AP News Digest 3:35 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-INDIA-DEJA-VU — Coronavirus cases fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant are rocketing through India, prompting the federal government and states to swiftly reintroduce a string of restrictions. By Sheikh Saaliq. SENT: 740 words, photos.
HARRY REID MEMORIAL — The late U.S. Sen. Harry Reid will be remembered in Las Vegas by family, friends and the nation’s top Democrats as a fighter, a father and a powerful U.S. and Nevada political figure. President Joe Biden House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are scheduled to speak. By Ken Ritter and Darlene Superville. SENT: 850 words, photos. UPCOMING: 990 words after 2 p.m. ceremony.
BOSNIA-SERBS-POLITICAL-CRISIS — He was once described in Washington as an anti-nationalist “breath of fresh air” in the murderous, genocide-scarred Balkan morass of ethnically divided Bosnia. How times change. This week Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik, now a genocide-denying secessionist, was slapped with new U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption. He responded in typical style, saying the days when the United States and other Western democracies “modeled Bosnia to their taste” are long gone. By Sabina Niksic. SENT: 890 words, photos.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN-DJOKOVIC — Lawyers for Novak Djokovic filed court documents in his challenge against deportation from Australia that showed the tennis star contracted COVID-19 last month, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports. By Sports Writer John Pye. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN-HOME TESTS — President Biden announced last month that the federal government will buy half a billion COVID-19 rapid test kits and distribute them free to people to use at home. But White House officials say it will still be several more weeks before these kits are available to be shipped. SENT: 690 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — The difficulty finding coronavirus test kits in many parts of California and delays in getting results are causing increasing frustration and contributing to the surge of infections that in just two weeks more than doubled the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19. SENT: 770 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRALIA — Australia’s former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tested positive for COVID-19 as case numbers hit new highs across the country and health officials warned that the real number of cases is likely much higher than testing shows. SENT: 430 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ROSE-PARADE-BAND — Members of a 410-person Alabama high school marching band that led off this year’s Tournament of Roses Parade with “Yankee Doodle Dandy” have tested positive for COVID-19 since returning home from California. SENT: 490 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-RENTAL ASSISTANCE — The Treasury Department says states and localities in November paid out the largest amount of rental assistance to cash-strapped tenants since the program began. SENT: 630 words, photo.
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TRENDING NEWS
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FILM-PIXAR-RELEASE — The third straight Pixar feature film will go straight to Disney+, the Walt Disney Co. has announced. SENT: 160 words, photo.
GADGET-SHOW — Attendance at this week’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas fell more than 75% compared to its previous in-person event two years ago, its organizer said. SENT: 160 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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OBIT-LANI-GUINIER — Lani Guinier, a civil rights lawyer and scholar whose nomination by President Bill Clinton to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division was pulled after conservatives criticized her views on correcting racial discrimination, has died. She was 71. SENT: 820 words, photos.
VOTER-ID-NORTH-CAROLINA — Two North Carolina Supreme Court justices — the son of a powerful legislator among them — say they won’t step away from hearing a case that challenges a pair of constitutional amendments, one of which mandates photo voter identification. SENT: 580 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-WISCONSIN-SENATE — Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, has decided to seek reelection to a third term, two Republicans with knowledge of the plan told The Associated Press. SENT: 570 words, photo.
CAPITOL RIOT-CRUZ — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz apologizes for calling the Jan. 6 insurrection “a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol,” capitulating to outrage from the Republican Party’s right flank. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 870 words, photos.
NAVY-BOOT CAMP — The Navy is adding two weeks to boot camp in a major overhaul aimed at improving recruits’ war fighting and emergency skills while also focusing on character issues such as sexual assault, hazing and extremism in the ranks. SENT: 550 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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MARINES-DEADLY-TRAINING-ACCIDENT — A Marine Corps battalion commander testified Friday that in retrospect he would have halted the exercise that killed nine of his Marines whose amphibious assault vehicle sank off the Southern California coast but at the time he did not have accurate information to make such a decision. SENT: 740 words, photo.
CALIFORNIA-BOAT-FIRE — The Coast Guard has announced new safety rules following a deadly blaze that killed 34 people on a scuba diving boat off the California coast more than two years ago, including installation of fire detection and suppression equipment. SENT: 660 words, photo.
EX-MICHIGAN LAWMAKER-SEXUAL ASSAULT — A former Michigan legislative leader on Friday denied allegations that he sexually assaulted his future sister-in-law starting when she was 14 or 15, saying they had a sexual relationship for years but that both were consenting adults. SENT: 360 words, photos.
ABORTION-TEXAS — Texas abortion clinics returned to court Friday, weakened in their efforts to stop the nation’s most restrictive abortion law after the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed the state’s near-total ban on the procedure to stay in place. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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CHINA-EARTHQUAKE — A strong overnight earthquake shook a sparsely populated area in western China and forced the suspension of high-speed rail service because of tunnel damage, authorities said.
OLY-BEIJING-OPENING-CEREMONY — Renowned Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is promising a simpler opening ceremony for next month’s Beijing Winter Games with a bold and unprecedented way of lighting the Olympic flame. SENT: 270 words, photo.
INDIA-MOTHER-TERESA — India’s government has allowed Mother Teresa’s charity to receive foreign funds, weeks after blocking it saying the Catholic organization did not meet conditions under local laws, a lawmaker says. SENT: 230 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EMPLOYER-MANDATES — Companies that would be affected by a Biden administration vaccine-or-testing requirement for workers have largely remained on the sidelines while the Supreme Court considers whether the rule can be enforced. SENT: 660 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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TV-Q&A-AMY-SCHNEIDER — “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider is adding to her list of bragging rights and admirers. Already the highest-earning female contestant in the quiz show’s history and the woman with the longest winning streak, on Friday she became one of only four “Jeopardy!” players to reach seven figures in regular-season winnings. By Television Writer Lynn Elber. SENT: 970 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBC--CFP CHAMPIONSHIP-TEAMS ARRIVE — Coach Nick Saban led Alabama off the team plane and into a cold reality. The Crimson Tide will either return home from frigid Indianapolis with another national championship — or as this season’s national runner-up. By Michael Marot. SENT: 550 words, photos. With FBC--CFP Championship-Transfer Portal (sent).
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HOW TO REACH US
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