AP News Digest 3:10 a.m.

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.

——————————-

TOP STORIES

——————————

ELECTION 2022-TRUMP — Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania for his first rally of the general election season. While Trump notched a long list of wins in GOP primaries this summer, many of the candidates he elevated were inexperienced and polarizing figures who are now struggling in their general election races. By Marc Levy and Jill Colvin. SENT: 1,150 words, photos. UPCOMING: 1,300 words after 7 p.m. rally.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-RISKY-MISSIONS — Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are used to risky missions — from the radioactive aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan to the politically charged Iranian nuclear program. But their deployment amid the war in Ukraine to Zaporizhzhia takes the threat to a new level and underscores the lengths to which the organization will go in attempts to avert a potentially catastrophic nuclear disaster. By Mike Corder. SENT: 900 words, photos.

RUSSIA-GORBACHEV-FUNERAL — Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who launched drastic reforms that helped end the Cold War and precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union, is set to be buried in a relatively low-key ceremony snubbed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. By Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov. With RUSSIA-GORBACHEV-REUNITED-WITH-RAISA — Gorbachev’s marriage, like his politics, broke the mold (sent).

US OPEN-SERENA — Serena Williams lost what is expected to be the last match of her transcendent tennis career, eliminated from the U.S. Open in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 before an electric crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Unwilling to go quietly, Williams staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings. No one — save, of course, Tomljanovic — wanted the match to end. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. SENT: 800 words, photos. With TEN--US Open-Serena Reax — Reaction to Serena Williams’ loss in her likely final match; TEN--US Open-Beating Serena — Serena Williams’ last opponent, Alja Tomljanovic, is a fan (both sent).

———————————————————————-

MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

————————————————————————

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces raged Friday near Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine, as experts from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency assessing damage sought to prevent even the slightest leak of radioactive material. SENT: 870 words, photos.

RUSSIA-OPPOSITION — Russian authorities have designated a beloved rock musician, a key ally of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny and four other people as “foreign agents,” alleging they engaged in unspecified political activities while receiving funding from Ukraine. SENT: 270 words.

————————

TRENDING

————————

DEADLY-BORDER-CROSSING — At least eight migrants were found dead in the Rio Grande after dozens attempted a hazardous crossing near Eagle Pass, Texas, officials say. SENT: 370 words, photo.

SAN-DIEGO-FUGITIVE-CAPTURE — A tip along with the perseverance of the mother of a woman killed in San Diego in 2016 led to the arrest of her boyfriend, a U.S. Marine veteran who fled to El Salvador and was teaching English there, prosecutors said Friday at the arraignment of Raymond McLeod. SENT: 430 words, photo.

OBIT-BARBARA-EHRENREICH — Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, activist and self-described “myth buster” who in such notable works as “Nickel and Dimed” and “Bait and Switch” challenged conventional thinking about class, religion and the very idea of an American dream, has died at age 81. SENT: 570 words, photos.

PEOPLE-JANE-FONDA — Jane Fonda says she has cancer. The 84-year-old actor has said in an Instagram post that she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has begun a six-month course of chemotherapy. SENT: 220 words, photos.

————————————————————

WASHINGTON / POLITICS

————————————————————

TRUMP-FBI — Along with highly classified government documents, the FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate found dozens of empty folders marked classified but with nothing inside and no explanation of what might have been there, according to a more detailed inventory of the seized material made public on Friday. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 740 words, photos, video.

ELECTION-2022-REPUBLICANS-ABORTION — Strict, anti-abortion Republicans running in competitive House, Senate and governor’s races in key battleground states are trying to distance themselves from their past statements and positions. This is in light of reignited enthusiasm among abortion rights supporters since the June U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. v. Wade. SENT: 1,290 words, photos.

ELECTION-2022-NORTH-CAROLINA-POLL-WATCHERS — North Carolina’s State Board of Elections will not fight a recent decision by the state rules panel blocking its proposed restrictions on party-appointed poll watchers this fall. But the board pledged Friday to do all it can to help county elections officials maintain a safe and orderly voting environment and to deter any voter intimidation. SENT: 560 words, photo.

BIDEN-CLIMATE TEAM — President Biden brings back John Podesta, a behind-the-scenes veteran of past Democratic administrations, to put into place an ambitious U.S. climate program newly revived by $375 billion from Congress. SENT: 720 words, photos.

UNITED STATES-TAIWAN-CHINA — The Biden administration has announced a more than $1 billion arms sale to Taiwan as U.S.-China tensions escalate over the status of the island. The $1.09 billion sale includes $355 million for Harpoon air-to-sea missiles and $85 million for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the State Department says. SENT: 450 words, photo.

GEORGIA ELECTION INVESTIGATION — After the 2020 election, a Georgia poll worker who was falsely accused of voting fraud by Donald Trump was pressured at a meeting at a police station arranged with the help of an ally of the Trump campaign, a Georgia prosecutor says in a court filing. SENT: 510 words, photo.

————————

NATIONAL

————————

CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — Thousands of people remained under evacuation orders after a wind-whipped wildfire raged through rural Northern California, injuring people and torching an unknown number of homes. SENT: 860 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA-HEAT-WAVE — Californians sweltering in the West’s lengthening heat wave were asked to reduce air conditioning and cut other electricity use again during critical hours Friday and again Saturday to prevent stress on the state’s electrical grid that could lead to rolling blackouts. SENT: 980 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA BOAT FIRE — A Los Angeles federal judge threw out an indictment charging a dive boat captain with manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people in a 2019 fire aboard a vessel anchored off the Southern California coast. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.

ABORTION-ARIZONA — Planned Parenthood Arizona has joined several other providers that have restarted abortion care in the state — although it may only be temporary — after clinics ceased providing the service when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women do not have a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. SENT: 900 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA'S-LAST-NUCLEAR-PLANT — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation intended to open the way for the state’s last operating nuclear power plant to run an additional five years, a move that he said was needed to ward off possible blackouts as the state transitions to solar and other renewable sources. SENT: 330 words, photo.

MISSING VETERANS-UKRAINE — The families of two military veterans from Alabama who are missing in Ukraine this week met virtually with federal government officials and Ukraine’s ambassador. SENT: 350 words, photo.

FUFENG-NORTH-DAKOTA — Federal authorities reviewing a Chinese company’s purchase of land in North Dakota for a wet corn milling plant say more information is needed before they can decide whether project is detrimental to national security. SENT: 310 words.

————————————-

INTERNATIONAL

————————————-

ZIMBABWE-OPPOSITION-HARASSMENT — Opposition politicians languishing in prison. Journalists and government critics harassed and arrested. Public meetings banned. Zimbabwe’s general election is several months away but many opposition figures say they are already battling intense government repression similar to the iron-fisted rule of Robert Mugabe, the former president who died in 2019. SENT: 680 words, photos.

UNITED NATIONS-RUSSIA-US-VISAS — Russia’s U.N. ambassador says it’s “alarming” that less than three weeks before the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly not a single member of the 56-member Russian advance team and delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has received a U.S. entry visa. SENT: 510 words.

UNITED-NATIONS-SEXUAL-VIOLENCE — The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Friday condemning all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and urging all countries to provide victims and survivors access to justice, reparations and assistance. SENT: 500 words.

UNITED NATIONS-LIBYA-UN ENVOY — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced the appointment of former Senegalese minister and U.N. diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily to be the new U.N. envoy to Libya after the Security Council gave its approval, ending a nine-month search amid increasing chaos in the oil-rich north African nation. 390 words.

UNITED-NATIONS-AFGHANISTAN-ENVOY — Former Kyrgyzstan president Roza Otunbayeva has been appointed as the new U.N. special envoy for crisis-stricken Afghanistan, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced. SENT: 330 words.

———————————————-

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

————————————————-

AMAZON-FTC-INVESTIGATION — The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary health organization One Medical, a move that could delay the completion of the deal. SENT: 260 words, photo.

—————————————

ENTERTAINMENT

—————————————

TV-CNN-JOHN HARDWOOD — CNN White House correspondent John Harwood has said he’s exiting the news channel, an abrupt departure that comes amid other CNN changes. SENT: 290 words, photo.

————————

SPORTS

————————

FBC--CFP EXPANSION — The College Football Playoff that determines the national champion is expanding from four teams to 12. It will happen no later than the 2026 season. The plan approved by a group of university presidents calls for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams to make the playoff. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. SENT: 800 words, photos.

TEN—US OPEN — Matteo Berrettini ended Andy Murray’s bid to return to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament by beating the the three-time major 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3 at the U.S. Open. Murray hasn’t reached the round of 16 in one of tennis’ four biggest tournaments since Wimbledon in 2017, when he was ranked No. 1. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. SENT: 970 words, photos. With TEN--US Open Glance (sent).

———————————————

HOW TO REACH US

———————————————

At the Nerve Center, Vincent K. Willis 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.