AP News Digest 5:30 a.m.

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.

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TOP STORIES

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SEVERE-WEATHER — President Joe Biden has issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi, making federal funding available to Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the areas hardest hit Friday night by a deadly tornado that ripped through the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions of the U.S. By Leah Willingham. SENT: 750 words, photos, video. With MISSISSIPPI-TORNADO-SURVIVOR-STORIES — After tornado, harrowing tales of survival in Mississippi (sent).

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-RECRUITMENT — Advertisements promise cash bonuses and enticing benefits. Recruiters are making cold calls to eligible men. Enlistment offices are working with universities and social service agencies to lure students and the unemployed. A new campaign is underway this spring across Russia, seeking recruits to replenish its troops for the war in Ukraine. By Dasha Litvinova. SENT: 1,250 word, photos.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-MONASTERY — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is reverberating in a struggle for control of a monastery complex called the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It’s the most revered site in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The government says it’s evicting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the complex as of March 29. Authorities are alleging violations of its lease. Church representatives say this is a pretext for a continued government crackdown on the church which has historic ties to Moscow. SENT: 1,130 words, photos.

ELECTION 2024-TRUMP — Facing a potential indictment, Donald Trump took a defiant stance at a rally in Waco, Texas, disparaging the prosecutors investigating him and predicting his vindication as he rallied supporters in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement. By Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

CHINA-HONDURAS — Honduras formed diplomatic ties with China after breaking off relations with Taiwan, which is now recognized by only 13 sovereign states, including Vatican City. SENT: 750 words, photos.

FAA-BIDEN-NOMINEE — President Joe Biden’s choice to run the Federal Aviation Administration has withdrawn his nomination, a setback for the administration that comes after Denver International Airport CEO Phillip Washington appeared to lack enough support in the closely divided Senate. SENT: 550 words, photo.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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RUSSIA-BELARUS-NUCLEAR WEAPONS — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a warning to the West as it steps up military support for Ukraine. SENT: 740 words, photos.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — The top commander of Ukraine’s military says his forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut, and British military intelligence says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine. SENT: 400 words, photos.

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MORE NEWS

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CHOCOLATE FACTORY EXPLOSION — An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed three people and left four people missing, authorities say. One person was pulled alive from the rubble overnight. SENT: 1,260 words, photos, audio.

JONATHAN-MAJORS-ASSAULT-CASE — Actor Jonathan Majors was arrested in New York on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment, authorities say. New York City police said that Majors, star of the recently released “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman. SENT: 220 words, photos.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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MCCONNELL — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says he has been released from the rehabilitation facility where he had physical therapy for a concussion caused by a fall earlier this month. SENT: 290 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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MIGRANTS-TRAIN-CAR — Two people found dead in a railroad car in south Texas were Honduran men, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, indicating it was investigating the case as possible human smuggling. SENT: 570 words, photos.

UAW-ELECTION — A challenger defeated the president of the United Auto Workers in a close election and has vowed to take a more confrontational stance in negotiating with the big automakers. SENT: 950 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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MEXICO-KIDNAPPED-AMERICANS — Photos of a peewee football player flashed across a slideshow. The image of a smiling young man adorned memorial T-shirts. But the body of the American gunned down three weeks ago by the Gulf cartel in Mexico was kept shielded from funeral-goers. Over 100 people gathered Saturday to remember Shaeed Woodard at the first funeral service for the two people killed in the attack in the border town of Matamoros. SENT: 630 words, photos.

HONG-KONG-PROTESTS — Dozens of people have joined Hong Kong’s first authorized demonstration against the government since the lifting of major COVID-19 restrictions under unprecedentedly strict rules, including wearing a numbered badge around their necks. SENT: 570 words, photos.

LEBANON-DAYLIGHT-SAVINGS — The Lebanese government’s last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight savings time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in mass confusion. SENT: 560 words, photo.

ISRAEL-POLITICS — Israel’s defense minister became the first ally in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to break ranks on Saturday as he called for an immediate halt to the far-right government’s contentious plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary. SENT: 860 words, photos.

ISRAEL-UAE — Israeli officials say the United Arab Emirates has pardoned an Israeli woman after initially sentencing her to death for drug possession, a case that tested the nascent ties between the two countries. SENT: 270 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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NCAA-UCONN-GONZAGA — The critique of UConn under coach Dan Hurley had been the program’s inability to win in March. Consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament exits meant the Huskies were good, not great — certainly not anywhere in league with the UConn women’s program. In perhaps the maddest March of all, Huskies proved they are elite again, putting in another dominating performance a few hours after the UConn women had a rare misstep. Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn overwhelmed its fourth straight NCAA Tournament opponent, earning its first trip to the Final Four in nine years with an 82-54 blowout of Gonzaga. SENT: 740 words, photos.

NCAA-FLORIDA ATLANTIC-KANSAS STATE — Alijah Martin sent a message early for upstart Florida Atlantic, soaring to the basket for a one-handed jam and chirping with the Kansas State players about his poster moment at Madison Square Garden. “They’re going to label us whatever, but we’re some pit bulls and Rottweilers,” Martin said. Now they can call the ninth-seeded Owls a Final Four team. Martin and FAU withstood another huge game by Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell and brushed off a deficit in the final eight minutes to beat the Wildcats 79-76. SENT: 860 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Vincent K. Willis can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.