AP News Digest 3:15 a.m.
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.
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TOP STORIES
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THAILAND-CHILDCARE CENTER SHOOTING — Friends hugged sobbing family members struggling with staggering loss Friday in a rural northeastern Thailand community mourning the children and other victims slain by a fired police officer in the nation’s deadliest shooting rampage. At least 24 of the 36 people killed in the assault Thursday in the small town of Uthai Sawan were children. By Tassanee Vejpongsa and David Rising. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-BIDEN — President Joe Biden says the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine. By Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller. SENT: 640 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-CRIME — Republicans up and down the ballot have overwhelmingly focused on sending a message that violent crime is out of control. The message has appeared in competitive Senate contests in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada, along with scores of races for U.S. House seats and governor’s mansions. By Michelle L. Price and Jesse Bedayn. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.
FRANCE-MACRON-EUROPEAN-LEADERSHIP — French President Emmanuel Macron and over 40 European leaders have sought to show the unity of the continent faced with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The symbolic image made the inaugural summit of the European Political Community a success for Macron. The forum aimed at boosting security and prosperity across the continent brought together existing EU members, aspiring partners in the Balkans and Eastern Europe as well as Britain and Turkey. Russia was the one major European power not invited, along with its neighbor and supporter in the war, Belarus. By Sylvie Corbet. SENT: 700 words, photos.
MUSK-TWITTER — A judge has delayed a looming trial between Twitter and Elon Musk, giving the Tesla CEO more time to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months spent fighting to get out of it. By Technology Writers Matt O'Brien and Barbara Ortutay. SENT: 460 words, photo.
CALIFORNIA-FAMILY KIDNAPPED — The suspect in the kidnapping and killings of an 8-month-old baby, her parents and an uncle had worked for the family’s trucking business and had a longstanding feud with them that culminated in an act of “pure evil,” a sheriff says. By Stefanie Dazio and Olga R. Rodriguez. SENT: 780 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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ARGENTINA-SOCCER-RIOT — At least one person died while police clashed with soccer fans trying to push into an Argentine league match and the referee stopped the game as clouds of tear gas spread inside the stadium. SENT: 390 words, photos.
PHILADELPHIA PRISON EXPERIMENTS-APOLOGY — The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s. SENT: 310 words, photos.
NEW-ZEALAND-ABUSE-CASE-OVERTURNED — New Zealand’s Supreme Court on Friday took the unusual step of overturning a man’s convictions even though he died three years ago. The court found there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice after Peter Ellis was convicted of sexually abusing children at the daycare center where he worked as a teacher more than 30 years ago. SENT: 380 words.
COAST GUARD ACADEMY-PARENT BAN — A U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet who was expelled for becoming a father will get his degree as part of a legal settlement, his attorneys say. SENT: 480 words, photo.
TOM BRADY-FLAG LAWSUIT — The owner of a U.S. flag signed by quarterback Tom Brady has sued the New England Patriots, saying the team caused irreparable damage to the flag by improperly displaying it at the team’s hall of fame at Gillette Stadium. SENT: 360 words, photos.
FILM-GLASS ONION-THEATERS — For the first time, the major U.S. theater chains will play a Netflix release after exhibitors and the streaming service reached a deal for a nationwide sneak-peak run of Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” SENT: 380 words, photos.
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR
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RUSSIA-PUTIN AT 70 — As he turns 70, Russian President Vladimir Putin finds himself in the eye of a storm of his own making: His army is suffering humiliating defeats in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of Russians are fleeing his mobilization order, and his top lieutenants are publicly insulting military leaders. SENT; 960 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Russian missiles hit apartment buildings in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, a local official said, killing three people and wounding at least 12 in a region that houses Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant and which Moscow has illegally annexed. By Adam Schreck. SENT: 1,070 words, photos, video.
EUROPE-ENERGY — European Union leaders converged on Prague Castle on a crisp Friday morning to try to bridge significant differences over a natural gas price cap as winter approaches and Russia’s war on Ukraine fuels a major energy crisis. SENT: 350 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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UNITED STATES-SAUDI ARABIA-FIST BUMP FAIL — President Biden acknowledges the failure of his fist-bump with the de-facto leader of Saudi Arabia. That fist bump was followed this week by a big oil production cut that threatens to drive inflation even higher and push gas prices back toward voter-angering levels just before U.S. midterms. By Ellen Knickmeyer and Kevin Freking. SENT: 1,280 words, photos, video. With OIL PRICES-EXPLAINER — Oil cartel OPEC and its allies are cutting production. And that means oil prices are likely going up. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
BIDEN-MARIJUANA — President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that disproportionately impact people of color. By Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian. SENT: 910 words, photos.
BIDEN-IMMIGRATION — President Biden has pledged himself to “fixing our immigration system for good.” He’s tackling near-term issues, but an increasingly divided nation can’t agree on what a longer-term fix to the system should look like — basic questions like should there be more immigrants coming in, or fewer? By Colleen Long. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-ARIZONA-SENATE — Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly distanced himself from President Joe Biden on Thursday, calling the U.S.-Mexico border “a mess” and saying his party doesn’t understand border issues during his first and only debate against his Republican challenger Blake Masters. SENT: 1,140 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-GEORGIA-WALKER — Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker remains defiant after reports alleging he encouraged and paid for a woman’s 2009 abortion — and later fathered a child with her. SENT: 830 words, photos.
CAPITOL RIOT-OATH KEEPERS — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testifies in Rhodes’ Capitol riot trial. SENT: 800 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-ABORTION-NORTH CAROLINA — Planned Parenthood’s political arm announced a $5 million investment Thursday in North Carolina’s battleground races as Democrats fight to preserve the governor’s veto power in one of the last abortion access points in the Southeast. SENT: 670 words, photos.
CAPITOL RIOT-PROUD BOYS — A North Carolina man pleads guilty to plotting with other members of the far-right Proud Boys to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, making him the first member of the extremist group to plead guilty to a seditious conspiracy charge. By Michael Kunzelman. SENT: 640 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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HURRICAN-IAN-FLOODING — Christine Barrett and her family had to climb on top of their kitchen cabinets because of flooding that surged into their house during Hurricane Ian. They put water wings on their 1-year-old, and were rescued by boat the next day. Their community of North Port is about 5 miles inland. And the Barretts — like many neighbors — live in areas where flood insurance isn’t required. And therefore they don’t have it. Now many wonder how they’ll afford much-needed repairs. There are concerns that not enough people nationally have flood insurance at a time when climate change is believed to be making storms wetter. The Insurance Information Institute says only about 4% of homeowners nationwide have flood insurance although 90% of catastrophes in the U.S. involve flooding. SENT: 980 words, photos.
NEWTOWN-SHOOTING-INFOWARS-EXPLAINER — For a decade, the parents and siblings of people killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have been tormented and harassed by people who believe the mass shooting was a hoax. How do you put a price tag on their suffering? That’s part of the task faced by a Connecticut jury that has been asked to decide how much Infowars host Alex Jones and his company should pay for spreading a conspiracy theory that the massacre never happened. SENT: 630 words, photos.
TROPICAL-WEATHER — Hurricane Ian’s death toll has climbed into the triple digits. The number of recorded storm-related deaths rose Thursday to at least 101 in the eight days since the storm made landfall in southwest Florida. Of the total deaths, 92 were in Florida, according to reports from the Florida Medical Examiners Commission. Other storm deaths include five in North Carolina, three in Cuba and one in Virginia. Ian is the second-deadliest storm to hit the mainland United States in the 21st century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left more than 1,800 people dead in 2005. SENT: 810 words, photos, video.
BALLOT-FRAUD-ARIZONA — A parade of character witnesses provided a judge Thursday with glowing reports about a southern Arizona woman who admitted collecting four voted early ballots in the 2020 primary election, as her lawyer seeks leniency and prosecutors urge him to send her to prison for a year. SENT: 700 words, photos.
LAS VEGAS STRIP-STABBINGS — A suspect was arrested in connection with a stabbing attack along the Las Vegas Strip that left one person dead and at least five others wounded, police said. SENT: 510 words, photo, video.
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INTERNATIONAL
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MIGRATION-MEDITERRANEAN-EXPLAINER — The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant smuggling boats off Greece has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route, the risks migrants and refugees are willing to take and the political infighting that has thwarted a safe European response to people fleeing war, poverty and climate change. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
PHILIPPINES-MARCOS — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been reaffirming ties with the United States in a key turnaround from the often-hostile demeanor his predecessor displayed toward Manila’s treaty ally. SENT: 830 words, photos.
CUBA-HURRICANE'S-AFTERMATH — Soldiers fix roofs and raise power poles under a blazing sun, while teachers salvage wet school books and residents cook over wood fires in La Coloma, a fishing and industrial town on Cuba’s coast that took the brunt of Hurricane Ian. SENT: 800 words, photos.
KOREAS-TENSION — The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan launched a new round of naval drills with South Korean warships, a day after North Korea fired more ballistic missiles and flew warplanes in an escalation of tensions with its rivals. SENT: 510 words, photos.
VENEZUELA-OAS — Venezuela’s opposition suffered a rebuff as 19 members of the Organization of American States backed a proposal to remove its envoy from the regional forum for political and economic issues. SENT: 450 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian shares followed Wall Street lower ahead of U.S. jobs data investors hope will persuade the Federal Reserve to ease off plans for more interest rate hikes. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney retreated. Chinese markets were closed for a holiday. Oil prices declined.. SENT: 510 words, photos.
ECONOMY-JOBS-REPORT — The piping-hot U.S. job market may be cooling off, if only slightly. But what business managers, policymakers, investors and economists want to know is this: How cool would be cool enough for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve to begin to ease their aggressive interest rate hikes? SENT: 690 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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THEATER REVIEW-1776 — The somewhat antiquated musical “1776” has long been ripe for a radical makeover and it has found one on Broadway. “Someone oughta open up a window!” an actor cries in the first scene and that applies to both the stifling heat of the setting as well as this revival, which brings fresh air to a five-decade old show. SENT: 640 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBN—COLTS-BRONCOS — Stephon Gilmore batted away Russell Wilson’s pass to Courtland Sutton in the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the 5 to give the Indianapolis Colts a 12-9 overtime victory over the Denver Broncos. AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton. SENT: 955 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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