AP News Digest 3:30 am
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TOP STORIES
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SWITZERLAND-CREDIT SUISSE — Swiss bank Credit Suisse said it will move to shore up its finances, borrowing up to $54 billion from the central bank after its shares plunged, dragging down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States. By Jamey Keaten and David McHugh. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. Also see BANK COLLAPSE-SIGNATURE below.
JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA — South Korean and Japanese leaders will meet in Tokyo in a bid to overcome disputes over history and quickly rebuild security and economic ties, as a North Korean missile launch and encounters between Japanese and Chinese vessels in disputed waters show what’s at stake for the two countries. By Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 950 words, photos. With MULTINATIONAL NAVAL DRILLS — U.S., partners stage military drills amid Japan-South Korea talks; CHINA-JAPAN-ISLANDS — China, Japan trade accusations over maritime incursions. Also see KOREAS-TENSIONS below.
UNITED STATES-CHINA-SAUDI ARABIA — In a matter of days, Saudi Arabia carried out blockbuster agreements with the world’s two leading powers, signing a Chinese-facilitated deal aimed at restoring diplomatic ties with the Saudis’ arch-nemesis Iran and announcing a massive contract to buy commercial planes from U.S. manufacturer Boeing. By Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee and Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 1,420 words, photos.
ELECTION 2024-TRUMP-VP — The Republican presidential primaries are nearly a year away and the candidate field is unsettled. But several Republicans are already jockeying to position themselves as potential running mates for Donald Trump. Possible contenders include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Elise Stefanik of New York as well as Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
BANK COLLAPSE-SOLUTIONS — The warning signs were all there. Silicon Valley Bank was expanding at a breakneck pace and pursuing a wildly risky strategy in the bond market, and the vast majority of its deposits were uninsured by the federal government. But bank supervisors at the San Francisco Fed and the state of California did nothing as it went over the cliff. What happened? By Business Writers Paul Wiseman and Ken Sweet. UPCOMING: 1,170 words, photos by 6 a.m.
ALASKA OIL-ALASKA NATIVES — The Biden administration’s approval this week of the biggest oil drilling project in Alaska in decades promises to widen a rift among Alaska Natives, with some saying that oil money can’t counter the damages caused by climate change and others defending the project as economically vital. By Mark Thiessen and Matthew Brown. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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MORE NEWS
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RODGERS’ FUTURE — Aaron Rodgers plans to play for Jets in 2023, awaits Packers’ move. SENT: 1,170 words, photos.
WBC-DIAZ INJURED — Mets’ Edwin Díaz injured celebrating Puerto Rico’s WBC win. SENT: 960 words, photos.
MORANT-NBA INVESTIGATION — NBA suspends Ja Morant eight games for video showing gun in club. SENT: 930 words, photos.
DOGS-POPULAR BREEDS — Beloved and debated, French bulldog becomes top U.S. dog breed. SENT: 880 words, photos, video.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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BIDEN-TIKTOK BAN — TikTok was dismissive of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn’t help protect national security. SENT: 430 words, photo.
GEORGIA ELECTION INVESTIGATION — A special grand jury that investigated whether Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia heard a recording of the former president pushing a top state lawmaker to call a special session to overturn his loss in the state, according to a newspaper report. SENT: 390 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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ABORTION PILL — A federal judge in Texas raised questions about a Christian group’s effort to overturn the decades-old U.S. approval of a leading abortion drug, in a case that could threaten the country’s most common method for ending pregnancies. SENT: 1,000 words, photos, video. With ABORTION-PILL-LEGAL-ISSUES-EXPLAINER — What’s at stake in abortion medication case.
ABORTION CLINICS — Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation that will by next year ban clinics from providing abortions, setting off a rush of confusion among clinics, hospitals and prospective patients in the deeply Republican state. SENT: 990 words, photos.
WESTERN DROUGHT — Climate experts are cautioning that the favorable drought maps in Western states represent only a blip on the radar as the long-term effects of a stubborn drought persist. SENT: 830 words, photos. UPCOMING: Will be updated following 11 a.m. briefing on spring outlook.
LOS ANGELES SCHOOL STRIKE — Tens of thousands of workers in the Los Angeles Unified School District will strike for three days next week over stalled contract talks and teachers will join them, likely shutting down the nation’s second-largest school system, union leaders announced. SENT: 430 words, photo.
CALIFORNIA-GAS PRICES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants state regulators to decide whether to impose the nation’s first penalty on oil companies for price gouging, pivoting after months of negotiations with legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement on a bill aimed at reining in the state’s notoriously high gas prices. SENT: 730 words, photo.
ARIZONA GOVERNOR-EXECUTIONS — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is being criticized by a victim’s sister and a powerful county prosecutor for her plans to defy a court order to execute a prisoner next month for his conviction in a 2002 killing. SENT: 910 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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KOREAS-TENSIONS — North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
ISRAEL-POLITICS — Israeli protesters pressed ahead with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis. SENT: 600 words.
SALVADOR-GANG CRACKDOWN — El Salvador’s government sent 2,000 more suspects to a huge new prison built especially for gang members, and the justice minister vowed that “they will never return” to the streets. SENT: 470 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian stock markets tumbled after Wall Street sank as a plunge in Credit Suisse shares reignited worries about a possible bank crisis following the failure of two U.S. lenders. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. SENT: 720 words, photos.
EUROPE-ECONOMY — Another jumbo interest rate increase from the European Central Bank is in the offing — despite global jitters over the impact of higher interest rates on banks after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S and bad memories of Europe’s own banking crisis more than a decade ago. By Business Writer David McHugh. UPCOMING: 730 words, photos by 5 a.m.
BANK COLLAPSE-SIGNATURE — Signature Bank’s collapse came stunningly fast, leaving behind the question of whether there was a fundamental flaw in the way it did business — or if it was just a victim of the panic that spread after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. SENT: 1,070 words, photos. With BANK COLLAPSE-FACT FOCUS — Claims link “woke” policies to bank’s demise.
NISSAN-TENNESSEE — Several dozen workers among thousands at a Nissan factory in Tennessee will hold a long-delayed vote on whether to unionize. SENT: 790 words, photo.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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PREGNANCY DEATHS — New data suggests U.S. deaths of pregnant women dropped significantly in 2022, after a year when the maternal death rate was the highest recorded in nearly six decades. By Medical Writer Mike Stobbe. SENT: 740 words, photo.
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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
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WHEN CHARACTERS SWEAR — The conversation about the use of profanity on TV illustrates the journey that is undertaken when fictional characters journey from the strictures of network and syndicated television to high-end streaming. By National Writer Ted Anthony. SENT: 1,090 words, photo.
FRANCE-MONET'S BROTHER — Claude Monet’s older sibling is the focus of a landmark Paris exhibit illuminating the never-before-known role Leon Monet played in the French Impressionist painter’s life and art. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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