats and populated by voters who largely oppose him, and held himself up as the last best hope for keeping lawlessness from reaching suburban communities. By Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace. SENT: 870 words, photos, video.
Find more coverage of the conventions and Election 2020 on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
POLICE-SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-BLACK-OUTRAGE — Until the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the bedroom community of Kenosha had been largely untouched by the level of demonstrations that were seen in nearby Milwaukee and Chicago after the death of George Floyd. Like other places in America, Kenosha’s Black residents saw inequality in the way police treated them. But there had been nothing like the shooting that left Blake, who is Black, paralyzed. By Corey Williams and Russell Contreras. SENT: 860 words, photos. With POLICE-SHOOTING-WISCONSIN — Teen charged in Kenosha shootings that killed two, wounded one.
TROPICAL-WEATHER — Remnants of Hurricane Laura unleashed heavy rain and twisters hundreds of miles inland from a path of death and mangled buildings along the Gulf Coast, and forecasters warned an eastern turn would again make the storm a looming threat, this time to the densely populated Eastern Seaboard. By Melinda Deslatte, Stacey Plaisance and Gerald Herbert. SENT: 1,020 words, photos, videos. With TROPICAL-WEATHER-THE-LATEST.
Find more coverage of Hurricane Laura in AP Newsroom.
JAPAN-ABE — Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, says he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was “gut wrenching” to leave so many of his goals unfinished. By Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 830 words, photos. With JAPAN-ABE-TIMELINE.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GAZA-LOCKDOWN — A virus lockdown has compounded the suffering of residents of the Gaza Strip, many already struggling to get by amid a crippling blockade. A standoff between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers forced the only power plant to shut down earlier this month, leaving Gazans with just four hours of electricity a day. Many who relied on day labor are confined to their homes. The lockdown was imposed after authorities detected the first cases of local transmission, raising fears of a wider outbreak in the impoverished territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians. By Fares Akram. SENT: 860 words, photos. With ISRAEL-GAZA — Israel strikes Gaza after Palestinian militants fire rockets.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SOUTH-AFRICA-CIGARETTE-SMUGGLING — Cigarette smuggling boomed in South Africa during its nearly five-month ban on legal sales as part of anti-COVID-19 measures, and even though legal sales are once again permitted, many in the tobacco industry think the illegal trade will continue. SENT: 640 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-FRANCE — French President Emmanuel Macron urges European neighbors to better coordinate cross-border virus restrictions as infections are on the rebound – and as multiple countries imposed tests or quarantines on visitors from France. SENT: 350 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government is encouraging workers to return to their offices amid concern that the number of people working from home during the coronavirus pandemic is hurting coffee bars, restaurants and other businesses in city centers. SENT: 250 words.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ASIA — South Korea is tightening social distancing restrictions in the greater capital area, requiring restaurants to provide only deliveries and takeouts after 9 p.m. and shutting down gyms and after-school academies. SENT: 870 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — California is poised to take another halting step toward normalcy with the governor expected to announce plans for reopening businesses that were shuttered in July amid soaring coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. SENT: 760 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage of the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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RACIAL-INJUSTICE-MARCH-ON-WASHINGTON — Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates will highlight the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. SENT: 790 words, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-MINNEAPOLIS-UNREST — After a Black man fatally shot himself on a pedestrian plaza in downtown Minneapolis, rumors of another police shooting in the city still reeling from the death of George Floyd began spreading quickly on social media, sending concerned residents and activists to the area — many of them anxious and some of them misinformed. SENT: 940 words, photos. With PORTLAND-PROTESTS — Dozens face federal charges from Portland protests; RACIAL-INJUSTICE-CALIFORNIA-PROTESTS — Protesters hit California streets over Wisconsin shooting.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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RAND-PAUL-PROTESTER-CONFRONTATION — Protesters confront Rand Paul about Breonna Taylor after Republican convention. SENT: 290 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-RNC-PROTEST — Protesters gather in attempt to drown out Trump’s speech. SENT: 660 words, photos, video.
NORWAY-POLAR BEAR ATTACK — Man killed by polar bear on Norway’s Arctic Svalbard islands. SENT: 360 words, photos.
EMIRATES-ISRAEL — Israel lists first commercial passenger flight to UAE. SENT: 400 words, photo.
JORDAN-CARTOONIST-ARRESTED — Rights groups call for release of Jordanian cartoonist. SENT: 430 words.
UGANDA-DEADLY-LIGHTNING — Police say lightning kills 10 children in remote Uganda town. SENT: 90 words.
DUI-LAWNMOWER — Lawnmower incident results in Delaware man’s fifth DUI bust. SENT: 120 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TEACHER-RAP VIDEO — “WHATS POPPIN” remakes by two Georgia teachers go viral. SENT: 450 words, photos.
CANCER DRUG FRAUD — Alabama man indicted in sale of “homemade," untested cancer drugs. SENT: 230 words.
ARGENTINA-MESSI’S-HOMETOWN — After Barcelona, Messi’s Argentine hometown dreams of return. SENT: 450 words, photos.
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ELECTION-2020-BIDEN-DEBATES — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he won’t skip debates with Trump this fall, vowing he’ll use the opportunity to confront his rival and be a “fact checker on the floor.” SENT: 550 words, photo.
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CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES-FAILED-ALERTS — Some residents who barely escaped a fast-moving wildfire in Northern California wine country say they didn’t get warnings or the alerts went out too late. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — Weather slows California wildfires; thousands allowed home.
FEDERAL-EXECUTIONS — The scheduled federal execution of a 10-year-old Kansas girl’s killer is back on track after an appellate panel tossed a lower court’s ruling that would have required the government to get a drug prescription before it could use pentobarbital to kill the inmate. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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AP EXPLAINS-GREECE-TURKEY — Greek and Turkish warships are testing each other’s naval prowess while political leaders in Athens and Ankara probe each other’s resolve over a search for hydrocarbon reserves in east Mediterranean waters that each nation claims. SENT: 810 words, photos. With TURKEY-GREECE Greece starts more training exercises amid Turkey tension.
EUROPE-BELARUS — The European Union agrees to impose sanctions on up to 20 senior Belarus officials suspected of election fraud and the crackdown on protesters and is likely to put President Alexander Lukashenko on its list at some point, the bloc’s foreign ministers say. SENT: 680 words, photos.
MONTENEGRO-ELECTION — Montenegro is holding a parliamentary election this weekend with the pro-Western government facing pressure over the new coronavirus outbreak and ongoing tensions in relations with Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church because of a religious property law. SENT: 660 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-NEW-ZEALAND-MOSQUE-SHOOTING — Australia’s prime minister says he was open to allowing an Australian white supremacist who slaughtered 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques to serve his life sentence in his homeland but the victims’ wishes would be paramount. SENT: 520 words, photo.
VENEZUELA-HUMAN-RIGHTS-ABUSES — Venezuelan security forces and authorities under President Nicolás Maduro have used the coronavirus as an excuse to crack down on dissenting voices on social media and even in private messages, Human Rights Watch reported. SENT: 620 words, photo.
UNITED NATIONS-LEBANON-PEACEKEEPERS — The U.N. Security Council is voting on a resolution that would extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for a year but reduce its troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000 in response to U.S. pressure. SENT: 720 words, photo.
NKOREA-TYPHOON — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a western coastal area hit by a typhoon and expressed relief the damage wasn’t worse, state media says. SENT: 320 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — World markets were mostly higher after the Federal Reserve chair said the U.S. central bank will keep its easy money policy even if inflation hits its 2% target. By Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 520 words, photos.
JAPAN-FLYING-CAR — The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming less illusory. By Business Writer Yuri Kageyama. SENT: 520 words, photos.
AMAZON-FITNESS-TRACKER — Amazon is going into the fitness-tracking business. By Retail Writer Joseph Pisani. SENT: 310 words, photo.
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ELECTION-2020-RNC-MEDIA — To listen to television pundits wrapping up the Republican convention and evaluating Trump’s acceptance speech, the nation heads into the fall campaign as divided as it ever was. By Media Writer David Bauder. SENT: 590 words, photos.
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ON BASKETBALL-NBA RESTART — The restart is about to restart as basketball will be played again inside the NBA’s bubble at Disney, albeit of the practice variety. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 910 words, photos.
OBIT-LUTE-OLSON — Lute Olson, the Hall of Fame coach who turned Arizona into a college basketball powerhouse, has died. He was 85. By Basketball Writer John Marshall. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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