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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TOP STORIES
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — New satellite images show what appear to be mass graves near Mariupol, and local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians there in an effort to conceal the slaughter taking place in the siege of the port city. By Yesica Fisch. SENT: 1,250 words, photos, video. With RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THE LATEST.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS -- Israeli police in full riot gear stormed a sensitive Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims on Friday after Palestinian youths hurled stones at a gate where they were stationed. The renewed violence at the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, came despite Israel temporarily halting Jewish visits, which are seen by the Palestinians as a provocation. Medics said more than two dozen Palestinians were wounded before the clashes subsided hours later. By Joseph Krauss. SENT: 650 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-BIDEN — President Joe Biden has an election-year message for frustrated voters: At least he’s trying. Biden hopes his moves to help Ukraine, ease gas prices and smooth out supply chain bottlenecks will present a contrast with Republicans — who, he argues, have no solutions. By Will Weissert and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK — Boston urged people to start wearing masks and the Biden administration weighed its next legal step in what is shaping up to be a high-stakes court fight over the abrupt end of the national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit. By Heather Hollingsworth and Lindsay Whitehurst. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
FRANCE-ELECTION-THE-KINGMAKERS — As France elects a president, Paris-based artist Vincent Aïtzegagh is going to ground, escaping to a bucolic village to avoid what for him — and millions of other left-wing French voters — is a painful, even impossible, electoral choice. For the first time in his life, the 65-year-old has decided to not vote at all in the decisive ballot this Sunday. SENT: 970 words, photos.
INDIA-SOUNDTRACK-OF-HATE — India’s hardline Hindu nationalists have long espoused an anti-Muslim stance, but attacks against the minority community have recently occurred more frequently. In many cases, hate-filled and provocative songs that are blared through speakers during Hindu festivals have become a precursor to this violence. Some songs openly call for the killing of Muslims and those who do not endorse “Hindutva,” a Hindu nationalist movement that strives to make officially secular India into an avowedly Hindu nation. By Sheikh Saaliq. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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MIKE-TYSON-PLANE-CONFRONTATION — Authorities were investigating an incident in which former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport. SENT: 450 words, photos.
POLICE SHOOTING-MICHIGAN — Mourners will gather at the funeral for Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was fatally shot in the back of the head after a traffic stop and struggle with a white police officer in Michigan. SENT: 240 words, photos.
MAN BITES POLICE DOG — A man allegedly bit and stabbed a police dog in Northern California as officers tried to take him into custody, authorities say. SENT: 240 words.
OBIT-HINOJOSA-SMITH — Romeo Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, an award-winning Texas author who began in the 1970s writing a series of novels that told the stories of people living in a fictional county along the Texas-Mexico border, has died. He was 93. SENT: 350 words, photos.
BRIAN FLORES-LAWSUIT — The NFL is telling a judge there are multiple reasons why a lawsuit brought against it by three Black coaches, including Brian Flores, who allege racist hiring practices should fail. SENT: 565 words.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-MILITARY AID-EXPLAINER — The Biden administration’s decision to dramatically ramp up delivery of artillery guns to Ukraine signals a deepening American military commitment at a pivotal stage of the war. “We’re in a critical window,” President Biden said in announcing he had approved sending Ukraine a new $800 million package of military aid. By National Security Writer Robert Burns. SENT: 850 words, photos, video.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-CHILD-ABDUCTION — An American father is relieved to learn his 2-year-old son has safely made it out of the besieged Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol. But he says his estranged Ukrainian-American wife took the boy to Russia and it isn’t clear when he will get to see him again. Cesar Quintana was granted legal custody of his son in California but his wife took the boy to Ukraine in 2020. Since then, Quintana has been trying to get him back. SENT: 820 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA — Officials in Shanghai promised Friday to ease anti-virus controls on truck drivers that are hampering food supplies and trade as they try to revive the local economy while millions of people are still confined to their homes. SENT: 460 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia is ending its indoor mask mandate, city health officials said Thursday night, abruptly reversing course just days after people in the city had to start wearing masks again amid a sharp increase in infections. SENT: 610 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LONG LASTING COVID — Researchers in the United Kingdom describe a COVID-19 infection that lasted nearly a year and a half at a scientific conference in Portugal. The patient tested positive for the virus 505 days before their death. The research shows how long the disease can last in some people, such as those whose immune systems are compromised. By Laura Ungar. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ELECTION 2024-IOWA — Donald Trump’s persistent flirtation with another White House run is doing little to discourage other potential Republican candidates from stepping up their activity in Iowa, the state that will formally launch the nomination process. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence have visited the state or are planning to do so soon. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
CAPITOL RIOT-MCCARTHY — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told other GOP lawmakers shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection that he would urge then-President Donald Trump to resign, according to an audio recording posted Thursday night by The New York Times. SENT: 600 words, photo.
UNITED STATES-CUBA — The United States and Cuba hold their highest-level diplomatic talks in four years after a severe disruption in ties during the Trump administration. SENT: 410 words, photos.
ELECTION-2022-GEORGIA-GREEN — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is expected to appear at a hearing Friday in Atlanta in a challenge filed by voters who say she shouldn’t be allowed to seek reelection because she helped facilitate the attack on the Capitol that disrupted certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. SENT: 620 words, photo.
SUPREME COURT-STOLEN PAINTING — The Supreme Court keeps alive a California man’s hope of reclaiming a valuable impressionist masterpiece taken from his family by the Nazis and now on display in a Spanish museum. SENT: 750 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-SHACKLING CASE — The Supreme Court says a federal appeals court was wrong when it ordered Michigan to retry or release a man convicted of murder because his rights were violated when he was shackled at trial. SENT: 500 words, photos.
BIDEN — President Biden visits Portland, Oregon’s airport to showcase how his infrastructure law has led to runway improvements that will help it withstand earthquakes and keep down costs for delivery of goods. SENT: 440 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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KOREAS-TENSIONS — The leaders of the rival Koreas exchanged letters expressing hope for improved bilateral relations, which plummeted in the past three years amid a freeze in nuclear negotiations and North Korea’s accelerating weapons development. SENT: 880 words, photos.
SOLOMON-ISLANDS-US — A senior U.S. delegation arrived Friday in the Solomon Islands to express its concern that China could send military forces to the South Pacific nation and destabilize the region. SENT: 480 words, photo.
INDIA-BRITAIN — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to help move India away from its dependence on Russia by expanding economic and defense ties when he meets with his Indian counterpart, officials said. SENT: 420 words, photos.
CHINA-US-AMERICAN-SENTENCED — An American man has been sentenced to death in China for fatally stabbing a 21-year-old woman who tried to break off their relationship. SENT: 220 words.
HONDURAS PRESIDENT — Honduras extradited former President Juan Orlando Hernández to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges in a dramatic reversal for a leader once touted by U.S. authorities as a key ally in the war on the drugs. SENT: 350 words, photo.
UNITED NATIONS-VETO FRICTION — After decades of complaints about vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, some momentum is building behind a proposal to subject any vetoed matter to scrutiny by the world body’s full membership in the General Assembly. SENT: 880 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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WESTERN-WILDFIRE — Firefighters are bracing for the return of ferocious winds in the Southwest after a brief reprieve allowed them to attack flames from the air for the first time in days as a half-dozen large wildfires continue to grow in Arizona and New Mexico. SENT: 820 words, photos, video.
XGR-LGBTQ-RIGHTS-KANSAS — As state lawmakers moved to ban transgender kids from girls’ sports, Kansas’ most visible LGBTQ-rights lobbyist recently said during an interview in a Statehouse corridor that conservatives don’t mind if kindergartners “have their genitals inspected.” SENT: 810 words, photos.
TRANSGENDER-BIRTH-CERTIFICATE-LAWSUIT — A Montana judge on Thursday temporarily blocked enforcement of a law that required transgender people to have undergone a “surgical procedure” before being allowed to change their sex on their birth certificates. SENT: 410 words, photo.
CALIFORNIA-CHILDREN-DROWNED-LAWSUIT — The father of three children who were allegedly killed by their mother last year has filed a lawsuit against the city and county of Los Angeles, accusing police and social workers of failing to intervene to protect his young daughters and son before their deaths. SENT: 510 words, photo.
ABORTION-TENNESSEE — Tennessee would become the latest state to impose harsh penalties on doctors who violate new, strict regulations dictating the dispensing of abortion pills under a proposal headed toward Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. SENT: 350 words, photo.
ABORTION-KENTUCKY — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a state law that effectively eliminated abortions in Kentucky after the state’s two remaining clinics said they couldn’t meet its requirements. SENT: 245 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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MED-CANCER-GENOME — Scientists have analyzed the full genetic blueprints of more than 18,000 cancer samples, finding new patterns of mutations that could help doctors provide better, more personalized treatment. Their study, published Thursday in the journal Science, isn’t the first to do such comprehensive “whole genome” analyses of cancer samples. But no one has ever done so many. SENT: 480 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Asian shares mostly fell, tracking losses on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated increases in interest rates must be faster to fight inflation. Major indexes cascaded downward in Asia. Japan’s consumer price index data showed an increase for the seventh consecutive month, although the results were within market expectations. SENT: 790 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKN--GRIZZLIES-TIMBERWOLVES — Desmond Bane made seven 3-pointers and had 26 points and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 26-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-95 for a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. By Dave Campbell. SENT: 870 words, photos.
BKN--WARRIORS-NUGGETS — Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole scored 27 points each, Klay Thompson made six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points and the Golden State Warriors muscled past the Denver Nuggets 118-113 to take a 3-0 lead in the playoff series. By Arnie Stapleton. SENT: 840 words, photos. With BKN—Tipoff (sent).
BKN--MAVERICKS-JAZZ — Jalen Brunson scored 31 points playing with a bruised back and the Dallas Mavericks — without the injured Luka Doncic — beat the Utah Jazz 126-118 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. SENT: 690 words, photos.
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