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.
———————————
TOP STORIES
———————————-
RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR — A fire at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant ignited by Russian shelling has been extinguished, Ukrainian authorities said Friday, and Russian forces have taken control of the site. By Jim Heintz, Yuras Karmanau and Mstyslav Chernov. SENT: 1,410 words, photos, videos. With RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THE LATEST; RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THINGS TO KNOW.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-ON THE RUN AGAIN — When Russia launched its war on Ukraine, a Syrian student in the city of Kharkiv joined the exodus of people fleeing the onslaught. It was the third time that 24-year-old Orwa Staif, who grew up in the suburbs of Damascus, was being displaced by war and crises. By AJ Naddaff and Christoph Noelting. SENT: 1,170 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-AMERICAN DETAINEES — The already-challenging path to bringing home Americans jailed in Russia and Ukraine is likely even more complicated now with a war overwhelming the region and increasingly hostile relations between the United States and the Kremlin. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 750 words, photo.
FEDERAL PRISONS-SEXUAL ABUSE — The Justice Department says it is gravely concerned about allegations that a high-ranking federal prison official entrusted to end sexual abuse and cover-ups at a women’s prison may have taken steps to suppress a recent complaint about staff misconduct. By Michael Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak. SENT: 1,270 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-SELMA — Fewer and fewer people are voting in Selma, Alabama. And to many, that is particularly heartbreaking. They lament that almost six decades after Black demonstrators on the city’s Edmond Pettus Bridge risked their lives for the right to cast ballots, voting in predominantly Black Selma and surrounding Dallas County has steadily declined. Turnout in 2020 was under 57%, among the worst in the state. By Jay Reeves. SENT: 1,140 words, photos.
————————————————————————
MORE ON RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR
————————————————————————-
GERMANY-UKRAINE-REFUGEES — As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its second week, more than 1.5 million Ukrainian immigrants living in other European countries, are watching on in agony, horror and fear as their relatives and friends back home seek shelter in bunkers or desperately try to flee the country. SENT: 970 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-CHINA-VOICES — As the West condemns Russia, President Vladimir Putin has vocal supporters in China, where the ruling Communist Party tells its people they are fellow targets of U.S.-led harassment. SENT: 830 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-WEAPONS-EXPLAINER — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the largest conflict that Europe has seen since World War II, with Russia conducting a multi-pronged offensive across the country. SENT: 760 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-LUKOIL-BACKLASH — Outraged by the invasion of Ukraine, lawmakers in New Jersey’s largest city lashed out at one of the closest symbols of Russia they could find — a pair of Lukoil gas stations. The Newark City Council voted unanimously to ask the city’s business administrator to suspend the service stations’ operating licenses, citing Lukoil’s base in Moscow. SENT: 590 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-GOODBYES-PHOTO-GALLERY — Tearful goodbyes at Kyiv train station during war in Ukraine. SENT: 320 words, photos.
————————————————————————
MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
————————————————————————-
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH ASIA — The markets are crowded again. Traffic is jamming the roads. Migrant workers have returned to the cities. And young people are back at schools and universities — many of them for the first time in years. It isn’t quite how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic — mask mandates still exist in some places — but with infections steadily declining, life in South Asia is returning to a sense of normalcy. SENT: 660 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH KOREA — South Korean officials announced an easing of social distancing restrictions even as the country saw its deadliest day of the pandemic on Friday, reflecting reduced political capacity to deal with a fast-developing omicron surge in the face of a growing economic toll and a presidential election next week. SENT: 540 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AUTO-PLANTS — Face masks will be optional for U.S. union auto workers, as long as their factories are in counties that are not at high risk for the novel coronavirus. SENT: 200 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW-YORK-STATE-OF-MIND — An important milestone in New York City’s progress against COVID-19 could soon arrive when Mayor Eric Adams lifts mask mandates in schools and vaccination requirements in restaurants, bars and theaters. A decision could come as soon as Friday. But it’s still an open question if New Yorkers are psychologically ready. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.
—————————————
TRENDING NEWS
—————————————-
US-MILITARY-F35 CRASH — US Navy says crashed F-35C plane raised from South China Sea. SENT: 300 words, photo.
MISSING-BOYS-CALIFORNIA — Parents plead not guilty to slaying missing California boys. SENT: 310 words, photos.
CAR-INTO-PRESCHOOL — 19 children hurt as SUV smashes into California preschool. SENT: 210 words.
OLY-PARALYMPICS — As war rages, Paralympics opening in Beijing without Russia. SENT: 220 words, photos.
OSCARS-PRESENTERS — Lady Gaga, Chris Rock, Zoë Kravitz among Oscars presenters. SENT: 180 words, photo.
NEW ORLEANS ZOO-MANED WOLF PUPPIES — New Orleans zoo’s near-threatened maned wolves have 4 pups. SENT: 340 words, photos.
——————————————————
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
——————————————————
CAPITOL RIOT-INVESTIGATION-TAKEAWAYS — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol says in a federal court filing that it has enough evidence to suggest then-President Donald Trump committed crimes. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Trump will be charged, or even that the Justice Department will investigate. SENT: 1,300 words, photo.
—————————
NATIONAL
—————————-
CALIFORNIA-FAKED-KIDNAPPING — A Northern California woman whose disappearance and mysterious reappearance set off a frantic three-week search more than five years ago was arrested on charges of lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and defrauding the state’s victim compensation board of $30,000. SENT: 870 words, photos.
ABORTION-FLORIDA — Abortions after 15 weeks would be banned in Florida under a bill Republican senators sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis, capping a bitter debate in the statehouse as a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision may limit abortion rights in America. SENT: 540 words, photo.
IDITAROD — Dallas Seavey is on the cusp of becoming mushing’s greatest ever champion, but he is also secure enough in himself to say that win or lose, this year’s race across Alaska will be his last — at least for a while. SENT: 930 words, photos, video.
—————————————
INTERNATIONAL
—————————————
KOREAN-DISNEY-PRINCESS — Disney has done the frozen Nordic princess, the Chinese warrior princess and many others in between. But a Korean princess? Not so much. Harvard University student Julia Riew has set out to fix that. The 22-year-old Korean American senior wrote “Shimcheong: A Folktale” — a full-length musical inspired by a Korean folktale with a decidedly Disney movie vibe — as her senior thesis. SENT: 870 words, photos, video.
SOUTH-KOREA-ELECTION-FOREIGN-POLICY — Ahead of the March 9 presidential election in South Korea, major candidates are embroiled in a heated debate over how to address a foreign policy challenges that include the U.S.-China rivalry, North Korea’s nuclear threats and badly strained ties with Japan. Some candidates say South Korea must bolster its alliance with the United States and be tougher on North Korea, while others favor pragmatic diplomacy between Washington and Beijing and an appeasement policy for Pyongyang. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.
PUERTO RICO-CANADA-ON THE RUN — Last week, phones across Puerto Rico began to ding as members of a private WhatsApp group dedicated to helping others in the U.S. territory stared at their screens in disbelief. The businessman they knew as administrator of that chat and as someone who organized philanthropic efforts such as a Christmas toy drive for needy children and renovations for an elementary school had just been arrested. SENT: 960 words, photos.
CHINA-CONGRESS — China’s 3,000-member ceremonial parliament will open its annual session Saturday with the government facing a slowing economy and international pressure over its refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 760 words, photos.
IRAN-TANKER — Victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks have asked the U.S. government to seize Iranian crude oil suspected to be on an American-owned oil tanker in Asia, court documents show. SENT: 760 words, photos.
TAIWAN-POMPEO — Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a speech on a non-official visit to Taiwan called for the U.S. to give diplomatic recognition to the self-ruled island China claims as its own territory. SENT: 260 words, photos.
——————
CLIMATE
——————-
CLIMATE CHANGE-INDIA EMISSIONS TARGETS — Four months after India announced its “net-zero” target at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, the country has yet to submit its targets for cutting greenhouse emissions, underscoring the difficulty of overhauling energy policy amid a growing population. By Aniruddha Ghosal. SENT: 930 words, photos.
——————————————-
HEALTH & SCIENCE
——————————————
FILTERS-LEAD IN WATER — The filters distributed in Benton Harbor, Michigan during the city’s recent lead water crisis worked properly, according to a study state officials said was conducted to give residents assurance. State officials say the study was conducted “out of an abundance of caution” and to give residents assurance. SENT: 760 words, photos.
———————————————-
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
———————————————-
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Asian shares slipped Friday and oil prices moderated as investors assessed the likely global impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Benchmarks fell more than 2% in Tokyo and Hong Kong and declined in most other Asian markets. SENT: 510 words, photos.
JAPAN-HONDA-SONY — Two big names in Japanese electronics and autos are joining forces to produce an electric vehicle together. By Business Writer Yuri Kageyama. SENT: 300 words, photos.
————————————-
ENTERTAINMENT
————————————-
FRANCE-PARIS FASHION WEEK — Designer Gabriela Hearst brandished her green mindedness by setting her Chloe show at Paris Fashion Week on Thursday inside a famous Parisian greenhouse. Yet in the bare sands of Parc Andre Citroen, it was stars such as Demi Moore and Maria Sharapova, instead of flowers, that seemed to bloom. SENT: 710 words, photos.
——————-
SPORTS
———————
BKN--HEAT-NETS — Kevin Durant’s return couldn’t stop the Brooklyn Nets’ slide, as Bam Adebayo had 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to lead the Miami Heat to a 113-107 victory. By Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney. SENT: 790 words, photos.
——————————————-
HOW TO REACH US
——————————————-
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 apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.