AP News Digest 7 a.m.

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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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ONLY ON AP

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WHO-CHINA — A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak of the coronavirus is “extremely unlikely.” A draft copy was obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The findings were largely as expected, and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis. The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions. The AP received what appeared to be a near-final version from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. By Ken Moritsugu. SENT: 830 words, photos, video.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILD ABUSE — An Associated Press analysis has found that reports of child abuse plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, as children are out of the public eye and away from usual reporters of welfare problems. The AP analyzed more than a dozen indicators in 36 states. The findings reveal how the pandemic has ripped away systemic safety nets and showed signs in various states that officials are dealing with more urgent cases. AP found that child abuse reports, investigations, substantiated allegations and interventions dropped. More than 400,000 fewer child-welfare concerns were reported during the pandemic compared with the same time period of 2019. There were 200,000 fewer child abuse and neglect investigations and assessments. That’s a national total decrease of 18% in each category. By Sally Ho and Camille Fassett. SENT: 2,620 words, photos. There is an abridged version of this story.

VENEZUELA-SWISS BANKER -- The all-star witness to a U.S. criminal investigation that seeks to untangle how Venezuelan kleptocrats stole billions in oil wealth from their country recounts to The Associated Press his remarkable journey from the German-born son of a Lutheran pastor to banker of choice to Venezuela’s ruling elite. By Joshua Goodman. SENT: 2,710 words, photos. An abridged version is also available.

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TOP STORIES

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GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL — A former Minneapolis police officer goes on trial Monday in George Floyd’s death, and jurors may not wait long to see parts of the bystander video that caught Derek Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck, sparking waves of outrage and activism across the U.S. and beyond. Prosecutors have not said when they will play the video, but legal experts expect it to be early — maybe even in the prosecution’s opening statement — as they seek to remind jurors of what is at the heart of their case. By Steve Karnowski and Amy Forliti. SENT: 870 words, photos. WITH: GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL-RALLY — National civil rights leaders appeared alongside several family members of George Floyd at a prayer service, hours before opening statements were set to begin in the murder trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged in Floyd’s death. SENT: 380 words, photos.

EGYPT-SUEZ CANAL — Engineers on Monday “partially refloated” the colossal container ship that continues to block traffic through the Suez Canal, authorities said, without providing further details about when the vessel would be set free. By Isabel DeBre and Samy Magdy. SENT: 1,040 words, photo. WITH: SUEZ CANAL-ECONOMIC IMPACT — Delays in freeing a mammoth container ship stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal have highlighted still more pressure points in global trade, a year after supply chains were disrupted by the pandemic. BY Alex Veiga. SENT: 850 words, photos.

MYANMAR — Thai authorities along the country’s northwestern border are bracing for a possible influx of more ethnic Karen villagers fleeing new air strikes from the Myanmar military. The airstrikes mark an escalation in the increasingly violent crackdown by the Myanmar government against opponents of the Feb. 1 military takeover. SENT: 700 words, photos.

HOMELAND SECURITY-HACK -- Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration’s head of Homeland Security and members of his department’s cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, The Associated Press has learned. By Alan Suderman. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.

SYRIA-DIMINISHING AID — The humanitarian situation across war-ravaged Syria is worsening. But it’s been getting tougher every year to raise money from global donors to help people affected by the country’s protracted humanitarian crisis. Pledges had already been dropping off before the coronavirus pandemic, mainly due to donor fatigue. Officials fear that with the global economic downturn spurred by the pandemic, international assistance for Syria is about to take a new hit just when it’s needed most. The aid community is bracing for significant shortfalls ahead of a donor conference that starts on Monday in Brussels and is being co-hosted by the United Nations and the European Union. By Sarah El Deeb. SENT: 980 words, photos.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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PARK RANGERS-GUNFIRE — Everglades National Park rangers say a man who fired a gun at them was involved in a domestic violence situation at the park earlier in the day. SENT: 170 words.

DALLAS OFFICER-MISTAKEN APARTMENT-STREET — Officials have renamed a portion of a Dallas street for Botham Jean an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot in his apartment by a white former police officer who mistook his apartment for her own. SENT: 320 words, photos.

EGYPT-BUILDING COLLAPSE — Search and rescue workers pulled a 6-month-old baby alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Cairo as the death toll rose to 25, Egyptian officials say. SENT: 210 words, photos.

INDONESIA-REFINERY FIRE — At least 500 people were being evacuated from a nearby village after a massive fire broke out at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in Indonesia’s West Java province. SENT: 150 words, photos.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Agnes Callamard, who led a United Nations’ investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been appointed to lead Amnesty International. SENT: 250 words, photos.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK — A year after becoming a global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York and New Jersey are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection. SENT: 850 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent.)

BRITIAN-VIRUS OUTBREAK — England is embarking on a major easing of its latest coronavirus lockdown that came into force at the start of the year, with families and friends able to meet up in outdoor spaces and many sports permitted once again. SENT: 590 words, photo.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed her country’s difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic on “a tendency toward perfectionism.” In a lengthy television interview late Sunday she called for greater flexibility to tackle the latest surge in cases. Merkel acknowledged on public broadcaster ARD that mistakes were made by her government, including on plans for an Easter lockdown. SENT: 390 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-FRANCE — The number of patients in intensive care in France is fast approaching the worst point of the country’s last coronavirus surge in the autumn of 2020, another indicator of how a renewed crush of infections is bearing down on French hospitals. SENT: 220 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-JAPAN-AP INTERVIEW — The government minister tasked with overseeing Japan’s coronavirus vaccination campaign has urged the European Union to ensure stable exports of European-made vaccines, warning that any attempt to suspend shipments amid a shortage in Europe would harm relations. SENT: 680 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-LETTER TO NORMAL — The longing for “normalcy” keeps coming up throughout the pandemic as people yearn for control, but is normal really what we want? As one writer says, going back to normal seems like turning away from all the valuable life lessons and reorganized priorities that people have discovered during the pandemic. By Sophia Rosenbaum. SENT; 1150 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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AUSTRALIA POLITICS — Australia’s leader has reassigned some key members of his Cabinet and launched a new taskforce as he tries to address a series of sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked his government. SENT: 360 words, photos.

NKOREA MISSILES — North Korea has accused the United Nations of a “double standard” over its reaction to the North’s missile launches, warning it of a serious consequence. SENT: 340 words, photo.

INDONESIA-CHURCH ATTACK — Indonesian authorities have identified a newly married couple with suspected militant links as the attackers who used a pressure cooker to blow themselves up outside a Roman Catholic cathedral during Palm Sunday Mass. SENT: 740 words, photos.

INDIA-HOLI FESTIVAL — Hindus are throwing colored powder and spraying water in massive Holi celebrations despite many Indian states restricting gatherings because of a coronavirus resurgence. Holi marks the advent of spring and is widely celebrated throughout Hindu-majority India. SENT: 400 words, photos.

FRANCE-DIET PILLS — A Paris court is to deliver its verdict in a case that grew into one of France’s biggest modern health scandals. The Paris court will rule whether a French pharmaceutical company is guilty of manslaughter and other charges for selling a diabetes drug blamed for hundreds of deaths. SENT: 420 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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MASSAGE BUSINESS SHOOTINGS-LAWMAKERS — Members of Congress laid flowers at the three massage businesses in Georgia where a gunman killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent. The congressional delegation that visited the sites on Sunday included members of the Asian Pacific American Caucus. SENT: 620 words, photos.

HELICOPTER CRASH-ALASKA A contracted helicopter carrying guides and guests from a lodge on a heli-skiing trip in Alaska’s backcountry crashed, killing the pilot and four others, including the Czech Republic’s richest man. The only other person onboard was in serious condition but stable Sunday at an Anchorage hospital, Alaska State Troopers said. SENT: 620 words.

TENNESSEE-SEVERE-WEATHER — Heavy rains across Tennessee flooded homes and roads, prompting officials to rescue dozens of people from houses, apartments and vehicles. Authorities said four bodies were found Sunday in the flood’s aftermath. SENT: 860 words, photos.

JEWISH SITE SHOOTINGS-APPEAL — An avowed anti-Semite who fatally shot three people at two suburban Kansas City Jewish sites in 2014 is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence. SENT: 380 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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CHINA-XINJIANG-FOREIGN BRANDS — China is stepping up pressure on foreign shoe and clothing brands to reject reports of abuses in Xinjiang, telling companies that are targeted by Beijing for boycotts to look more closely and pointing to a statement by one that it found no forced labor. H&M, Nike, Adidas and other brands are caught in a spiraling conflict over Xinjiang after Western governments imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of abuses. SENT: 650 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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NCAA-TOURNAMENT — The NCAA Tournament still looks like the field versus Gonzaga. The Bulldogs crushed Creighton, and Michigan manhandled Florida State, putting three No. 1 seeds into the Elite Eight. But joining them were two teams — No. 6 USC and No. 11 UCLA — from the underappreciated Pac-12 Conference, suggesting few selection committee members stayed up late enough to judge the caliber of basketball being played on the West Coast. In Monday’s games, No. 1 Baylor — the last of seven entries from the Big 12 Conference — plays No. 3 Arkansas, and No. 2 Houston meets 12th seed Oregon State. By Jim Litke. SENT: 770 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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