AP News Digest 3 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.
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TOP STORIES
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LEAKED DOCUMENTS-ORIGINS — A major leak of classified U.S. documents that’s shaken Washington and exposed new details of its intelligence gathering may have started in an Internet chatroom focused primarily on guns and games. By Nomaan Merchant. SENT: 840 words, photos. With LEAKED DOCUMENTS-RUSSIA-UAE — A leaked document suggests U.S. signals intelligence caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had persuaded the oil-rich United Arab Emirates “to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies.” RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-DOCUMENTS — The Pentagon says online leaks of scores of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war present a “very serious” risk to national security. (sent).
LOUISVILLE SHOOTING — Police say an Louisville bank employee killed at least four people, including a close friend of the governor, and wounded eight others in a livestreamed workplace shooting at a downtown branch. Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said the suspected shooter was also dead after Monday's attack. SENT: 650 words, photos, video, audio. With: MASS-SHOOTING-LIST (sent); LOUISVILLE SHOOTING-VICTIMS (sent).
TENNESSEE-LAWMAKERS-EXPULSION — One of the two Black Democrats expelled last week from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville’s governing council voted to send him straight back to the Legislature. The council vote sends Rep. Justin Jones back to the Capitol after just four days out. By Jonathan Mattise, Travis Loller and Kimberlee Kruesi. SENT: 1,000 words, photos, video. With TENNESSEE-LAWMAKERS-EXPULSION-EXPLAINER (sent).
AP POLL-ELECTRIC VEHICLES – A new poll shows that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to go electric when it comes time to buy a new vehicle. They say the main deterrents are high prices and too few charging stations. The poll comes from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. By Tom Krisher, Matthew Daley and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT 1,000 words, photos. With EPA-ELECTRIC VEHICLES — The Biden administration will propose strict new automobile pollution limits this week that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, ramping up quickly to as high as 67% by 2032 (sent).
CLIMATE-INDIA-RIVER POLLUTION: Eloor, a small island on the Periyar River in southern India, used to have rich farmland and be teeming with fish. Now, a stench of putrid flesh permeates the air and most of the fish are gone. Residents say that is because of some 300 chemical companies operating in the area. The state Pollution Control Board has downplayed the industrial pollution in the Periyar River, blaming it on sewage from homes, commercial institutions and markets upstream. But residents, who long ago stopped eating the fish, say there is no doubt about the cause of the pollution and are trying to get authorities to crack down on companies dumping waste in the river. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
OLY-PARIS 2024-THE SWIMMABLE SEINE — A costly and complex clean-up is resuscitating the River Seine just in time for it to play a starring role in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The city and its region are rushing to make the Seine’s murky waters swimmable, so it can genuinely live up to its billing as the world’s most romantic river, one that’s actually fit again for people. In a warming world, the renewed ability to take cooling dips in the river could help France’s capital remain bearable during increasingly frequent heatwaves. French triathlete Thibaut Rigaudeau is hoping to be among the first who’ll get to race in his home river. He’s already fielding questions from disbelieving friends who says the Seine “looks disgusting.” By John Leicester. SENT: 800 words, photos, video.
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody and the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners. SENT: 360 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-FAMILY PORTRAIT — Ten-year old Khrystyna Ksenofontova spends her days caring for cats and studying while living under a cloud of shelling. Her family chose not to evacuate their village in eastern Ukraine that lies 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the front line, even after her father was killed by a shell. SENT: 500 words, photos, video.
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MORE NEWS
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UNITED STATES-RUSSIA-DETAINED REPORTER — The Biden administration formally determined Monday that a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on espionage charges has been “wrongfully detained.” The designation elevates the case of Evan Gershkovich in the U.S. government hierarchy and means that a dedicated State Department office will take the lead on securing his release. SENT: 480 words, photo.
OBIT-AL JAFFEE — Former Mad magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee died Monday at the age of 102. Jaffee, one of the magazine’s longest contributors, had delighted millions of kids with such fixtures as the Fold-In and “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.” SENT: 950 words, photos.
US-LOTTERY WINNER — A retired Iowa mechanic wins $40M lotto jackpot. SENT: 200 words.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ABORTION PILLS - The Justice Department is appealing a Texas court ruling that would halt approval of a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the U.S. In its appeal Monday, the Justice Department called the decision “extraordinary and unprecedented.” The request to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed just days after conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone put in doubt access to the drug that has been widely available for more than 20 years. SENT: 650 words, photos. With ABORTION PILLS-STOCKPILLING — Some US states stock abortion medications after court ruling (sent).
ELECTION 2024-DESANTIS — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has advanced elements of his aggressive conservative agenda through the use of executive power, drawing on appointees, state boards and the state Constitution as he builds toward an expected presidential candidacy. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
TRUMP LEGAL TROUBLES — Donald Trump is scheduled to return to New York City for a deposition Thursday in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ business fraud lawsuit against him and his company, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will be the former president’s first trip to the Big Apple since his arraignment last week on felony charges. SENT: 400 words, photos.
ELECTIONS 2024-CONGRESS-NEW MEXICO — Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy attended a rally in southern New Mexico on Monday for former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell as the GOP tries to flip a congressional swing seat back to GOP control in 2024. SENT: 250 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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US KIDS KILLED-DOOMSDAY PLOT-TRIAL — A mother accused in the triple murder of her two youngest children in Idaho as well as the killing of her new husband’s previous wife was willing to “remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants,” a prosecutor told jurors Monday morning. The investigation of Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell encompasses five states and claims of unusual, doomsday-focused religious beliefs involving “dark spirits” and “zombies.” SENT: 960 words, photos. With: US KIDS KILLED-DOOMSDAY PLOT-TRIAL-WHO'S WHO (sent).
SCHOOL SHOOTING-NEWPORT NEWS — A grand jury in Virginia has indicted the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher on charges of child neglect and failing to secure her handgun in the family’s home, a prosecutor said Monday. SENT: 800 words, photos.
HYDROPOWER TRANSMISSION CORRIDOR — In a rare move, a jury is being asked to decide a complicated constitutional matter — whether developers have a vested right to complete at $1 billion, 145-mile (233-kilometer) transmission line would supply Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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TAIWAN-CHINA-US — Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has condemned China’s military drills in the Taiwan Strait, saying China did not demonstrate the “responsible” behavior of a major Asian nation. China’s air, land and sea drills that ended Monday were retaliation for Tsai’s meeting with the U.S. House Speaker on her tour of Taiwan’s official and unofficial allies. Tsai said she represented Taiwan in the world and she was expected to interact with its international friends. SENT: 500 words, photos.
PHILPPINES-US MILITARY — More than 17,000 U.S. and Philippine forces are launched their largest combat-readiness exercises that would include a ship-sinking rocket assault in waters facing the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that would likely further inflame China. The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies will run through April 28 and are the latest display of American firepower at a time when Washington has repeatedly warned China against further aggression in the disputed waters and against Taiwan. The maneuvers that would involve 12,000 US military personnel opened just after China concluded largescale combat drills that simulated sealing off self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own. SENT: 700 words, photos.
INDIA POPULATION-THE COUNT — India’s population is surpassing China’s this month. Or it may happen in July. Or, maybe it’s happened already? Demographers are unsure when exactly India will take the title from China as the most populous nation in the world because they are relying on estimates. But they know it’s going to happen soon, if it hasn’t already. China has had the most people of any nation since at least 1950, the year United Nations population data began. Each nation has more than 1.4 billion people. There’s more than bragging rights at stake — there are social and economic consequences. In India, that means a growing labor force and increasing economic activity. SENT: 750 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-CHINA — Australia has suspended a complaint to the World Trade Organization in a bid to reopen the Chinese market to Australian barley for the first time in three years. It’s the new government’s latest step toward repairing relations with Beijing. SENT: 450 words, photos.
YEMEN-SAUDI ARABIA — Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen says his trip to the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa was aimed at reviving a cease-fire and re-starting political talks to end the nine-year conflict. SENT: 600 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-INDIGENOUS VOICE — A senior lawmaker has split from Australia’s opposition party leadership by supporting a proposal to create a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament. SENT: 400 words, photos.
SKOREA-WILFIRE — Hundreds of people have been forced to flee as a wildfire destroyed dozens of homes in a South Korean coastal city. Strong winds were fueling the flames in Gangneung. Officials say more than 700 firefighters and 300 vehicles were dispatched to fight the fire. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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BUSINESS ———————-
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks are mostly higher in Asia after a mixed session on Wall Street. Investors have focused on speculation the Federal Reserve may tap the brakes again on financial markets and the economy by raising interest rates. SENT: 670 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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FILM-SUZUME — Makoto Shinkai was never the same filmmaker after the 2011 earthquake struck Japan. When the tsunami and quake ravaged the TÅhoku region of northern Japan and prompted a nuclear meltdown, Shinkai, a now 50-year-old director and animator of some of the most popular anime features in the world, could feel his sense of storytelling crumbling. SENT: 955 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKL-WNBA DRAFT —Aliyah Boston is the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, going to the Indiana Fever. It’s the first time that the Fever have had the top choice in the draft and they chose the South Carolina star. Boston, a three-time AP All-American who also was the Player of the Year as a junior, will solidify the post for Indiana. SENT: 680 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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