AP-AP News Digest 7 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.
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TOP STORIES
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AFGHANISTAN-DATABASE NATION - Over two decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars building databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal was to promote law and order and government accountability, and to modernize a war-ravaged land. But in the Taliban’s lightning seizure of power, most of that digital apparatus fell into the hands of an unreliable ruler. Built with few data-protection safeguards, that system now risks becoming a high-tech tool of a surveillance state. As the Taliban get their governing feet, many Afghans worry the databases, including biometrics for tracking individuals, will be wielded to enforce social control and punish perceived foes. By AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak. SENT: 1300 words, photos. With: AFGHANISTAN-THE LATEST
SEPT 11-MUSLIMS IN AMERICA -Muslim Americans in their 20s and 30s who grew up amid the aftershocks of 9/11 came of age in a world not necessarily attuned to their interests, their happiness and their well-being. How did the attacks affect the trajectory of their lives, and the shape of their communities. By Mariam Fam, Deepti Hajela and Luis Andres Henao. SENT: 2,000 words, photos, videos. An abridged version was also sent.
HURRICANE-IDA-BIDEN - President Joe Biden will survey damage in parts of the northeast that suffered catastrophic flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Biden is set to tour Manville, New Jersey, and Queens, New York, on Tuesday. Ida’s soggy remnants are blamed for at least 50 deaths in the region. More than two dozen people died in New Jersey. In New York City, 13 people lost their lives, including 11 in the borough of Queens. Ida wreaked havoc on Louisiana before it moved up north. Biden says Ida and other storms make federal spending on infrastructure an urgent priority. By Darlene Superville. SENT: 600 words, photos.
FRANCE ATTACKS TRIAL - Survivors of Islamic State group’s 2015 attack on Paris and those who mourn the 130 people killed that night are bracing for a long-awaited trial that starts this week in Paris. A cell of nine Islamic State militants armed with automatic rifles and explosive vests left a trail of dead and injured at the national stadium, Paris bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall on Nov. 13, 2015. Nearly all the attackers were from France or Belgium as were the cell’s 10th member who is the only one still alive. He is the chief defendant among 20 people charged in a trial that is expected to last nine months. A special secure court in Paris was constructed just to hold the trial.. By Lori Hinnant and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny. AP Photos, Video, Graphic. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With: FRANCE ATTACKS TRIAL-EXPLAINER and FRANCE ATTACKS TRIAL-TIMELINE.
FLORIDA SHOOTING-FAMILY KILLED - Florida investigators say they may never know why a Marine veteran killed a Lakeland family of four he had no connection with. Authorities say Bryan Riley confessed to killing a 40-year-old man, his 33-year-old girlfriend, their 3-month-old son and the woman’s 62-year-old mother. An 11-year-old girl was critically wounded. By Terry Spencer and Freida Frisaro. SENT: 900 words, photos.
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WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
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OBIT-MICHAEL-K.-WILLIAMS — Actor Michael K. Williams, who as Omar Little on “The Wire” created one of the most popular characters in television in recent decades, has died at 54. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn penthouse, and his death was being investigated as a possible drug overdose, New York City police said. SENT: 860 words, photos.
AUSTRALIA-BOY FOUND - A 3-year-old boy who spent three nights lost in rugged Australian woodland is home playing with toys as his family and rescuers celebrate the happy ending to a desperately difficult search. Anthony “AJ” Elfalak, who has autism and is non-verbal, was taken to hospital for observation after he was found on Monday sitting in a shallow creek and drinking water with cupped hands on his family’s remote rural property north of Sydney. SENT:400 words, photos.
BILL COSBY-CONSTAND MEMOIR - Bill Cosby accuser Andrea Constand has penned a memoir out Tuesday that offers a view from her seat at the center of a high-profile #MeToo case. “The Moment” debuts amid a stunning turn of events in the case. Prosecutors must decide this month whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision that freed Cosby in June after nearly three years in prison. Constand says she won’t let the latest “strange turn in this long saga” defeat her. The book also explores her life as a basketball player, her spiritual quest and her new work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors. SENT: 800 WORDS.
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NATIONAL
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TROPICAL-WEATHER-ATLANTIC-DAIRY-FARM - The morning after one of the most intense tornadoes recorded in New Jersey history all but demolished the largest dairy farm in the state, owners Marianne and Wally Eachus looked at each other and just cried. An EF3 tornado ripped through Mullica Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia, and nearly demolished Wellacrest Farms. More than a dozen cows have died and several more remain missing days after the remnants of Hurricane Ida tore through the Northeast. At least eight tornadoes were recorded in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Dozens of people have died. Now, the Eachus family must rebuild. But it’s a massive effort that starts with clean-up. By Christina Paciolla. SENT: 570 words, photos.
PARALYMPICS-A DIFFERENT BATTLEFIELD - Twenty years after the attacks of Sept. 11, and just days after the Taliban took control of Kabul, some American combat veterans are competing in the Tokyo Paralympics -- a corps of elite athletes who have triumphed over the catastrophic injuries they suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are a disparate group. Some are relentlessly optimistic. Others spent years wrestling emotional demons. Some insist they emerged from their personal battlefields without emotional scarring. Others insist that’s impossible. Their stories are tangles of adversity and redemption, loss and achievement. By Tim Sullivan. UPCOMING, By 1100 a.m. EDT, photo.
WESTERN WILDFIRES - Crews are still fighting wind-swept flames in some parts the wildfire south of Lake Tahoe, but officials said Monday that they’re planning to prepare to repopulate parts of the resort community that remain under evacuation order. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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BIDEN AGENDA - President Joe Biden is hoping to turn the page after a summer of unrelenting crises and refocus his presidency around his core economic agenda. From the chaos in Afghanistan to the spread of the coronavirus to the destruction from Hurricane Ida, the summer served up a sobering reminder of the unpredictable weight of the office. Biden now hopes for a post-Labor Day reframing of the national conversation toward his domestic goals of passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill and pushing through a Democrats-only expansion of the social safety net. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
HURRICANE-IDA-CONGRESS-INFRASTRUCTURE - Lawmakers from both parties say haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and tornado damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida show the need to upgrade the nation’s aging infrastructure network. As the deadly storm moved from the Gulf Coast through the Northeast — killing over 65 people from Louisiana to Connecticut — members of Congress said the storm offered irrefutable evidence that the nation’s power lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure are deteriorating even as storms and other extreme weather are strengthening. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
JILL BIDEN - Jill Biden is going back to her whiteboard. After months of teaching writing and English to community college students in boxes on a computer screen, the first lady resumes teaching in person on Tuesday from a classroom at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has worked since 2009. She is the first first lady to leave the White House and log hours at a full-time job. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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BRAZIL INDEPENDENCE DAY DEMONSTRATIONS - Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have broken through police roadblocks that sought to prevent access to the capital’s central mall on the eve of a demonstration scheduled to coincide with the nation’s Independence Day. The Federal District’s security secretariat said late Monday that officers have been deployed to try to control the situation. Forced entry into the mall known as the Esplanade of Ministries heightens a sense of alert ahead of Tuesday’s planned demonstration, which some analysts have warned runs the risk of resembling the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. SENT: 300 words, photos.
GERMANY ELECTIONS - Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel has painted a rosy picture of her government’s record and assailed the possibility of a future left-wing administration. She sought to boost her struggling party’s candidate on Tuesday as she addressed what is expected to be the German parliament’s last session before the Sept. 26 election. Merkel also clashed openly with her deputy who is a rival party’s candidate to succeed her and is currently leading in polls over a comment in which he described people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as “guinea pigs.” It was an unusually partisan speech by Merkel, who has largely stayed out of the campaign. SENT: 600 words, photos.
GUINEA JUNTA-EXPLAINER - Many hoped that Guinea’s landmark 2010 election would finally give the West African country a democratic leader after decades of corrupt dictatorship. Instead President Alpha Conde decided to stick around for a third term, modifying the constitution so that the term limits no longer applied to him. His plan to extend his rule prompted violent street protests in Conakry last year — and ultimately sealed Conde’s fate as vulnerable to the kind of military coup that many hoped was becoming a thing of the past. State television has carried images of jubilant Guineans celebrating but the real test could be whether forces loyal to the ousted president accept the coup. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BRITAIN-LONG TERM CARE - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to fulfill a election promise to grapple with the rocketing cost of the long-term care needed by Britain’s growing older population. He appears set to break another election vow to do it. The pledge was not to raise taxes. Johnson is scheduled to tell Parliament on Tuesday how his Conservative government will raise billions to fund the care millions of Britons need at the end of their lives. SENT: 420 words, photos.
MOROCCO ELECTIONS - Politicians from dozens of political parties were campaigning for a final day Tuesday, trying to reach out to millions of Moroccans despite social distancing measures a day before pivotal legislative, regional and local elections. A moderate Islamist party hopes to remain at the helm of government. Strict safety guidelines in place as the North African kingdom grapples with a new wave of COVID-19 restricted candidates’ ability to reach the 18 million eligible voters, half the country’s population. On Wednesday, voters choose among candidates from 31 political parties and coalitions competing for the 395 seats in the lower house of parliament. They’ll also pick representatives for 678 regional councils seats. SENT: 700 words, photos.
MYANMAR RESISTANCE - Myanmar’s National Unity Government, an underground body coordinating resistance to the military regime, has called for a nationwide uprising. The opposition group’s acting president called for revolt “in every village, town and city in the entire country at the same time.” He also declared a so-called ”state of emergency” in a speech posted on Facebook Tuesday. SENT: 450 words, photos. With: Myanmar-Firebrand Monk. SENT.
VIRUA OUTBREAK-HONG KONG - Travelers arriving in Hong Kong from China will no longer need to quarantine, Hong Kong’s top official said Tuesday, easing curbs imposed after summer outbreaks of the coronavirus on the mainland. SENT: 290 words, photos.
CHINA ALIBABA - Chinese prosecutors have dropped a case against a former Alibaba manager accused of sexual assault by a female colleague, weeks after the case caused a backlash against the e-commerce firm for how it handles alleged sexual misconduct. The former manager, whose last name is Wang, was detained by police in August after a female Alibaba employee accused him of sexual assault while on a business trip to the northern Chinese city of Jinan. SENT: 350 words, photos.
CLIMATE TALKS - A coalition of environmental groups is calling for this year’s climate summit to be postponed, saying that too little has been done to ensure the safety of participants amid the continuing threat from COVID-19. The Climate Action Network, which includes more than 1,500 organizations in 130 countries, says that there is a risk many government delegates, civil society campaigners and journalists from developing countries may be unable to attend because of travel restrictions. The UN climate conference, known as COP26, is scheduled for early November in Scotland. SENT: 350 words, photos.
SYRIA REFUGEES: Amnesty International says Syrian security forces have subjected Syrians who return home to detention, disappearance and torture. In a new report, it documents what it says were violations committed by Syrian intelligence officers against some returnees, including 13 children between mid-2017 and spring 2021. SENT: 60 words, photos.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS: Israel’s military says it has launched airstrikes on what it said was a Hamas military site in the Gaza Strip. The strikes early on Tuesday came after incendiary balloons were sent into Israeli territory. An army statement says that fighter jets struck a Hamas military compound in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza that makes cement to build tunnels used for terror attacks. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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UNEMPLOYMENT-BENEFITS-EXPLAINER - Two critical jobless benefit programs have expired, leaving only a handful of economic options for millions who are still financially impacted by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus pandemic. One program provided jobless aid to self-employed and gig workers and another provided benefits to those who have been unemployed more than six months. Further the Biden administration’s $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit also ran out on Monday. Americans still financially struggling in the pandemic will find a smaller patchwork of social support programs, including food stamps, eviction protection in some states and a pause on federal student loan repayments. But economists say none will come close to replacing the money lost through unemployment benefits. By AP Business Writer Ken Sweet. SENT: 640 words, photos.
CHINA-TRADE - China’s import and export growth accelerated in August despite disruptions due to the spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant. Customs data reported Tuesday show exports rose 25.6% to $294.3 billion, up from July’s 18.9% growth. Imports rose 33.1% to $236 billion, up from the previous month’s 28.7%. That came despite lingering disruptions in industrial supply chains due to last year’s global economic shutdown and a renewed rise in infections in the United States and some other markets that have dampened consumer sentiment. SENT: 450 words.
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SPORTS
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US OPEN - For 1 1/2 sets, including one particularly compelling and competitive 24-point game, Novak Djokovic’s fourth-round opponent at the U.S. Open — Jenson Brooksby, the last American left in singles — gave him fits amid a raucous atmosphere at Arthur Ashe Stadium. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. SENT: 900 words, photos.
NFL BEGINS - It’s almost as if the NFL is emulating college football heading into the 2021 season. Yes, the Buccaneers are the defending champions and the Packers deservedly have title aspirations. The rest of the NFC, well, it looks more like Conference USA in comparison to the AFC, the professional version of the SEC. It is that lopsided. By Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner. SENT: 890 words, photos.
BRAZIL-ARGENTINA-EPL PLAYERS - Four Argentina footballers are being investigated by Brazil federal police for allegedly providing false information upon arrival in Sao Paulo for a World Cup qualifying match. By Mauricio Savarese. SENT: 640 words, photos.
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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
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FILM-THE CARD COUNTER - In Paul Schrader’s new film “The Card Counter,” which premiered last week at the Venice International Film Festival and opens in North America on Sept. 10, the writer-director goes back to a formula he’s been perfecting for 45 years: The man in the room. He did it in “Taxi Driver” and “American Gigilo” and “Light Sleeper,” and now he’s enlisted Oscar Isaac to play the most recent iteration. In the film, Isaac is a poker player who can’t forgive himself for his participation in Abu Ghraib. By AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BRITAIN-LONDON FILM FESTIVAL - Movies from 77 countries will screen at the 2021 London Film Festival, as Britain’s leading cinema showcase welcomes mass audiences back to movie theaters after a pandemic-disrupted year. The festival program, announced Tuesday, includes 158 features, down from 225 at its last pre-pandemic edition in 2019. The festival opens Oct. 6 with the world premiere of Jeymes Samuel’s Western “The Harder They Fall” and closes Oct. 17 with Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” SENT: 500 words, photos.
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