AP News Digest 6 p.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 6 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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NEW & DEVELOPING
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TRUMP-RUSHMORE — Developing from 9:45 p.m. rally.
Adds: RACIAL-INJUSTICE-ELIJAH-MCCLAIN, SHOPPING MALL-SHOOTING-ALABAMA, FOURTH-OF-JULY-FREDERICK-DOUGLASS, FOURTH OF JULY-MILITARY, ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS ANNEXATION.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The U.S. is heading into the Fourth of July weekend with many parades and fireworks displays canceled, beaches and bars closed, and health authorities warning that this will be a crucial test of Americans’ self-control. They say this could determine the trajectory of the surging coronavirus outbreak. With confirmed cases climbing in 40 states, governors have ordered the wearing of masks in public, and families are being urged to celebrate their independence at home. Even then, they are being told to keep their backyard cookouts small. By John Seewer. SENT: 830 words, photos.
TRUMP-RUSHMORE — President Donald Trump is planning a fiery Mount Rushmore speech before Friday night’s Mount Rushmore fireworks. He plans to include denunciations of protesters he says are trying to “tear down” the nation’s history — along with more traditional July Fourth praise of America’s past and values. By Darlene Superville and Stephen Groves. SENT: 920 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from events starting at 9:45 p.m., 900 words by 10:30 p.m., with photos, video. WITH: FOURTH OF JULY-MILITARY — President Trump’s July 4 celebration will feature an extensive U.S. military air show over Washington, but four other cities — Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore — will get mini-versions of the air power display. SENT: 420 words, photo.
IRAN-NUCLEAR — An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make it public due to “security reasons.” By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-SELMA BRIDGE — Residents in the landmark civil rights city of Selma, Alabama, are among the critics of a bid to rename the historic bridge where voting rights marchers were beaten in 1965. Online petitions have circulated for years to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for Congressman John Lewis. Pettus was a white supremacist, and Lewis was beaten on the bridge 55 years ago. But some of the people who marched with Lewis don’t like the idea of renaming the bridge for him, and Lewis once co-authored an article that opposed renaming the bridge. By Jay Reeves. SENT: 1,020 words, photos, video.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-SURGE — The nurse started crying when describing her work at a Johannesburg hospital: The ward for coronavirus patients is full, so new arrivals are sent to the general ward, where they wait days for test results. Already 20 of her colleagues have tested positive. By Andrew Meldrum. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
FBN-REDSKINS NAME — The Washington Redskins begin a “thorough review” of their nickname, a significant step toward moving on from what experts and advocates call a “dictionary-defined racial slur.” Even though owner Dan Snyder had shown no willingness to change the name since buying the team in 1999, the recent national conversation on race has renewed opposition to the name and prompted sponsors to speak up. By Sports Writer Stephen Whyno. SENT: 570 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-JERSEY SHORE — As coronavirus-related restrictions are eased and temperatures climb, people are flocking back to the Jersey Shore. And with the July Fourth holiday weekend upon us, that’s making some people nervous, particularly given the large crowds that have surfaced at some popular shore spots recently and poor compliance with mandated measures to help slow the spread of the virus. By Wayne Parry. SENT: 730 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-JERSEY SHORE-GLANCE.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-PUBS REOPENING — Pub managers will have to be resourceful when they and other parts of the hospitality industry in England open their doors to customers for the first time since March 20, provided they meet COVID-19 safety requirements. SENT: 940 words, photos.
RUSSIA-REBEL MONK — The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked a coronavirus-denying monk who has defied Kremlin lockdown orders and taken control of a monastery. SENT: 610 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government says it is scrapping a 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals from about 60 countries deemed “lower risk” for the coronavirus, including France, Spain, Germany and Italy — but not the United States, the world’s worst-hit country from COVID-19. SENT: 410 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urges officials to maintain alertness against the coronavirus, warning that complacency risked “unimaginable and irretrievable crisis,” state media says. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PARAGUAY — As nearby nations grapple with uncontrolled spread of the novel coronavirus, the poor, landlocked nation of Paraguay appears to be controlling the disease, with just a few thousand confirmed cases and a few dozen deaths. SENT: 460 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DINING DILEMMA — California restaurants are paying a heavy price during the coronavirus pandemic as indoor dining has been shut down for the second time across much of the state. SENT: 850 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DIARY-NO FANS — Birds. Generators. Golf carts. Those were the sounds heard when the silence was broken during the opening round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Thursday. It was an unsettling experience for an Associated Press sports reporter covering a competition for the first time in nearly four months. SENT: 610 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BOLIVIA CIRCUS — AP Photos: Virus puts a stop to the big top in Bolivia. SENT: 340 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
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RACIAL INJUSTICE-ELIJAH MCCLAIN — One of the three white officers who stopped Elijah McClain has been fired over photos showing colleagues reenacting the chokehold used before the Black man died last year, according to documents from prosecutors. SENT: 400 words, photos.
FOURTH-OF-JULY-FREDERICK-DOUGLASS — About 150 preachers, rabbis and imams are promising to invoke Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass on July 4th as they call for the U.S. to tackle racism and poverty. SENT: 430 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-PORTLAND — Protesters in the liberal, predominantly white city of Portland, Oregon, have taken to the streets peacefully every day for more than five weeks to decry police brutality. But violence by smaller groups is dividing the movement and drawing complaints that some white demonstrators are co-opting the moment. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
BRITAIN-STARKEY-RACISM — British historian and TV presenter David Starkey has relinquished his honorary fellowship at Cambridge University college after he drew outrage for his comments about Black people and whether slavery should be considered genocide. SENT: 320 words.
ALGERIA-FRANCE-COLONIALISM — After decades in a French museum, the skulls of 24 Algerians who fought French colonial forces were formally repatriated to Algeria. SENT: 410 words. AP Photos planned.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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NOT REAL NEWS — This week’s Not Real News examines false information on a St. Louis confrontation last weekend, comments purportedly made by Sen. Kamala Harris, and a video about a tag inside a Victoria’s Secret bra. SENT: 1,800 words, photos.
DENMARK-LITTLE MERMAID — The famed statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, one of Copenhagen’s biggest tourist draws, has been vandalized with the text “racist fish.” SENT: 220 words, photos.
BOTSWANA-DEAD ELEPHANTS — Botswana investigates “mysterious deaths” of 275 elephants. SENT: 320 words, photos.
GERMANY-MASKED MERKEL — Germany’s Merkel pictured wearing mask in public. SENT: 260 words, photos.
SOUTH KOREA-GREEN ONION CHEX — Was new Chex flavor worth South Koreans’ 16-year wait? SENT: 520 words, photos.
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ELECTION 2020-ABSENTEE-GOP — President Trump’s campaign and allies have blocked efforts to expand mail-in voting, forcing an awkward confrontation with top GOP election officials who are promoting the opposite in their states. By Thomas Beaumont. SENT: 980 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-CORONAVIRUS ETHICS — Candidates in the November election who already hold office are grappling with a thorny question: where does the coronavirus stop and the campaign begin? In Montana, which has among the nation's lowest virus infection rates, Republicans are accusing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock of blurring the line between his official duties and a bid for a U.S. Senate seat. SENT: 900 words.
Find more coverage of the 2020 U.S. Elections in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PRISONS — The number of prison inmates testing positive for the coronavirus soared well past the 50,000 mark this week, as recent outbreaks threaten to undo control measures put in place earlier in the pandemic. By Andrew Welsh-Huggins. SENT: 760 words, photos.
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GERMANY-COAL — Germany lawmakers have passed new legislation finalizing the country’s long-awaited phase-out of coal, over objections from environmental groups the plan is not ambitious enough. SENT: 640 words, photos.
INDIA-US-VISAS — When Trump signed an executive order suspending applications for H-1B and other high-skilled work visas from abroad, the move kept at least 1,000 Indians whose visas are tied to their jobs in the United States stranded in India. SENT: 820 words, photos.
FRANCE-POLITICS — French President Emmanuel Macron names Jean Castex, who coordinated France’s virus reopening strategy, as the country’s new prime minister. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MYANMAR-MINING ACCIDENT — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi expresses sadness over a landslide at a jade mining site in the country’s north that took at least 166 lives, blaming the tragedy on joblessness. SENT: 540 words, photos.
TURKEY-KHASHOGGI KILLING — The fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi tells a Turkish court that the Washington Post columnist was lured to his death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul through “great betrayal and deception.” SENT: 760 words, photos.
HONG KONG — Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law has left the city for an undisclosed location, he revealed on his Facebook page after testifying to a U.S. congressional hearing about a tough national security law China had imposed on the semi-autonomous territory. SENT: 590 words, photos. With BRITAIN-HONG KONG-ASYLUM — U.K. grants asylum to ex-staffer at its Hong Kong consulate; CANADA-HONG KONG — Canada suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong (both sent).
PAKISTAN-TRAIN ACCIDENT — Pakistani officials say a passenger train has crashed into a bus carrying Sikh pilgrims at an unmanned railway crossing in eastern Punjab province, killing at least 20 people. SENT: 430 words, photos.
TURKEY-FIREWORKS-BLAST — Turkish officials say an explosion has occurred at a fireworks factory in northwestern Turkey, killing four people and injuring 97 others. SENT: 210 words, photo.
TURKEY-TRIAL-HUMAN RIGHTS — A Turkish court has convicted Amnesty International’s former Turkey chairman Taner Kilic of membership in a terror organization and sentenced him to more than six years in prison. SENT: 350 words, photos.
INDIA-CHINA STANDOFF — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes an unannounced visit to a military base in remote Ladakh region bordering China where the soldiers of the two countries have been facing off for nearly two months. SENT: 710 words, photos. With CHINA-INDIA — China sends warning to India amid border clash fallout (sent).
CANADA-TRUDEAU-SECURITY — Canadian police say an armed man who this week crashed his truck through a gate at the property where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives had several weapons. SENT: 200 words.
COLOMBIA-AMERICAN CAPTIVES — Three American defense contractors held for five years by leftist rebels in Colombia move closer to collecting on a $318 million judgment against their former captors after a U.S. Supreme Court justice rebuffs a last-minute appeal by a sanctioned Venezuelan businessman whose assets they seek to claim. SENT: 540 words, photo.
CROATIA-ELECTION — Croatia is holding a parliamentary election this weekend amid a coronavirus outbreak and with no clear winner in sight as none of the main contenders appears set to garner a majority of votes. SENT: 800 words, photos.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS ANNEXATION — A group of former world leaders have urged European leaders to keep pressuring Israel against annexation of parts of the West Bank, warning against complacency after Israel made no move to take over the territory on July 1. SENT: 620 words, photos.
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JEFFREY EPSTEIN-ASSOCIATE — Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of procuring underage sex partners for Jeffrey Epstein, is facing charges despite an unusual deal that Epstein struck with federal prosecutors more than a decade ago that was thought at the time to have protected his associates. Will it offer her any legal cover now? By Tom Hays and Michael R. Sisak. SENT: 840 words, photos.
FOURTH OF JULY-FIREWORKS RISK — With hundreds of fireworks shows canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, sales of consumer fireworks are booming. Some officials are concerned about fires and injuries with more pyrotechnics going off in backyards and at block parties. SENT: 690 words, photos.
LOCATION TRACKING-WARRANTS — A controversial investigative technique is getting its first real legal test in a federal courtroom in Richmond, where a judge is being asked to toss out evidence gathered through a geofence warrant in a Virginia bank robbery. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
GUN CONFRONTATION-MICHIGAN — A white couple face criminal charges after one of them was captured on video pulling a handgun on a Black woman and her daughters in a restaurant parking lot in Michigan. SENT: 660 words, photos.
PUERTO RICO-QUAKE — 4.9-magnitude quake hits near Puerto Rico; house damaged. SENT: 250 words.
SHOPPING MALL-SHOOTING-ALABAMA — Police in Hoover, Alabama, said they are investigating a report of a shooting inside a large shopping mall. SENT: 150 words. UPCOMING: Developing.
CONVENIENCE STORE SHOOTOUT — Police in suburban Phoenix say a man robbing a gas station convenience store fatally shot a bystander before being killed in a shootout with another bystander. SENT: 210 words.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — World stock markets fell slightly in Europe on Friday after gains in Asia, with trading somewhat subdued by a long holiday weekend in the U.S. SENT: 460 words, photos.
JAPAN-CARLOS-GHOSN-US-EXTRADITION — Tokyo prosecutors say that a request for extradition of two Americans arrested in the U.S. for allegedly helping Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan, flee Japan while he was out on bail has been filed. SENT: 450 words, photo. With TURKEY-TRIAL-GHOSN — Turkey: pilots, others, on trial for helping Ghosn escape (sent).
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-PRINCE ROYCE — Singer Prince Royce says he got a wake-up call with a COVID-19 diagnosis and now wants to try and wake others too. The Latin star told The Associated Press on Thursday that he is recovering from the virus. SENT: 780 words, photos, video.
WILLIE NELSON-PICNIC — Willie Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic is going ahead this year, but to reduce concerns about the coronavirus the event will be virtual. SENT: 160 words.
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MLB CORONAVIRUS POSITIVE TESTS — Thirty-one Major League Baseball players and seven staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 during intake for the resumption of training, a rate of 1.2%. SENT: 160 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-ANTHEM IN SPORTS — Kneeling during the national anthem is a hot topic in sports again, with the country set to celebrate a pandemic-clouded Fourth of July. The NBA’s longtime policy requiring players to stand will be put to the test assuming the season resumes late this month. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
BBO—ALL STAR GAME CANCELED — Dodger Stadium’s 40-year wait to host the All-Star Game is going to last even longer. The game scheduled for July 14 has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Dodger Stadium was awarded the 2022 Midsummer Classic. SENT: 810 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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