AP News Digest 3 am
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NEW/DEVELOPING
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ITALY-POPE — Pope Francis has been discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring. SENT: 460 words, photos.
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TOP STORIES
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TRUMP-DEMOCRATIC-NORMS — As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024. By Nicholas Riccardi and Gary Fields. SENT: 1,370 words, photo.
KOREAS-TENSIONS — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills. The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials. By Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung. SENT: 530 words, photos.
SEVERE WEATHER-TEXAS — A tornado ripped through the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, killing three people, injuring dozens more and causing widespread damage as another in a series of fierce storms carved its way through Southern states. The National Weather Service in Amarillo confirmed that a tornado hit the area Thursday afternoon. Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher told reporters that three people were killed in the storm. SENT: 670 words, photos, video.
CANADA-HIGHWAY CRASH — A bus carrying seniors to a casino collided with a semi-trailer truck at a highway intersection in a rural part of the Canadian province of Manitoba, killing 15 people and injuring 10 more, police said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the bus was carrying 25 people and authorities in Manitoba were deploying all their resources to the scene. Ten people were taken to hospitals. By Rob Gillies. SENT: 630 words, photos.
FEDERAL AGENCIES-HACK — The Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were compromised in a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s global hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations and governments, but the impact was not expected to be great, Homeland Security officials said. But for others among what could be hundreds of victims from industry to higher education — including patrons of at least two state motor vehicle agencies — the hack was beginning to show some serious impacts. By Technology Writer Frank Bajak. SENT: 900 words, photo.
MIGRATION-GREECE — Nine survivors from a migrant boat that sank were arrested on suspicion of smuggling as hope faded for hundreds of missing passengers and attention turned to Greece’s failure to act before the overcrowded ship capsized. The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, including women and children who were likely trapped in the hold as the vessel overturned and went down. By Derek Gatopoulos and Nicholas Paphitis. SENT: 1,140 words, photos, videos.
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog visited Europe’s largest atomic power plant in southern Ukraine, where a recent dam burst and the start of a counteroffensive in the war by Kyiv’s forces have heightened safety risks. SENT: 500 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-RUSSIA — Russia accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for canceling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy, which the Australian government judged to be a security risk because it was too close to Parliament House. SENT: 390 words, photos, video.
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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES
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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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MORE NEWS
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HEAT-MCGREGOR-ALLEGATION — Conor McGregor is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at an NBA Finals game in Miami. SENT: 360 words, photos.
BILL COSBY-LOOKBACK LAWS-EXPLAINER — Bill Cosby accusers seek to expand time frames for lawsuits by sex-assault victims. SENT: 810 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ELECTION 2024-BIDEN-UNIONS — Joe Biden opened his 2020 presidential run at a Pittsburgh union hall. The first political rally of his reelection campaign will be held Saturday at a union gathering on the other side of Pennsylvania, punctuating just how much the president is counting on labor support to carry him to a second term. By Will Weissert and Seung Min Kim. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
ELECTION 2024-SUAREZ — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, the newest candidate in the Republican presidential field, drew some distinctions between himself and his rivals Thursday, suggesting that the six-week abortion ban signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is too severe and showing an openness to changing the country’s immigration system. SENT: 860 words, photos.
BIDEN-GUN CONTROL — About a year ago, President Biden signed the first significant piece of federal gun safety legislation in nearly three decades. It was a great start, Biden has said, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. On Friday, the president will speak at a “safer communities” summit led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and major gun safety groups. By Colleen Long. UPCOMING: 500 words, photo by 5:30 a.m. Speech at 2:05 p.m.
WHITE HOUSE-LABOR SECRETARY — The White House hopes a just-brokered deal between West Coast dockworkers and shippers will give a much-needed boost to the stalled nomination of Julie Su for Secretary of Labor. SENT: 740 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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GEORGE-FLOYD-MINNEAPOLIS-POLICE — The findings of a two-year investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, prompted by the death of George Floyd, are expected to be announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. SENT: 730 words, photos.
FTX-BANKMAN-FRIED — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried may face two criminal trials after a federal judge granted a request by prosecutors to delay a trial on some of the charges until next year. SENT: 530 words, photos, video.
BORDER PATROL-CUSTODY DEATH — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reassigned its chief medical officer after the in-custody death of an 8-year-old girl whose mother’s pleas for an ambulance were ignored despite her daughter’s chronic heart condition, rare blood disorder, high fever and other ailments, authorities said Thursday. SENT: 270 words, photo.
ABORTION-IOWA — An Iowa court ruling could outlaw most abortions in the state or keep the procedure legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, at least for now. SENT: 310 words, photo.
STANLEY CUP-SHOOTING — Less than four hours before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final was set to begin on the Las Vegas Strip, authorities in Nevada arrested a man they say threatened to carry out a mass shooting at the arena where the Golden Knights would capture their first championship that night. SENT: 570 words, photos.
SEATTLE-PREGNANT WOMAN KILLED — A pregnant woman who was killed in what appears to have been a random shooting in downtown Seattle has been identified as the owner of a sushi restaurant near the city’s famed Pike Place Market. SENT: 400 words, photos.
INDONESIA-US-SUITCASE-MURDER — The daughter of an American woman whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase at an Indonesian resort island is scheduled to appear in Chicago federal court to change her plea to guilty on charges she helped kill her mother in Bali nine years ago. SENT: 350 words, photo.
IDAHO-HATE CRIMES CHARGES — A man has pleaded guilty to hate crime charges for threatening to use his vehicle to hit an Idaho library worker who defended a transgender co-worker, as well as two women he believed were lesbians, according to court documents and the U.S. Justice Department. SENT: 320 words.
ATHLETICS-NEVADA — Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law a $380 million public financing package to help build a Major League Baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics on the Las Vegas Strip as MLB’s commissioner outlined a months-long approval process for the A’s proposed move there. SENT: 640 words, photo.
CALIFORNIA-WILD MUSTARD INVASION — Among the most prominent of blooming plants that are seemingly everywhere in California this year following an unusually wet winter is the highly flammable wild mustard that threatens to fuel wildfires. The problem grabbed the attention of land management officials, along with fashion designers, artists, and chefs who are tackling the invasion by harvesting it to use in everything from clothing dyes to pesto. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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SOUTH ASIA-CYCLONE — Cyclone Biparjoy knocked out power and threw shipping containers into the sea Friday in western India before aiming its lashing winds and rain at part of Pakistan that suffered devastating floods last year. A man and his son died trying to save their livestock in Gujarat state, where the storm came ashore late Thursday after more than 180,000 people took shelter in the two countries. SENT: 610 words, photos, video.
SUDAN-NO DOCUMENTS — Tens of thousands of Sudanese have been stranded in towns along their country’s northern border with Egypt. After fleeing the raging fighting between rival generals for two months, they have been facing obstacles in getting the right travel documents needed to make the border crossing. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
NORDICS-DROUGHT — Summer is wildfire season in southern Europe, but this year the continent’s north is also at risk, with forest fire warnings in effect across the Nordic and Baltic countries. A lack of rain and rising temperatures have led to dangerously dry conditions in the region, leading to worries of a repeat of the summer of 2018 when major wildfires swept across Sweden in particular. SENT: 880 words, photos.
EMIRATES-SEAWORLD — The U.S. theme park chain SeaWorld, mired in controversy in recent years over its treatment of killer whales and other marine mammals, has opened a massive new aquatic life park in the United Arab Emirates, its first outside the United States. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
PAKISTAN-IMF — The International Monetary Fund slammed Pakistan’s government over its proposal for the new annual budget, saying it failed to implement a more fair tax system in the draft. SENT: 470 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian shares logged moderate gains after Wall Street benchmarks swept higher, extending their longest rally in a year and a half. By Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 610 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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MUSIC-SONGWRITERS-HALL — Gloria Estefan sang a medley of her hits, Post Malone sang one of his forgotten gems, Teddy Riley swayed to New Jack Swing and Jeff Lynne rocked out to “Mr. Blue Sky” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony Thursday night. By Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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GLF-US OPEN — Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele became part of U.S. Open history in a most unfathomable manner. No one had ever shot 62 in the previous 122 editions of golf’s toughest test until they did it some 15 minutes apart. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BBO-REL-BASEBALL PRIDE NIGHTS-RELIGION — Devout baseball fans might view their teams’ performance as heavenly or hellish, depending on the quality of play. Currently, it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers’ handling of their annual Pride Night — not the team’s record — that has provoked emotional reactions from religious people, including prominent faith leaders, Catholic nuns, and even the team’s All-Star ace. UPCOMING: 1,200 words, photos by 6 a.m.
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