AP News Digest 7 a.m.
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THE FACEBOOOK PAPERS
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FACEBOOK PAPERS-MAID ABUSE: Apple once threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the services being used to trade and sell maids in the Mideast, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Even after publicly promising to crack down, Facebook acknowledged in internal documents it was “under-enforcing on confirmed abusive activity” that saw Filipina maids publicly complaining on the social media site of being abused. By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 1750 words, photos. An abridged version also will move.
FACEBOOK PAPERS-LOST IN TRANSLATION: Facebook is over-zealous in going after suspected terrorism content in Arabic, incorrectly taking down users more often than not because of a lack of Arabic language reviewers, according to documents obtained by the AP. The off-the-mark policing has led to accusations that the social media giant is stifling free speech in a part of the world where there are few other avenues for it. By Isabel Debre and Fares Akram. SENT: 2400 words, photos, video. An abridged version will move.
FACEBOOK PAPERS-HOUSE OF CARDS: Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product. It is overestimating users -- and by extension, how much money it can make from them and how well advertisers can reach them. Executives began worrying about losing ground with teens and young people as far back as 2012 and it’s only gotten worse since then. In search for new users Facebook has gone all out to grow outside the U.S. and Western Europe, but as its user base there grew, it didn’t do enough to mitigate the harms this growth brought, with disastrous consequences. Efforts within the company to mitigate this are largely abandoned when it conflicts with growth (and by extension, profit), unless there is a media outcry, and then by and large only on the surface. By Barbara Ortutay. SENT: 1200 words, photos.
FACEBOOK PAPERS-EXPLAINER: The Facebook Papers represents a unique collaboration between 17 American news organizations, including The Associated Press. SENT: 400 words.
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TOP STORIES
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SUDAN — Sudan’s leading general has declared a state of emergency, hours after his forces arrested the acting prime minister and other senior government officials. The information ministry described Monday’s actions as a coup. In response, thousands flooded the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the apparent military takeover. Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them. The United States and the European Union expressed concern over the developments. A U.S. envoy says he was “deeply alarmed” by reports of the takeover. By Samy Magdy. SENT: 950 words, photos. WITH: SUDAN-THE LATEST (sent)
BIDEN-BUDGET — Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s scaled-back social services and climate change package. By Lisa Mascaro and Hope Yen. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
CLIMATE-BRITAIN ECONOMY OR ECOLOGY — A proposal to dig a new coal mine in northern England is dividing the British government just as it prepares to host a major climate conference. West Cumbria Mining wants to build Britain’s first deep coal mine in three decades to extract coking coal, which is used to make steel. By Jo Kearney and Jill Lawless. SENT: 970 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-STORMS — A powerful storm barreled toward Southern California after flooding highways, toppling trees and causing mud flows in areas burned bare by recent fires across the northern part of the state. Drenching showers and strong winds accompanied the arrival of an atmospheric river — a long and wide plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding was reported across the San Francisco Bay Area. SENT: 640 words, photos.
MILITARY-CONFEDERATE NAMES -- Civil War history casts a long shadow in Virginia, the birthplace of Confederate generals, scene of their surrender, and now a crossroad of controversy over renaming military bases that honor rebel leaders. By Robert Burns. SENT, 1,280 words, photos.
FRANCE ELECTION-ZEMMOUR — A rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech is rocking the early stages of France’s race to replace President Emmanuel Macron. Eric Zemmour is finding large and fervent audiences for his anti-Islam and anti-immigration invective. He is packing auditoriums with paying crowds and filling supporters’ heads with visions of a Trump-like leap from the small screen to the presidential palace when France votes in April. By John Leicester. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
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TRENDING NEWS
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OBIT-JAMES MICHAEL TAYLOR — James Michael Tyler the actor known widely for his recurring role as Gunther on “Friends,” has died. He was 59. Tyler died Sunday at home in Los Angeles from prostrate cancer, said his manager, Toni Benson. SENT: 330 words, photos.
EMERGENCY LANDING-WISCONSIN — An American Airlines plane traveling from New York to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing in Wisconsin. SENT: 120 words.
CHINA LAB EXPLOSION — State media report that a laboratory explosion at a university in eastern China has killed two people and injured nine. SENT: 150 words.
NETS-VACCINE-PROTEST — Demonstrators supporting Nets guard Kyrie Irving and protesting New York’s vaccine mandate gathered outside Barclays Center on Sunday before Brooklyn’s home opener. SENT: 390 words, photo.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-RUSSIA — Russia has reported another daily record of confirmed coronavirus cases as a surge in infections has prompted the Kremlin to tell most people to stay away from work starting later this week. SENT: 420 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA — Several Chinese provinces and cities say they’ll start giving COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as 3 after already fully vaccinating 76% of the population. The expansion of its vaccination campaign comes as parts of China take new clampdown measures to try to stamp out small outbreaks. SENT: 690 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-JAPAN — People in Tokyo can eat and drink in bars and restaurants later in the evening starting Monday as officials ease social distancing rules with the country’s daily coronavirus cases reaching their lowest levels in more than a year. Experts have been puzzled by Japan’s sudden decline in virus cases. SENT: 350 words, photos.
VIRUS OUBTREAK-COVID PILL — Pharmaceutical company Merck has asked the European Medicines Agency to authorize its COVID-19 antiviral treatment. In a statement on Monday, Merck said the EU drug regulator has started an expedited licensing process for molnupiravir, which is the first pill that has been shown to treat COVID-19. SENT: 200 words.
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WASHINGTON
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VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-SUBURBS -- Republican Glenn Youngkin is highlighting cases of alleged sex crime in schools to help repair the GOP’s standing in the Virginia suburbs, where educated moms and dads have turned against Donald Trump’s Republican Party. By Steve Peoples, Sarah Rankin and Will Weissert. SENT: 1,230 words, photos.
CONGRESS-BIDEN-NOMINATIONS -- The Senate’s willingness to confirm a president’s nominees took a downward turn during Donald Trump’s first year in office. And it has only gotten worse for President Joe Biden By Kevin Freking. SENT: 1,110 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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SAUDI-CBS INTERVIEW — A former senior Saudi security official who helped oversee joint U.S counterterrorism efforts claims the kingdom’s crown prince once spoke of killing a sitting Saudi monarch before his own father was crowned king. The former official, Saad al-Jabri, did not provide evidence for the claim to the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday. SENT: 780 words, photos.
FACEBOOK — Former Facebook data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen plans to answer questions from lawmakers in the United Kingdom who are working on legislation to rein in the power of social media companies. SENT: 650 words, photos.
KOREAS-TENSIONS — South Korea’s president says he’ll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests. SENT: 530 words, photos.
CLIMATE AUSTRALIA — Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that a fifth National’s party minister will join his Cabinet as part of deal to cement the junior coalition partner’s support for a national target of zero net carbon emissions by 2050. SENT: 610 words, photo.
ASEAN — Southeast Asian leaders are meeting this week for their annual summit with world leaders but without Myanmar’s top general. He has been shut out for refusing to take steps to end the deadly violence sparked by his forces’ seizure of power in February. SENT: 880 words, photos.
MEXICO-TROPICAL WEATHER — A slightly strengthened and compact Hurricane Rick is closing in on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, heading toward a predicted landfall late Monday morning amid warnings of potential flash floods in the coastal mountains. SENT: 250 words.
HAITI-FUEL-SHORTAGES — Haiti’s capital has been brought to the brink of exhaustion by fuel shortages, after staggering along despite an earthquake, the assassination of the president, gang violence and mass kidnappings. SENT: 730 words, photo.
FRANCE-RETURNING AFRICAN ART — In a decision with potential ramifications across European museums, France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them home to Benin. The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army in the 19th century from Western Africa. SENT: 590 words, photos.
GERMANY-IS VERDICT — A German convert to Islam has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges that, as a member of the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq, she allowed a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave to die of thirst in the hot sun. SENT: 310 words, photos.
HONG KONG — Amnesty International will close its two offices in Hong Kong this year, becoming the latest non-governmental organization to cease its operations amid a crackdown on political dissent in the city. SENT: 440 words.
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NATIONAL
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CHILD SKELETAL REMAINS FOUND — A sheriff in Texas says the skeletal remains of a child and three abandoned children have been found in an apartment. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says a 15-year-old called to report his 9-year-old brother had been dead for a year and was inside the home. SENT: 260 words.
HAITI-US KIDNAPPED MISSIONAIRIES-VIGIL — More than 100 people gathered in a small Michigan town to pray for the safe release of a local family among 17 members of a missionary group kidnapped by a gang in Haiti more than a week ago. SENT: 350 words, photos.
KENOSHA-PROTEST SHOOTINGS — A Wisconsin judge may decide at a hearing Monday whether use-of-force experts can testify at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial for shooting three people during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha last year. The hearing is likely the last before Rittenhouse goes on trial Nov. 1 . SENT: 460 words, photos. DEVELOPING: The court hearing is scheduled to start at 2:15 p.m. CT Monday.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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NABE BUSINESS CONDITIONS — The nation’s business economists are slightly less optimistic about growth prospects over the next year. They note a number of threats ranging from higher-than-expected inflation to lingering disruptions from COVID-19 and snarled supply chains. SENT: 580 words.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian stock markets are mixed after Wall Street slipped and China tightened travel controls in some areas in response to coronavirus infections. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced while Tokyo declined. SENT: 490 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-DIGICEL — Australian telco Telstra has partnered with the Australian government in a $1.6 billion deal to buy the South Pacific operations of Digicel in a deal that would prevent a key part of the region’s telecommunications infrastructure from falling into Chinese hands. SENT: 350 words, photos.
JAPAN-TOYOTA — Toyota says it’s testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products. The engines burn hydrogen as fuel instead of gasoline, much like rockets. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
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FILM-BOX OFFICE — Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” debuted with $40.1 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend in North America, drawing moviegoers to see the thundering sci-fi epic on the big screen despite it also being available in homes. SENT: 860 words, photos.
JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL-YOSHIDA — Boxers, janitors, fishermen, the heroes of Keisuke Yoshida’s movies are Japanese society’s angst-filled losers, struggling in an imperfect world. The director and his three latest works are featured at the Tokyo International Film Festival opening Oct. 30. SENT: 710 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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COLTS-49ERS — Carson Wentz threw two TD passes and ran for another score to lead the Indianapolis Colts to a rain-soaked 30-18 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts overcame the wet conditions and an early nine-point deficit to win for the third time in four games following an 0-3 start to the season. SENT: 910 words, photos,
BBO-LABOR — Baseball’s ninth work stoppage and first in 26 years appears almost certain to start Dec. 2, freezing the free-agent market and threatening the start of spring training in February. SENT: 730 words, photo.
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HOW TO REACH US
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