AP News Digest 4:40 a.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 6 years, 2 months AGO
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NEW/DEVELOPING
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FEDERAL EXECUTIONS — The Supreme Court early Thursday cleared the way for a second federal execution in as many days. The vote to allow the execution to go forward was 5-4, with the court’s four liberal members dissenting. By Michael Balsamo and Michael Tarm. SENT: 340 words, photos.
EUROPE-DATA-PRIVACY-FACEBOOK — The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows big tech companies to transfer data to the United States is invalid, and that national regulators need to take tougher action to protect the privacy of users’ data. SENT: 220 words
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ONLY ON AP
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA VACCINE — AIn the global race to make a coronavirus vaccine, a state-owned Chinese company is boasting that its employees, including top executives, received experimental shots even before the government approved testing in people. By Sam McNeil and Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 1,220 words, photos, video.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-GLOBAL — Bars may be off the menu and many schools look set to remain closed for months to come as the new coronavirus causes more illness and death in many countries and the U.S. South and West. India’s record daily increase of nearly 32,7000 cases pushed its total close to 1 million and led authorities to reimpose a three-day lockdown and night curfew in the popular western beach state of Goa, two weeks after it was reopened to tourists. By Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 960 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-PRENANCY — Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus? Probably, but it seems to happen rarely and there’s a good explanation for why that is. Many viruses can cross the placenta and infect a fetus in the womb, and recent reports from Italy and France suggest the coronavirus sometimes can too. Other work led by the National Institutes of Health gives a possible reason why fetuses aren’t infected more often: cells in the placenta rarely make the two tools that the coronavirus typically uses to gain entry. SENT: 340 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-SECOND TERM — President Trump is adamant that he wants another four years in office, but it’s less clear what he would do with them. He’s offered no substantive policy proposal, opting instead for heated rhetoric on race, crime and socialism aimed at his most loyal supporters. By Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 890 words, photos.
MEDICARE-CONTRACT OVERSIGHT — A government watchdog says the head of the Medicaid and Medicare programs failed to properly manage more than $6 million in communications and outreach contracts. A report from an inspector general says Seema Verma gave broad authority over federal employees to a Republican media strategist she had worked with before joining the Trump administration. By Richard Lardner. SENT: 820 words, photos.
IRAN-NUCLEAR-ANALYSIS — A mysterious explosion and fire at Iran’s main nuclear facility may have stopped Tehran from building advanced centrifuges, but it likely has not slowed the Islamic Republic in growing its ever-increasing stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Limiting that stockpile represented one of main tenets of the nuclear deal that world powers reached with Iran five years ago this week. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from that deal two years ago. By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 980 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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URINAL LICKING SENTENCE — A U.S. judge sentenced a former Honolulu police officer to four years in prison for forcing a homeless man to lick a public urinal, telling him to imagine someone doing that to his two young daughters. SENT: 470 words, photos.
GIANT-TELESCOPE — Scientists planning to build one of the world’s largest telescopes on a Hawaii mountain say construction won’t begin until at least next year. SENT: 360 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LATAM ECONOMY — The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean say the region’s per-capita gross domestic product is likely to drop by 9.9% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 110 words.
MEGAN THEE STALLION-SHOOTING — Rapper Megan Thee Stallion says she’s “incredibly grateful to be alive” after being shot multiple times Sunday in Los Angeles. SENT: 400 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — Australia’s coronavirus hot spot Victoria state moves to increase its available hospital beds and reports a record daily high of 317 infections. The government had planned to restore hospitals to normal medical services by the end of July before infections began to rise in recent weeks. SENT: 630 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-INDIA — India’s virus cases surged another 32,695 as of Thursday, taking the nation closer to 1 million and forcing a new lockdown in the popular western beach state of Goa two weeks after it was reopened to tourists. SENT: 390 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHITE HOUSE — Disagreements over the White House’s handling of the coronovirus pandemic are tumbling into public view. The latest tiff started when White House trade adviser Peter Navarro penned an op-ed skewering Dr. Anthony Fauci, who responded that Navarro is “in a world by himself.” By Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller. SENT: 710 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GEORGIA — Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — Coronavirus cases have surged to record levels in the Los Angeles area, putting the nation’s largest county in “an alarming and dangerous phase” that if not reversed could overwhelm intensive care units and usher in more sweeping closures, health officials say. SENT: 870 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CAN'T-SIT-HERE-PHOTO-GALLERY — Stacked chairs a symbol of California reclosing amid virus. SENT: 240 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-POSTAL SERVICE — Mail deliveries in the U.S. could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a “different mindset” to ensure the Postal Service survives the coronavirus pandemic. By Matthew Daly. SENT: 810 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
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ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-STAFF SHAKEUP — President Donald Trump shakes up his campaign amid sinking poll numbers less than four months before the election, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien. Trump and Parscale’s relationship had been strained since a Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally that drew a dismal crowd, infuriating the president. SENT: 670 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-ALABAMA-SENATE — With control of the U.S. Senate on the line, Alabama’s race is shaping up to be a contentious showdown between college football coach backed by President Donald Trump and the body’s most endangered Democrat, who will need to motivate his base and court moderate voters to win political survival. SENT: 840 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page on APNewsroom.
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BOY SLAIN-ILLINOIS — A northern Illinois woman who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the beating death of her 5-year-old son faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in state prison when she returns to court. SENT: 670 words.
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PAKISTAN-PERSECUTED MINORITIES — Analysts and activists say minorities in Pakistan are increasingly vulnerable to Islamic extremists as Prime Minister Imran Khan vacillates between trying to forge a pluralistic nation and his conservative Islamic beliefs. In just the last month, a Christian was gunned down because he rented in a Muslim neighborhood. Another Christian, this one a pastor, his wife and 12-year-old son were beaten by their Muslim neighbors in eastern Punjab and told to leave their village. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
KOREAS-US — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed the possibility of another summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before the U.S. presidential election, saying Trump would only want to engage if there were real prospects of progress. SENT: 480 words, photos.
CHINA-US — China and the U.S. gave differing accounts of a meeting between a senior Chinese official and the U.S. ambassador, as the two countries sparred over Hong Kong. SENT: 480 words, photo.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Shares retreated in Asia on Thursday as investors mulled figures showing China’s economy returned to growth in the last quarter. The Shanghai Composite index led Thursday’s declines, dropping 2.9% to 3,262.41. Benchmarks also fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney. By Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 660 words, photos.
CHINA-ECONOMY — China became the first major economy to grow since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, recording an unexpectedly strong 3.2% expansion in the latest quarter after anti-virus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. SENT: 840 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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OVERDOSE DEATHS — Nearly 71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year. It’s a record peak that predates the pandemic, which many experts believe will drive such deaths even higher. By Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson. SENT: 460 words, photo.
SIBERIAN HEAT-CAUSE — Study concludes that climate change makes freak Siberian heat 600 times likelier. By Science Writer Seth Borenstein. SENT: 550 words, photos.
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PEOPLE-NICK CANNON — Nick Cannon apologized to the Jewish community late Wednesday for his “hurtful and divisive” words, a day after ViacomCBS severed ties with him for the remarks made on a podcast. The Anti-Defamation league and some Jewish leaders had condemned what they called anti-Semitic theories expressed by Cannon and demanded the apology. By Luis Andres Henaosent. SENT: 1,040 words, photo.
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CAR—NASCAR-ALL-STAR RACE — Chase Elliott collected the checkered flag and soaked in the sounds of fans in the grandstands. The spectators at Bristol Motor Speedway surged to the fence, chanted “USA! USA!” and celebrated NASCAR’s most popular driver. By Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With CAR-NASCAR—All-Star Race-Spectators (sent).
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