AP News Digest 3:30 a.m.

Via AP news wire
Tuesday 09 February 2021 08:32 GMT
APTOPIX Myanmar
APTOPIX Myanmar (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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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TOP STORIES ______________

TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT — The Senate launches Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Lawyers for the former president insist he is not guilty of inciting mob violence at the Capitol, while prosecutors say he must be convicted of the “most grievous constitutional crime.” By Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jill Colvin. SENT: 1,060 words, photos video. UPCOMING: 1,150 words after Senate convenes at 1 p.m. With TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-WHAT TO WATCH — First, a debate to dismiss the trial; TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-EXPLAINING THE TRIAL — How the trial will proceed; TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-DEFENSE ARGUMENTS — Is the trial unconstitutional?

Find complete coverage of the impeachment on the AP Newsroom hub.

BIDEN-ECONOMY — Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee propose an additional $1,400 in direct payments to individuals, bolstered unemployment benefits and more generous tax breaks for families with children and for lower earners. Congress is starting to piece together a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that is expected to closely follow President Joe Biden’s proposal. By Kevin Freking, Alan Fram and Josh Boak. SENT: 1,020 words, photos. With BIDEN-CHILD TAX CREDIT-ANALYSIS — Child poverty a hidden focus of virus relief plan.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VACCINATING-FLORIDA’S-SENIORS — The COVID-19 vaccination campaign at Miami’s largest hospital starts with the delivery of frozen glass vials that arrive with armed guards. The vials are immediately whisked to a secret location, where they are placed inside a padlocked freezer. The Associated Press was given exclusive access to a recent day of vaccinations at Jackson Memorial hospital system. The hospital staff can thaw out only as much COVID-19 vaccine as the hospital can administer that same day. By Kelli Kennedy. SENT: 1,040 words, photos, video.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VACCINE-ACCESS — Counties in California and other places in the U.S. are trying to ensure they vaccinate people in largely Black, Latino and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. By Janie Har and Amy Taxin. SENT: 1,060 words, photos, video.

MYANMAR — Demonstrators against Myanmar’s military takeover took to the streets again Tuesday in defiance of new rules that make their protests illegal. Water cannons were used in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, where witnesses say at least two warning shots were fired to try to make the crowd disperse. SENT: 400 words, photos.

MARS-MISSIONS — A spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates was set to swing into orbit around Mars in the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission, the first of three robotic explorers arriving at the red planet over the next week and a half. By Isabel Debre. SENT: 610 words, photos.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT ______________________________

OBIT-MARY WILSON — Mary Wilson, longest-reigning original Supreme, dies at 76. SENT: 70 words. UPCOMING: Developing, will be updated, photo.

AUSTRALIA-KOALA — Koala rescued after five-car pileup on Australian freeway. SENT: 270 words, photos.

PARIS-HILTON-BOARDING-SCHOOL — Paris Hilton says she was abused as teen at Utah school. SENT: 350 words, photos.

ROBINHOOD-WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT — Family of novice investor who killed himself sue Robinhood. SENT: 740 words, photo.

HONG-KONG-YEAR-OF-THE-OX-PHOTO-GALLERY — The Chinese Year of the Ox begins Friday, and in the shadow of Hong Kong’s futuristic urban skyline, wild bovines are getting some love. SENT: 390 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BUTTIGIEG-QUARANTINE — Buttigieg to quarantine after security agent gets COVID-19. SENT: 580 words, photos.

TROOPERS-ARRESTED — Four Louisiana State Police troopers charged in excessive force cases. SENT: 400 words, photo.

ABORTION-SOUTH-CAROLINA — South Carolina House committee considers ban on almost all abortions. SENT: 210 words, photos.

PAKISTAN-MISSING-CLIMBERS — Families despair; weather halts Pakistan search for climbers. SENT: 650 words, photos.

CHINA-CLUBHOUSE-BLOCKED — China blocks Clubhouse, app used for political discussion. SENT: 280 words, photos.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK _______________________________

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHICAGO SCHOOLS — Leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union agree to let thousands of union members vote on a proposed deal to get students back into classes, clearing another hurdle in the fight to reopen the nation’s third-largest school district amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 350 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-COURTS-VACCINE — A number of state and federal judges and court staffers are getting some of Idaho’s limited doses of coronavirus vaccine even though they are not on the state’s priority list, jumping ahead of older people who are supposed to be at the front of the line. SENT: 830 words, photo.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE-GOOD-THING-HOME-AWAY-FROM-HOME — In the middle of the destroyed Beirut neighborhood of Gemmayzeh, a small team in masks and gloves were sanitizing and packing oxygen machines to be sent to those in need. SENT: 780 words, photos.

Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS ————————————————-

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS — The Justice Department will ask U.S. attorneys who were appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign from their posts, as the Biden administration moves to transition to its own nominees, a senior Justice Department official says. By Michael Balsamo. SENT: 420 words, photo.

DAKOTA-ACCESS-PIPELINE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked a federal judge to delay a hearing on a temporary shutdown of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, citing the changeover in personnel with the new administration. SENT: 300 words.

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INTERNATIONAL ______________

INDIA-GLACIER-FLOODING — Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring muck-filled ravines and valleys in northern India looking for survivors after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, sending a devastating flood downriver that has left at least 31 people dead and 165 missing. SENT: 350 words, photos.

EL-SALVADOR-US — The Biden administration turned down a meeting request with El Salvador’s president on an unannounced trip to Washington last week, as criticism of the Central American leader mounts among Democrats, three people with knowledge of the decision say. By Joshua Goodman. SENT: 1,040 words, photo.

GERMANY-MIGRANTS-ELECTION — A 31-year-old Syrian man who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2015 has just launched his campaign to run in Germany’s federal election on Sept. 26. SENT: 870 words, photos.

POLAND-HOLOCAUST-SPEECH — A Warsaw court is due to deliver a verdict in a closely watched libel case in which one side sees Polish national pride at stake and the other the future independence of Holocaust research. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

HONG-KONG-POLITICS — A Hong Kong court denied bail for government critic and newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai who is facing charges under a sweeping new national security law. SENT: 470 words, photos.

UNITED-NATIONS-NORTH-KOREA — North Korea has modernized its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles by flaunting United Nations sanctions, using cyberattacks to help finance its programs and continuing to seek material and technology overseas for its arsenal, U.N. experts say. SENT: 970 words, photos.

SUDAN-DARFUR — A Sudanese-American father of three was among dozens killed in recent ethnic fighting in Darfur, after the withdrawal of a joint U.N. and African Union peacekeeping force. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

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NATIONAL _____________

KOBE-BRYANT-CRASH — Federal safety officials are expected to reveal what likely caused the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in Southern California last year. SENT: 900 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from 9:30 a.m. hearing.

CAPITOL BREACH-ARRESTS — A man who authorities say is a leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and helped to organize a ring of other extremists and led them in the attack last month at the U.S. Capitol has held a top-secret security clearance for decades and previously worked for the FBI, his attorney says. SENT: 560 words, photo.

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MINORITY BUSINESSES-LOANS — Magnified by the pandemic, small minority-owned businesses have often struggled to gain access to capital and other tools to grow, but a new effort aims to address disparities in areas of the country that have long struggled with poverty. SENT: 800 words, photos.

FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Asian stocks were mostly higher after Wall Street rose to a record. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. SENT: 430 words, photos.

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SPORTS ___________

TOKYO-MORI — The postponed Tokyo Olympics have yet another problem besides the pandemic: Yoshiro Mori, the president of the local organizing committee. By Sports Writer Stephen Wade. SENT: 660 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US _______________________

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