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 — The United Nations raced to rescue more civilians from the tunnels under a besieged steel plant in Mariupol and the city at large, even as fighters holed up at the sprawling complex made their last stand to prevent Moscow’s complete takeover of the strategic port. By Elena Becatoros and Jon Gambrell. SENT: 1,160 words, photos, videos. With RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THE LATEST, RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-A WEEK-PHOTO GALLERY.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-STEEL-PLANT-SURVIVORS — More than 100 civilians have finally emerged from the bombarded Azovstal steel plant, the last Ukrainian holdout in the ruined city of Mariupol. Interviewed by The Associated Press, they offered the clearest picture yet of their two months living in the center of hell. It is a story of deprivation and fear deep under the earth; in the dank darkness, they felt themselves rot and watched others die. But it is also a tale of quiet heroism. By Cara Anna. SENT: 1,760 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-BIDEN — President Joe Biden’s list of impossible tasks keeps getting longer. Despite his lofty promises, he has little power to safeguard voting rights, expand the fight against climate change or stop inflation. And now it’s become clear that Biden has no good options for preserving abortion rights as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. By Christopher Mergerian. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 4 p.m.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-NO EXCEPTIONS — Rape, incest and the health of the fetus or mother were once accepted reasons to obtain an abortion in even the most conservative Republican-led states. But now at least 14 states have near-total abortion bans in the works without some of those exceptions. The shift comes as the Supreme Court is expected to overturn the nationwide right to abortion this summer. By Rebecca Boone and John Hanna. UPCOMING: 1,650 words, photos by 2 p.m.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BY-THE-NUMBERS — The count of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 is nearing 1 million, and there’s a wealth of data making clear which groups have been hit the hardest. More than 700,000 people 65 and older died. Men died at higher rates than women. White people made up most of the deaths overall. Yet an unequal burden fell on Black, Hispanic and Native American people considering the younger average age of minority communities. By Carla K. Johnson and Nicky Forster. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
OLDER-MOTHERHOOD — Over the past three decades, birthrates have declined for women in their 20s and jumped for women in their late 30s and early 40s. That’s according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau released this spring ahead of Mother’s Day. Experts say decisions by women to invest in their education and careers so they can better support their children have contributed to the age shift. By Mike Schneider. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.
ECONOMY-JOBS-REPORT -- America’s employers added 428,000 jobs in April, extending a streak of solid hiring that has defied punishing inflation, chronic supply shortages, the Russian war against Ukraine and much higher borrowing costs. The jobs report from the Labor Department showed that last month’s hiring kept the unemployment rate at 3.6%, just above the lowest level in a half-century. By Paul Wiseman. SENT: 1,155 words, photos.
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MORE ON ABORTION
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SUPREME-COURT-ABORTION-CALIFORNIA-REFUGE — California Democrats have accelerated their plan to make the nation’s most populous state a sanctuary for women seeking abortions, propelled by the release this week of an early draft of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has ignited a surge of activism among the state’s vast network of providers and advocacy groups. SENT: 980 words, photos.
TESLA-ABORTIONS-EMPLOYEE-TRAVEL — Tesla is covering travel costs for employees seeking out-of-state abortions, joining the ranks of major companies who’ve introduced a similar policy to benefit workers affected by new restrictions in the past few months. SENT: 260 words, photo.
ABORTION-TENNESSEE — Republican Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation that will strictly regulate the dispensing of abortion pills, including imposing harsh penalties on doctors who violate them. SENT: 380 words.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-HOPE-IN-THE-RUBBLE — There are no walls any longer. The broad wooden roof beams lie splintered and scattered, and random pieces of clothing dangle from damaged water pipes. But among the rubble of what used to be her home, the house that her grandparents built, Anna Shevchenko sees a glimmer of hope. SENT: 580 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-INTELLIGENCE —The U.S. says it shared intelligence with Ukraine about the location of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva before the strike that sank the warship, a high-profile embarrassment for Russia’s military, but the Pentagon denied Friday that it played a direct role in the strike. SENT: 505 words, photos.
FRANCE-BIOGAS — In lush fields southwest of Paris, farmers are joining Europe’s fight to free itself from Russian gas. They’ll soon turn on a new facility where crops and waste are fermented to produce “biogas.” It’s among energy solutions being explored as the continent works to choke off funding for Russian gas amid the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. SENT: 910 words, photos.
ITALY-EUROVISION-UKRAINE-BAND — Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra’s upbeat, melodic entry for this month’s Eurovision Song Contest was written as a tribute to the frontman’s mother. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become an anthem to the nation’s war-ravaged motherland. SENT: 700 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Amnesty International says it has documented extensive war crimes by Russian forces in communities around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, including arbitrary executions, bombardments of residences and torture. SENT: 470 words.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-GRAIN SHIPMENTS — A train carrying 2,000 metric tons of Ukrainian corn arrived in Austria, part of European efforts to elude a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports that has prevented critical supplies of wheat, corn and other grains from getting to countries in Africa, Middle East and parts of Asia. SENT: 495 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-JILL BIDEN — First lady Jill Biden has thanked U.S. troops deployed to Romania, where they are serving as a check against Russian aggression. Biden began a four-day trip to Europe to see first hand the refugee crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 1,075 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA-EXAMS — Thousands of high school students in China learned that COVID restrictions will prevent them from taking final exams for Advanced Placement courses many took to strengthen their chances of attending college in the West. UPCOMING: 1,000 words, photos by 4 p.m.
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TRENDING NEWS
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ODD--GERMANY-EXAMS IN SAFE — Firefighters in a German town received an unusual distress call Friday from a local high school. The teachers there were unable to open a safe containing a final-year exam that students were due to take. SENT: 110 words.
SWITZERLAND-COCAINE-SEIZED — Morning jolt? Swiss find cocaine stash amid coffee bean bags. SENT: 300 words.
GOODWILL-FIND-ROMAN-BUST — A marble bust that a Texas woman bought for about $35 from a Goodwill store is temporarily on display at a San Antonio museum after experts determined it was a centuries-old sculpture missing from Germany since World War II. SENT: 250 words.
ELECTION-2022-JAILED-CANDIDATE — An Indiana man charged with murder in connection with the March death of his wife has won a primary election for township board. SENT: 230 words, photo.
MUSIC-BOB-DYLAN-CENTER — How does it f-e-e-e-e-l? Bob Dylan museum opening in Tulsa. SENT: 895 words, photos.
DAUNTE-WRIGHT-MOTHER-DETAINED — The mother of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a suburban Minneapolis police officer, said she was injured while she was briefly detained by one of the same department’s officers after she stopped to record an arrest of a person during a traffic stop. SENT: 405 words, photos.
BRITAIN-JUBILEE — Buckingham Palace answered one of the biggest remaining questions about Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations: saying that Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, won’t be on the palace balcony when the monarch greets the public on June 2. SENT: 550 words, photos.
BABY NAMES — Liam and Olivia were the most common baby names in America in 2021. Upcoming: 250 words by 3 p.m.
NOT-REAL-NEWS — A look at what didn’t happen this week. SENT: 1,750 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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ELECTION 2022-SENATE-PENNSYLVANIA-REPUBLICANS — Rivals are pushing harder on connections between Mehmet Oz and his parents’ native country of Turkey, as the celebrity heart surgeon boasts Donald Trump’s endorsement in a competitive Republican primary for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat. The campaign is hitting its final stretch, as Oz prepared to join the former president at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Friday evening. UPCOMING: 920 words, photos by 3 p.m.
ELECTION 2022-REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES-MISINFORMATION — Republicans who embraced discredited conspiracy theories about Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat and preached skepticism about elections now need their supporters to trust the system enough to vote for them. It’s a tricky calculus. SENT: 1,230 words, photos.
CONGRESS-UNIONS — Speaker Nancy Pelosi is addressing concerns about the working conditions for some Capitol Hill aides. She’s announced a $45,000 minimum yearly salary for House staffers. She also has teed up for a vote next week a resolution that would pave the way for staffers to join a union. SENT: 470 words, photos.
BIDEN — President Biden is set to announce that five major U.S. manufacturers have made commitments to boost their reliance on small and medium American firms for 3D printing. SENT: 450 words, photo.
CAPITOL RIOT-CAVEMAN COSTUME — A New York City judge’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a furry “caveman” costume has been sentenced to eight months in prison. SENT: 680 words, photo.
TRUMP-LEGAL CHALLENGES-BAR COMPLAINT — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says that the state bar plans to sue him over his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on bogus claims of fraud. SENT: 480 words.
UNITED-STATES-NORTH-KOREA-CRYPTO — The U.S. has sanctioned North Korean digital currency mixing firm Blender.io, which allegedly uses its service to launder stolen virtual currency and support malicious cyber activities. Mixing services combine various assets, including potentially illegally obtained funds with legitimately obtained funds, and spit them out to a destination address. SENT: 345 words, photos.
ELECTION 2022-PENNSYLVANIA-LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR — A judge has dismissed a temporary protective order against a candidate for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor after his attorneys attacked the motivation and credibility of the candidate’s wife. SENT: 570 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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REL--SEX ABUSE-AMISH EXHIBIT — A small exhibit delivered a big message in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, home to the nation’s largest Amish community. Thirteen simple outfits from victims of sexual assault hung from a clothesline, attesting to the reality that child sexual abuse is a serious problem among the Amish, Mennonites and similar groups known for their plain dress. The moving display challenged the myth that sexual assault can be blamed on what a victim was wearing. SENT: 945 words, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-REPARATIONS-PROVIDENCE — City officials in Providence weighing reparations for Black residents are looking beyond the Rhode Island capital’s leading role in slavery. Raymond Watson is among the members of Providence’s newly formed reparations commission that wants the city to atone for urban renewal efforts of the late 20th century. Watson says communities of color were razed to make way for new developments with little to no compensation to residents. SENT: 860 words, photos.
SEVERE WEATHER — Damage but no injuries are being reported on the Gulf Coast after at least one possible tornado struck Mobile, Alabama. Violent winds ripped open a Family Dollar store in a heavily populated neighborhood in Mobile. SENT: 410 words, photos.
MISSING WOMAN-COLORADO — The two adult daughters of a Colorado man who had been charged in the presumed death of their missing mother said in an interview that aired Friday that they are standing behind him and do not believe he had anything to do with her disappearance. SENT: 440 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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CUBA-HOTEL-EXPLOSION — A powerful explosion has badly damaged a hotel in the Cuban capital and officials report at least eight people have died. The office of Cuba’s president says in a tweet that the blast at the five-star Hotel Saratoga in Old Havana apparently was due to a gas leak. It says search and rescue efforts were underway for people possible trapped. SENT: 410 words, developing.
ISRAEL-SETTLEMENTS — Israel’s interior minister says plans will be advanced for the construction of 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank. If approved, it would be the biggest advancement of settlement plans since the Biden administration took office. SENT: 530 words, photo.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — Israeli security forces are waging a massive manhunt for two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a stabbing rampage near Tel Aviv that left three Israelis dead. SENT: 775 words, photos.
BRITAIN-ELECTION — Britain’s governing Conservatives suffered losses in their few London strongholds in local elections, according to results announced Friday that will pile more pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid ethics scandals and a worsening economic picture. SENT: 690 words, photos.
HONG KONG-NEW-LEADER — China is installing a career security official as the new leader of Hong Kong in the culmination of a sweeping political transformation that has gutted any opposition in the Asian financial center and placed it ever more firmly under Beijing’s control. SENT: 780 words, photos.
MEXICO-PRESIDENTIAL-TRIP — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador started a five-day tour to four Central American countries and Cuba by lashing out at the U.S. government. SENT: 740 words, photos.
JAPAN-OKINAWA — Japan should do more for peaceful diplomacy with China and not just focus on arms deterrence as tensions rise around Taiwan to the west of Okinawa, said the southern island prefecture’s governor Friday, demanding further reduction of its security burden and its risk hosting U.S. military there. SENT: 710 words, photos.
SRI LANKA-ECONOMIC-CRISIS — Shops, offices and schools closed and transport came to a near standstill in Sri Lanka amid nationwide demonstrations against the government over its alleged inability to resolve the worst economic crisis in decades. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SPACE STATION-CREW RETURN — SpaceX brought four astronauts home with a midnight splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, capping the busiest month yet for Elon Musk’s taxi service. SENT: 645 words, photos.
CLIMATE-AFRICA-MANGROVE-RESTORATION — In a bid to protect coastal communities from climate change and encourage investment, African nations are increasingly turning to mangrove restoration projects, with Mozambique becoming the latest addition to the growing list of countries with large scale mangrove initiatives. SENT: 720 words, photos.
CLIMATE CHANGE--PUERTO RICO-ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION — Puerto Rico’s Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into destruction in an ecological reserve that protects one of the island’s most extensive mangrove forests. Mangrove helps protect the island from surging seas during hurricanes that have become more frequent and intense with a changed climate. SENT: 1,450 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks were mostly lower on Wall Street. Investors were struggling with how to interpret a strong U.S. jobs report amid worries the Federal Reserve may cause a recession in its drive to halt inflation. SENT: 860 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW-BREAKOUTS — There are more than a few A-list stars coming to the multiplex, and your televisions, this summer. But there’s also quite a few new names that will sure to have audiences buzzing, like Austin Butler, a television teen hearthrob who stars as Elvis Presley in Baz Lurhmann’s drama, Keke Palmer, a child actor who is showing new depths in Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” comedian Jo Koy who at 50 is making a splash in his first major film “Easter Sunday,” English actor Andrew Koji who holds his own with Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train,” or Cooper Raiff in “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” SENT: 1,465 words, photos.
RETHINKING-THE-LAWN -- For generations, the neat, green lawn has been a classic part of American yards. It still dominates the landscape. But drought, pollinator health and other environmental concerns have been chipping away at that, in different ways in different places. Scientists and gardeners say a yard full of more diverse and native plants takes less work and water to maintain than turf grass does. By Julia Rubin. SENT: 860 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKN-HEAT-76ERS — The Miami Heat take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers. UPCOMING: 600 words, photos. Game starts at 7 p.m.
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HOW TO REACH US
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