Here are the AP's latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. For up-to-the minute information on AP's coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
--------------------
ONLY ON AP
------------------—
CHINA CABLES-DESTROYING DOCUMENTS — People in touch with state employees in China say the government in the far west region of Xinjiang is destroying documents and taking other steps to tighten control on information. The moves follow leaks of classified papers on detention camps for Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. SENT: 890 words, photos.
--------------------
TOP STORIES
------------------—
TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT — This coming week’s virtually certain House impeachment of President Donald Trump will underscore how Democrats and Republicans have morphed into fiercely divided camps since lawmakers impeached President Bill Clinton. Each party has far fewer House moderates and Trump's ability to threaten the political careers of Republicans who defy him only exacerbates the divisions. By Alan Fram. SENT: 920 words, photos. WITH: TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-DEMOCRAT — Top House Republicans have been told that Democratic New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew is going to switch parties and become a Republican. Van Drew is a freshman who has said he plans to vote against impeaching President Donald Trump. By Alan Fram. SENT: 590 words, photos.
TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-WILD WEEK —President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi don’t see eye to eye on much these days, but in the throes of impeachment, they’re in lockstep on the desire to close out the year by checking off items on their to-do lists. Lawmakers and White House officials are eager to project the image that they've been focused on anything but impeachment. Even President Donald Trump, no stranger to unpredictability and drama, could only marvel at the week of Washington whiplash. By Zeke Miller. SENT: 850 words, photos.
For full coverage of the impeachment inquiry in AP Newsroom: https://newsroom.ap.org/page/impeachment
GLOBAL OPIOIDS-CASHING IN ON THE CURE — Purdue Pharma is buckling under a mountain of litigation in the United States. But its foreign affiliate, Mundipharma, has expanded abroad, using some of the same tactics to sell the addictive opioids that made its owners, the Sackler family, among the richest in the world. Mundipharma is also pushing abroad another strategy that Purdue considered in the U.S., entering the market for opioid overdose treatment. By Claire Galofaro and Kristen Gelineau. SENT: 1,800 words, photos. An abridged version has also moved.
BATTLE OF THE BULGE-FRIENDS FOREVER — Seventy-five years after the fighting, U.S. soldiers and their families still flock to their house and rambling museum in Belgium where currency of stories is way more important than the hardware of guns and tanks. By Raf Casert. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.
IRAQ-PROTEST FOOD — There are the anti-government protesters in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, demonstrating for a better future for Iraq. Then there are the volunteers who feed them. For many, the square in central Baghdad has become a miniature model for the kind of state they dream of, where factional and sectarian politics play no part and public services exist. By Nasser Nasser. SENT: 675 words, photos.
BRITAIN-BREXIT-ELECTION — Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has apologized to supporters for the crushing defeat in the British general election. But he has defended his campaign — which failed to resonate with the party’s working-class base — as “one of hope rather than fear.” By Mike Corder. SENT: 230 words, photos. WITH: EU--BRITAIN-FRAYING UNION — Leaving the European Union is not the only split British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has to worry about. Johnson’s commanding election victory this week may let him fulfill his campaign promise to “get Brexit done,” but it could also imperil the future of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. SENT: 950 words, photos.
FBC--HEISMAN TROPHY — LSU quarterback Joe Burrow wins the Heisman Trophy in a record landslide vote, becoming the first Tigers' player to take home college football's most prestigious award in 60 years. Burrow received 2,608 points and 841 first-place votes. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. SENT: 800 words, photos.
LEBANON-PROTESTS — Lebanese security forces have fired rubber bullets, tear gas and used water cannons to disperse anti-government protesters from central Beirut in clashes that lasted for hours into early Sunday. The violence around the epicenter of the protest in Beirut was some of the worst since the demonstrations began two months ago. By Hussein Malla and Andrea Rosa. SENT: 720 words, photos.
YE-ATTACKING WORSHIPPERS —Around the world, deadly attacks on houses of worship took place with relentless frequency in 2019. Hundreds of worshippers were killed in bombings and shootings at churches, mosques, synagogues and temples. By David Crary. SENT: 875 words, photos.
COLLEGES-SLAVERY REPARATIONS — The promise of reparations to atone for historical ties to slavery is new territory in a reckoning at U.S. colleges. Until now, schools have responded with monuments, building name changes and public apologies. Georgetown University and two theological seminaries have announced funding commitments to benefit descendants of the enslaved people who were sold or toiled to benefit the institutions. The actions show ways that colleges are looking to make amends as they confront modern issues of equality and historical entanglements. At least 56 universities have joined a University of Virginia-led consortium to explore their ties to slavery and share research and strategies. By Carolyn Thompson. SENT: 920 words, photos. Eds: This story has moved as the Sunday Spotlight.
—————————————————————-
WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
-------------------------------------------—-
ARMY-NAVY-HAND SIGNALS — Officials at two military academies say the schools are looking into hand signs flashed by students during the Army-Navy football game that can be associated with “white power." SENT: 200 words.
CLIMATE-GRETA THUNBERG — Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg apologizes for saying politicians should be put “against the wall” after critics took it to mean that she was advocating violence. SENT: 230 words, photos.
NEWTOWN ANNIVERSARY — Newtown marks the seventh anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School with vigils, church services and a moment of joy when the community's high school football team — with a shooting victim's brother as linebacker — won the state championship. SENT: 500 words, photos.
HALLMARK-GAY ADS PULLED — Under pressure from a conservative advocacy group, The Hallmark Channel pulls ads for a wedding-planning website that featured same-sex couples, including two brides kissing. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MOTHER'S ARREST VIDEO — NYC paying $625,000 to a mother whose baby was ripped away by police. SENT: 445 words.
TV REPORTER-SEXUAL BATTERY — A Georgia man who was videotaped slapping a female reporter's rear on live TV has been arrested on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery. SENT: 350 words.
————————————————-
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
————————————————-
TRUMP — President Trump is using his appearance at the annual Army-Navy game to tout a new policy that allows service academy athletes to defer their military service to pursue careers in professional sports. SENT: 630 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATS — Democratic presidential candidates pledge to boost funding for public schools, increase teacher salaries and reduce college debt at a forum in Pittsburgh that cast a rare spotlight on education, an issue that has received only passing attention in recent debates. By AP Education Writer Collin Binkley. SENT: 850 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-HEALTH CARE-IOWA —Railing against the insurance industry can score points with progressives for the Democratic presidential candidates. But in Iowa, where nearly 17,000 people are either directly employed by health insurers or work in related jobs, it also can be an easy way to lose vote. By Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK —As impeachment closes in on him, President Donald Trump offered a highly selective account of the testimony of a damning witness and misrepresented the facts of a phone call at the heart of the constitutional showdown. He branded Democrats crazy for wanting to impeach him after all the things he's done for the country, some of which he didn't actually do. He falsely credited his daughter with creating 14 million jobs when it's not clear she's created any. A sampling of the past week's political rhetoric. By Hope Yen, Christopher Rugaber and Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 2,410 words, photos. Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd
---------------------------
INTERNATIONAL
--------------------------
CYPRUS-HALLOUMI-HERITAGE — Halloumi cheese is the leading export of Cyprus. Local farmers call the salty, rubbery mixture of goats' and sheep's milk that is prized for its high melting point “white gold.” Cypriot authorities have spent years trying to get the European Union to recognize halloumi as a product solely originating from the Mediterranean island nation. But the ethnically divided country's complex politics so far have stymied the bid to nab that honor for halloumi. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
HONG KONG-PROTESTS — Several thousand people have turned out in Hong Kong in an unusual display of support for the police force, criticized as abusive by the territory's protest movement. SENT: 120 words, photos.
NEW ZEALAND-VOLCANO ERUPTS — A second land search of New Zealand's volcanic White Island has failed to locate the bodies of the last two victims of an eruption that has now claimed 16 lives, most of them tourists. SENT: 570 words, photos.
PHILIPPINES-EARTHQUAKE — A strong earthquake has jolted the southern Philippines, leaving at least one person dead and causing a three-story building to collapse. Searchers were looking for an unspecified number of people who were feared to have been trapped inside the building. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology says the magnitude 6.9 quake struck an area about 3.7 miles northwest of Padada town in Davao del Sur province. SENT: 430 words, photos. Developing.
IRAN-CYBERATTACK — Iran's telecommunications minister is saying his country has defused a second cyberattack in less than a week, this time “aimed at spying on government intelligence." SENT: 270 words.
NEPAL-BUS CRASH — A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims has driven off a highway in Nepal, killing 14 people. Police say another 18 people have been injured in the accident about 50 miles east of the capital, Kathmandu. SENT: 150 words. THAILAND POLITICS — Several thousand supporters of a popular opposition party in Thailand that is under threat of dissolution rally in the nation's capital in one of the largest political demonstrations since a 2014 coup. SENT: 540 words, photos.
COLOMBIA-EXHUMATIONS — Investigators in Colombia have begun exhuming bodies at a cemetery where at least 50 victims related to a notorious military scandal are believed buried, officials said Saturday. SENT: 485 words.
NORTH KOREA-US — North Korea says it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that would further strengthen its “reliable strategic nuclear deterrent.” The announcement on Saturday comes as North Korea continues to pressure the Trump administration over an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un to salvage faltering nuclear negotiations. By Kim Tong-Hyung. SENT: 900 words, photos.
------------------
NATIONAL
-----------------
HOUSTON ELECTIONS — Houston’s incumbent mayor won a second term on Saturday night, holding off a millionaire trial lawyer whose previous support of President Donald Trump had become one of the main campaign issues. Hip hop fans may have recognized one candidate in a runoff for a city council seat, but being a part of The Geto Boys wasn't enough to get Brad “Scarface” Jordan elected. SENT: 450 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES-UTILITY — California Gov. Gavin Newsom's opposition to Pacific Gas & Electric's restructuring plan is forcing the nation's largest utility to go back to the negotiating table and come up with a solution quickly. Just last week, the San Francisco-based company struck a $13.5 billion settlement with thousands of people who lost homes, businesses and family members in a series of devastating fires that drove PG&E into bankruptcy. SENT: 675 words, photos.
SHOOTING JERSEY CITY-GUNS — Officials from states with strong gun restrictions have called for stricter firearm control in places with weaker laws to thwart traffickers, but the fatal attack on a Jewish market in New Jersey shows how fruitless those efforts can be. Three civilians and a police officer were gunned down by two killers with anti-Semitic and anti-law enforcement beliefs, the state's attorney general said. By Mike Catalini. SENT: 585 word, photos.
MALL SHOOTING-GEORGIA — A shooting in a mall food court in suburban Atlanta has left one man wounded and sent shoppers fleeing in panic. The Cobb County Police Department says the wounded man underwent surgery and is expected to survive the shooting Saturday afternoon at Cumberland Mall. SENT: 550 words, photos.
OBIT-ROHATYN — Felix Rohatyn, the financier and government adviser who was credited with helping to save New York City from ruin during the 1970s as chairman of the agency that oversaw the city's finances, died Saturday. He was 91. SENT: 415 words, photos.
—————————————
HEALTH & SCIENCE
——————————————
CLIMATE TALKS — Countries appear set to complete two weeks of talks on tackling global warming with little progress to show. Negotiators from almost 200 nations were to meet for a final time Sunday at the U.N. climate meeting in Madrid. SENT: 210 words, photos. Developing.
—————————————
BUSINESS/TECH
——————————————
CHINA-US-TRADE — China is postponing punitive tariffs on U.S.-made automobiles and other goods following an interim trade deal with Washington. Sunday’s announcement came after Washington agreed to postpone a planned tariff hike on $160 billion of Chinese goods and to cut in half penalties that already were imposed. SENT: 180 words, photo.
MEXICO-US-TRADE — Mexico is objecting to legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress as part of an eventual ratification of the recently agreed trade deal to replace NAFTA. Just days after the Dec. 10 signing ceremony, Mexico is unhappy with language designating up to five U.S. labor attaches in Mexico “tasked with monitoring the implementation” of a labor reform. SENT: 370 words, photos.
——————
SPORTS
—————-
GLF—PRESIDENTS CUP — Tiger Woods ended a most remarkable year with another big win. His outpouring of emotion at the Presidents Cup was similar to his Masters victory. But this was about the American team he led as playing captain to a 16-14 victory. Woods put the first point on the board in a U.S. comeback and set the Presidents Cup record with his 27th match victory. Matt Kuchar earned the winning point. By AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
FBC--T25-ARMY-NAVY — Navy beat Army 31-7 in the 120th meeting of the rivalry game. The 21st-ranked Mids had lost three straight games in the series to Army. Malcolm Perry rushed for 304 yards and two touchdowns for Navy. President Donald Trump attended the game and performed the coin flip. By Dan Gelston. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
MMA—UFC 245 — Kamaru Usman brutally stopped Colby Covington with 50 seconds left in the fifth round to retain his welterweight title at UFC 245. Alexander Volkanovski took the UFC featherweight title from Max Holloway and became the second Australian champion in the promotion's history with a tactical unanimous-decision victory. Amanda Nunes defended her bantamweight title with a grinding unanimous-decision victory over Germaine De Randamie at T-Mobile Arena. By Greg Beacham. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
BBA-RANGERS-NEW STADIUM FIRE — A fire at the new Texas Rangers ballpark under construction sent black smoke through the stadium's retractable roof. SENT: 160 words.
------------------------------
HOW TO REACH US
------------------------------
The Nerve Center 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(at) ap.org or call 877-836-9477.