AP News Digest 3:15 a.m.

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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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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS-TRUMP -- President Donald Trump threatened to torpedo Congress’ massive pandemic relief package in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty, suddenly demanding changes fellow Republicans have opposed. By Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 650 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK —All most people wanted for Christmas after this year of pandemic uncertainty and sadness was some cheer and togetherness. Instead many are heading into a season of isolation, grieving lost loved ones, worried about their jobs or confronting the fear of a potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus. Residents of London can’t see people outside their households. Peruvians won’t be allowed to drive their cars over Christmas and New Year to discourage visits. South Africans won’t be able to go to the beach over Christmas. The patchwork of restrictions being imposed by local and national governments across the world varies widely — but few holiday seasons will look normal this year. By Vanessa Gera. SENT: 1,150 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent)

TRUMP-PARDONS -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including a pair of congressional Republicans who were strong and early supporters, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad. By Colleen Long, Kevin Freking and Eric Tucker. SENT: 1,030 words, photos. WITH: BLACKWATER PARDONS: President Donald Trump has pardoned four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone. SENT: 740 words, photos and TRUMP-PARDONS-GLANCE.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINES -- The U.S. government is close to a deal to acquire tens of millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies. By Jonathan Lemire and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 550 words, photos.

BIDEN — President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday assailed the Trump administration for failing to fortify the nation’s cyber defenses, and called on President Donald Trump to publicly identify the perpetrator of a massive breach of U.S. government agencies — a hack some of Trump’s top allies have blamed on Russia. By Alexandra Jaffe and Meg Kinnard. SENT: 780 words, photos.

BIDEN-CONGRESS — For President-elect Joe Biden, Washington’s year-end burst of deal-making is bringing renewed hope for a productive first 100 days in office. Longtime combatants finally forged a COVID-19 relief deal that carried with it dozens of smaller bills. The takeaway: Capitol Hill’s damaged systems and norms can still produce meaningful legislation — at least when backed up against the wall. Biden as president will be seeking to restore at least the veneer of good faith and bipartisanship that defined his era in the Senate. President Donald Trump late Tuesday demanded changes to the bill and suggested he might not sign it. The bill passed by veto-proof margins. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.

ISRAEL POLITICS —- Israel’s divided government has collapsed, triggering the country’s fourth election in under two years. Parliament had faced a midnight Tuesday deadline to pass a budget. But after failing to do so, the Knesset was automatically dissolved. Elections are now scheduled for March 23. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. Developing.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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MISSISSIPPI-MULTIPLE DEATHS — Authorities in Mississippi have found four bodies after a sheriff’s department received calls about people not showing up for work. SENT: 200 words.

CHINA-CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC — China has evacuated about 250 nationals to a safer area after eight Chinese mining company vehicles were stolen during armed conflict ahead of an election in the Central African Republic. SENT: 250 words, photos.

HONG KONG-JIMMY LAI — Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been granted bail, nearly three weeks after he was remanded in custody over fraud and national security-related charges. SENT: 270 words, photo.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHRISTMAS RULES — In Peru, you can’t drive your car on Christmas. In Lebanon, you can go to a nightclub over the holidays, but you can’t dance. Italy’s color-coded virus rules change every couple of days for the next two weeks. Some countries want families to limit the number of people at Christmas meals. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-THAILAND — Thailand is being challenged by an infection cluster among migrant workers after keeping the coronavirus largely in check for most of the year. The surge of cases in a province near Bangkok threatens to undo months of containment efforts. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — South Korea has added another new 1,092 infections of the coronavirus in a resurgence that is erasing hard-won epidemiological gains and eroding public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the outbreak. SENT: 550 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-IRAN BURIALS-PHOTO GALLERY — Far from the capital, Iran struggles to bury virus victims SENT: 470 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-US SURGE — California’s health care system is buckling under the strain of the nation’s largest coronavirus outbreak and authorities say it may fracture in weeks if people ignore holiday social distancing. SENT: 740 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK CALIFORNIA - California’s health care system is in the throes of a coronavirus crisis stemming from ill-advised Thanksgiving gatherings. SENT: 810 words, photos.

Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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BIDEN-EDUCATION-CARDONA -- President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s education chief and a lifelong champion of public schools, to serve as education secretary. The selection delivers on Biden’s promise to nominate someone with experience working in public education. By Collin Binkley, Alexandra Jaffe and Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 1,190 words, photos. Timing of event uncertain; will be updated.

BIDEN-IMMIGRATION-- President-elect Joe Biden says it will take months to roll back some of President Donald Trump’s actions on immigration. He’s offering a slower timeline than he promised on the campaign trail and one that may rile advocates pushing for speedy action on the issue. SENT: 900 words.

YE-TRUMP-LEGACY-BY THE NUMBERS -- Words matter, but numbers tell stories, too. Presidential historians and others will plumb them as they assess President Donald Trump’s legacy in office. Trump’s presidency is reflected in a broad range of numbers that represent everything from the U.S. death toll during the coronavirus pandemic to the COVID-19 vaccine development he pushed under a compressed timetable to the tens of thousands of tweets he sent during four years in office. By Darlene Superville. SENT: 670 words, photos, graphics.

CALIFORNIA SENATE-APPOINTMENT — California Gov. Gavin Newsom selected Secretary of State Alex Padilla to become the state’s first Latino U.S. senator. But the pick received a mixed reception because Newsom bypassed African American candidates to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the Senate’s only Black woman. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

TRUMP-TOXIC LEAD PIPES -- The Trump administration has overhauled the country’s widely criticized, 29-year-old framework to eliminate toxic lead from drinking water. But critics charge that Tuesday’s rules give utilities far more time than before to replace old, lead-contaminated pipes and lines. By Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 440 words, photos.

TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE — The special counsel investigating the origins of the FBI’s probe into the 2016 election now has the authority to use classified information indefinitely in his investigation, a procedural step following his earlier appointment, according to a memorandum issued Tuesday by President Donald Trump. By Deb Riechmann. SENT: 350 words, photos.

MEDIA-ELECTION CLAIMS: An election systems worker who was driven into hiding by death threats has filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s campaign, lawyers Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and some conservative media figures and outlets. SENT: 670 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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AFGHANISTAN — A bombing and a shooting attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul have killed at least two people, including the head of an independent Afghan elections watchdog. Unknown gunmen shot and killed Mohammad Yousuf Rasheed during his morning commute. SENT: 390 words, photos.

TURKEY-LIBYA — Turkey’s parliament has extended for 18 months a law that allows the country to deploy Turkish troops to Libya. The Turkish decision comes after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire was declared in October. SENT: 300 words, photos.

AUSTRALIA-SERIAL KILLINGS — A judge has ordered a long prison term for a man who killed two women and sexually assaulted two others in Australia’s western city of Perth more than 20 years ago. The crimes were connected in more recent years by his fingerprints and DNA. SENT: 420 words, photos.

KASHMIR-LOCAL ELECTION — An alliance of political parties opposed to New Delhi’s policies in Kashmir has won a majority of seats in local elections, the first since New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semiautonomous status and took direct control last year. SENT: 620 words, photos.

AUSTRALIA-CHINESE WRITER — A Chinese-Australian writer has told family he has been tortured during almost two years in detention in China but maintains confidence he will receive justice in court. SENT: 340 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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IOWA INSTITUTION-EXPERIMENTS — The U.S. Justice Department has found that an Iowa state-run care center for people with intellectual disabilities likely violated the constitutional rights of residents by subjecting them to human experiments, some of which were deemed dangerous. SENT: 730 words, photos.

KATIE HILL-LAWSUIT — Former U.S. Rep. Katie Hill has sued her ex-husband and two media outlets for distributing “nonconsensual porn” that helped torpedo her political career. Hills says in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that Kenneth Heslep launched a “scorched earth attack” on her after she broke up with him by distributing nude photos to the Daily Mail and RedState, a conservative media site. SENT: 610 words, photos.

GIULIANI ASSOCIATES-INDICTMENT — Former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas wants a judge to order the White House and Justice Department to turn over any records referring to the reasons Parnas was charged with making illegal campaign contributions. SENT: 440 words, photos.

WASHINGTON STATE-TRAIN DERAILMENT — Officials say seven train cars carrying crude oil derailed and five caught fire, sending a black plume of smoke into the sky north of Seattle close to the Canadian border. SENT: 560 words, photos.

VIRGINIA LACROSSE SLAYING — A federal judge has granted a limited appeal filed by a former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted a decade ago of murdering his ex-girlfriend. SENT: 320 words, photos.

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BUSINESS

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FINANCIAL MARKETS —- Asian stock markets are higher after President Donald Trump suggested he may veto an economic aid package. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.2% after Trump criticized the aid plan approved by Congress and called for more aid to households than the $600 payments in the plan. SENT: 490 words, photos.

TREASURY-MONEY MARKET FUNDS — A top government financial oversight panel says that the turbulence in financial markets last spring has exposed problems in the operation of money market funds that will need to be corrected before the next crisis hits. SENT: 340 words, photo.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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NFL-TV COVERAGE — Even though NFL games may look the same, most of the processes around broadcasting the games have changed during the pandemic. Interviews for pregame features are being done remotely, announcers are socially distanced while being separated by plexiglass, and sideline reporters are in the stands. Even though everyone is hoping things return to normal next season, there still has been the satisfaction that the show has gone on. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.

Find more year-end coverage on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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SPORTS

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BKN-WARRIORS-NETS — Kevin Durant looked good as new against his old team, Kyrie Irving was even better and the Brooklyn Nets emphatically kicked off the Steve Nash era with a 125-99 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA’s season opener. SENT: 850 words, photos.

BKN-CLIPPERS-LAKERS — The Los Angeles Clippers rallied past the Los Angeles Lakers on the NBA champions’ ring ceremony night for a 116-109 victory. Paul George scored 26 of his 33 points in the second half and Kawhi Leonard added 26 points. LeBron James scored 22 points and Anthony Davis had 18 for the Lakers just 72 days after they finished off the Miami Heat in the NBA bubble. By Greg Beacham. SENT: 810 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma 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 http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.