AP News Digest 3:30 am
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ONLY ON AP
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COLORADO SPRINGS SHOOTING — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press. Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing. By Jim Mustian and Jesse Bedaynsent. SENT: 1,330 words, photos. With COLORADO SPRINGS SHOOTING-TAKEAWAYS.
HAJJ-PILGRIMS PREPARE — This year’s Hajj is a landmark: the first full pilgrimage after a daunting period of three years when the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced the scale of one of Islam’s holiest rites. Millions of Muslims from around the world will start converging next week on Mecca in Saudi Arabia to begin several days of rituals. By Fares Akram, Niniek Karmini, Abby Sewell, Mariam Fam and Qassim Abdul-Zahra. SENT: 2,360 words, photos, videos, graphics. An abridged version of 1,090 words is also available.
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TOP STORIES
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MIGRATION-GREECE — Rescue workers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks as a major search continued for possible survivors of a sea disaster in southern Greece. Hundreds of people are still feared missing. At least 78 bodies have been recovered after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast. By Derek Gatopoulos and Nicholas Paphitis. SENT: 670 words, photos, video. With MIGRATION-MEDITERRANEAN-TRENDS-EXPLAINER.
TRUMP-CONGRESS-REPUBLICANS — Moments after Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he hoarded classified documents and then conspired to obstruct an investigation about it, the Republicans in Congress had his back. Trump’s mounting legal jeopardy has quickly become a political rallying cry as they rush to stand by the indicted former president. By Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,310 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS — The number of people suffering anxiety and other psychological issues in Ukraine is on the rise since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country last year. But Russia’s frequent missiles barrages and the havoc they wreak are especially challenging for visually impaired people. By Hanna Arhirova. SENT: 880 words, photos.
IMMIGRATION-TRANSPORTING-MIGRANTS — A group of migrants who arrived by bus in downtown Los Angeles were sent from Texas in a move the city’s mayor called a “despicable stunt” by a Republican governor. Forty-two people, including some children, were dropped off at Union Station and were being cared for by city agencies and charitable organizations, a Los Angeles City councilmember said. By Christopher Weber. SENT: 360 words, photos.
BILL-COSBY — Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to victimize them. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels. SENT: 510 words, photo.
SOUTH ASIA-CYCLONE — A vast swath of western India and neighboring southern Pakistan that suffered deadly floods last year are bracing for a new deluge as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy whirls toward landfall. SENT: 810 words, photos.
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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES
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PRIDE-MIDWEST SMALL TOWN — Organizers estimate 4,000 people turned out for the first-ever Pride festival in a small Michigan city to enjoy the celebration’s drag show, dance party and vendor-filled streets. The massive turnout over the weekend in Grand Haven, population 11,000, shocked organizers and residents. SENT: 770 words, photos, video.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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NATO-UKRAINE — NATO defense ministers gathered to discuss future relations with Ukraine as Russia’s war on the country thwarts its hopes of joining the world’s biggest security alliance soon. SENT: 350 words, photos.
POLAND-UKRAINE REFUGEES-EDUCATION — Russian forces have destroyed or damaged thousands of Ukrainian schools. But the disruption to education goes far beyond devastated buildings. Experts say schooling is suffering in unprecedented ways, in particular for refugees. SENT: 1,170 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-RUSSIA — Australia’s Parliament passed legislation to prevent Russia from building a new embassy near Parliament House citing threats of espionage and political interference, as tensions grow between Moscow and a major supporter of the Ukraine war effort. SENT: 720 words, photos, video.
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MORE NEWS
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MEXICO-SAVING-BEES — Let it bee: The women on a mission to save Mexico City’s bees. SENT: 740 words, photos, video.
BUD-LIGHT-SALES — Bud Light, top U.S. seller since 2001, loses sales crown to Modelo as beer backlash continues. sent: 410 words, photo.
MEDIA-TRUMP — Fox News says it addressed onscreen message that called Biden a “wannabe dictator.” SENT: 710 words, photo.
ALEC-BALDWIN-SET-SHOOTING — Experts question prosecutors’ strategy against weapons expert in Alec Baldwin case. SENT: 660 words, photo.
STARBUCKS-BLACK MEN ARRESTED — Ex-Starbucks manager awarded $25.6 million in suit over firing after 2018 arrests of two Black men. SENT: 610 words, photo.
GERMANY-JEWS-COMPENSATION — Germany to give $1.4 billion to Holocaust survivors globally in 2024. SENT: 640 words, photos.
BODY-PARTS-THEFT-CHARGES — A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people have been indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts. SENT: 550 words, photo.
FAA-COCKPIT BARRIERS — New airline planes will be required to have secondary barriers to the cockpit to protect pilots. SENT: 380 words, photo.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ELECTION 2024-SUAREZ — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez files paperwork to launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, jumping into the crowded race just a day after GOP front-runner Trump appeared in court on federal charges in Suarez’s city. SENT: 820 words, photo.
HOUSE-SCHIFF-CENSURE — The House rejects an effort to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff, turning aside a Republican attempt to fine the Democrat over his comments about former President Trump and investigations into his ties to Russia. SENT: 920 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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SUBWAY-CHOKEHOLD-DEATH — A man charged with manslaughter for putting an agitated New York City subway rider in a fatal chokehold has been indicted by a grand jury, an expected procedural step that will allow the criminal case to continue. SENT: 440 words, photos, video.
SOUTHERN-STORMS — Damaging winds and possible tornadoes toppled trees, damaged buildings and blew cars off a highway as powerful storms crossed the South from Texas to Georgia. SENT: 480 words, photo.
ARMY-SOLDIERS-AMBUSH-PLOT — A U.S. Army soldier from Ohio has pleaded guilty to trying to aid terrorists in a plot to ambush Army soldiers in the Middle East. SENT: 390 words, photo.
OREGON-WILDFIRES-UTILITY-LAWSUIT — An Oregon jury says the electric utility PacifiCorp must pay punitive damages for causing devastating wildfires in 2020. That’s on top of an earlier verdict expected to amount to billions of dollars. SENT 260 words, photos.
CHASING-HORSE-ARREST-NEVADA — Nathan Chasing Horse has been charged in Canada with new sex crimes in the latest case to be brought against the former “Dances With Wolves” actor, who remains jailed in Las Vegas as he awaits trial in a sweeping sexual abuse case. SENT: 470 words, photos.
HATE CRIME-SENTENCE — A southwestern Montana man has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after being convicted of a hate crime and firearms charges for threatening a woman with violent, homophobic slurs and shooting at her house with an assault rifle as part of a self-described “mission” to rid a small town of its LGBTQ community. SENT: 700 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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SOUTH ASIA-CYCLONE — A vast swath of western India and neighboring southern Pakistan that suffered deadly floods last year are bracing for a new deluge as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy whirls toward landfall. SENT: 390 words, photos.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest death in a spike of violence that has rocked the region. SENT: 200 words, photos.
CHINA-ABBAS — Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a drive by Beijing to elevate relations and increase its overall presence in the Middle East. SENT: 460 words, photos.
HONG-KONG-PROTEST-SONG — A popular Hong Kong protest song was no longer available Wednesday on several major music streaming sites and social media platforms, after the government sought an injunction to ban the tune. SENT: 390 words, photos.
JAPAN-SPRAY ATTACK — Police in the western Japanese city of Osaka said they have arrested a woman on suspicion of spraying an unknown liquid on several women inside a department store, causing pain to their faces and eyes. SENT: 170 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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DEATHS-YOUNG-AMERICANS — The homicide rate for older U.S. teenagers rose to its highest point in nearly 25 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suicide rate for adults in their early 20s was the worst in more than 50 years, government researchers said. By Medical Writer Mike Stobbe. SENT: 590 words, photo, graphic.
ISLE ROYALE-WOLVES — Grey wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, five years after they nearly died out. SENT: 780 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian shares were trading mixed after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. By Business Writer Yuri Kageyama. SENT: 650 words, photos.
RETAIL SALES — Economists expect May spending to be flat as Americans continue to struggle to keep up with persistently high inflation. By Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio. UPCOMING: 130 words, photo, after 8:30 a.m. release, then expanded.
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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
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OBIT-ROBERT-GOTTLIEB — Robert Gottlieb, the inspired and eclectic literary editor whose brilliant career was launched with Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” and continued for decades with such Pulitzer Prize-winning classics as Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker,” has died at age 92. By National Writer Hillel Italie. SENT: 1,670 words, photo.
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SPORTS
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BASEBALL PRIDE NIGHTS-RELIGION — Although 29 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams will host Pride Nights this season, the sport remains without an openly gay player. By Baseball Writer Jay Cohen. UPCOMING: 1,250 words, photos by 6 a.m. With BASEBALL PRIDE NIGHTS-PHOTO GALLERY.
US OPEN-SEASON OF UNCERTAINTY — The U.S. Open is set to tee off into uncharted territory, with the golf world perplexed by the recent shakeup-makeup between Saudi golf interests and the PGA Tour and 156 of the sport’s best players taking on Los Angeles Country Club, a course hardly anyone has seen. By National Writer Eddie Pells. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 6 a.m.; Play begins at 9:45 a.m.
KYRGIOS-MENTAL HEALTH — Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has revealed he spent time in a psychiatric ward following a loss at Wimbledon in 2019 because of suicidal thoughts. SENT: 440 words, photo.
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