AP News Digest 3 a.m.

Wednesday 27 October 2021 08:01 BST

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 at https://newsroom.ap.org.

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THE FACEBOOOK PAPERS

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THE FACEBOOK PAPERS-TRUMP VIOLENCE — Reports of hateful and violent speech on Facebook flooded in after President Donald Trump hit send on a message promising to shoot looters in Minneapolis following George Floyd’s death last year. If Facebook had treated Trump like any other user, his threats of violence would have been automatically deleted. But politicians got a pass. By Amanda Seitz. UPCOMING: 1,100 words by 7 a.m., photos.

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TOP STORIES

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CONGRESS-BUDGET — Half its original size, President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy plan is being pulled apart and reconfigured as Democrats edge closer to satisfying their most reluctant colleagues and finishing what’s now about a $1.75 trillion package. How to pay for it all remains deeply in flux. By Lisa Mascaro, Aamer Madhani and Alan Fram. SENT: 1,100 words, photos. With CONGRESS-BUDGET-PROGRESSIVES — Progressives start lining up behind emerging social, environmental bill. SENT: 950 words, photos.

UNITED STATES-CHINA-TAIWAN — The United States and China step up their war of words over Taiwan in a long-simmering dispute that has significant implications for the power dynamic in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. While the disagreement over Taiwan has long vexed U.S-China relations, recent developments suggest the two are coming closer to confrontation. By Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee. SENT: 900 words, photos.

HAITI-GANGS AND BUSINESS — Like the poor who are fleeing Haiti, Youri Mevs and others among the country’s wealthy elite have few illusions about life there. She constantly struggles to keep her business going in the fact of threats and extortion by the gangs that rule a country where government has ceased to function. She may have to leave, eventually, but in the meantime, she vows to help fight the political battle to rebuild her country. By Alberto Arce. SENT: 2,200 words, photos. Abridged version also available.

VIRUS OUTBREAK — The pandemic has made clear what many experts have long warned: The absence of reliable and affordable child care limits the jobs people can accept, makes it harder to climb the corporate ladder and ultimately restricts the ability of the broader economy to grow. By Sally Ho and Josh Boak. UPCOMING: 1,100 words by 10:30 a.m., photos.

PROP FIREARM-MOVIE SET — Authorities are scheduled to discuss initial findings about a fatal movie-set shooting with a prop gun discharged by actor Alec Baldwin that left a cinematographer dead and the film director wounded. The news conference in New Mexico on Wednesday morning may shed new light on a deadly sequence of events that has baffled film-set safety experts. By Morgan Lee, Susan Montoya Bryan and Cedar Attanasio. SENT: 410 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from morning news conference.

SUDAN-NEW STRONGMAN — Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who led this week’s coup in Sudan, has vowed to usher the country to an elected government. He first gained prominence in 2019 when he and other generals toppled longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir under pressure from mass demonstrations, By Samy Magdy and Isabel Debre. SENT: 880 words, photos.

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TRENDING

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TRUMP-SOCIAL MEDIA — Former President Donald Trump could pocket billions of dollars in paper wealth if his social media company performs well. SENT: 590 words, photo.

WORLD SERIES-BRAVES-MORTON — Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton throws 16 pitches on a broken leg in Game 1 of the World Series. SENT: 300 words, photos.

SOUTH KOREA-US — The U.S. women's soccer team sends Carli Lloyd into retirement with a 6-0 rout of South Korea. SENT: 450 words, photos.

OBIT-MORT SAHL — Mort Sahl, a comedian who satirized politics, dies at 94. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRAZIL-BOLSONARO INVESTIGATION-EXPLAINER — A Brazilian Senate committee is recommending that President Jair Bolsonaro be indicted for allegedly mishandling the nation’s response the pandemic. What lies ahead for Bolsonaro. SENT: 820 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-UGANDA SCHOOL OUTCASTS — One border town in Uganda Busia shows a disturbing picture of how the pandemic is transforming the lives of schoolchildren in an African country that left matters in the hands of helpless and, often, careless parents. Schools in Uganda have been shut down for more than 77 weeks, the longest anywhere in the world, and the East African country now is the only one in Africa where schools remain closed. UPCOMING.

AUSTRALIA OPEN-VACCINATIONS — The back-and-forth debate over unvaccinated tennis players being allowed to contest the Australian Open in January has heightened with the prime minister and a state political leader trading shots on points of difference. SENT:750 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CAMBODIA — Cambodia plans to reopen in stages to fully vaccinated foreign tourists starting from the end of November. SENT: 200 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIETNAM — Vietnam has started to vaccinate children as part of an effort to reopen schools after more than half a year of closures due to COVID-19. About 1,500 teenagers between 16 and 17 years old in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam are among the first to receive jabs before the inoculation program is rolled out nationwide in November.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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VIRGINIA GOVERNOR — President Joe Biden frames the Virginia governor’s race as a repudiation of his predecessor, tying the Republican candidate to former President Donald Trump as he campaigns for Democrat Terry McAuliffe. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.

ELECTION 2021-NYC MAYOR — The candidates running to become New York City’s mayor lob accusations at each other, then end their second debate on a surprisingly tender note. SENT: 540 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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ITALY-G20-DIPLOMACY — This weekend’s Group of 20 summit in Rome is the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world’s biggest economies since COVID-19 struck. But it is anything but business as usual. The leaders of Russia and China aren’t attending in person. There could be tensions as the U.S., Australia and France will be at the same table for the first time since Washington pulled the rug out from under Paris’ $60 billion submarine deal to Australia. And an even bigger summit begins as soon as this one ends, in Glasgow, Scotland, to tackle the climate crisis. UPCOMING by 8 a.m., text and photos.

BIDEN-CHINA — No meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jingping is on deck, but the promises and challenges of the twin upcoming G20 and global climate summits reflect the administration’s nine-month effort to reorient the nation’s focus toward addressing the strategic challenges posed by the rising global power. On security, trade, climate and COVID-19, the White House approach can be characterized as “about China, without China.” UPCOMING by 11 a.m., text and photos.

CLIMATE-GULF OIL OBSESSION — The global energy transition is perhaps nowhere more perplexing than in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies are caught between two daunting climate change scenarios that each threaten their livelihood. In one, the world stops burning oil and gas to cut down on heat-trapping emissions, shaking the very foundation of their economies. In the other, global temperatures keep rising, at the risk of rendering unlivable much of the Gulf’s already extremely hot terrain. The political stability of the Gulf states is rooted in profits from fossil fuels, despite serious efforts to diversify their economies and attract new forms of investments. SENT: 1100 words, photos.

MYANMAR-SUU KYI — Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has testified in court for the first time in one of several cases against her, but details of what she said are not available because of a gag order on her lawyers. All of the defense lawyers in Suu Kyi’s cases have been barred since last week from revealing details of the court proceedings. SENT: 600 words, photos.

CLIMATE-AUSTRALIA — Australia’s opposition Labor Party says a looming election will be fought on greenhouse gas reduction targets as Prime Minister Scott Morrison comes under criticism over the modest goals he will take to a U.N. climate summit. SENT: 720 words, photos.

CLIMATE-EXTINCTION WARNING — The United Nations is summoning an unusual “witness” to testify to the dangers of burning fossil fuels that stoke global warming. In a video released on social media ahead of this year’s U.N. climate change summit, a computer-generated dinosaur bursts into the U.N.’s famous General Assembly hall in New York to tell world diplomats that “going extinct is a bad thing.” SENT: 300 words.

BRITAIN-ASSANGE — Britain’s High Court convenes a two-day hearing to consider the U.S. Justice Department’s appeal of the decision that Julian Assange should not be extradited to face charges in the United States. SENT: 550 words, photos.

MEXICO MIGRANT MARCH — After three days of walking along a scorching highway in southern Mexico, a couple thousand migrants decided to rest, receive medical attention for badly blistered feet, wash clothing in the river and doze in any shade they could find. SENT: 560 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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CHILD-SKELETAL REMAINS FOUND — A woman and her boyfriend are arrested in the death of the woman’s 8-year-old son, whose skeletal remains were found inside a Houston-area apartment with three surviving but apparently abandoned siblings. SENT: 450 words, photos.

US-CALIFORNIA-POLICE SHOOTING TRIAL: A California police officer has been convicted of assault with a firearm in the 2018 fatal shooting of an unarmed mentally ill man in a wealthy San Francisco suburb. A jury in Contra Costa County agreed Tuesday that Officer Andrew Hall was guilty of the charge in the death of Laudemer Arboleda. SENT: 880 words, photos.

FLORIA-SURGEON GENERAL-NO MASK — Florida’s surgeon general has said that conversations while wearing masks aren’t productive after a state senator didn’t let him in her office without a mask, citing a serious health condition. SENT: 450 words, photos.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

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US CHINA TELECOM — U.S. regulators are expelling a unit of China Telecom Ltd., one of the country’s three major state-owned carriers, from the American market as a national security threat amid rising tension with Beijing. SENT: 300 words.

JAPAN-NISSAN-GREG KELLY — The defense for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly has argued there is no evidence or motives linking him to alleged under-reporting of his ex-boss Carlos Ghosn’s compensation. SENT: 600 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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WORLD SERIES-BRAVES-ASTROS — Making his first start since testing positive for COVID-19, Jorge Soler becomes the first player to begin a World Series with a home run and the Atlanta Braves hushed the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 1. By Baseball Writer Ben Walker. SENT: 850 words, photos.

WORLD SERIES-AFTER THE SCANDALS — Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos and Houston GM James Click both took over teams in turmoil and led them to the World Series. By Baseball Writer Ronald Blum. UPCOMING: 900 words by 3:30 a.m., photos.

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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

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CHRISTIAN AUTHOR-POSTHUMOUS BOOK — Christian author Rachel Held Evans left behind a legion of loyal readers when she died in May 2019, at age 37. Next week, her last book for adults is being published, titled “Wholehearted Faith.” National Writer David Crary. UPCOMING: 1,000 words by 11 a.m., photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Fisnik Abrashi 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@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.

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