AP News Digest 7 a.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 5 years, 9 months AGO
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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ONLY ON AP
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JUUL-STATE LOBBYING — The nation’s largest electronic-cigarette company, Juul Labs, donated tens of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of state attorneys general to help head off legal challenges over how Juul promoted and sold its vaping products. But that approach may be backfiring. By Matthew Perrone and Richard Lardner. SENT: 2,530 words, photos. An abridged version is also available.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-US — Federal and state officials in California were preparing Monday to receive thousands of people from a cruise ship that has been idling off the cost of San Francisco with at least 21 people aboard infected with the novel coronavirus. Fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland, as authorities readied flights and buses to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers aboard the Grand Princess to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine. By Olga R. Rodriguez and Christopher Weber. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — The world’s largest economies delivered more worrisome cues Monday as anxiety over the virus outbreak sent stock and oil prices plunging and closed sites from the Sistine Chapel to Saudi Arabian schools. By Matt Sedensky. SENT: 500 words, photos. Developing. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent).
FINANCIAL MARKETS - Global stock markets and oil prices plunged Monday after a squabble among crude producers jolted investors who already were on edge about the surging costs of a virus outbreak. By Joe McDonald. SENT: 770 words, photos. WITH OIL PRICES — Oil prices are plunging amid concern a dispute among producers could lead a global economy weakened by COVID-19 to be awash in an oversupply of crude. (SENT.)
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA-PROPAGANDA — As the rest of the world grapples with a burgeoning virus outbreak, China's ruling Communist Party has turned to its propaganda playbook. It portrays President Xi Jinping as firmly in charge, leading an army of health workers in a “people’s war” against the disease. SENT: 1,020 words, photos. This is the Tuesday spotlight.
Find more all-format coverage on the coronavirus outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
ELECTION 2020-MICHIGAN — The largest of six states voting Tuesday, Michigan could redefine a Democratic primary that has become a showdown between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But many voters are already looking ahead to November and whether Trump can again win in the state. By Will Weissert and Kat Stafford. SENT: 1,280 words. WITH ELECTION 2020- WATCH (sent.)
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
NETHERLANDS-UKRAINE-PLANE — The trial is opening in a Dutch court of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with multiple counts of murder for their alleged involvement in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Monday's hearing has been a long time coming for family and friends of the 298 people killed on July 17, 2014, when a Buk missile blew MH17 out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. SENT: 680 words, photos.
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MORE ON VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA BACK TO WORK — Monday marks the return to offices for many of Beijing's white collar workers. Those allowed back were cautiously venturing into their cubicles after authorities shut down much of the country in late January to curb the virus outbreak that has infected more than 110,000 people worldwide. By Yanan Wang. SENT: 710 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MIDEAST — Saudi Arabia closed off air and sea travel to nine countries affected by the new coronavirus Monday as Mideast stock markets tumbled over fears about the widening outbreak's effect on the global economy. By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 770 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FLORIDA THEME PARKS — Florida tourism officials say cases of the new coronavirus are having little visible impact on the state's biggest industry so far. George Ague leads a tourism promotion agency for Orlando and says there have only been a handful of inquiries about the virus by people planning trips to central Florida. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH KOREA — A special North Korean flight carrying presumably dozens of diplomats and other foreigners arrived in Russia's Far East on Monday, as the North tightens a lockdown intended to fend off the coronavirus. SENT: 560 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CPAC — Two members of Congress, Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Gosar, say they are isolating themselves after determining they had contact at a political conference in suburban Washington with a man who has tested positive for coronavirus. By Douglass K. Daniel and Alan Fram. SENT: 440 words, photos. WITH US-
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-NATION'S CAPITAL -- The nation's capital and its surrounding area was dragged into the coronavirus outbreak over the weekend as a prominent Episcopal church in Washington, D.C., suspended all activities when one of its senior leaders was identified as the first person in the city to test positive for the virus. SENT: 700 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP-FACT CHECK — President Trump makes a misleading boast about his job performance on the coronavirus, claiming that recent polls point to high public approval even after delays by the federal government in distributing test kits to diagnose and stem the illness. SENT: 540 words, photos.
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WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
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PAKISTAN-BUS ACCIDENT — A passenger bus in Pakistan has tumbled off a winding mountainous road and into a ravine, killing at least 19 people and injuring several others. SENT: 170 words.
RAP CONCERT-GUNFIRE — Authorities say a shooting in an Alabama arena left one person with a life-threatening wound and ended a concert by Atlanta-based rapper Lil Baby. SENT: 130 words.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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ELECTION 2020-WATCH — The Democrats’ 2020 primary has suddenly become a two-man race in which Joe Biden has a distinct advantage over Bernie Sanders. It’s difficult to exaggerate the speed with which things have changed. Last weekend there were five major candidates still in the primary fight, and Sanders was threatening to build an insurmountable delegate lead. But in the span of 72 hours, two leading moderates dropped out and the party’s establishment wing sprinted into Biden’s camp. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK — As the stock market convulses, airline schedules buckle and businesses worry their overseas supply lines will snap, President Donald Trump is looking on the sunny side of an economy clouded by the coronavirus. By Calvin Woodward and Hope Yen. SENT: 1,850 words, photos
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INTERNATIONAL
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SUDAN-ATTACK — Sudan's state media says the prime minister survived an assassination attempt Monday after an explosion went off near his convoy in the capital of Khartoum. Abdalla Hamdok's family confirmed he was safe following the explosion. SENT: 390 words, photos.
SUDAN-YOUTH — Sudan's young protesters who led the uprising against former President Omar al-Bashir are now caught in the limbo of the country's fragile interim period. They say they've lost trust in the generals leading the country after a brutal crackdown on a protest sit-in last summer by security forces that killed dozens. Now many face the question of how to move forward. SENT: 1,320 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN-POLITICS — Afghanistan's incumbent president and his main political challenger are both claiming they won last year's election. Now they're pushing ahead with dueling inauguration ceremonies at the exact same time on Monday. SENT: 730 words, photos.
NKOREA-LAUNCH — South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired three unidentified projectiles off its eastern coast. The launches were detected two days after the North threatened to take “momentous” action to protest outside condemnation over its earlier live-fire exercises. SENT: 740 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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SEVERE WEATHER-TENNESSEE CHURCH — The congregation of a Nashville church hit hard by a deadly tornado has come together to pray and worship in the rubble of its buildings. SENT: 610 words, photos.
VIRGINIA-NEW SOUTH — Democratic legislators in Virginia have dramatically reshaped the state in two months, sweeping aside many of the state’s old business-friendly and socially conservative laws and replacing them with a broad, progressive policy agenda. Lawmakers wrapped up this year's legislative session Sunday after advancing the South's strictest gun laws, broadest LGBTQ protections and some of its loosest abortion restrictions. SENT: 850 words, photos.
ENTERTAINMENT
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FILM-BOX OFFICE — According to the weekend’s box office numbers, North American audiences are not staying away from theaters amid virus concerns. Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” topped the charts and the basketball drama “The Way Back” also opened in line with expectations. SENT: 810 words, photo.
SPORTS
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TEN-INDIAN WELLS-POSTPONED — The BNP Paribas Open, the near-major tennis tournament set to begin this week in the California desert, won't be played as scheduled after a case of coronavirus was confirmed in the Coachella Valley. It's the largest U.S. sporting event to be called off over concerns about the spread of the disease. By AP Sports Writer Beth Harris. SENT: 1,020 words, photo.
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