AP News Digest 5:40 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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ELECTION 2022 — Former President Donald Trump is predicting America’s destruction if his fellow Republicans don’t deliver a massive electoral wave on Tuesday. Democrats, led by President Joe Biden and two other former presidents, are warning that abortion rights, Social Security and even democracy itself are at stake. By Steve Peoples, Aamer Madhani and Marc Levy. SENT: 780 words, photos.
COP27 — Envoys from around the globe gathered Sunday in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on tackling climate change that come as the world also grapples with multiple crises, including the war in Ukraine, high inflation, food shortages and an energy crunch. SENT: 550 words, photos.
TWITTER-THE-FUTURE — The discourse was never all that civil on Twitter. The loudest voices often drown out softer and more nuanced takes — after all, it’s much easier to rage-tweet at a perceived enemy than to try to find common ground, whether the argument is about transgender kids or baseball. While some amount of chaos is expected after a corporate takeover, Elon Musk’s murky plans for Twitter — especially around misinformation and hate speech — are raising alarms about where one of the world’s most high-profile information ecosystems is headed. By Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.
MIGRATION-EUROPE — Italian authorities prevented 35 migrants they did not deem vulnerable from getting off a boat in Sicily as Italy’s far-right-led government takes a hard line against privately operated maritime rescue ships in Italian waters. By Colleen Barry and Salvator Cavalli. SENT: 640 words, photos.
WORLD SERIES-PHILLIES-ASTROS — Yordan Alvarez hit a towering, go-ahead homer and the Houston Astros clinched their second World Series title in six seasons and got Dusty Baker his first crown as a manager, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6. By Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins. SENT: 1,170 words, photos. With WORLD SERIES-BAKER — Baker finally wins 1st Series title as manager with Astros; WORLD-SERIES-PHILLIES-FALL-SHORT — Phils go quietly in Series finale as bopper becomes bunter; WORLD SERIES-MVP — Astros’ Peña 1st rookie hitter to win World Series MVP (all sent).
WCUP-QATAR-ECONOMY-EXPLAINER — Qatar is home to roughly 2.6 million people, but a small fraction of that — around 12% — are Qatari citizens. They enjoy massive wealth and benefits fueled by Qatar’s shared control of one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas. Oil and gas have made the 50-year-old country fantastically wealthy and influential. When World Cup fans descend on Qatar this month to attend the tournament, they’ll arrive at one of the world’s newest airports, where expensive artwork, indoor water installations and luxury designer shops relay Qatar’s vast wealth. By Aya Batrawy. SENT: 750 words, photos. With WCUP-QATAR-LABORERS — Activists fear for Qatar workers as World Cup spotlight dims (sent).
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Ukraine’s state electricity operator announced blackouts in Kyiv and seven other regions of the country in the aftermath of Russia’s devastating strikes on energy infrastructure. The move comes as Russian forces continue to pound Ukrainian cities and villages with missiles and drones, inflicting damage on power plants, water supplies and other civilian targets, in a grinding war that is nearing its nine-month mark. SENT: 580 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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LOTTERY-JACKPOT — A record Powerball jackpot grew to an even larger $1.9 billion after no one won the lottery drawing. The numbers for the drawing were: white balls 28, 45, 53, 56, 69 and red Powerball 20. SENT: 170 words.
OBIT-AARON CARTER — Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. SENT: 400 words, photos.
BRITAIN-ROYALS-HOLIDAY — The United Kingdom will have another reason to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, for the government has declared a special public holiday to mark the occasion. The holiday will be on Monday, May 8, capping a three-day weekend that will begin with the coronation. The coronation of Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was also marked with what is known as a bank holiday in Britain. SENT: 230 words, photo.
DUBAI-BIKES ON HIGHWAY — For a few brief hours, the skyscraper-lined superhighway that cuts through the center of Dubai emptied of the cars always clogging it to give way to tens of thousands of bicyclists. SENT: 80 words, photos.
PENNSYLVANIA-SHOOTING — A shooting in central Pennsylvania left four people dead including the alleged gunman, authorities said Saturday. SENT: 170 words.
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ELECTION 2022
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ELECTION 2022-VIRGINIA — Republican Rep. Liz Cheney crossed the political aisle again this election year and endorsed a Democratic colleague in a competitive House race, backing former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger on Saturday as she seeks a third term in a newly redrawn district in northern Virginia. SENT: 520 words, photos.
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MORE ON COP2
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COP27-CLIMATE-AFRICA-ACTIVISTS — Young climate activists from African nations have high demands but low expectations for the U.N. climate conference which begins Sunday in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Observers and organizers of the COP27 summit have made much of its location, branding the conference as an “African COP” where the positions of African countries on issues like finance for adapting to climate change or moving to renewable energy sources will be central to the talks. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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JAPAN-NAVAL-REVIEW — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his country urgently needs to strengthen its military capabilities amid a worsening security environment in the East and South China seas and threats from North Korea and Russia’s war on Ukraine. SENT: 580 words, photos.
BAHRAIN-POPE — Pope Francis wrapped up the first-ever papal trip to Bahrain by encouraging priests and nuns to keep ministering to the Gulf kingdom’s tiny Catholic flock. He specifically mentioned its prisoners, saying “the way in which these ‘least ones’ are treated is a measure of the dignity and the hope of a society.” SENT: 470 words, photos.
SYRIA — Syrian government forces shelled tent settlements housing families displaced by the country’s conflict in the rebel-held northwest, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, opposition war monitors and first responders say. SENT: 240 words.
SOUTH KOREA-MINERS RESCUED — Two South Korean miners who were rescued after being trapped underground for nine days said they had lived on instant coffee powder and water falling from the ceiling of a collapsed shaft. SENT: 310 words, photo.
PHILIPPINES-BUS-BOMBING — A homemade bomb went off in a bus and killed a passenger and wounded 10 others in a southern Philippine city in an attack authorities suspect may be part of an extortion attempt, officials say. SENT: 280 words.
SOMALIA-ATTACK — Military officers in Somalia say at least five people were killed and 11 others wounded when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the front gate of a military training camp in Mogadishu. SENT: 120 words.
TANZANIA-PLANE-CRASH — A small passenger plane crashed Sunday morning into Lake Victoria on approach to an airport in Tanzania. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the plane as it headed for Bukoba Airport. Tanzanian airline company Precision Air said the flight was coming from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam. SENT: 120 words.
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NATIONAL
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SEVERE-WEATHER — Residents in southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas have began assessing weather damage, working to recover and thankful to have survived after a storm stretching from Dallas to northwest Arkansas spawned tornadoes and produced flash flooding, killing at least two people, injuring others and leaving homes and buildings in ruins. SENT: 960 words, photos.
SHOOTING-PHILADELPHIA — At least nine people were wounded in a shooting outside a Philadelphia bar in which there was no clear motive, police say. SENT: 220 words, photos.
APARTMENT-FIRE-NEW-YORK — More than three dozen people were injured, two critically, in a fire at a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan caused by a faulty battery, fire officials said. SENT: 200 words.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA — Thousands of runners took to the streets of China’s capital for the return of the Beijing marathon after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus, even as another death blamed on China’s strict pandemic controls generated more public anger. SENT: 520 words, photos.
MEXICO-MONARCH BUTTERFLIES — The first monarch butterflies have appeared in the mountaintop forests of central Mexico where they spend the winter, Mexico’s Environment Department says. The first butterflies have been seen exploring the mountaintop reserves in the states of Mexico and Michoacan, apparently trying to decide where to settle this year. SENT: 410 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ TECH
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HOME-DEPOT-LABOR-UNION — Home Depot workers in Philadelphia rejected the first store-wide labor union at the world’s largest home improvement retailer, a loss for a fledgling movement to organize at major U.S. companies. SENT: 570 words, photo.
RAILROAD-CONTRACT-TALKS — Another one of the 12 railroad unions narrowly approved its deal with the major freight railroads Saturday, offering some hope that the contract dispute might be resolved without a strike even though two other unions rejected their agreements last month. SENT: 620 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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MUSIC-ROCK-HALL — Duran Duran stumbled into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Freshly inducted into the Hall by Robert Downey Jr. at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, the 1980s English stalwarts took the stage and launched into their 1981 breakthrough hit “Girls on Film.” The shrieking crowd was there for it, but the music wasn’t. The band was all but inaudible other than singer Simon Le Bon, whose vocals were essentially acapella. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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T25-TENNESSEE-GEORGIA — In the biggest games, Stetson Bennett seems to rise to the occasion and above his often more heralded counterparts. Bennett threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score as No. 1 Georgia shut down Hendon Hooker and the Vols’ high-powered offense to win a Southeastern Conference showdown of the nation’s top-ranked teams 27-13. SENT: 810 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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