AP News Digest 7 a.m.

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. Find the AP’s top photos of the day in Today’s Photo Collection. For up-to-the-minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan in AP Newsroom.

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TOP STORIES

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TRUMP-TRANSITION-ATTORNEY-GENERAL — President-elect Donald Trump named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial. She has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump and was a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers. Gaetz stepped aside amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation. By Erick Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and Colleen Long. SENT: 1,120 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: TRUMP-BONDI-THINGS-TO-KNOW — What to know about Pam Bondi. SENT: 1,240 words, photo; TRUMP-STAFF-PICKS — Trump is putting an emphasis on people who were his strongest backers during the campaign. SENT: 2,880 words, photos.

TRUMP-DOOMED NOMINATIONS — Losing a Cabinet nominee to the confirmation process isn’t unheard of for incoming presidents, including Donald Trump. Matt Gaetz’s decision to pull his name from consideration for attorney general represents the first indication of resistance that the president-elect could face from his own party. By Meg Kinnard. SENT: 830 words, photos. WITH: TRUMP-RED-LINES — Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct, but can he do the same for his nominees? SENT: 1,030 words, photos, audio; TRUMP-TRANSITION-SEXUAL MISCONDUCT — Trump has picked several other people for his Cabinet and key staff positions who have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct. SENT: 1,380 words, photo.

ICC-ISRAEL-WARRANTS — The world’s top war-crimes court has issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The warrants issued Thursday accuse them of crimes against humanity in connection with their war that began more than a year ago. The warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant focus on allegations Israel has used food as a weapon in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, a charge Israeli officials deny. By Molly Quell. SENT: 1,200 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: ICC-Arrest-Warrants-Explainer — Warrants put Israeli PM and others in a small group of leaders accused of crimes against humanity. SENT: 960 words, photos; HUNGARY-NETANYAHU — Hungary’s Orbán vows to disregard international arrest warrant for Netanyahu. SENT: 300 words, photo.

MIDEAST-WARS-GAZA-HUNGER — Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip are often eating just once a day, even in areas where aid groups have relatively more access than the isolated and heavily destroyed north. The United Nations humanitarian office has warned of a “stark increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. Experts say a full-blown famine may be underway in the north. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter. But humanitarian groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order pose major obstacles to distribution. By Wafaa Shurafa and Fatma Khaled. SENT: 1,060 words, photos, video. WITH: UN-HUMANITARIANS-KILLED — The U.N. says bloodshed in the Middle East has been the single-biggest cause of the 281 deaths among humanitarians globally this year. SENT: 360 words, photos.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened after Russia deployed a new ballistic missile that threatens to escalate the nearly three-year war. Three Ukrainian lawmakers confirmed the parliamentary session previously scheduled for Friday was canceled due to the ongoing threat of Russian missile attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work. Russia on Thursday fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile in response to Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. By Illia Novikov and Volodymyr Yurchuk. SENT: 480 words, photos. WITH: RUSSIA-UKRAINE-NEW-MISSILE-EXPLAINER — Putin touts Russia’s new missile and delivers a menacing warning to NATO. SENT: 1,000 words, photos; NORTH-KOREA-RUSSIA — A top South Korean official says Russia has supplied air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang sending troops. SENT: 600 words, photos.

SEVERE WEATHER — A major storm moving through Northern California toppled trees and dropped heavy snow and record rain after knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington state and Oregon. Forecasters warn the risk of flash flooding and rockslides will continue through Friday. The National Weather Service has extended a flood watch for areas north of San Francisco. By Godofredo A. Vasquez, Janie Har and Christopher Weber. SENT: 1,100 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: SEVERE-WEATHER-THINGS-TO-KNOW — What to know about a storm bringing high winds, heavy rain, snow to California and Pacific Northwest. SENT: 710 words, photos.

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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

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OREGON-PSILOCYBIN-BANS — Drug reform advocates hailed Oregon as a progressive leader when it became the first in the nation to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. But four years later, voters in a growing list of its cities have banned the substance. In the wake of the fentanyl crisis, the rejection of drug liberalization measures in Oregon and other states this election has some experts questioning whether voters are rethinking their appetite for such policies. By Claire Rush. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

IRAN-ART — A new exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is displaying Western artwork including pieces not seen by the public in at least a decade. The exhibition “Eye to Eye” has drawn numerous women, their hair uncovered, to the underground galleries of the museum in Tehran’s Laleh Park. Their presence, while unacknowledged by authorities, shows the way life has changed inside Iran even as the country’s theocracy presses forward with enriching uranium to near-weapons grade levels and launching attacks on Israel. By Mehdi Fattahi and Jon Gambrell. SENT: 700 words, photos.

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CLIMATE

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CLIMATE-COP29 — Countries at the United Nations climate summit in Azerbaijan entered their final scheduled day of talks on Friday with no visible progress on their chief goals. COP29 has been about climate finance: money that wealthy nations are obligated to pay to developing countries to cover damages resulting from extreme weather and help those nations adapt to a warming planet. Experts put the figure at $1 trillion or more, but draft texts that emerged Thursday angered the developing world by essentially leaving blank the financial commitment. SENT: 710 words, photos. WITH: CLIMATE-COP29-BOARD-GAME — In a board game, climate experts work to save the world, which diplomats at COP29 try in real life. SENT: 1,100 words, photos, video; CLIMATE-COP29-ATHLETES — Athletes see climate change as threatening their sports and their health. SENT: 880 words, photos.

INDONESIA-ENERGY-TRANSITION — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced his government plans to retire all coal and other fossil fuel-power plants while drastically boosting the country’s renewable energy capacity in the next 15 years. SENT: 530 words, photos.

PERU-INDIGENOUS-OIL — Indigenous leaders from the Wampis Nation in Peru are urging lawmakers at the House of Commons in London to ban international banks’ support for Amazon oil activities they say harm their ancestral rainforests. SENT: 750 words, photos.

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MORE NEWS

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GREAT LOOP CANOEIST — Car accident survivor Peter Frank is on a planned journey of roughly 6,000-miles to complete the Great Loop, a continuous waterway that includes parts of the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, Canada and inland U.S. rivers. SENT: 1,190 words, photos, video.

AUSTRALIA-EMPEROR PENGUIN — The only emperor penguin known to have swum from Antarctica to Australia has been released at sea 20 days after he waddled ashore on a popular tourist beach. The adult male was found on Nov. 1 on sand dunes in temperate southwest Australia about 2,200 miles north of the Antarctic coast. SENT: 370 words, photo.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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VANCE SUCCESSOR — JD Vance’s election as vice president has opened up one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats for the third time in as many years. That has set off a scramble for the appointment among ambitious Republicans. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, a pragmatic center-right politician, will fill the vacancy. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

ELECTION-2024-PENNSYLVANIA-SENATE — Democrat Bob Casey conceded to Republican David McCormick in their Pennsylvania Senate contest. SENT: 500 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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FUNERAL HOME-IMPROPER BODY STORAGE — Colorado funeral home owners accused of stashing 190 decaying bodies and giving grieving families fake ashes were expected to plead guilty in state court on Friday. Jon and Carie Hallford have been charged with more than 200 counts of corpse abuse. SENT: 400 words, photos. WITH: FUNERAL-HOME-REMAINS — Half a dozen state and county agencies are investigating a burned Georgia funeral home after a photographer from England said he found urns, bags of human ashes and human remains in what is left of the building. SENT: 370 words, audio.

TEXAS SCHOOLS-RELIGION — Texas would allow Bible-infused lessons in elementary schools under changes that were set for a final vote Friday and could test boundaries between religion and public education in the U.S. SENT: 700 words, photo.

MISSING KAYAKER-THINGS TO KNOW — A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning this summer and left his wife and three children has been located in Eastern Europe and is communicating with law enforcement, but has not committed to returning home, authorities said. SENT: 740 words, photos.

ALABAMA-EXECUTION — An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene hand gestures shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation’s third execution using nitrogen gas. SENT: 850 words, photos, audio.

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INTERNATIONAL

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BRAZIL BOLSONARO — Police indicted Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others for allegedly attempting a coup to keep the right-wing leader in office after his defeat in the 2022 election. Already barred from running again in 2026 for a different case, he could now land in jail and see his influence further diminished. SENT: 760 words, photos.

LAOS TOURISTS — A second Australian teenager who fell critically ill after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos has died, according to a family statement. Laotian police detained the manager and owner of a hostel in a case that appears to have claimed the lives of at least five people. SENT: 620 words. WITH: LAOS-TOURISTS POISONED-EXPLAINER — Six tourists died in Laos after apparently drinking methanol. What is it and why was it in drinks? SENT: 500 words, photos.

NORTH-KOREA-US — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington’s “unchangeable” hostility toward his country and described his nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats. SENT: 700 words, photos.

TAIWAN-DIPLOMACY — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te will travel from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 to meet with the self-governing island’s South Pacific allies in the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, where rival China has been seeking diplomatic inroads. SENT: 330 words, photos.

ROMANIA-ELECTION — Romanians will vote Sunday in a presidential election that looks likely to pit a far-right nationalist party leader against the leftist prime minister in a runoff in two weeks. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.

AUSTRALIA-SOCIAL-MEDIA — An Australian Cabinet minister on Friday rejected X Corp. owner Elon Musk’s allegation that the government intended to control all Australians’ access to the internet through legislation that would ban young children from social media. SENT: 380 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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INDIA-ADANI — The companies of billionaire Gautam Adani, one of Asia’s richest men, showed some signs of recovery on Friday even as controversy and uncertainty continued to roil the Indian tycoon’s businesses after he was indicted by U.S. prosecutors for bribery and fraud. SENT: 820 words, photos.

CHINA-ECONOMY — A senior Chinese official says higher tariffs on Chinese exports will backfire by boosting prices paid by consumers. Asked about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said that would not solve the U.S. trade deficit. SENT: 360 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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BBO-MVPS — Shohei Ohtani won his third Most Valuable Player Award and first in the National League, and Aaron Judge earned his second American League honor on Thursday. Ohtani was a unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. SENT: 840 words, photos. WITH: OHTANI’S REHAB — Shohei Ohtani is in the early stages of rehabilitation from left shoulder surgery after the World Series. SENT: 520 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani smiles after reaching first base on a single off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Seth Halvorsen in the eighth inning of a baseball game Sept. 29, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - India's Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani addresses the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, India, Jan.10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of a defense exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro prepares to speak to the press in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, June 30, 2023, the day that judges ruled him ineligible to run for political office until 2030 after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country's electronic voting system. (AP Photo/Thomas Santos, File)

This still image provided by Green Lake County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Mark Podoll holds a news conference regarding Ryan Borgwardt, who faked his own drowning this summer on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 in Green Lake, Wis. (Green Lake County Sheriff's Office via AP)

FILE - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine talks to reporters during the Republican National Convention July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

In this photo released by Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), a male emperor penguin dubbed Gus, is released back into the ocean off the south coast of Western Australia, Wednesday Nov. 20, 2024. (Miles Brotherson/DBCA via AP)

Peter Frank, who is attempting to make a roughly 6,000-mile trip in his canoe to complete the Great Loop, poses by his canoe Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

Indigenous leaders from the Wampis Nation in Peru, Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat, left, and Pamuk Teofilo Kukush Pati, pose inside the Westminster Hall in London, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

FILE - Women sit on a hill overlooking the Suralaya coal power plant in Cilegon, Indonesia, Jan. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

Dion George, South Africa environment minister, left, walks past a person in a dugong costume during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A woman walks past a portrait of the leader of the American Indian Movement Russell Means, right, by American artist Andy Warhol, as she visits an exhibition titled Eye to Eye which showcases over 120 works by modern world artists as well as Iranian painters at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, in Tehran, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Mushrooms for patient use are shown at a psilocybin service center in Gresham, Ore., Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)

A vineyard is flooded during a storm, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Forestville, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Nov. 21, 2024, rescue workers put out a fire of a burning house damaged by a Russian strike on Dnipro, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Girls in the Eid family eat lentils cooked by their mother, Yasmin, at their tent in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

FILE - Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General, speaks to reporters outside an election integrity volunteer training, June 18, 2024, in Newtown, Pa. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in central Mississippi and the state’s Delta and Gulf Coast areas will return to the polls Tuesday to resolve two judicial races in which no candidate received the vote majority needed in the Nov. 5 general election to avoid a runoff.

At stake are seats on Mississippi’s two highest courts, the state Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals. Judges on both panels serve eight-year terms, the longest of any elected office in the state.

In the state Supreme Court race, Justice Jim Kitchens seeks a third term in District 1, also known as the Central District, which spans the state’s midsection from the Alabama border to the Delta region along the Mississippi River. Kitchens is the more senior of the Court’s two presiding justices, putting him next in line to serve as chief justice. He faces a challenge from Jenifer Branning, a Republican state senator in her third term. Branning was the top vote-getter in the general election, with 42% of the vote to 36% for Kitchens, with the rest split among three other candidates.

The courts are officially nonpartisan, but partisan fault lines have formed nonetheless in the Supreme Court race, with Democratic areas in the competitive district largely supporting Kitchens in the Nov. 5 election and Republican ones backing Branning. This was similar to the voting pattern in Kitchens’ 2016 reelection bid, when he won the support of the state's Democratic areas and his opponent mainly drew support from Republican areas.

Branning has branded herself a “constitutional conservative” and rails against “liberal, activists judges” and “the radical left.” She has the endorsement of the state Republican Party.

Kitchens has issued dissents in high-profile death row appeals, including a September case in which he sided with a man on death row for a murder conviction where a key witness had since recanted her testimony. In 2018, he dissented in a pair of death row cases dealing with the use of the drug midazolam in state executions. Kitchens has the endorsement of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, a civil rights organization.

Branning has had a sizable financial advantage over the incumbent since launching her campaign in February, thanks largely to a $250,000 personal loan she made to her campaign.

In the Court of Appeals race, Amy St. Pe’ and Jennifer Schloegel were the top two finishers in a competitive three-way contest on Nov. 5 to replace outgoing Judge Joel Smith. St. Pe’ placed first in the general election with 35% of the vote, followed by Schloegel with 33%. The Court’s 5th District is on the Gulf Coast in the southeastern corner of the state.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

Mississippi’s general election runoff will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in runoff elections for seats on the state Supreme Court and state Appeals Court.

Any voter in Supreme Court District 1 or Appeals Court District 5 who registered for the Nov. 5 general election may participate in the general election runoff.

Although Mississippi is reliably Republican in statewide elections, the Supreme Court’s Central District is home to much of the state’s Democratic strongholds, including the Jackson area and the counties in the Mississippi Delta region. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden both carried the Central District in their 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, while Kamala Harris trailed Donald Trump by less than a percentage point in 2024.

In the general election, Branning led in 10 of the 11 counties Trump carried, while Kitchens carried 10 of the 11 counties that Harris, Biden and Clinton all won in their campaigns.

The 11 Trump counties made up about 62% of the total general election vote, compared to about 38% for the 11 Harris counties. In order to win, Kitchens would need to build on his leads in the counties he carried Nov. 5 and peel off enough of the votes cast for the three other candidates in areas that Trump won. That was his path to victory in his 2016 reelection race, when he carried the same 10 Harris/Biden/Clinton counties, as well as his home county of Copiah and six other counties.

The most populous of these Kitchens-Trump counties is Madison, which made up about 13% of the total district vote earlier this month. Kitchens carried Madison in 2016 with 50% of the vote but only received 36% this year, compared to 47% for Branning. Trump carried Madison three times, most recently with 57% of the vote. Kitchens also carried neighboring Leake and Scott counties in 2016, but Branning had outright vote majorities there on Nov. 5.

Warren County on the Mississippi River will be another key battleground in the race. Trump carried the county by close margins in 2016 and 2024 and lost by a close margin in 2020. Kitchens received 55% of the vote there in 2016, but Branning had a plurality there on election night.

The Court of Appeals race takes place in a district Trump carried three times with roughly 70% of the vote. The most populous areas to watch are the neighboring counties of Harrison (home of Biloxi and Gulfport) and Jackson (home of Pascagoula), both on the Gulf Coast.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

According to a September tally by the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, there were about 609,000 active voters in Supreme Court District 1 and about 449,000 active voters in Court of Appeals District 5. Voters in Mississippi do not register by party.

The last time a state Supreme Court race advanced to a runoff was in 2016. About 339,000 votes were cast for that seat in the general election, but the total fell sharply to about 38,000 votes for the runoff held later that month.

In the Nov. 5 general election, turnout was about 54% of registered voters in the presidential race, about 48% in the state Supreme Court race and about 50% in the Court of Appeals race.

About 18% of votes were cast before Election Day in the 2020 general election and about 7% in the 2022 midterm elections.

As of Wednesday, a total of 4,021 ballots had been cast before the runoff election.

In the Nov. 5 general election, the AP first reported results at 8:19 p.m. ET, or 19 minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 2:35 a.m. ET with about 93% of total votes counted.

Read more about how U.S. elections work at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - Senate Elections Committee Chair Jenifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, explains a facet of an absentee-ballot bill during floor debate at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., June 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

FILE - Mississippi Supreme Court Presiding Justice James W. Kitchens asks a question, July 6, 2023, before the court in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

FILE - Mississippi Supreme Court justices including Justice Jim Kitchens, seated at right, fourth from top, listen to arguments, July 6, 2023, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)