Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
Reorders Top Stories.
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ONLY ON AP
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CHINESE-SCANNERS — At some of the world’s most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China’s military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party. The company, Nuctech, has been frozen out of the U.S. for years due to national security concerns, but it has made deep inroads across Europe, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. By Erika Kinetz. UPCOMING: 2,660 words, photos by 4 a.m. An abridged version of 1,060 words will also be available.
BIDEN-ONE YEAR-AP POLL — President Joe Biden ends his first year in the White House with a clear majority of Americans for the first time disapproving of his handling of the presidency in the face of an unrelenting pandemic and roaring inflation. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. By Aamer Madhani and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.
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TOP STORIES
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UNITED STATES-UKRAINE — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that there would be a “swift, severe” response from the United States and its allies if Russia sends military forces into Ukraine. Blinken’s comments in Berlin appeared to be another effort to clear up any confusion about the position of the U.S. and its NATO allies after U.S. President Joe Biden was heavily criticized for saying a “minor incursion” by Russia would elicit a lesser response. By Matthew Lee and Frank Jordans. SENT: 530 words, photos. WITH: UNITED STATES-UKRAINE-MILITARY-EXPLAINER — What are U.S. military options to help Ukraine? SENT: 1,040 words, photos. WITH: RUSSIA-UKRAINE — Russia accuses West of plotting “provocations” in Ukraine. SENT: 745 words, photos. WITH: BIDEN-UKRAINE-SANCTIONS — The U.S. Treasury Department says it’s levying new sanctions against four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for further invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 610 words, photos.
BIDEN-ONE YEAR-ECONOMY-ANALYSIS — President Joe Biden bet that he needed to go big on saving the U.S. economy, saying that the greater risk was in doing too little. His $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package propelled the strongest growth in two generations – but also the highest inflation levels. The president’s first year, which was supposed to lay the groundwork for his legacy and the ability of the government to foster a more resilient economy, has instead produced anxiety. By Josh Boak. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. WITH: BIDEN — President Biden begins his second year in office with a new focus on trying to make “fatigued” Americans believe they’re better off under his leadership. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 3 p.m.
CAPITOL-RIOT-INVESTIGATION — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection is asking Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump, to voluntarily cooperate with its probe. The committee sent a letter requesting a meeting with Ivanka Trump, who served as an adviser to her father, in early February. By Jill Colvin and Farnoush Amiri. SENT: 235 words, photos, developing.
TONGA-VOLCANO ERUPTION — The first flights carrying fresh water and other aid to Tonga finally arrived after the Pacific nation’s main airport runway was cleared of ash left by a huge volcanic eruption. New Zealand and Australia each sent military transport planes that were carrying water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene supplies and communications equipment. By Nick Perry. SENT: 600 words, photos. WITH: TONGA-VOLCANO-ERUPTION-COMMUNICATIONS — Cut off by volcano, Tongans relieved as contact restored. SENT: 630 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — The Spanish government is laying the groundwork for a different COVID-19 playbook, moving from crisis to control mode. Shifting from pandemic to endemic should allow it to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Similar steps are under consideration in Portugal and the United Kingdom. By Aritz Parra. SENT: 1,100 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-PANDEMIC TO ENDEMIC-EXPLAINER— What does it mean for COVID-19 to be endemic? SENT: 680 words, photos.
PIG-TRANSPLANTS — Researchers reported the latest in a surprising string of experiments in the quest to save human lives with organs from genetically modified pigs. This time around, surgeons in Alabama transplanted a pig’s kidneys into a brain-dead man — a step-by-step rehearsal for an operation they hope to try in living patients possibly later this year. By Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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TRENDING NEWS
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McDONALD’S-McPLANT — McDonald’s is expanding sales of its meatless McPlant burger to hundreds of locations. SENT: 225 words, photo.
BELGIUM-TEEN’S-GLOBAL-FIGHT —The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford has set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. SENT: 400 words, photos.
SWITZERLAND-TINA-TURNER — Rock ‘n’ roll icon Tina Turner and her husband have reportedly bought a $76 million estate with 10 buildings, pond, stream, swimming pool and boat dock on Lake Zurich. SENT: 200 words, photos.
LIBERIA-STAMPEDE — Officials in Liberia say that at least 29 people in Liberia, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, have died in a stampede of worshippers at a Christian ceremony. SENT: 245 words, photos.
FLIGHT RETURNS-MASK — An American Airlines flight to London returned to Miami after a passenger refused to follow the federal requirement to wear a face mask, according to the airline. SENT: 170 words, photo.
WINTER-WEATHER — The Carolinas and Virginia are bracing for more winter weather, which forecasters predict will arrive as mixed precipitation on Thursday, followed by a round of snow on Friday night into Saturday. SENT: 290 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CDC — From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the top U.S. public health agency has been criticized as too slow to collect and act on new information. Now, increasingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also being criticized for moving too fast. SENT: 1,430 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AUSTRIA — Austria’s parliament has voted to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe. SENT: 570 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-UGANDA-FUEL-CRISIS — A dispute over COVID-19 testing fees for truckers has created a fuel crisis in Uganda, highlighting an economic impact of the pandemic in a landlocked country with virtually no fuel reserves of its own. SENT: 340 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFRICA-VACCINES — At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. SENT: 455 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW ZEALAND — New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant — but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected. But it won’t return to lockdowns. SENT: 370 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-FRANCE — France’s government spokesman said that more than 1 million adults got their first COVID-19 vaccine shot over the past month, after the government announced a plan to exclude unvaccinated people from all restaurants, sports arenas and other venues. SENT: 360 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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GEORGIA-ELECTION-INVESTIGATION — The Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation. SENT: 325 words, photo. With GEORGIA ELECTION-INVESTIGATION-EXPLAINER — What’s a special grand jury and how does it work? SENT: 640 words, photo.
CONGRESS-VOTING BILLS — Democrats were picking up the pieces following the collapse of their sweeping voting rights bill, with some now shifting their focus to a narrower push to shore up an obscure law Donald Trump exploited when he sought to overturn the 2020 election. The effort has drawn bipartisan interest and likely represents Democrats’ best chance to enact election legislation this year. But with talks just now underway, it is destined to be an uphill push. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 5:30 p.m.
CONGRESS-VOTING BILLS-MCCONNELL— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is drawing criticism for dismissive comments he made about concerns by people of color on voting rights, saying that “African Americans” vote at similar rates to “Americans.” UPCOMING: 500 words, photos by 3 p.m.
HAVANA-SYNDROME — The CIA believes it is unlikely that Russia or another foreign adversary is using microwaves or other forms of directed energy to attack hundreds of American officials who attribute symptoms associated with brain injuries to what’s come to be known as “Havana syndrome.” SENT: 535 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-CROSS-EXAMINATION — The Supreme Court has bolstered a criminal defendant’s right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses. SENT: 355 words, photos.
MIT-PROFESSOR-CHINA — The Justice Department has dropped its case against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor charged last year with hiding work he did for the Chinese government. The department said in a filing in federal court in Boston that it could no longer meet its burden of proof at trial in the case against Gang Chen. SENT: 490 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICERS-CIVIL RIGHTS —Jury selection has begun in the federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers who were with Derek Chauvin when he pinned George Floyd to the street. J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights while acting under government authority. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson is questioning potential jurors who have already answered an extensive questionnaire. SENT: 810 words, photos.
TEXAS-SYNAGOGUE STANDOFF — A British man who held four people hostage in a Texas synagogue ranted against Jews and American wars in countries like Afghanistan as his brother pleaded with him to give up and free the captives, a recording of the conversation shows. SENT: 545 words, photos.
SCHOOLS-TEACHING-RACE — A proposal to overhaul New Mexico’s social studies standards has stirred debate over how race should be taught, with thousands of parents and teachers weighing in on changes that would dramatically increase instruction related to racial and social identity beginning in kindergarten. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
JEFFREY-EPSTEIN-MAXWELL-TRIAL — Ghislaine Maxwell has formally requested a new trial, less than a month after her conviction on sex trafficking charges. The motion for a new trial had been promised by Maxwell’s lawyers, who had raised concerns about media interviews following the verdict in which the juror said he had been sexually abused as a child. SENT: 350 words, photos.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DOCTOR-ASSAULT-EXPLAINER — An explainer on how the University of Michigan’s $490 million settlement will work with more than 1,000 people who say they were sexually assaulted by a sports doctor during his nearly four-decade career at the school. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 4:30 p.m.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-NAACP-FUTURE — The NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, will soon celebrate its 113th birthday, which its leaders say comes as it undergoes a restructuring to reflect a membership and leadership that is trending younger. In 2022, look for its voice to grow louder on issues like climate change, the student debt crisis and the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.
ALASKA-ELECTION REFORM — The Alaska Supreme Court upheld as valid a voter-approved election system that would end party primaries in the state and institute ranked choice voting in general elections. SENT: 640 words, photo.
USC-FRATERNITY PARTIES — Most fraternities at the University of Southern California will be allowed to start having parties again in March if security guards are posted at stairs or hallways in fraternity houses that lead to bedrooms. The Los Angeles Times reports that strict rules issued in advance of spring fraternity recruiting known as rush follow allegations of drugging and sexual abuse at several of the college’s fraternities last year. SENT: 220 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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GERMANY-CHURCH ABUSE — A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany’s Munich diocese faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said that Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing. SENT: 700 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN-MISSING-ACTIVIST — The Taliban have stormed an apartment in Kabul, arresting a woman rights activist and her three sisters. A Taliban statement appeared to blame the incident on a recent women’s protest. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BRITAIN-CONSERVATIVES-EXPLAINER — Some Conservative lawmakers in Britain are talking about ousting their leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been tarnished by allegations that he and his staff held lockdown-breaching parties during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 440 words, photos.
ETHIOPIA-TIGRAY CRISIS — The United Nations says food distribution in Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray region has reached its “all-time lowest” while more than 50,000 children are thought to be severely malnourished, the latest sign of growing crisis amid efforts to end the country’s 14-month war. SENT: 430 words.
NORTH KOREA-US — Accusing the United States of hostility and threats, North Korea says it will consider restarting “all temporally-suspended activities” it had paused during its diplomacy with the Trump administration, in an apparent threat to resume testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles. SENT: 940 words, photos.
GHANA-EXPLOSION — A vehicle carrying explosives used in mining collided with a motorcycle and blew up in western Ghana on Thursday, causing an unknown number of fatalities and injuring scores of people, police said. SENT: 140 words.
LEBANON-FIGHTING FOR GARBAGE — Sifting through a Beirut dumpster in the rain, 56-year-old Hoda is among Lebanon’s poorest, forced by a devastating economic crisis into an underclass of garbage pickers scratching out an existence. SENT: 880 words, photos.
NORWAY-BREIVIK-PAROLE HEARING — A prosecutor in Norway says that a far-right extremist who killed 77 people in 2011 still is “a very dangerous man” and therefore a poor candidate for release after 10 years in prison, as Norwegian law permits. SENT: 545 words, photos.
VATICAN-WOMEN — The Vatican has included a group that advocates for women’s ordination on a website promoting a two-year consultation of rank-and-file Catholics. The inclusion of the Women’s Ordination Conference on the website promoting the Vatican’s 2023 “synod,” or bishops’ meeting, is significant since the Vatican has long held the group at arm’s length. SENT: 350 words, photo.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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MED-ANTIBIOTIC-GLOBAL-RESISTANCE-DEATHS — Antibiotic-resistant germs caused more than 1.2 million deaths globally in one year, according to new research that suggests that these “superbugs” have joined the ranks of the world’s leading infectious disease killers. The new estimate is not a complete count of such deaths, but rather an attempt to fill in gaps from countries that report little or no data on the germs’ toll. SENT: 450 words, photos.
PEANUT ALLERGY-TREATMENT, HFR — Young children might be able to overcome their peanut allergies if treated at an early enough age, a new study finds. UPCOMING: Hold for release at 6:30 p.m. 600 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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OFF THE CHARTS-INFLATION — Retail sales took an unexpected dip in December in what could be a signal that persistently rising inflation is prompting a pullback in consumer spending. Consumers paid more for everything from groceries to cars in 2021 as companies passed along the costs of pricier raw materials and supply chain delays. Spending remained strong thanks to pent-up demand throughout the year, despite the rising costs and longer waits for big-ticket items like cars and furniture. SENT: 545 words, photos.
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant disrupted the job market. Jobless claims rose for the third straight week — by 55,000 to 286,000, highest since mid-October, the Labor Department reported. SENT: 465 words, photos.
5G-AIRLINES — Long-haul carrier Emirates says it will resume its Boeing 777 flights to the U.S. after halting its use of the aircraft there over concerns new 5G services in America could interfere with airplane technology that measures altitude. SENT: 380 words, photo.
AMAZON-CLOTHING STORE — Amazon says it plans to open a clothing store in a Southern California mall later this year, a first for the online behemoth and a fresh challenge for already struggling traditional retailers. SENT: 580 words, photos.
DAVOS FORUM — Indonesia’s leader says the country holding the presidency of the Group of 20 biggest economies wants to strengthen global partnership to aid the economic recovery from COVID-19. SENT: 440 words, photo.
FINANCIAL MARKETS —Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street as investors reviewed the latest corporate earnings and gauged the economic impact of rising inflation. SENT: 390 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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PEOPLE-JAMIE-DORNAN — Jamie Dornan, whose latest film “Belfast” is being recognized with awards nominations, says he looks to the movie’s director, Kenneth Branagh, as an example of a career that’s inspired him. SENT: 825 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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TEN-AUSTRALIAN-OPEN-DJOKOVIC — Three Australian Federal Court judges have revealed their reasons for backing a government order to deport tennis star Novak Djokovic, explaining they did not consider the “merits or wisdom of the decision.” The judges on Sunday unanimously endorsed Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to deport the 34-year-old Serb following an urgent court challenge on the eve of what was to be Djokovic’s first match in defense of his Australian Open title. SENT: 505 words, photos.
NCAA-TRANSGENDER ATHLETES — The NCAA has adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, bringing the organization in line with the U.S. and International Olympic Committees. SENT: 270 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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