AP News Digest 3:15 am
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ONLY ON AP
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RACISM IN THE RANKS-MILITARY ACADEMIES — The U.S. military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and have welcomed more racially diverse students each year for the better part of the last decade. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination and equal opportunity policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about how they work to promote greater racial diversity, screen for extremism or address the racial slights that some graduates of color say they faced daily. Some graduates of color who endured what they viewed as a hostile environment are left questioning the military maxim that all service members wearing the same uniform are equal. By Aaron Morrison, Helen Wieffering and Noreen Nasir. SENT: 3,070 words, photos, video. An abridged version of 1,210 words is also available.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — World Health Organization officials in the Western Pacific say border closures adopted by some countries may buy time to deal with the omicron coronavirus variant, but measures put in place and experience gained in dealing with the delta variant should remain the foundation for fighting the pandemic. By Jim Gomez. SENT: 780 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN-POLITICS — For months, President Joe Biden has taken it on the chin from Republicans over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, as public patience wears thin amid the emergence of the new omicron variant, the White House and its allies are pushing back. By Zeke Miller. SENT: 960 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-CONGRESS — During his confirmation to the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh assured Sen. Susan Collins a woman’s right to an abortion was “settled law.” But during this week’s Supreme Court hearing over a Mississippi abortion case he sounded a different note. That’s posing hard questions for Collins and other senators. By Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,100 words, photos. Also see MORE ON SUPREME COURT-ABORTION below.
SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN — A teenager accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school was called to the office before the shooting but “no discipline was warranted,” the superintendent says in his first extended remarks since the tragedy. Tim Throne, leader of Oxford Community Schools, said Oxford High School looks like a “war zone” and won’t be ready for weeks. But he repeatedly credited students and staff for how they responded to the violence. By Corey Williams and Ed White. SENT: 970 words, photos, videos.
EPA-ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE — EPA Administrator Michael Regan says a recently completed tour from Mississippi to Texas enabled him to put “faces and names with this term that we call environmental justice.″ The five-day tour in mid-November highlighted low-income, mostly minority communities adversely affected by industrial pollution. By Matthew Daly. SENT: 1,510 words, photo. An abridged version of 1,040 words is also available.
CYPRUS POPE — Pope Francis met with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Chrysostomos II with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and Orthodox East that dates back nearly a millennium. By Menelaos Hadjicostis. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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TRENDING NEWS
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THUNDER-GRIZZLIES — Grizzlies throttle Thunder by NBA-record 73-point margin. SENT: 870 words, photos.
COWBOYS-SAINTS — Defense lifts Cowboys to 27-17 victory over sinking Saints. SENT: 830 words, photos.
FLORIDA-LAWMAKER-CYBERSTALKING — Florida teen charged with extorting official with explicit photos. SENT: 310 words.
WOLVES-POISONED — Oregon officials ask public help to find killers of eight wolves. SENT: 580 words, photo.
BIDEN-NATIONAL-CHRISTMAS-TREE — Biden helps light National Christmas Tree near White House. SENT: 180 words, photos, video.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW ZEALAND — Bars, restaurants and gyms reopened in Auckland as the last major parts of a lockdown that lasted more than 100 days ended. SENT: 350 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH KOREA — South Korea is tightening recently relaxed restrictions on social gatherings as it grapples with its worst wave of the virus since the start of the pandemic. SENT: 560 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MALAYSIA — Malaysia says it has detected its first case of the new omicron strain of the coronavirus in a foreign student who returned to the country last month after visiting her family in South Africa. SENT: 290 words.
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MORE ON SUPREME COURT-ABORTION
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ABORTION-PUBLIC OPINION — As the conservative-leaning Supreme Court this week signaled that it may dramatically limit abortion rights, polling suggests Americans want Roe v. Wade to remain law, but have nuanced attitudes on the circumstances under which abortion should be allowed. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT — We’ve been here before, with the fate of abortion rights throughout the United States in doubt awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court. But today’s court is much different. SENT: 770 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-TEXAS — Texas offers a glimpse in real time of what would be a striking new landscape if the Supreme Court drastically curtails abortion rights: GOP-controlled states with almost no access to abortion, and women traveling hundreds of miles to get one. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON
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CONGRESS-GOVERNMENT FUNDING — The Senate passes a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defuse a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. SENT: 940 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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TRUMP-LEGAL CASES — As Donald Trump’s lawyers try to block the White House from releasing records to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, the former president faces a flurry of other investigations that could come to a head in the coming weeks and the new year. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.
CUOMO-SEXUAL-HARASSMENT — The U.S. Department of Justice began a civil inquiry in August into sexual harassment claims made against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York officials disclosed. SENT: 360 words, photo.
DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER-TRIAL — A mostly white jury is nearly set for the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer charged in Daunte Wright’s shooting death, as only two alternates remain to be chosen before opening statements next week. SENT: 700 words, photos, video.
ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT-CALIFORNIA — Authorities in Los Angeles announced more than a dozen arrests in recent smash-and-grab thefts at stores where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen, part of a rash of organized retail crime in California. SENT: 570 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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TURKEY-ECONOMY-EXPLAINER — Turkey’s beleaguered currency has been plunging to all-time lows against the U.S. dollar and the euro in recent months as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pressing ahead with a widely criticized effort to cut interest rates despite surging consumer prices that are leaving families struggling to buy food and gas. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.
FRANCE MACRON GULF — French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the energy-rich Arab countries of the Persian Gulf with an aim to close a lucrative arms deal and strengthen France’s leadership role in renewed international efforts to revive Iran’s cratered nuclear deal with world powers. SENT: 740 words, photos.
LEBANON-GULF-CRISIS — Lebanon’s information minister is expected to announce his resignation, in a bid to ease an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. SENT: 340 words, photo.
IRAQ-SMUGGLING MIGRANTS — Iraqi Kurds seem to make up the majority of Middle Eastern migrants seeking to move to Europe these days. SENT: 1,270 words, photos.
CHINA-US-DEMOCRACY — China and the United States are tussling over Biden’s upcoming democracy summit, which the ruling Communist Party sees as a challenge to its authoritarian ways. SENT: 400 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-IRAQ-ISLAMIC STATE — The head of a U.N. team investigating atrocities in Iraq said that Islamic State extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes at a prison in Mosul in June 2014, where at least 1,000 predominantly Shiite Muslim prisoners were systematically killed. SENT: 730 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT — Inflation is surging. Supply chains are snarled. And yet economists predict that America’s employers delivered another month of solid job growth in November on the strength of steady consumer spending. By Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber. SENT: 720 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from 8:30 a.m. release. With ECONOMY-SERVICES — Report for non-manufacturing activity for November.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks were mostly higher in Asia after a broad rally on Wall Street as investors kept an eye on the spread of the new coronavirus variant and measures governments are taking to restrain it. By Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 680 words, photos.
CHINA-DIDI — China’s dominant ride-hailing service, Didi Global Inc., says it will pull out of the New York Stock Exchange and shift its share trading to Hong Kong as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over tech industries. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. SENT: 540 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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AUSTRALIA-CLIMATE — Australia would set a more ambitious target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade if the government changes hands at elections early next year, the opposition leader says. SENT: 320 words, photo.
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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
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PROP-FIREARM-SHOOTING — Alec Baldwin said he feels incredible sadness and regret over the shooting that killed a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set, but not guilt. By Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton. SENT: 760 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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