AP News Digest 3:45 a.m.

APTOPIX Belgium Europe Weather (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

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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TOP STORIES

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IMMIGRATION-DEFERRED-ACTION — A federal judge in Texas has ordered an end to an Obama-era program that prevented the deportations of some immigrants brought into the United States as children, putting new pressure for action on President Joe Biden and Democrats who now control Congress. SENT: 550 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.

TEXAS-REPUBLICANS — In Republicans’ bid to retake control of Congress, a traditionally Democratic stretch of south Texas has quietly become a top battleground. After making unexpected gains last November, the GOP is zeroing in on a trio of House seats in the region as key targets heading into next year’s midterm elections. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 1,290 words, photos.

VOTING-ARIZONA VOTER FRAUD — An Associated Press investigation finds that county election officials throughout Arizona have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud from last year’s presidential election that require review by local prosecutors. The findings undermine claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that widespread fraud is to blame for his loss in Arizona. By Bob Christie and Christina A. Cassidy. SENT: 1,290 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN — Two weeks after celebrating America’s “independence” from the coronavirus, President Joe Biden is confronting the worrying reality of a summer backslide, as cases and deaths sharply rise in parts of the country. The White House has few options to control the surging delta variant, which is spreading widely among millions of Americans who have refused to get vaccinated. By Zeke Miller. SENT: 770 words, photos, video.

WESTERN-WILDFIRES — Dry, unstable and windy conditions will keep fueling a massive wildfire in southern Oregon, forecasters said, as the largely uncontained blaze grows by miles each day. The Bootleg Fire was just one of numerous wildfires burning across the U.S. West. By Gillian Flaccus. SENT: 600 words, photos, video.

EUROPE-FLOODS-CLIMATE-CHANGE — Just as the European Union was announcing plans to spend billions of euros to contain climate change, massive clouds gathered over Germany and nearby nations to unleash an unprecedented storm that left death and destruction in its wake. By Raf Casert. SENT: 690 words, photos. With EUROPE-FLOODS — Death toll from Europe floods tops 150 as water recedes (sent).

For more on Europe flooding, visit AP's Newsroom here.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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BIDEN-IRAQ — President Joe Biden will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi later this month in Washington, the White House says. SENT: 250 words, photo.

ASIA AMERICAN ASSAULT-CALIFORNIA — Asian man pistol-whipped, robbed in San Francisco Bay Area. SENT: 200 words, photo.

IMMIGRATION-ASYLUM — CDC exempts unaccompanied migrant children from deportation. SENT: 170 words.

ARIZONA-FLOODING — Arizona governor declares emergency after Flagstaff floods. SENT: 350 words, photos.

EDWIN-EDWARDS-MEMORIAL — Goodbyes for Louisiana’s flamboyant ex-Gov. Edwin Edwards. SENT: 340 words, photos.

GEORGE-FLOYD-OFFICER-TRIAL — The weekslong trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin cost Minnesota’s Hennepin County about $3.7 million. SENT: 240 words, photo.

CAPITOL BREACH-GLADIATOR COSTUME — An Arizona man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while wearing a Roman gladiator costume and narrated the melee in videos for his mother has been arrested. SENT: 330 words, photo.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EUROPE-VACCINATIONS — European nations are scrambling to ramp up vaccination drives, using a carrot-and-stick approach to persuade the reluctant to get their shots as the more transmissible delta variant drives a surge in infections. SENT: 800 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THAILAND — Thailand has tightened coronavirus restrictions further as daily cases surpassed 10,000 and the death toll hit a record 141 despite an overnight curfew in Bangkok and several other provinces. SENT: 400 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-FRANCE — The British government threw the holiday plans of tens of thousands of people into disarray Friday night when it reversed plans to open up travel from France because of concerns about a COVID-19 variant circulating in the country. SENT: 400 words, photo.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-HAITI — Health care workers and senior citizens were the first people vaccinated in Haiti as part of a test run after the country recently received 500,000 doses from the United Nations. SENT: 280 words.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-US — The COVID-19 comeback across the U.S. is putting pressure on hospitals at a time when some of them are busy just trying to catch up on surgeries and other procedures that were put on hold during the pandemic. SENT: 920 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-UNITED STATES-AFRICA — The U.S. will begin making its first COVID-19 vaccine shipments to Africa in the coming days, with the goal of sharing 25 million doses this summer across the continent. SENT: 320 words, photo.

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WASHINGTON & POLITICS

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UNITED STATES-AUSTRIA-HEALTH INCIDENTS — U.S. officials say the Biden administration is investigating a recent rash of mysterious health incidents reported by American diplomats and other government employees in Vienna, Austria. Some of the symptoms are similar to those first reported by U.S. diplomats and spies in Havana, Cuba, in 2016 and 2017. By Matthew Lee. SENT: 420 words, photo.

BIDEN-AMBASSADORS — President Biden nominates former New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall to serve as his ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Biden is also expected to nominate Democratic fundraiser Jane Hartley to serve as his ambassador to the United Kingdom. By Michael Balsamo and Aamer Madhani. SENT: 560 words, photos.

POMPEO-AFGHANISTAN — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he believes Afghan forces can secure the country, but it will depend on whether they have the will to put up a fierce fight against the Taliban. SENT: 370 words, photos, video.

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INTERNATIONAL

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AFGHANISTAN-PHOTOGRAPHER-KILLED — Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the Reuters news service was killed as he chronicled fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban near a strategic border crossing amid the continuing withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. SENT: 890 words, photos.

OLY-TOKYO-SECURITY-BALANCE — Japan’s massive security apparatus for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics is raising complaints that the nation will look more like authoritarian North Korea or China than one of the world’s most powerful, vibrant democracies. SENT: 1,230 words, photos.

SKOREA-BANNER-CONTROVERSY — South Korea’s Olympic committee says it has removed banners at the Olympic athletes’ village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the International Olympic Committee ruled it was provocative. SENT: 540 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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STUDENT KILLED-IOWA — Two childhood friends named in court documents this week by defense lawyers as alternate suspects in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts tell The Associated Press they have they had nothing to do with the crime. SENT: 580 words, photos.

BALLOON INTERNET-CUBA-EXPLAINER — Is a balloon-powered internet network for Cubans possible? Technically, it’s been done. A former division of Google owner Alphabet, Loon, developed balloons that provided internet service in the aftermath of natural disasters in Puerto Rico and Peru and had a commercial contract to provide service in hard-to-reach areas of Kenya. SENT: 760 words, photos.

BUILDING COLLAPSE-MIAMI — A South Florida courtroom observed a moment of silence to remember the dozens of people who died in the collapse of 12-story condominium complex near Miami. Then it returned to the business of considering what should become of the property. SENT: 740 words, photos.

IMMIGRATION-BORDER-CROSSINGS — U.S. officials say the number of migrant families they encountered at the border in June increased by 25% from the previous month even as summer temperatures rise in the deserts and mountain terrain of the southwestern borderlands. SENT: 620 words, photos.

OBIT-GLORIA RICHARDSON — Gloria Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, has died. She was 99. SENT: 690 words.

FAKE-NURSING-DEGREES — The owners and operators of nursing schools in Virginia and Florida have been charged with plotting to sell bogus transcripts and diplomas, helping unqualified candidates pass nursing board exams and get health care jobs, federal authorities say. SENT: 610 words, photos.

PRISONERS-HEALTH CARE — A judge threw out a 6-year-old legal settlement requiring Arizona to improve health care for thousands of prisoners, saying corrections officials have shown little interest in complying with their obligations under the deal and that it would be absurd to expect the state to act differently in the future. SENT: 580 words.

WEAPONS-CHARGES-ALL-STAR-GAME — Three men arrested with more than a dozen weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition at a Denver hotel near the site of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game have been charged with federal firearms crimes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says. SENT: 350 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA-RITE-AID-EMPLOYEE-KILLING — A Rite Aid employee was fatally shot while confronting two shoplifters in Los Angeles, according to police and the union that represents workers at the store. SENT: 190 words.

GLOBAL-OPIOIDS-THE-NEW-DRUG-LORDS — The final legal chapter of a multimillion-dollar online opioid drug ring ended Friday as a group of millennials who helped run the dark-web operation based in suburban Salt Lake City were sentenced to prison. SENT: 460 words, photos.

BOY-KILLED-FATHER-CHARGED — A Colorado father has been convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in the 2012 disappearance of his 13-year-old son. SENT: 820 words, photos.

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HEALTH/SCIENCE

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HUMAN-NEANDERTHAL-DNA — Just 7% of our DNA is uniquely inherited from other humans, and not shared by other extinct groups like Neanderthals and Denisovans, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. SENT: 490 words, photos.

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BUSINESS/TECH

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AIRLINES-LABOR — A key senator is asking six U.S. airlines to explain the high rates of delayed and canceled flights this summer, and she’s asking whether there are labor shortages despite the airlines getting billions in federal aid to keep workers on the job. SENT: 440 words, photos.

VOICES-CLONES-ANTHONY-BOURDAIN — The revelation that a documentary filmmaker used voice-cloning software to make the late chef Anthony Bourdain say words he never spoke has drawn criticism amid ethical concerns about use of the powerful technology. By Technology Writers Matt O'Brien and Barbara Ortutay. SENT: 840 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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OBIT-BIZ-MARKIE — Biz Markie, a hip-hop staple known for his beatboxing prowess, turntable mastery and the 1989 classic “Just a Friend,” has died. He was 57. Markie’s representative, Jenni Izumi, said the rapper-DJ died peacefully Friday evening with his wife by his side. The cause of death has not been released. SENT: 580 words, photos.

AMFAR-GALA — Sharon Stone hosted and Alicia Keys gave a dazzling performance as the lavish amfAR gala that raises money for AIDS research returned to Cannes. One of the most anticipated nights of the festival, the 27th edition was a smaller more intimate affair than previous years, with the exclusive guestlist pared from 900 to 400 people with COVID-19 protocols in place. SENT: 540 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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HOW TO REACH US

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