AP News Digest 4 a.m.

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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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NEWTOWN SHOOTING-INFOWARS — A Texas jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, adding to the $4.1 million he must pay for the suffering he put them through by claiming for years that the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax. By Jim Vertuno. SENT: 1,310 words, photos.

CHINA-CLIMATE-EXPLAINER — China has cut off climate talks with the U.S., imperiling future global negotiations, but not necessarily blunting the impacts of significant climate actions at home in both countries. By Seth Borenstein and Christina Larson. SENT: 940 words, photos.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — Israeli jets pounded militant targets in Gaza early Saturday as rockets rained on southern Israel, hours after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on the coastal enclave killed at least 11 people, including a senior militant and a 5-year-old girl. By Fares Akram and Tia Goldenberg. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

ELECTION 2022-VERMONT-HOUSE — Vermont Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint are the leading candidates in a Democratic U.S. House primary that could make either of them the first female member of the state’s congressional delegation. By Wilson Ring. SENT: 980 words, photos.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-FOOD-CRISIS — A ship bringing corn to Lebanon’s northern port of Tripoli normally would not cause a stir. But it’s getting attention because of where it came from: Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa. The Razoni, loaded with more than 26,000 tons of corn for chicken feed, is emerging from the edges of a Russian war that has threatened food supplies in countries like Lebanon, which has the world’s highest rate of food inflation — a staggering 122% — and depends on the Black Sea region for nearly all of its wheat. By Kareem Cheheyeb, Aya Batrawy and Cara Anna. SENT: 1,060 words, photos,

ABORTION-INDIANA — Indiana has became the first state in the nation to approve abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as the Republican governor quickly signed a near-total ban on the procedure shortly after lawmakers approved it. By Arleigh Rodgers. SENT: 840 words, photos.

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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-SLOVIANSK — Ukrainian military personnel are fortifying their positions around the eastern city of Sloviansk in expectation of a fresh Russian attempt to seize the strategic point in the fiercely fought-over Donetsk region. SENT: 620 words, photos.

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TRENDING

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CROATIA-BUS-CRASH — A Poland-registered bus skidded from a highway in northern Croatia, killing at least 11 people and injuring several others, police say. SENT: 210 words.

DEMENTIA-ARREST-COLORO — A former Colorado police officer who did not stop another officer from being rough with a 73-year-old woman with dementia was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years of probation. SENT: 460 words, photo.

DEATH-VALLEY-FLOODING — Record rainfall has trigged flash floods at Death Valley National Park that swept away cars, closed all roads and stranded hundreds of visitors and workers. SENT: 470 words, photos.

PYTHON CHALLENGE-FLORIDA — More than 800 competitors will be trudging through the Florida Everglades for the next eight days, in search of invasive Burmese pythons that will bring in thousands of dollars in prize money. SENT: 210 words, photo.

OBIT-SAM GOODEN — Sam Gooden, one of the original members of the Chicago soul group The Impressions and a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has died. He was 87. SENT: 230 words.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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ELECTION-2022-BALLOT-COUNT-FACT-FOCUS — As election workers spend long hours tallying ballots in Arizona and elsewhere in the days after Tuesday’s primary elections, some critics are arguing they should be finished counting by now. SENT: 890 words, photo.

FEDERAL-PRISONS — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Friday he plans to hold an oversight hearing on the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons after The Associated Press reported that the agency is keeping its embattled ex-director on the payroll as an adviser to his successor. SENT: 610 words, photos.

ELECTION-2022-GREEN-PARTY-NORTH-CAROLINA — The North Carolina Green Party’s U.S. Senate candidate must be placed on the November ballot, a federal judge ruled Friday, despite Democrats’ repeated attempts to block the progressive party from spoiling one of their best shots at flipping a seat in the narrowly divided chamber. SENT: 390 words, photos.

CONGRESS-BUDGET-SINEMA — Sen. Joe Manchin sealed the deal on President Joe Biden’s big economic package. But another Democratic senator, Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, quietly and deliberately shaped the final bill, one piece at a time. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 900 words, photos. WITH: CONGRESS-BUDGET — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats have pared part of their proposed minimum tax on huge corporations. SENT: 840 words, photos; CONGRESS-BUDGET-HIGHLIGHTS — What’s in the package. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN — President Joe Biden, still isolated in the White House residence with COVID-19, signs two measures aimed at curbing fraud in pandemic relief programs. SENT: 330 words, photos.

COAL-LEASING-CLIMATE-CHANGE — A federal agency has once again failed to consider possible damage to the environment caused by mining coal when setting land management policies governing a major coal-producing region in Wyoming and Montana, a judge ruled this week. SENT: 590 words, photo.

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NATIONAL

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CALIFORNIA-DELY-CRASH — A pregnant woman who died along with her young son and three others in a fiery crash caused by a speeding car was heading to a prenatal doctor’s appointment, her sister says. SENT: 730 words, photos, video.

ABORTION-NORTH-DAKOTA — The owner of a North Dakota abortion clinic that faces closure this month was directing traffic and deliveries at its planned new location a few miles away in Minnesota. SENT: 490 words, photos.

ALBUQUERQUE-MUSLIM-KILLINGS — Police in New Mexico’s largest city are trying to determine if the ambush shooting deaths of three Muslim men over the past nine months could be connected. SENT: 390 words.

TODDLER DEATH-PARENTS CHARGED — Prosecutors in Northern California filed murder charges against the parents of a 15-month-old toddler who died in May after she ingested fentanyl authorities believe her mother had been using. SENT: 340 words, photo.

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INTERNATIONAL

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JAPAN-HIROSHIMA-ANNIVERSARY — Hiroshima has remembered the atomic bombing 77 years ago as officials, including the head of the United Nations, warned against nuclear weapons buildup and fears grow of another such attack amid Russia’s war on Ukraine. SENT: 750 words, photos.

PHILIPPINES-US-BLINKEN — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday, the highest ranking American official to visit the Philippines since he took office, although the meeting came at a delicate time as ties between Washington and Beijing have rapidly plummeted to their worst level in years. SENT: 730 words, photos.

ASEAN-MYANMAR — Efforts by Myanmar’s neighbors to help restore peace and normalcy to the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation were hindered by the country’s recent executions of four political activists, Cambodia’s foreign minister says. SENT: 660 words, photos.

NORTH-KOREA-PELOSI — North Korea calls U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability,” accusing her of inciting anti-North Korea sentiment and enraging China during her Asian tour earlier this week. SENT: 580 words, photos.

UNITED NATIONS-NORTH KOREA — U.N. experts report that North Korea is testing “nuclear triggering devices” and that its preparations for another nuclear test were at a final stage in June, quoting information from unnamed countries. SENT: 870 words.

HONG-KONG-LAST-SAWMILL — Chi Kee Sawmill & Timber, Hong Kong’s last operating sawmill, has been processing timber in the city for 75 years. Soon the family-run factory near the territory’s border with mainland China might be forced to shut down as part of a development project: it received notice earlier this year that it had to vacate its current premises, which it has occupied for nearly four decades, to make way for a development project. SENT: 590 words, photos.

KENYA-ELECTION-EXPLAINER — Kenyans vote Tuesday to choose a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The race is close and could go to a runoff for the first time. One top candidate is Raila Odinga, an opposition leader in his fifth run for the presidency who is being supported by former rival Kenyatta. The other is William Ruto, Kenyatta’s deputy who fell out with the president earlier in their decade in power. SENT: 530 words, photos.

UNITED-NATIONS-MALI — U.N. experts said in a new report that Malian armed forces allegedly carried out an operation with “white-skinned soldiers” near the border with Mauritania in March, shooting and burning at least 33 civilians in one of several operations where the country’s ruling military appeared to work closely with likely Russian mercenaries. SENT: 700 words.

CHINA-US-TAIWAN — Taiwan says that China’s military drills appear to simulate an attack on the self-ruled island, after multiple Chinese warships and aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. SENT: 420 words, photo.

NICARAGUA-CRACKDOWN — Nicaragua’s police said Friday they have begun an investigation against a Roman Catholic bishop who has been an outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega’s government. SENT: 320 words, photo.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

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TWITTER-BREACH — A vulnerability in Twitter’s software that exposed an undetermined number of owners of anonymous accounts to potential identity compromise last year was apparently exploited by a malicious actor, the social media company say. SENT: 410 words, photo.

AIRLINES-CANCELED-FLIGHTS — Tens of thousands of flyers had their travel plans upended after airlines canceled about 1,400 U.S. flights as thunderstorms hit the East Coast. Another 6,300 flights had been delayed by early evening, according to tracking service FlightAware. SENT: 250 words, photo.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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MUSIC-REVIEW-CALVIN-HARRIS — Calvin Harris’ last star-studded funk album in 2017 sported several hits but left listeners wanting more. Now, the DJ from the UK has delivered a second volume, titled “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2,” featuring even more tracks and big names, but bigger doesn’t always mean better. SENT: 300 words, photo.

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SPORTS

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FBN–WATSON APPEAL — The NFL Players Association has filed a brief replying to the league’s appeal in Deshaun Watson’s discipline case. Former New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey now has the necessary paperwork to issue a ruling. Harvey was selected by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to hear the league’s appeal of the six-game suspension given to Watson for violating the personal conduct policy. The players’ union announced the reply brief shortly before Friday’s deadline but didn’t release its contents because it’s confidential. By Rob Maaddi. SENT: 455 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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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 [email protected] or call 844-777-2006.