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.
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TOP STORIES
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CONGRESS — The House stalemate over choosing a new speaker heads into a fourth day. With Kevin McCarthy’s supporters and foes locked in stalemate, the House cannot formally open for the new session of Congress. And feelings of boredom, desperation and annoyance seem increasingly evident. By Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri. SENT: 990 words, photos, video. UPCOMING: 1,100 after House reconvenes at noon. WITH: CONGRESS-MCCARTHY FOES — McCarthy foes relish the fight (sent) ; CONGRESS-MCCARTHY HOMETOWN: As speaker bid falters, mixed views of McCarthy in hometown (sent).
CAPITOL RIOT-ANNIVERSARY — Washington has one specialty that has long endured — memorializing and coming together over a national trauma. But that unifying impulse has faded. On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, a moment of silence is expected to draw mostly Democrats. So, too, at a ceremony where President Joe Biden will honor election officials and police officers who upheld democracy that day. By Zeke Miller, Mary Clare Jalonick and Calvin Woodward. UPCOMING: 1,040 words, photos by 5:15 a.m. Capitol event at 10 a.m.; White House event at 2 p.m.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces to observe a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war. Putin did not appear to make his cease-fire order conditional on a Ukrainian agreement to follow suit, and it wasn’t clear whether hostilities would actually halt on the 684-mile front line or elsewhere. By Andrew Meldrum. SENT: 1,125 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA-DATA EXPLAINER — As COVID-19 rips through China, other countries and the World Health Organization are calling on its government to share more comprehensive data. Some even say many of the numbers it’s reporting are meaningless. Without basic data on deaths, infections and severe cases, governments elsewhere have felt compelled to institute virus testing requirements for travelers coming from China. Beijing has called the measures “unscientific” and threatened countermeasures. By Huizhong Wu and Aniruddha Ghosal. SENT: 700 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA: China seeks to minimize COVID-19 risk during holiday travel rush (sent).
FBN-BILLS-HAMLIN — Damar Hamlin’s doctors say the Buffalo Bills safety has begun to communicate in writing with his family and others who have been at his bedside since going into cardiac arrest Monday — and his first question was “did we win?” By John Wawrow and Carolyn Thompson. SENT: 790 words, photos. WITH: BILLS-HAMLIN-CONFLICTED FANS: Football fans grapple with violent side of a beloved sport (sent); FBN-BILLS BENGALS POSTPONED: NFL balances emotions, tight schedule after Hamlin shock (sent).
GAZA-HAMAS EXODUS — A rising number of Gazans driven by the mere prospect of work in Europe are drowning at sea. The devastating procession has prompted a rare outpouring of anger against the territory’s militant Hamas rulers, a number of whom are making their own — very different — exodus. High-profile Hamas officials have in recent years quietly decamped to upscale hotels in Beirut, Doha and Istanbul, stirring resentment among residents who see them as leading luxurious lives abroad while the economy collapses at home and 2.3 million Gazans remain effectively trapped in the tiny, conflict-scarred territory. Isolated residents grapple with daily blackouts and routine shortages of basic goods. By Fares Akram and Isabel Debra. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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HAWAII-VOLCANO — Hawaii’s Kilauea began erupting inside its summit crater Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, less than one month after the volcano and its larger neighbor Mauna Loa stopped releasing lava. SENT: 150 words, photos.
BRITAIN—PRINCE HARRY — Prince Harry alleges in a much-anticipated new memoir that his brother Prince William lashed out and physically attacked him during a furious argument over the brothers’ deteriorating relationship. SENT: 760 words, photos.
POISONING-CHARGES — A Wisconsin woman accused of repeatedly poisoning her veterinarian husband with animal euthanasia drugs has been charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. SENT: 310 words, photo.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-MILITARY AID — The U.S. will send Ukraine nearly $3 billion in military aid, in a massive new package that will for the first time include several dozen Bradley fighting vehicles. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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CAPITOL RIOT-ANNIVERSARY-EXPLAINER — The largest investigation in the Justice Department’s history is still growing two years after a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. More than 930 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, siege — a tally that increases by the week. SENT: 1,210 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR-INAUGURATION — California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to kick off his second term by comparing his leadership style to that of Republican governors and former President Donald Trump. SENT: 900 words, photos.
ELECTIONS 2022-OREGON VOTER TURNOUT — For the first time ever, Oregon had the highest voter turnout rate in the nation for last November’s election. Oregon Public Broadcasting says 61.5% of all the eligible citizens in Oregon cast a ballot. SENT: 120 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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FOUR DEAD-UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO-THE CAR — Authorities say a key piece of evidence in the case of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in November turned out to be surveillance footage showing a white sedan driving past the victims’ home. According to a police affidavit unsealed Thursday, the car drove past three times before the stabbings early on Nov. 13 and was recorded speeding away afterwards. Investigators said they later tracked the car — and eventually, DNA evidence — to Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old graduate student in criminology at Washington State University. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. WITH: FOUR-DEAD-IDAHO-TIMELINE-TIMELINE: DNA, video lead officials to Idaho suspect. (sent).
SEVERE-WEATHER — Hurricane-force winds, surging surf and heavy rains from a powerful “atmospheric river” pounded California on Thursday, knocking out power to tens of thousands, causing flooding, and contributing to the deaths of at least two people, including a toddler whose home was crushed by a falling tree. By Martha Mendoza and Brian Melley. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
IDAHO ABORTION — The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the state Constitution does not implicitly enshrine abortion as a fundamental right. The court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood against the governor and leaders of the Legislature that had sought to block the implementation and enforcement of the state’s new abortion bans. SENT: 560 words, photos.
ABORTION-SOUTH-CAROLINA — The South Carolina Supreme Court has struck down a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected — typically around six weeks — ruling the restriction enacted by the Deep South state violates a state constitutional right to privacy. SENT: 990 words, photos.
EIGHT DEAD UTAH — Eight family members — including five children — found dead in a southern Utah home were killed by their father, authorities said. Officials said Michael Haight, 42, took his own life after killing his wife, mother-in-law and the couple’s five children. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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MEXICO VIOLENCE — Mexico’s capture of a son of the imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman thrust Sinaloa’s state capital into a day of terror unlike any its residents had experienced since October 2019 — the last time authorities tried to capture Ovidio Guzmán. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has railed against his predecessors’ aggressive efforts to capture drug lords, but his administration bagged the high-profile cartel figure just days before hosting U.S. President Joe Biden. At least in the short term, locals were paying the price. The arrest came in a pre-dawn military operation Thursday outside Culiacan, a stronghold of the Sinaloa drug cartel in western Mexico. SENT: 1,000 words, photos, video.
JAPAN-US-KISHIDA — Japan and the United States will hold security talks between their foreign and defense ministers in Washington the day before Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida lands in the U.S. capital next week. SENT: 450 words, photos.
VATICAN-BENEDICT XVI — Pope Francis joined tens of thousands of faithful in bidding farewell to Benedict XVI at a rare requiem Mass for a dead pope presided over by a living one, ending an unprecedented decade for the Catholic Church that was sparked by the German theologian’s decision to retire. SENT: 1,270 words, photos. WITH: REL-VATICAN-BENEDICT-XVI-PHOTO-GALLERY -- Mourners bid farewell to Benedict XVI. (sent).
BELARUS-NOBEL LAUREATE TRIAL — A Belarusian court has opened the trial of jailed human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. SENT: 450 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SHRINKING-GLACIERS — A new study of all of the world’s 215,000 glaciers finds the situation worse than previously thought. Even with the unlikely minimum warming of only a few tenths of a degrees more, the world will lose nearly half its glaciers by the end of the century. By Seth Borenstein. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/TECH
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CES 2023 — Tech companies are showing off their latest products this week at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show. The show officially opened with crowds of investors, media and tech workers streaming into cavernous Las Vegas venues. They’re there to see the latest tech from big companies and startups alike. Innovations include a button your dog can press to tell you it’s hungry and a high-tech stroller that can follow you around. There’s also a robot pillow that aims to calm you by mimicking your breathing and a robot dog toy that you can customize. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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DANCE-RATMANSKY-CITY BALLET — Acclaimed choreographer Alexei Ratmansky won’t be going far when he leaves American Ballet Theatre this summer — he’ll simply be crossing the plaza at Lincoln Center over to New York City Ballet. SENT: 500 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBN--HAMLIN-NFL MENTAL HEALTH — For Damar Hamlin’s teammates, peers and everyone in the NFL community, going back to work is not business as usual. Players returned to practice with heavy hearts on Wednesday, two days after Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field during Buffalo’s game at Cincinnati. SENT: 885 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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