AP News Digest 3 a.m.

APTOPIX Colorado Wildfires (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

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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The fast-moving omicron variant is complicating a key question: How does the COVID-19 pandemic end and the world coexist with this virus? Experts agree that the coronavirus is here to stay. Ending the pandemic won’t be like flipping a light switch. Nor do scientists expect omicron to be the last mutant. But at some point, different parts of the world — probably at different times — will tamp down the virus enough to ease up on the constant state of red alert and to consider it another of the health threats we live with. By Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard and Carla K. Johnson. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

CAPITOL RIOT-BIDEN — Worried world leaders have asked President Joe Biden “What about democracy in America?” As the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol nears and lies about a stolen election continue, the president is being urged to use the powers of his office to push voting rights legislation that its adherents say could be the only effective way to counter the rapidly emerging threats to the democratic process. By Colleen Long and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.

CAPITOL RIOT-ASHLI BABBITT — Former President Donald Trump and his supporters have sought to portray the woman shot by a police officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as a righteous martyr who was unjustly killed. But the life of Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from California who died while wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, is far more complicated. By Michael Biesecker. SENT: 2,010 words, photos. An abridged version is also available.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS — Joe Biden’s arrival in the White House seemed to herald a historic shift toward less U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons and possibly a shrinking of their numbers. Then came revelations about China’s expanding nuclear force and talk of potential war with Taiwan. And signs that Russia might be preparing to invade Ukraine. Now, major shifts in U.S. nuclear weapons policy seem much less likely. By National Security Writer Robert Burns. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.

USED VEHICLES-AFFORDABILITY — Prices for used cars have soared so high, so fast, that buyers are being increasingly priced out of the market. Consider that the average price of a used vehicle in the United States in November, according to Edmunds.com, was $29,011 — a dizzying 39% more than just 12 months earlier. And for the first time that anyone can recall, more than half of America’s households have less income than is considered necessary to buy the average-priced used vehicle. By Auto Writer Tom Krisher. SENT: 1,360 words, photos.

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TRENDING NEWS

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FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS — Wintry weather combined with the pandemic to frustrate air travelers whose return flights home from the holidays were canceled or delayed in the first days of the new year. SENT: 570 words, photos.

TWITTER-GREENE BAN — Twitter has banned the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for multiple violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policy. SENT: 500 words, photo.

BUCCANEERS-JETS — Antonio Brown was kicked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a bizarre, shirtless exit from the field before Tom Brady coolly led the Bucs on a 93-yard drive in the final minutes for a 28-24 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday. SENT: 950 words, photos.

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MORE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-ISOLATION GUIDELINES — As the COVID-19 omicron variant surges across the United States, top federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus. SENT: 690 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-INDIA - Indian health authorities began vaccinating teens in the age group of 15 to 18, as more states started to enforce tighter restrictions to arrest a new surge stoked by the infectious omicron variant. SENT: 350 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CANADA — Quebec is proceeding with the first of three planned closures of non-essential retail stores as the provincial government tried to curb a new wave of COVID-19 driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant. SENT: 550 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRALIA — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his country’s health system can cope with the new wave of coronavirus infections as Victoria state reported a record number of new cases and hospitalizations surged in New South Wales. SENT: 320 words, photos.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTIN — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms while quarantining at home. SENT: 250 words, photo.

REID — Harry Reid, the late former Senate majority leader from Nevada, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week. SENT: 200 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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SUDAN — Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has announced his resignation amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the country’s fragile transition to democratic rule. Hamdok called for a dialogue to agree on a “national charter” and to “draw a roadmap” to complete the transition. SENT: 730 words, photos.

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong online news site says it will cease operations in light of deteriorating press freedoms, days after police raided and arrested seven people for sedition at a separate pro-democracy news outlet. SENT: 330 words, photos.

MIDEAST TENSIONS — Hackers replaced Jerusalem Post’s web content with an image that threatened a site associated with Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program. The hacking came on the anniversary Monday of the 2020 killing of a prominent Iranian general. SENT: 550 words, photo.

KOREAS-BORDER CROSSING — South Korea says that a person who crossed the border into North Korea on New Year’s Day was likely a defector who had slipped through the same heavily fortified frontier in the other direction in late 2020. SENT: 500 words, photo

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NATIONAL

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COLORADO-WILDFIRES —Search teams are looking for two missing people in the snow-covered but still smouldering debris from a massive Colorado wildfire, while people who barely escaped the flames sorted through what was left after the blaze. SENT: 810 words, photos, video.

WINTER WEATHER: A winter storm packing heavy snow is expected to roll into the District of Columbia, northern Virginia and central Maryland overnight, bringing at least 3 to 7 inches of snow through Monday afternoon. SENT: 350 words, photos.

OBIT-MAXINE MCNAIR — The last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in a 1963 Alabama church bombing has died. She was 93. Maxine McNair’s family announced her death in a press release Sunday. SENT: 380 words, photos.

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BUSINESS

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THERANOS FOUNDER-FRAUD TRIAL — After taking an extended holiday break, the jury weighing fraud charges against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will get back to their deliberations Monday. The eight men and four women who will determine Holmes’ fate spent much of their holiday season behind closed doors in a San Jose, California, courthouse. SENT: 290 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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FILM-BOX OFFICE — Hollywood closed out 2021 with more fireworks at the box office for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which topped all films for the third straight week and already charts among the highest grossing films domestically. SENT: 710 words, photos.

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