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-INVESTIGATION — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member is arrested in connection with the disclosure of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues, a breach that has raised questions about America’s ability to safeguard its most sensitive secrets. By Eric Tucker, Tara Copp and Michael Balsamo. SENT: 1,040 words, photos, video. With LEAKED DOCUMENTS-SUSPECT — Suspect in leak probe talked about God, guns and war secrets; LEAKED DOCUMENTS-EXPLAINER — Why a 21-year-old has been arrested in document leak probe; LEAKED DOCUMENTS-DISCORD-EXPLAINER — What is Discord, the chatting app tied to classified leaks? (all sent).
ABORTION-FLORIDA — The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal signed into law later in the day by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for an expected presidential run. By Anthony Izaguirre. SENT: 700 words, photos, audio.
BIDEN-IRELAND — In Ireland this week, well-wishers lined the streets to catch even a glimpse of President Joe Biden, as photos of his smiling face were plastered on shop windows and one admirer held a sign that read “2024 - Make Joe President Again.” No wonder Biden keeps joking about staying. By Colleen Long, Darlene Superville and Chris Megerian. SENT: 1,080 words, photos. UPCOMING: 1,200 words after events begin at 9 a.m.
NRA CONVENTION — For the second year in a row, the National Rifle Association is holding its annual convention within days of mass shootings that shook the nation. The gathering is attracting a bevy of top Republican presidential candidates and thousands of the organization’s most active members to Indianapolis’ convention center. By Will Weissert and Tom Davies. SENT: 1,140 words, photos. UPCOMING: 1,200 words after convention opens at 2 p.m.
TRUMP-LEGAL TROUBLES — Former President Donald Trump has answered questions for nearly seven hours during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent. SENT: 570 words, photos. With TRUMP-COLUMNIST-LAWSUIT — Judge rejects Trump rape trial delay, but grants concessions (sent).
SENEGAL-GAS-DEAL-PROSTITUTION — When the gas rig arrived off the coast of Saint-Louis, residents of this seaside Senegalese town found reason to hope. Fishing has long been the community’s lifeblood, but the industry was struggling with climate change and COVID-19. Officials promised the drilling would soon bring thousands of jobs and diversification of the economy. Instead, residents say, the rig has brought only a wave of problems, unemployment and more poverty. And it’s forced some women to turn to prostitution to support their families, they told The Associated Press in interviews. By Sam Mednick. SENT 2,600 words, photos, video. With SENEGAL-GAS-DEAL-PROSTITUTION-TAKEAWAYS — Takeaways from AP report on impact of Senegal’s gas project (sent).
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-CENSORSHIP — A Moscow court has again fined Wikipedia for a Russian-language article it refused to remove about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the latest in a series of government moves to silence objective reporting or criticism of the war and restrict the Russian public’s access to information. SENT: 550 words, photo.
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MORE NEWS
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FILM-REVIEW-RENFIELD — Thirty-five years after “Vampire’s Kiss,” Nicolas Cage is finally playing the genuine article, with bloodthirsty fangs and a dapper velvet smoking jacket, in “Renfield.” Casting Cage, our grandest of ghouls, as Dracula is so predestined that it almost risks being too on the nose. The good news is that, no, he’s perfect as Dracula, writes Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle in his review. SENT: 760 words, photos.
THE-STREAM — This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Metallica and Natalie Merchant, Jeremy Renner’s four-part series “Rennervations” debuts on Disney+ only a few months after the actor was badly injured in a snowplow accident and “Cocaine Bear” lumbers onto Peacock. SENT: 970 words, photos.
OBIT-ANNE PERRY — Anne Perry, the best-selling crime novelist known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk detective series and for her own murderous past that inspired the movie “Heavenly Creatures,” has died at age 84. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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WORLD BANK-FOOD WORKERS — As finance leaders from around the world meet at the World Bank in Washington this week, food service workers at the poverty-fighting organization are highlighting what they see as a galling situation: The workers who put food on the table for an organization whose mission is to fight poverty are themselves struggling to get by. By Fatima Hussein. SENT: 690 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-THOMAS — Conservative mega-donor Harlan Crow purchased three properties belonging to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica. SENT: 360 words, photos, audio.
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NATIONAL
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MISSISSIPPI-TORNADO-REBUILDING — A tornado that carved a path of destruction through the Mississippi Delta last month destroyed roughly 300 homes and businesses and killed 13 people in Rolling Fork. The small city has a proud history, claiming blues legend Muddy Waters as a native son and a role in the invention of the teddy bear. But it sits in one of the country’s poorest regions, and many wonder whether their small-town bonds and shared heritage will be enough to convince one another to stay. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.
FLORIDA-FLOODING-EXPLAINER — In some ways, it was the Florida Man of storms – not quite knowing when to say when. Usually, thunderstorms fizzle out after they run out of rain or get cold air sucked in. They run out of gas. But not Wednesday, when the storm that hit Fort Lauderdale had a gas station nearby -- the warm and moisture-rich Gulf Stream. SENT: 650 words, photos.
SNOWMELT-FLOODING — A rapid spring snoVwmelt after an unusually wet winter is unleashing flooding from the Southwest to the Rockies, causing residents there and in the Upper Midwest to evacuate or stock up on sandbags amid surging creeks and rivers. SENT: 940 words, photos, audio.
LOS-ANGELES-DEPUTIES-INDICTED — Two former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies are accused of violating the civil rights of a skateboarder in 2020 and perpetrating a coverup, federal prosecutors say. SENT: 640 words.
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INTERNATIONAL
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ISRAEL-HOLOCAUST-REMEMBERANCE — Tova Gutstein was 10 years old when the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto launched an uprising against the Nazis. Now 90, she is among the few remaining witnesses of the extraordinary rebellion and act of Jewish defiance. She also is among a vanishing generation of Holocaust survivors as Israel marks the 80th anniversary of a revolt that has shaped its national consciousness. By Ilan Ben Zion and Amo Ben Tov. SENT: 980 words, photos.
G7-FOREIGN-MINISTERS — Russian threats to nuke Ukraine. China’s belligerent military moves around rival Taiwan. North Korea’s unprecedented run of missile testing. The top diplomats from some of the world’s most powerful democracies will have plenty to discuss when they gather in the hot spring resort town of Karuizawa on Sunday for the so-called Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting. SENT: 990 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-CYCLONE — Australia’s most powerful tropical cyclone in eight years lashed the nation’s sparsely populated northwest coast with winds gusting to 180 miles per hour but was weakening fast and no injuries were immediately reported. SENT: 380 words, photos.
CHINA-TAIWAN-US — China has sanctioned a United States lawmaker for his visit to Taiwan, saying he violated the “One China” principle that says Beijing has sovereignty over the island. SENT: 340 words, photo.
CHINA-BRAZIL — Chinese leader Xi Jinping was due to meet visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday in Beijing as the leaders seek to boost ties between two of the world’s largest developing nations. SENT: 370 words, photo.
UNITED NATIONS-COLOMBIA — Addressing the U.N. Security Council for the first time, a former Colombian rebel leader who now heads a political party urged the country’s remaining armed groups to recognize left-wing President Gustavo Petro’s government as “democratic and progressive” and stop fighting against it. SENT: 770 words, photos.
PANAMA-MIGRANTS — Two U.N. groups says that the number of migrants crossing the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama could soar to as many as 400,000 this year. SENT: 340 words.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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ENDANGERED-SPECIES-ACT-WHALES-INDUSTRY — On a breezy spring day, scientists and conservationists methodically conducted experiments near 15 North Atlantic right whales that occasionally spouted and surfaced in a bay south of Boston. The pod of adults and calves is about 4% of the worldwide population of a marine mammal that almost disappeared from the planet after many decades of commercial whaling. There now are only a few hundred of the behemoths, which can weigh 70 tons and subsist on small ocean organisms. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.
CLIMATE-INDIA-SEA-WALL — Mary Sebastian, who lives in a fishing hamlet of 40,000 people in India’s southern state of Kerala, fears many weather events exacerbated by climate change: cyclones, surging seas, flooding and erosion. Tens of millions of people in India, this year expected to become the world’s most populous nation, live along coastlines and thus are exposed to major weather events. One common adaptation technique, in India and other countries hit hard by rising seas and oceanic storms, is to build sea walls. While they provide a barrier that seas have to get over, scientists and climate adaptation experts warn that such structures can only provide so much protection. SENT: 1,180 words, photos.
INDIA-POPULATION-HEALTH — Two Indigenous women both have a genetic blood disorder but lead vastly different lives. They grew up close to each other in a rural area of India. But India’s health system is spread too thin across its vast countryside, and health outcomes in a country whose population will soon overtake China’s as the world’s largest can be defined by luck. SENT: 1,200 words, photos, video.
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BUSINESS/TECH —————————————
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street higher after United States inflation eased in March and China reported unexpectedly strong exports. SENT: 520 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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FASHION-QUIET-LUXURY — They’re the biggest of brands. But with no logos. And that’s the whole point. Call it stealth wealth, or quiet luxury. For the rich and those who aspire, logo-free fashion with outsized price tags is having a moment — at least among people who can spend in the face of higher inflation and a volatile economy. SENT: 1,220 words, photos.
JAPAN-FILM-MAKOTO-SHINKAI — Makoto Shinkai doesn’t yet know the story he will tell in his next film, only that it will be about what he knows best. For one, it will be set in Japan, filled with those breathtakingly gorgeous landscapes he draws on his animation storyboards. If he were to set his film outside Japan, he would have to live in that city for at least several months. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBN--COMMANDERS SALE — Dan Snyder has a deal in place to sell the NFL’s Washington Commanders for the biggest price paid for a North American professional sports team. A group led by Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales that includes Magic Johnson has an agreement in principle to buy the team for a record $6.05 billion, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BBO--SMALL TALK — Home plate used to be a place where the ever-sociable Brandon Crawford would touch base with catchers and umpires. These days, he keeps the chatter to a minimum. There’s simply no spare time for small talk while on a pitch clock. By Pat Graham. UPCOMING: 880 words, photos by 6 a.m. EDT.
BBA--RED SOX-RAYS — The Tampa Bay Rays tied Major League Baseball’s post-1900 record of 13 consecutive wins at a season’s start, rallying to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-3. SENT: 790 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Vincent K. Willis can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.
