AP News Digest 2:15 p.m.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.
_____________
_____________
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-INDIA — India’s crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections tearing through the populous country with terrifying speed, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors. By Sheikh Saaliq and Aijaz Hussain. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
BIDEN-100 DAYS — More action, less talk and something for the history books. That’s been the story of President Joe Biden’s first 100 days. There’s no question Biden has been fast out the gate with consequential actions, achieved without the drama of his predecessor. But it’s not all been smooth. By Jonathan Lemire and Calvin Woodward. SENT: 2,100 words, photos. A 960-word version also is available. With: BIDEN-100 DAYS-BY THE NUMBERS — Defining statistics from Biden’s early days as president, from jobs to the coronavirus. SENT: 430 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — Michigan has become the current national hotspot for COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations at a time when more than half the U.S. adult population has been vaccinated and other states have seen the virus diminish substantially. Medical professionals point to more contagious variants, the state’s pullback on restrictions to limit crowds and COVID fatigue as reasons for the surge, especially in rural, northern parts of the state that had largely avoided severe outbreaks. By Corey Williams, David Eggert and Lindsey Tanner. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
IRAQ-HOSPITAL FIRE — The death toll from a massive fire at a Baghdad hospital for coronavirus patients rose to at least 82 Sunday as anxious families searched for missing relatives and the government suspended key health officials for alleged negligence. SENT: 880 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-REPARATIONS — Decades-long debates over whether to offer reparations to the descendants of slaves in the U.S. finally seemed to be gaining momentum after last summer’s protests over racial inequities. While some cities are moving ahead, the efforts have largely stalled in the states. That’s raising questions about whether they can win enough support to succeed on a wide scale. By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn. SENT: 1,100 words, photos. This is the Monday Spotlight
UKRAINE-CHERNOBYL-AT-35 — The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income. By Yuras Karmanau. SENT: 940 words, photos.
OSCARS — An Oscars unlike any before will get underway with history on the line in major categories and a telecast retooled for the pandemic. The 93rd Academy Awards will begin at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. There will be no host, no audience, nor face masks for nominees attending the ceremony at Los Angeles’ Union Station — this year’s hub for a show usually broadcast from the Dolby Theatre. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 1,080 words, photos. UPCOMING: Updates expected after 6 p.m. and throughout the ceremony, which begins at 8 p.m. Sidebars to come include OSCARS-LIST, OSCARS-THE LATEST, OSCARS-FASHION, OSCARS-BEST ACTRESS, OSCARS-BEST ACTOR, OSCARS-BEST DIRECTOR, OSCARS-SUPPORTING ACTRESS, OSCARS-SUPPORTING ACTOR, OSCARS-DOCUMENTARY, OSCARS-ANIMATED FILM and OSCARS-INTERNATIONAL FILM.
_______________________________
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
_______________________________
INDONESIA-SUBMARINE — Indonesia’s military said all 53 crew members from a submarine that sank and broke apart last week are dead, and that search teams had located the vessel’s wreckage on the ocean floor. SENT: 400 words, photos.
FRANCE-ISRAEL-OBIT-ELBAZ — Israeli fashion designer Alber Elbaz, best known for being at the helm of Lanvin from 2001 to 2015, has died at the age of 59 from COVID-19, luxury conglomerate Richemont said. SENT: 230 words, photo.
PLANE CRASH-ARKANSAS — 4 killed in crash of light aircraft in Arkansas. SENT: 100 words.
CHINA-MOON-PROBE — Official says China’s moon probe will carry French and Russian gear. SENT: 200 words, photo.
FILM-BOX OFFICE — The weekend at movie theaters featured something not seen for a while: a genuine box-office battle. Warner Bros.′ “Mortal Kombat” reboot and the Japanese anime film “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” both vied for the top spot. SENT: 380 words, photo.
__________________________________
MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
_________________________________
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FASHION — After a year of being stuck in sweatpants and slippers, Americans are starting to dress up and go out again. Levi Strauss is reporting a resurgence in denim and at Macy’s, there’s more demand for dresses as proms and weddings resume. Such news offer a much needed sales boost for clothing, which has been in the dumps for a year. SENT: 870 words, photos.
EGYPT-COACH-VIRUS — Egypt’s national soccer team coach tests positive for coronavirus. SENT: 280 words.
SPAIN-VIRUS-OUTBREAK — Spanish man charged with infecting 22 people with COVID-19. SENT: 230 words.
_________________________
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
________________________
RACIAL INJUSTICE-MINORITY LEGISLATORS — In state legislatures across the country, lawmakers of color are seizing on the nation’s reckoning with racial injustice. They’re insisting equity be considered in a wide range of legislation, from marijuana legalization to antidiscrimination protections related to people’s hairstyles. And in many states, they have gained the numbers and political clout to move ambitious legislation forward. SENT: 1,250 words.
ELECTION 2020-ARIZONA-AUDIT — Months after former President Donald Trump’s election defeat, legislative Republicans in Arizona are challenging the outcome as they embark on an unprecedented effort to audit the results in the state’s most populous county. SENT: 930 words.
ELECTION 2022-SENATE-RON JOHNSON — Ron Johnson is in an uncomfortable class of his own. The Wisconsin Republican is the only senator in his party facing reelection next year in a state that backed Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race. But rather than moderate his politics to accommodate potentially shifting voter attitudes, Johnson is focusing even more intently on cultural issues that appeal to his party’s overwhelmingly white base. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.
_________________
INTERNATIONAL
_________________
TURKEY-ARMENIAN-GENOCIDE — Turkey’s foreign ministry has summoned the U.S. Ambassador in Ankara to protest the U.S. decision to mark the deportation and killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as “genocide.” SENT: 370 words.
ARMENIA-POLITICS — Armenia’s prime minister has resigned, a step necessary to hold snap parliamentary elections in June. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called the June 20 elections to try to resolve political tensions that arose after last year’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan. SENT: 150 words, photos.
ALBANIA-ELECTION — Initial exit polling data in Albania’s parliamentary election suggests the ruling Socialist Party is in a tight race with the opposition Democratic Party. SENT: 490 words, photos.
EUROPE-MIGRANTS — Rescue groups and the Vatican are decrying the latest deaths of migrants who put to sea in traffickers’ unseaworthy boats, amid laments that central Mediterranean nations are choosing not to dispatch vessels to save them. SENT: 900 words, photos. With: VATICAN-MIGRANTS — Pope Francis decried as shameful the deaths of 130 migrants in the Mediterranean, saying they pleaded for two days for help for their overcrowded, foundering rubber dinghy in the sea off Libya but potential rescuers choose “to look the other way.” SENT: 410 words, photos.
VATICAN-NEW PRIESTS — Pope Francis has given the Catholic church nine new priests, encouraging them in an ordination ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica to be humble, compassionate and close to the faithful. SENT: 380 words, photos.
FRANCE-POLICE STATION ATTACK — French authorities are questioning a fifth person in an anti-terrorism investigation seeking to identify potential accomplices and motives after a police official was fatally stabbed at a police station outside Paris. SENT: 255 words, photos.
FRANCE-ANTISEMITISM — Protesters in Paris and other French cities on Sunday denounced a ruling by France’s highest court that the killer of Jewish woman Sarah Halimi was not criminally responsible and therefore could not go on trial. SENT: 450 words, photos.
ISRAEL-MYSTERIOUS BLAST — A mysterious blast heard in central Israel appears to have come during a rocket engine test conducted at a secretive military base associated with the country’s missile program. That’s according to an analyst and satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press. SENT: 440 words, photo.
MIDEAST-JERUSALEM-EXPLAINER — Competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem have long fueled fighting between Israel and the Palestinians. But a new mix of players have made the latest round of violence particularly combustible. SENT: 990 words, photos.
LEBANON-MIGRANTS — The Lebanese army says troops have aborted an attempt to smuggle dozens of Syrian migrants to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The attempt to smuggle 69 Syrian citizens comes as Lebanon is witnessing a severe economic and financial crisis that has thrown more people into poverty. SENT: 270 words.
GUNFIRE-SOMALIA — Gunfire erupted in Somalia’s capital between soldiers loyal to the government and others angry at the country’s leader as tensions spiked over President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s extended stay in power. There were no reports of casualties, but the gunfire heard across much of the city highlighted earlier warnings that the election standoff could increase instability in the Horn of Africa nation. SENT: 300 words, photos.
BRITAIN-LONDON-RIDING-SCHOOL-PHOTO-GALLERY — AP PHOTOS: London riding club inspires children to saddle up. SENT: 440 words, photos.
___________
NATIONAL
___________
2020-CENSUS-MILLENNIAL-MIGRATION — Young adults are leaving states such as New York and California for new destinations including Colorado, Florida and Texas. This migration over the past decade is helping reshape the country’s political power structure. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
GEORGE FLOYD-NEXT TRIAL — With Derek Chauvin convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death, activists and the Floyd family are turning their attention to this summer’s trial for the other three officers involved in his May 2020 arrest. They go on trial in August. All three have already sought to shift responsibility to Chauvin. SENT: 870 words, photos.
ASIAN MAN-ATTACKED — A 61-year-old Asian man was attacked by a man who kicked him repeatedly in the head in East Harlem, police said. The man was collecting cans when he was attacked from behind, knocked to the ground and kicked in the head. SENT: 200 words.
DRONE OPERATORS V SURVEYORS — Here’s another industry being disrupted by technology: Licensed surveyors are objecting to maps that combine drone images with property lines. SENT: 800 words, photo.
KANSAS SHERIFF’S OFFICE-MISSING MONEY — More than $72,000 in seized cash went missing from a central Kansas sheriff’s department sometime after a drug bust on Interstate 70 in January 2017. Four years later, investigators have few answers. SENT: 800 words, photo.
—————————-
HEALTH/SCIENCE
—————————-
UNPROVEN-CANCER-DRUGS — U.S. regulators are convening a meeting to consider clawing back approvals from several cancer drugs that have failed to show they extend or improve life. Each year the U.S. approves dozens of new uses for cancer drugs based on early signs that they can shrink or slow tumor growth. But sometimes those promising results don’t translate into longer life for cancer patients. SENT: 1,000 words.
—————————-
SPORTS
—————————-
RAC--KENTUCKY DERBY-ECONOMIC IMPACT — In small steps, Louisville aims to rekindle Kentucky Derby buzz snuffed out by the pandemic. This year’s 147th Derby returns to its traditional first Saturday in May with up to 60% capacity at Churchill Downs. SENT: 820 words, photos.
CAR--NASCAR-TALLADEGA — Denny Hamlin starts on the pole at Talladega Superspeedway, where he won last fall. Hamlin and NASCAR’s other Cup Series contenders hope to avoid a repeat of that marathon caution-filled mashup. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos. Race in progress.
__________________
HOW TO REACH US
___________________
The Nerve Center can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, (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.