AP News Digest 2 p.m.
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TOP STORIES
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SUPREME COURT-BARRETT — A divided Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, giving the country a ninth justice as Republicans overpower Democratic opposition to secure President Donald Trump’s nominee the week before Election Day. The 48-year-old Barrett would secure a conservative court majority for the foreseeable future, potentially opening a new era of rulings on abortion, gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 870 words. UPCOMING: Developing throughout the day, confirmation vote expected around 7:30 p.m., 990 words by 8 p.m., photos
SUPREME COURT-BARRETT SPENDING — The expected confirmation of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is the culmination of a decades-long coordinated effort by a constellation of conservative groups fueled by tens of millions of dollars from wealthy anonymous donors to tilt the high court farther to the right. By Michael Biesecker and Brian Slodysko. SENT: 1,270 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020 — President Donald Trump embarks on a final-week charge through nearly a dozen states ahead of the election, overlooking a surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and a fresh outbreak in his own White House. His Democratic rival, Joe Biden, is holding far fewer events in an effort to demonstrate that he’s taking the worsening pandemic seriously. SENT: 1030 words. UPCOMING: Developing from Trump rallies in Pennsylvania at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m., photos, video. With: ELECTION 2020-THE LATEST, developing.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-US-SURGE — Deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. are on the rise again, just as health experts had feared, and cases are climbing in nearly every single state, despite assurances from President Donald Trump over the weekend that “we’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great.” By Lisa Marie Pane. SENT: 850 words, photos. developing.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ECONOMY-NO-MORE-STIMULUS — Prospects for more federal economic stimulus this year appear all but dead, clouding the future for the unemployed, for small businesses and for the U.S. economy as a whole. By Christopher Rugaber. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
HUNGRY HOUSTON — In car lines that can stretch half a mile, (0.8 kilometers), workers who lost jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic and other needy people receive staggering amounts of food distributed by the Houston Food Bank. On some days, the hundreds of sites supplied by the country’s largest food bank collectively get 1 million pounds. By Anita Snow and John L. Mone. SENT: 920 words, photos, video.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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BRITAIN-PRINCE HARRY — Prince Harry says ignorance no excuse for unconscious bias. SENT: 390 words, photo.
MURDER-HORNETS — Scientists remove 98 ‘murder hornets’ in Washington state. SENT: 640 words, photos.
BRITAIN-SHIP — 7 held for suspected tanker hijack after UK commando raid. SENT: 390 words, photos.
BULLDOZER-BIDEN-SIGNS — Police: Florida man stole bulldozer, ran down Biden signs. SENT: 200 words.
DISNEY-BABY RHINO — It’s a boy -- a big boy. White rhino born at Disney World. SENT: 175 words, photos.
BOOKS-WINFREY — `The books that see her through’: Winfrey suggests seven. SENT: 300 words, photo.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONTROLLLING PANDEMIC – A day after White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said “we’re not going to control the pandemic,” a top Trump administration health official says Americans have already proven they can do that through basic measures like social distancing, wearing masks and frequent hand washing. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. UPCOMING: 750 words by 4 p.m., photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — Many in West Virginia proudly say they live in the original social distancing state. But as another surge of infections grows across the nation, the global pandemic has hit home in rural communities like those in the north-central part of the state. SENT: 970 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE — A French doctor warned that his country has “lost control of the epidemic,” a day after health authorities reported more than 52,000 new coronavirus cases as nations across Europe enact more sweeping restrictions to try to slow surging infection rates. SENT: 850 words, photos.
AP-POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK — A majority of Virginia voters responding to a recent poll think enacting restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is more important than removing restrictions to get the economy going. SENT: 740 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-IRAN-MIXED SIGNALS — Iran’s health minister recently delivered a rare speech criticizing his own government’s refusal to enforce basic health measures, as coronavirus infections and deaths surge in the Islamic Republic. Yet just one day later, the minister sent a starkly different message, seeking to reassure the public that things were under control. The rhetorical about-face is typical of Iranian leaders’ inconsistent response to the pandemic that many see as helping to fuel the virus’s spread. By Isabel Debre. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ELECTION 2020-HOUSE-PELOSI — Speaker Nancy Pelosi once predicted she’d have the 2020 House Democratic majority secured by November — of 2019. Now, days before the Nov. 3 election, she seems to have done it, and she’s expanding her reach. With control of the House hardly contested, Pelosi is working to fortify Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and win extra House seats in case Congress is called on to resolve any Electoral College dispute with President Donald Trump. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1050 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-OHIO-GRASSROOTS — With perennial swing-state Ohio appearing to be a toss up in recent polling, the roles of campaign volunteers and grassroots groups in generating enthusiasm and turning out the vote likely will be crucial in the battle for the state’s 18 electoral votes. SENT: 830 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-MEXICO — A week before United States elections, expectations in Mexico are low. A more neighborly president who hasn’t called Mexicans rapists or threatened to wall the whole border would be nice, but the relationship has survived a Donald Trump presidency, so there’s a feeling it can handle any outcome. Mexicans aren’t paying especially close attention to the race. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-SENATE-MINNESOTA — Minnesota Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis has been rushed into emergency surgery for a severe internal hernia. The Lewis campaign said in a statement Monday that the condition is life-threatening if not treated quickly. SENT: 80 words. Developing.
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INTERNATIONAL
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MUSLIMS-BOYCOTTING FRANCE — Muslims in the Middle East and beyond are calling for boycotts of French products and for protests as a clash over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and the limits of free speech intensifies. The issue has sprung to light once again in the aftermath of the killing of a French teacher near Paris who showed caricatures of the prophet in class. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
TROPICAL WEATHER — A strengthening Tropical Storm Zeta was expected to become a hurricane on a track for Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula resorts and then likely move on for a possible landfall on the central U.S. Gulf Coast at midweek. SENT: 550 words, photos.
CHINA-US — China has ordered six U.S.-based news media to file detailed information about their operations in China the latest volley in a monthslong battle with the Trump administration. SENT: 260 words.
SYRIA — An airstrike on a rebel training camp in northwestern Syria killed more than 50 Turkish-backed fighters and wounded nearly as many, in one of the heaviest blows to the opposition’s strongest groups, a spokesman and a war monitor said. SENT: 550 words.
ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN — Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violating the new cease-fire announced the day before in a bid to halt the fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh that has killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, in just four weeks. SENT: 430 words, photo.
ASIA-TYPHOON — Officials say a strong typhoon has blown out of the Philippines after displacing more than 120,000 people, leaving several fishermen missing and causing at least six vessels to sink or run aground in storm-tossed waters. SENT: 400 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — Factory workers, students and owners of small businesses in Belarus have started a strike to demand that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko resign after more than two months of protests following a disputed election. SENT: 560 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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POLICE SHOOTING-ILLINOIS — The mayor of a Chicago suburb where a police officer fatally shot a Black man and wounded a Black woman as the couple were inside a vehicle says police video of that shooting is expected to be released once relatives view that video. SENT: 530 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — A fast-moving wildfire has forced evacuations for 60,000 people in Southern California as powerful winds across the state prompted power to be cut to hundreds of thousands to prevent utility equipment from sparking new blazes. SENT: 900 words, photos.
LEGISLATOR-THREATENED-NEW-MEXICO — A New Mexico state senator said he fled his house after receiving anonymous threatening telephone messages following his criticism of a protest outside the state Capitol against coronavirus restrictions. State Sen. Jacob Candelaria said Sunday that he received the series of profanity-laced telephone telephone messages after he issued the criticism Saturday night in a TV appearance. SENT: 430 words, photo.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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MUSIC-BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN — In an AP interview, Bruce Springsteen opens up about losing his close friend and teenage bandmate George Theiss as well as E Street Band members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, and how their lives inspired his new album “Letter to You.” By Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu. SENT: 930 words, photos.
With MUSIC-BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN-OUTTAKES — Bruce Springsteen discusses trending on Twitter, his first guitar, his first concert and the pain of the pandemic in outtakes from a recent interview. By Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos.
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BUSINESS
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks are slumping in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday and deepening last week’s losses. The S&P 500 was 2.3% lower as a troubling climb in coronavirus counts threatens the global economy. SENT: 830 words, photo.
CHINA-ANT-GROUP-IPO — The world’s largest fintech company, China’s Ant Group, will try to raise nearly $35 billion in a massive public offering of stock that would shatter records. Alibaba-affiliated Ant Group, which operates a suite of financial products including the widely-used Alipay digital wallet in China and one of the world’s largest money market funds, will hold dual listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong. SENT: 500 words, photo.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI-WATER-ON-MOON — The moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected, good news for astronauts at future lunar bases who could tap into these resources for drinking and making rocket fuel. SENT: 500 words.
NEWBORNS-OPIOIDS — The American Academy of Pediatrics says pregnant women with opioid addiction should have access to medication in new guidelines releasedaimed at improving care for women and newborns affected by drug use. SENT: 410 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BBO--WORLD SERIES — The Dodgers and Rays prepare for Tuesday’s Game 6. Tony Gonsolin will start for Los Angeles, which has a 3-2 Series lead, when Game 2 starter Blake Snell pitches for Tampa Bay. UPCOMING by 8 p.m.: 800 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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