AP News Digest 6 p.m.

APTOPIX Israel Palestinians (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.

—————————-

NEW/DEVELOPING

—————————-

Adds: BIDEN-PUBLIC-LANDS; UNDERWATER-VOLCANO-EARTHQUAKE; RACIAL INJUSTICE-BRITAIN-STATUE; ISRAEL-JERUSALEM-PRIDE-PARADE; VACCINES-EXPIRATION DATES-EXPLAINER; IRAQ-EXPLOSION; OBIT-F. LEE BAILEY; TRAFFIC DEATHS RISE; FRANCE-MALI CRISIS; JILL BIDEN-BIRTHDAY; DELAWARE-OFFICERS SHOT; CRITICAL RACE THEORY-GEORGIA

————————-

ONLY ON AP

————————-

MILITARY-SEXUAL ASSAULT — Military service leaders are privately expressing reservations about removing sexual assault cases from the chain of command, The Associated Press has learned, striking a note of caution as momentum builds toward changing a military justice system that has come under increasing criticism. By Lolita C. Baldor. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.

GUATEMALA-FAILED-MIGRATION — More than 228,000 Guatemalans have been deported by the U.S. government since 2015. Many of them were sent home with the stigma of failure and staggering debts that can’t be paid in a country where the minimum wage is about $11 per day. By Sonia Pérez D. SENT: 2,080 words, photos, video, 1,180-word abridged version.

_____________

TOP STORIES

_____________

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN — President Joe Biden announces the U.S. will swiftly donate a first batch of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas through the U.N.-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others at a time of glaring shortages abroad and more than ample supplies at home. By Zeke Miller. SENT: 950 words, photos, video.

BIDEN-INFRASTRUCTURE — President Biden tries to break a logjam with Republicans on how to pay for infrastructure improvements, proposing a 15% minimum tax on corporations and the possibility of revenues from increased IRS enforcement as a possible bipartisan compromise. By Josh Boak. SENT: 690 words, photo.

UNITED STATES-ISRAEL — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz seeks to reaffirm U.S. security commitments to Israel on a visit to the U.S. as his country weathers its greatest domestic political upheaval in years. By Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 890 words, photos, video.

VOTING BILLS-ANTI-DEMOCRATIC FEARS — Democracy advocates say the persistence of the GOP’s election denial shows how the Republican Party is increasingly open to bucking democratic norms. That’s raising the prospect that if the GOP gains power in next year’s midterms, the party may take the extraordinary step of refusing to certify future elections. By Nicholas Riccardi. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA-DROUGHT-RESERVOIRS — Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires. But now the mighty lake — a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible — is shrinking with surprising speed amid a severe drought, with state officials predicting it will reach a record low later this summer. By Adam Beam. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.

MED-RADIATION-DRUGS-CANCER — Doctors are reporting improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer from an experimental drug that delivers radiation directly to tumor cells. It’s an approach that could someday treat other hard-to-reach cancers. By Carla K. Johnson. SENT: 650 words.

OBIT-F. LEE BAILEY — F. Lee Bailey, the celebrity attorney who defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, but whose legal career halted when he was disbarred in two states, has died, a former colleague said Thursday. He was 87.

DELASENT: 890 words, photos.

_______________________________

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

_______________________________

MEMORIAL-DAY-SPEECH-SILENCED — Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony in Ohio turned off the featured speaker’s microphone when a former Army officer began recalling how freed Black slaves honored fallen soldiers after the Civil War. SENT: 370 words, photo, video.

UNDERWATER VOLCANO-EARTHQUAKE — Earthquake at underwater Hawaii volcano shakes Big Island. SENT: 400 words.

ISRAEL-JERUSALEM-PRIDE-PARADE — Thousands join Pride parade in conservative Jerusalem. SENT: 260 words, photos..

BRITAIN-PRINCESS-DIANA — The dress Princess Diana wore at her wedding to Prince Charles has gone on public display at the late princess’s former London home. SENT: 140 words, photos.

BURMESE-PYTHON-HUNT — Professional python hunters and amateurs alike can win prizes in Florida’s annual hunt for the Burmese pythons that are ravaging the state’s native species. SENT: 150 words, photo.

RACIAL INJUSTICE-BRITAIN-STATUE — Felled UK slave trader statue displayed; city mulls its fate. SENT: 400 words, photos.

———————————————————————-

MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

————————————————————————-

VIRUS-OUTBREAK — In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines. After a slow start, China is now harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. Chinese public health leaders say they’re hoping to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — California workplace regulators are considering ending mask rules if every employee in a room has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. But the rules under consideration frustrate business groups because they set a higher standard than the state plans to adopt soon for social settings. SENT: 830 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFRICA-J&J — COVID-19 vaccine shipments have ground to “a near halt” in Africa while virus cases have spiked 20% over the last two weeks, the World Health Organization said. SENT: 740 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — Britain is removing Portugal from its list of COVID-safe travel destinations, meaning thousands of U.K. residents currently on vacation there will have to quarantine on return. SENT: 330 words, photos.

WHO-VACCINATING CHILDREN — The World Health Organization’s top vaccines expert says immunizing children against the coronavirus is not a high priority from a WHO perspective, given the extremely limited global supply of doses. SENT: 330 words, photo.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-TESTING — U.S. health officials say people who are fully vaccinated can skip routine COVID-19 testing, with some exceptions. SENT: 340 words, graphic.

VACCINES-EXPIRATION DATES-EXPLAINER — How soon vaccines expire is a critical question as the Biden administration prepares to send tens of millions of unused COVID-19 doses abroad to help curb the pandemic. Many drugs and vaccines can last for years if stored properly, but all can eventually lose their effectiveness much like how food can degrade in a pantry. SENT: 290 words, photos.

________________________

WASHINGTON/POLITICS

________________________

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT-REPORTERS’ RECORDS — President Biden’s commitment not to spy on reporters won plaudits from press freedom groups, but it remains unclear whether he can keep that pledge because it clashes with another: to uphold the traditional independence of the Justice Department. SENT: 830 words, photo.

BIDEN-PUBLIC LANDS — The Biden administration proposes funding for dozens of conservation and recreation projects as it allocates $2.8 billion in grants and programs authorized by a landmark conservation law. SENT: 510 words, photos.

POSTMASTER GENERAL-INVESTIGATION — The Justice Department is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over political fundraising activity at his former business. SENT: 420 words, photo.

JILL BIDEN-BIRTHDAY — The Bidens celebrate the first lady’s 70th birthday with a leisurely bike ride. SENT: 210 words, photos.

PENCE — Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to speak in New Hampshire, weeks after using his first public address since the end of the Trump administration to say he will be “pushing back on the liberal agenda.” SENT: 260 words. UPCOMING: Pence speaks at 6:20 p.m., 500 words by 8 p.m., photos.

SUPREME COURT-HACKING LAW — The Supreme Court limits prosecutors’ ability to use an anti-hacking law to charge people with computer crimes. SENT: 550 words, photo.

BIDEN-CORRUPTION — President Joe Biden instructs federal agencies to elevate anti-corruption measures as a central U.S. foreign policy and national security issue. SENT: 240 words, photo.

BIDEN-TURKEY — President Joe Biden will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while on his trip to Europe later this month, the White House announces. SENT: 211 words, photo.

BIDEN-AI CZAR — Robotics scientist Lynne Parker was a pioneer in figuring out how robots could work together to perform difficult missions, like cleaning up after a nuclear disaster, waxing warehouse floors or pulling barnacles off a ship. Now, her job is to get the U.S. government working together as director of a new national initiative on artificial intelligence. SENT: 940 words, photos.

TRUMP-2024 — Multiple people who have spoken with Donald Trump and his team in recent weeks say they sense a shift, with the former president increasingly acting and talking as though he plans to mount another White House bid. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

———————————-

INTERNATIONAL

———————————-

SYRIA-CHILDREN OF THE ISLAMIC STATE — At the sprawling al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, children pass their days roaming the dirt roads, playing with mock swords and black banners in imitation of Islamic State group militants. Few can read or write. For some, the only education is from mothers giving them IS propaganda. It has been more than two years since the Islamic State group’s self-declared “caliphate” was brought down. And it has been more than two years that some 27,000 children have been left to languish in al-Hol camp, which houses families of IS members. SENT: 1,290 words, photos. An abridged version of 990 words is also available.

CHINA-TIANANMEN-ENDURING-REPRESSION — Three decades later, China’s ruling Communist Party remains relentless in its efforts to erase the public memory of the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests that ended in a deadly military crackdown. That includes watching former activists and relatives of people who died in the attack. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

HONG KONG-CHINA-TIANANMEN-ERASING HISTORY — For years, China has quashed any discussion on the mainland of its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, nearly erasing what happened from the collective consciousness. Now it may be Hong Kong’s turn, as China’s ruling Communist Party pulls the city more directly into its orbit. SENT: 860 words, photos.

FRANCE-MALI CRISIS — France says it is suspending joint military operations with Malian forces until the West African nation’s junta complies with international demands to restore civilian rule. The announcement comes amid growing pressure for Col. Assimi Goita to step aside. SENT: 370 words, photos.

BRITAIN-CHINA-UYGHUR-TRIBUNAL — Three Uyghurs who fled from China to Turkey have described forced abortions and torture by Chinese authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region, ahead of giving testimony to a people’s tribunal in London that is investigating if Beijing’s actions against ethnic Uyghurs amount to genocide. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.

BELARUS-FLIGHT-DIVERTED — A dissident journalist who was arrested after his plane was diverted to Belarus said in a video from prison that demonstrations against the country’s authoritarian leader had fizzled and the opposition should wait for a better moment to revive them. SENT: 780 words, photos.

EUROPE-DIGITAL ID — The European Union has unveiled plans for a digital ID wallet that residents could use to access services across the 27-nation bloc. SENT: 410 words, photos.

MEXICO-ELECTIONS — Mexico’s president depicts Sunday’s congressional, state and local elections as the last opportunity to keep conservatives from returning to power. Opponents say it’s a twilight battle to defend the country’s democratic institutions against a powerful populist. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.

VENICE-CRUISE-SHIPS — Early risers in Venice have woken to the sight of a cruise ship traveling down the Giudecca canal for the first time since the pandemic, despite repeated government pledges to reroute the huge vessels on safety and environmental grounds. SENT: 815 words, photo.

———————————————

NATIONAL

———————————————

DELAWARE-OFFICERS SHOT — Police say a Delaware man fatally shot himself after shooting and injuring three police officers responding to a domestic dispute. SENT: 270 words, photo.

GEORGE FLOYD SQUARE — Crews removed the concrete barriers that blocked traffic at a Minneapolis intersection where a memorial to George Floyd was assembled after his death last year, but community activists quickly put up makeshift barriers and resumed chanting the name of the Black man whose killing galvanized the racial justice movement. SENT: 780 words, photos.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY-GEORGIA — Georgia’s education board on Thursday approved a resolution that says the U.S. and Georgia are not racist and students should not be taught that racism or slavery are anything but deviations from the country’s “authentic founding principles.” SENT: 510 words.

KANSAS CITY-POLICE SHOOTING — A group of Christian ministers is questioning the fatal police shooting of a Kansas City man after they said videos released this week contradicted the law enforcement version of what happened. SENT: 640 words.

ENDANGERED WILDFLOWER-LITHIUM MINE — Federal wildlife officials say a rare wildflower that grows only in Nevada’s desert where an Australian mining company wants to dig for lithium should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. SENT: 830 words, photos.

TRAFFIC DEATHS RISE — U.S. traffic deaths rose 7% last year, the biggest increase in 13 years even though people drove fewer miles due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government’s road safety agency reported. SENT: 220 words, photo.

———————————————

HEALTH & SCIENCE

———————————————

MED-BREAST-CANCER DRUG — A pill has been shown to help keep certain early stage, hard-to-treat breast cancers at bay after initial treatment. SENT: 380 words.

MED-HEART-DEVICE-RECALL — U.S. health regulators warned surgeons to stop implanting a heart pump made by Medtronic due to power failures recently tied to cases of stroke and more than a dozen deaths. SENT: 350 words, photo.

SCI-SHRINKING WHALES — A new study says the hulking giants of the deep, North Atlantic right whales, are on average about three feet shorter than just 20 years ago. The study says the critically endangered whales are shrinking because of the stress of getting tangled in fishing gear, crashing into ships and climate change moving their food supply north. SENT: 640 words, photos.

SPACE-STATION — SpaceX is launching thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and a pair of powerful new solar panels. SENT: 375 words, photos.

————————————————

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

————————————————

VIRUS OUTBREAK-UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fifth straight week to a new pandemic low, the latest evidence that the U.S. job market is regaining its health as the economy further reopens. SENT: 485 words, photo.

UNITED-AIRLINES-SUPERSONIC — United Airlines aims to bring back supersonic travel before the decade is over with a plane that has yet to be built. The airline said that it plans to buy 15 jets from Boom Supersonic with an option for 35 more once the start-up company designs a plane that flies faster than the speed of sound while meeting safety and environmental standards. SENT: 305 words, photos.

AMC-STOCK-SALE — AMC may sell up to 11.6 million of its shares with a trading phenomenon pushing stock in the movie theater chain up almost 2,000% this year, and 140% just this week. SENT: 970 words, photo.

———————————-

ENTERTAINMENT

———————————-

FILM-CANNES FILM FESTIVAL — The Cannes Film Festival announces the lineup for this year’s festival. After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, this year’s Cannes, delayed from May to July, is going forward as an in-person event. SENT: 800 words, photos.

———————

SPORTS

———————

TEN--FRENCH OPEN — Top-ranked Ash Barty retires from her second-round match at the French Open because of an ailing hip, leaving the clay-court major without the three highest ranked women. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are scheduled to play. SENT: 650 words, photos. SENT: 870 words, photos.

NAOMI OSAKA-SPONSORS — A few years ago, a star athlete dropping out of a major tennis tournament over mental health issues might have been seen as a sign of weakness. Today, at least for Naomi Osaka’s corporate sponsors, it is being hailed as refreshingly honest. SENT: 930 words, photo.

BKC--DUKE-KRZYZEWSKI — Not long after Duke announced that Mike Krzyzewski would retire after one more season, the school posted a tweet calling it “The Last Ride.” For Krzyzewski, a final run -- not an immediate exit -- was the preferred farewell. SENT: 700 words, photos.

OLY—TOKYO-50 DAYS — With 50 days until the start of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, about 10,000 of 80,000 volunteers have dropped out. Organizers say some did so because of coronavirus worries in a country where only 2% to 3% of the population is fully vaccinated. SENT: 400 words, photos.

___________________

HOW TO REACH US

___________________

The Nerve Center can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Courtney Dittmar (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.