AP News Digest 4 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Ukraine’s nuclear power provider accused Russia of “kidnapping” the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a facility now occupied by Russian troops. Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. SENT: 170 words, photos. With RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THE-LATEST.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina waited for daylight to assess damage from the storm’s second strike as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest disasters to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north. By Meg Kinnard and Adriana Gomez Licon. SENT: 750 words, photos, video, audio.
ELECTION 2022-MICHIGAN-ABORTION — Women are gathering across Michigan to strategize how to preserve abortion rights in their state. The small, personal conversations are playing out alongside more traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, with major stakes for both abortion rights and the mostly Democratic candidates who support them. By Sara Burnett. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
MILITARY-RECRUITING STRUGGLES — The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this year, despite a frantic effort to make up the widely expected gap in a year when all the military services struggled in a tight jobs market to find young people willing and fit to enlist. By Lolita C. Baldor. SENT: 940 words, photos.
KOREAS-TENSIONS — North Korea has test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, its neighbors said, the fourth round this week of weapons launches that prompted quick, strong condemnation from its rivals. By Yung-Jin Kim and Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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MORE ON HURRICANE IAN
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TROPICAL-WEATHER-RIVER-FLOODS — As Hurricane Ian ravaged coastal towns in southwest Florida, residents in this quiet suburb thought they would be safe, having no beach and living outside areas under evacuation orders. But then the water kept flowing in. Since Ian’s passage, water levels have gone up significantly, turning roads into canals, reaching mailboxes, flooding SUVs and trucks, blocking the main access to a an interstate highway and leaving families trapped in their waterlogged homes. Now, as days go by, residents here in the Sarasota suburb of North Point are beginning to run out of food and water. SENT: 750 words, photos, video.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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UN-HUMAN-RIGHTS-CHINA-RUSSIA — Western countries are leading a rare two-pronged push at the U.N.’s main human rights body to better scrutinize the human rights records of two big world powers: China, over allegations of abuses during an anti-extremism campaign in western Xinjiang, and Russia, over its government’s crackdown on dissent and protest against the war in Ukraine. SENT: 940 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-PUTIN-SPEECH — Russian President Vladimir Putin cast his move to absorb four Ukrainian regions as part of an existential battle for Russia’s very survival against an aggressive West, a blustery show of his readiness to further up the ante in the conflict in Ukraine that has now entered its eighth month. SENT: 900 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-A-MOMENT-ANALYSIS — There are moments in history that appear as critical to the world as they are terrifying. Friday seemed one of those watershed moments, as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to illegally annex a large swath of eastern and southern Ukraine, like it did with Crimea in 2014. By Tamer Fakahany. SENT: 610 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CAPTURED AMERICANS — Even after three months of captivity that included execution threats, physical torture, solitary confinement and food deprivation, it was the ride to freedom that nearly broke Alex Drueke, a U.S. military veteran released last week with nine other prisoners who went to help Ukraine fight off Russian invaders. SENT: 710 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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FIVE-FOUND-DEAD-TEXAS — Officials have disclosed the identities of five people killed in a Central Texas neighborhood, as well as the suspect in the slayings. SENT: 170 words, photo.
INTERNATIONAL-BALLOON-FESTIVAL — Hundreds of hot air balloons are scheduled to lift off Saturday morning, marking the start of an annual fiesta that has drawn pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico’s high desert for 50 years now. SENT: 610 words, photos.
OBIT-ANTONIO INOKI — A popular Japanese professional wrestler and lawmaker Antonio Inoki, who faced a world boxing champion Muhammad Ali in a mixed martial arts match in 1976, has died at 79. SENT: 560 words, photos.
FATAL-SHOOTING-HOMECOMING — A teenager was killed and another was wounded in a shooting at a high school homecoming football game in Oklahoma, police say. SENT: 140 words.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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JIMMY CARTER — Jimmy Carter, already the longest-living U.S. president in history, will celebrate his 98th birthday with extended family and friends in Plains, the tiny south-Georgia town where he and his wife, 95-year-old Rosalynn, were born. By Bill Barrow. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
ELECTION-2022-SOUTH-DAKOTA-GOVERNOR — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem indicated during her reelection campaign’s lone debate with her Democratic challenger, state lawmaker Jamie Smith, that if reelected she will uphold the state’s abortion ban that provides no exceptions for rape or incest. SENT: 770 words, photos.
ELECTION-2022-GOVERNOR-NEW-MEXICO — Republican nominee for governor Mark Ronchetti a rallying cry for residents who are dissatisfied with crime and public education in a live-broadcast debate Friday, while incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed to protect abortion access and defended her response to disasters and her approach to investments in social programs. SENT: 760 words, photos.
JILL BIDEN — First lady Jill Biden says Republican leaders have underestimated the power of women and it’s up to Democrats to make sure the GOP doesn’t make that mistake again. SENT: 330 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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CALIFORNIA-CRIMINAL-JUSTICE — California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mixed verdict on more than three dozen criminal justice laws before his bill-signing deadline Friday, approving measures to seal criminal records and free dying inmates but denying bids to restrict solitary confinement and boost inmates’ wages. SENT: 710 words, photos.
HAWAII-TAINTED-WATER — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hawaii this week amid lingering community frustration and distrust after jet fuel from a military storage facility last year spilled into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water, poisoned thousands of military families and threatened the purity of Honolulu’s water supply. SENT: 890 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-CONSERVATORSHIPS — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill limiting conservatorships that grant legal guardianship over individuals, a move that comes after Britney Spears’ conservatorship case garnered national attention amid her attempts to regain control over her finances and livelihood. SENT: 520 Words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-GAS-PRICES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that oil refineries could start selling more polluting winter-blend gasoline ahead of schedule to ease soaring fuel prices, directly contradicting his own goals for reducing climate pollutants. SENT: 790 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-TRANSGENDER-YOUTH — A new law aims to stop other states from punishing children who come to California for transgender surgeries and other gender-affirming care, a move that will intensify conflicts between Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Republican governors amid the country’s escalating culture war. SENT: 630 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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FIFA-IRAN-PROTEST — Political issues are swirling around the Iran men’s soccer team amid turmoil on the streets at home just weeks before the World Cup where it will play the United States, Wales and England. SENT: 700 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-YEMEN — The U.N. chief is strongly urging Yemen’s warring parties to not only renew but expand a truce that expires Sunday, saying it has brought the longest period of relative calm since the conflict began in 2014. SENT: 310 word, photo.
CUBA-POWER-BLACKOUT — Groups of Cubans protested Friday night in the streets of Havana for a second night, decrying delays in fully restoring electricity three days after Hurricane Ian knocked out power across the island. SENT: 650 words, photos.
CHINA-NATIONAL-DAY — Hong Kong’s leader promised Saturday to revive its struggling economy following a campaign to crush a pro-democracy movement as China’s ruling Communist Party marked its 73rd anniversary in power under strict anti-virus controls. SENT: 630 words, photos.
MEXICO-MILITARY-HACK — A massive trove of emails from Mexico’s Defense Department is among electronic communications taken by a group of hackers from military and police agencies across several Latin American countries, Mexico’s president has confirmed. SENT: 630 words.
UNITED-NATIONS-CONGO — The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, which was the target of deadly protests during the summer, said the United Nations is “ready and willing” to work closely with the government to step up the pace of withdrawal of the U.N. force that has over 14,000 troops and police. SENT: 460 words.
MALAYSIA-US-AIR-SAFETY — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has upgraded Malaysia’s air safety rating to Category 1, allowing the country’s carriers to expand flights to the United States after a three-year hiatus, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong says. SENT: 300 words, photo.
LATVIA-ELECTIONS — Polling stations opened in Latvia for a general election influenced by neighboring Russia’s attack on Ukraine, disintegration among the Baltic country’s sizable ethnic-Russian minority and the economy, particularly high energy prices. SENT: 170 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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TESLA-ROBOT — An early prototype of Tesla Inc.’s proposed Optimus humanoid robot slowly and awkwardly walked onto a stage, turned, and waved to a cheering crowd at the company’s artificial intelligence event. By Business Writers Tom Krisher and Matt O'Brien. SENT: 840 words, photo
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ENTERTAINMENT
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TV-SVENGOOLIE-HALLOWEEN — Rich Koz is keeping the grandly eccentric tradition of the horror movie host alive on MeTV’s “Svengoolie” and can count Mark, Joe Mantegna and, just maybe, Lady Gaga among his fans. But it’s a compliment he received from Rick Baker, a seven-time Oscar winner for special make-up effects, that most gratifies him. Koz has played the wisecracking, endearingly cheesy, old-school-horror-loving Svengoolie for nearly three decades. By Television Writer Lynn Elber. SENT: 940 words, photos.
MUSIC-THE JUDDS-OUTTAKES — The family of the late country music matriarch Naomi Judd is reflecting on her legacy ahead of an 11-city tour that will give fans a chance to say goodbye and rejoice in the music that became the soundtrack of their lives. By Entertainment Writer Kristin M. Hall. SENT: 840 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBN-NFL-CONCUSSIONS — The NFL’s concussion protocol has dramatically evolved from the days when players were handed smelling salts on the bench and sent back into the game. Still, football is a violent sport and injuries similar to the frightening one Tua Tagovailoa suffered Thursday night seem unavoidable. By Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi. SENT: 1,250 words, photos. With FBN--TUA-EXPLAINER -- Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a second frightening injury in five days when he was carted off the field Thursday, and many want to know why he was playing at all (sent).
FBN—DOLPHINS-TAGOVAILOA — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion Thursday night against Cincinnati and underwent additional testing Friday. By Alanis Thames. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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