AP News Digest 3:40 a.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 8 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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VIRUS-OUTBREAK — May is bringing cautious reopenings from coronavirus lockdowns, from Beijing’s Forbidden city to shopping malls in Texas, as the grim toll from the pandemic ticks higher. Many communities are inching toward normalcy without certainty over whether they’ve vanquished outbreaks of the virus. But bleak new figures underscore the pain inflicted by the disease and add to pressure on leaders to end shutdowns. By David Crary, Christopher Rugaber and Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 1,190 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-INTELLIGENCE — President Donald Trump is speculating that China could have unleashed the coronavirus on the world due to some kind of horrible “mistake,” and his intelligence agencies say they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab. By Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,050 words, photo, video.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-PROTESTS — Essential workers will strike nationwide on May Day to demand safer conditions during the coronavirus outbreak, while other groups plan rallies against tight stay-at-home orders they say are crippling the U.S. economy. By Christopher Weber. SENT: 690 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-OUR-MAJESTIC-WORLD-PHOTO-GALLERY — For weeks in some places, months in others, swaths of humanity have zipped themselves into hibernation, trying to ride out a viral storm that has killed some and sickened many more. As humans have disappeared into that coronavirus cocoon, though, other things have asserted themselves. Animals, for one. And emptiness. And, counterintuitively, the majesty of some of the structures that humans have created for themselves. By National Writer Ted Anthony. SENT: 510 words, photos. Also see MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK below.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN ALLEGATIONS — Joe Biden is expected to give his first public comments on a sexual assault allegation that has roiled his presidential campaign. The presumptive Democratic nominee will appear on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to address the allegation by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade that he assaulted her in the 1990s. By Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 980 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VICE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH — The “veepstakes” competition that unfolds every four years is one of the most unpredictable, often awkward, rituals of politics. That’s especially true this time as the pandemic has overtaken the presidential campaign, forcing those thought to be in the running for the No. 2 spot to be even more creative in getting noticed. By Will Weissert. SENT: 990 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page on APNewsroom.
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-COMICS-CONUNDRUM — The comic book shop has long been a wall-to-wall repository for tales of world-threatening cataclysms and doomsday dystopias but it has never before been drawn into a fight for survival like the coronavirus pandemic. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ITALY-WHO’S FAMILY — Under Italy’s more relaxed lockdown rules starting next week, people can visit family within the same region. But confusion abounds over how close the family connection needs to be. SENT: 570 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BELGIUM-HOPE — “To all of you: continue to fight”: Survival is the key part, yet recovery is hard enough, too, for those stricken by the coronavirus. SENT: 960 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EGYPT-LIONS AT HOME — Egypt’s dynasty of big cat trainers takes the show home. SENT: 580 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-BANGKOK HAIRDRESSER — Hairstylist gives free haircuts to Thai health frontliners. SENT: 580 words, photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVES LOST-AN ANGELIC VOICE — Hannelore Cruz traveled to Portugal as a refugee from hunger, cold and postwar deprivation in Austria. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA — Beijing’s parks and museums including the ancient Forbidden City reopen to the public after being closed for months by the coronavirus pandemic. The Forbidden City, past home to China’s emperors, is allowing just 5,000 visitors daily, down from 80,000. And parks are allowing people to visit at 30% of the usual capacity. SENT: 320 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MAY-DAY-GARMENT-INDUSTRY — May Day usually brings both protest rallies and celebrations rallies marking international Labor Day. This year, many in Asia are shut up at home, riding out the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 930 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — Japan’s social-distancing efforts are slowing infections but not enough to stave off further spread of the coronavirus, a government minister says, adding that experts are recommending the state of emergency remain in place. SENT: 840 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — After state officials signaled an intention to close all California beaches, Gov. Gavin Newsom chose instead to shutter only Orange County’s coastline, a clumsy rollout that left local officials livid and had Republicans claiming politics was at play. SENT: 1,080 words, photos, videos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PUERTO RICO — Puerto Rico is taking its first tentative steps in relaxing a nearly two-month lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic, while health experts warn that the U.S. territory is relying on faulty statistics and has not yet seen its peak of cases. SENT: 560 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HASIDIC TENSION — Tensions between police and members of New York City’s Hasidic Jewish community flare again as officers interrupted a crowded funeral procession to crack down on social distancing violators. SENT: 580 words, photo.
GROUND GAME — AP’s coronavirus podcast, “Ground Game: Inside the Outbreak,” today is about efforts to reopen hard-hit France and Spain following their respective lockdowns. Listen to the podcast after 3 p.m. at https://appodcasts.com/category/ground-game/. Embed code is available on AP Coverage. Plan.
A separate advisory has been sent outlining AP’s complete coronavirus coverage.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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PEOPLE-ANDERSON COOPER — Anderson Cooper is a father; gives infant son a special name. SENT: 270 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-HEMINGWAY-DAYS — Key West to skip Hemingway Look-Alike Contest this year. SENT: 230 words, photo.
AMISH CHILDREN KILLED-BUGGY ACCIDENT — Police: Four Amish children killed, one missing in Kentucky buggy accident. SENT: 220 words, photos.
OBIT-MARI-WINSOR — Mari Winsor, Pilates guru and celebrity trainer, dies at 70. SENT: 230 words, photo.
NEPAL-MISSING TREKKERS — Bodies of South Korean trekkers, local guides recovered in Nepal. SENT: 120 words, photo.
OBIT-MEXICO-OSCAR CHÁVEZ — Mexican protest singer Oscar Chávez dies of COVID-19 at 85. SENT: 240 words, photo.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-USS KIDD — Lessons learned from a coronavirus outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt played a central role in limiting damage when the virus hit a second Navy ship at sea. By National Security Writer Robert Burns. SENT: 830 words, photo.
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VENEZUELA-PAHO — As much as $110 million in U.S. funding for disease prevention in Latin America as well as U.S. support for Venezuelan migrants has been thrown into doubt as part of Trump’s decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization over its response to the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 850 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN-WATCHDOG REPORT — The U.S. mission in Afghanistan has for the first time refused to publicly release its data on insurgent attacks amid the implementation of a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban, an American watchdog says. SENT: 730 words, photos.
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ASYLUM-WAITING IN MEXICO — The Trump administration suspends immigration court hearings for asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico through June 1, bowing to public health concerns while extending a state of limbo those locked down in Mexican migrant shelters. SENT: 640 words, photos.
ROBERT-DURST-MISTRIAL — Attorneys for real estate heir Robert Durst ask a Los Angeles judge to declare a mistrial in the murder case against him, arguing that he cannot get a fair trial with the long pause in the proceedings brought on by coronavirus court closures. By Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton. SENT: 380 words.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Shares fell in Asia after a crush of dismal data about the economy sent markets lower overnight in a meek ending to a historic, juggernaut month for stocks. By Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 760 words, photos.
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