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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ONLY ON AP

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CLIMATE-SAIL-POWER’S-COMEBACK — Seafaring pioneers are spearheading a comeback for wind power in the shipping industry to dent its huge carbon emissions. The international merchant fleet of more than 100,000 ships that transports most of the world’s trade is also responsible for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Mariners pushing for wind power say investors used to view them as something of a joke. But as they engineer the return of sail-powered cargo ships, they are having the last laugh. By John Leicester. SENT: 1,020 words, photos, video.

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TOP STORIES

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HUNTER-BIDEN — President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family. By Zeke Miller, Alanna Durkin Richer and Colleen Long. SENT: 1,310 words, photos, video. With HUNTER-BIDEN-STATEMENT; and BIDEN-HUNTER-PARDON-Q&A — SENT.

MIDEAST WARS-THE LATEST — The Israeli military says an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been captured alive by Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack was killed that day and his body taken into the Gaza Strip. Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. SENT: 1,120 words, photos. With MIDEAST-WARS-YEMEN — US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting American ships in Gulf of Aden — SENT.

SYRIA-OPPOSITION — Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have deployed in Syria to back the government’s counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents who seized the largest city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said. By Kareem Chehayeb. SENT: 350 words, photos. With SYRIA-OPPOSITION-WHAT-TO-KNOW — SENT.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years, just weeks after he was criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That call came at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. SENT: 430 words, photos.

GUINEA-SOCCER-STAMPEDE — A stampede at a soccer stadium in southern Guinea following clashes between fans killed 56 people and injured several others, the African nation's government said. Authorities are conducting an investigation to establish those responsible for the stampede on Sunday, Communications Minister Fana Soumah said in a statement read on national television. SENT: 390 words, photo.

WORLD-COURT-CLIMATE — The top United Nations court took up the largest case in its history, hearing the plight of several small island nations helpless in combating the devastating impact of climate change that they feel endangers their survival. They demand major polluting nations be held to account. By Molly Quell. SENT: 650 words, photos.

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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

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SUPREME-COURT-TRANSGENDER-ATTORNEY — The issue of transgender rights animated the presidential campaign. Now it has made its way to the Supreme Court, and in more ways than one. On Wednesday, the first out transgender attorney to argue before the nation’s highest court steps up to the lectern. By Lindsay Whitehurst. SENT: 610 words, photos.

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MORE NEWS

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NEW-ZEALAND-RAREST-WHALE — Scientists gather to decode puzzle of the world’s rarest whale in “extraordinary” New Zealand study. SENT: 760 words, photos, video.

HONG-KONG-PANDA-SCULPTURES — Hong Kong launches panda sculpture tour as the city hopes the bear craze boosts tourism. SENT: 24 photos, 450 words.

COLORADO-COYOTE ATTACK — Colorado officials are hunting a coyote that attacked and injured a 4-year-old girl. SENT: 310 words.

SAUNA-CULTURE-MINNESOTA — As temperatures turn frigid, Minnesotans turn to saunas for warmth and community. SENT: 900 words, photos, video.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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BIDEN-AFRICA — President Joe Biden is finally making his long-promised visit to Africa to showcase a U.S.-backed railway project in three countries that he has pushed as a new approach in countering some of China’s global influence. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.

SUPREME-COURT-VAPING — The Supreme Court will hear a vaping case, weighing federal regulators’ decisions blocking sweet vaping products after e-cigarette use spiked among kids. SENT: 260 words, photo.

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NATIONAL

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COAST-GUARD-BOAT-CAPSIZED — The U.S. Coast Guard said it is searching for five people after a fishing boat reportedly capsized in rough weather and seas near Alaska’s capital of Juneau. SENT: 240 words, photo.

WINTRY WEATHER — After U.S. travelers battled through harsh weekend weather to reach home following the Thanksgiving holiday, residents of the Great Lakes region face the prospect of more snow through the week, forecasters said. SENT: 690 words, photos, video.

KANSAS DETECTIVE-SEXUAL ABUSE — A white Kansas police detective accused of sexually assaulting Black women and girls and terrorizing those who tried to fight back is about to go on federal trial, part of a tangle of cases tied to decades of alleged abuse. SENT: 1,130 words, photos, video.

CUSTODY-DEATH-OFFICERS — Two Indianapolis police officers are set to stand trial in the death of a Black man after police shocked him with a Taser and restrained him face down during a mental health crisis in his parents’ home. SENT: 580 words, photos.

SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD DEATH — Closing arguments are set in the trial of a military veteran charged with recklessly choking to death a mentally ill, homeless man after an outburst on a New York subway. SENT: 480 words, photos.

CALIFORNIA-TRUMP-NEWSOM — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers will return to the state Capitol to begin a special session to protect the state’s progressive policies ahead of another Trump presidency. SENT: 750 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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ICC-MEETING — The president of the International Criminal Court lashed out at the United States and Russia for interfering with its investigations, calling threats and attacks on the court “appalling.” SENT: 890 words, photo.

MALI-VIOLENCE — Drone strikes by Mali’s military regime killed eight Tuareg rebel leaders in the town of Tinzaouatine in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said. It was the first time since the start of the rebellion in 2012 that so many Taureg leaders have been killed in a single attack. SENT: 300 words.

ROMANIA-ELECTION — Romania’s Social Democratic Party looked set to win the most votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election, incomplete data showed, while far-right populists were on track to make significant gains in the country’s legislature. SENT: 970 words, photos, video.

AUSTRALIA-COCAINE — Australian police seized a record 2.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said. SENT: 290 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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INDONESIA-GEOTHERMAL — Positioned along the seismically active Ring of Fire, Indonesia and the Philippines have the second and third highest installed geothermal energy capacity in the world, after the U.S. Both Southeast Asian island nations are tapping into only a small fraction of their geothermal potential, however, due to financial risks and local community pushback. SENT: 870 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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49ERS-BILLS — Josh Allen scored a receiving touchdown on a pass he threw in his latest do-everything performance and the Buffalo Bills clinched their fifth straight AFC East title with a 35-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on a snowy Sunday night. SENT: 840 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) dives forward during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

A demonstrator fires a firecracker towards police during a rally against the government's decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union for four years, outside the parliament's building in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, prepare to open hearings into what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

International scientists, Alexander Werth, from left, professor Joy Reidenberg and Michael Denk study a male spade-toothed whale ahead of a dissection at Invermay Agricultural Centre, Mosgiel, near Dunedin, New Zealand, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Derek Morrison)

Part of 2500 panda sculptures are displayed at the Hong Kong International Airport during a welcome ceremony of the panda-themed exhibition "Panda Go!" in Hong Kong, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Snow rests on top of a cow sculpture in Lowville, N.Y., on Sunday Dec, 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

FILE - A high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass., April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - Sara Ramirez, from left, Laverne Cox and Chase Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, pose for a photo outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The sailboat 'Grain de Sail II' sails off Saint Malo, western France, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Israeli soldiers look at a destroyed part of Gaza City from their position at the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

In this grab taken from video provided by Nimba Sports Zaly, a man holds a chair on top of his head in a stampede, during a soccer match at the Stade de Nzérékoré, in Nzérékoré, Guinea on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (Nimba Sports Zaly via AP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend a ceremony of honoring fallen soldiers near the People's Memorial of National Memory in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec.2, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A nurse attends to an injured woman in Idlib, Syria, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. Government airstrikes in Idlib killed at least three civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, said the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, which operates in opposition-held areas. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

People stand near bodies on the ground inside the emergency department at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo)

FILE - Hunter Biden steps into a vehicle as he leaves federal court, Sept. 5, 2024, in Los Angeles, after pleading guilty to federal tax charges. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

The Israeli military said Monday an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been captured alive by Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack was killed that day and his body taken into the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Biden administration says it is making another push for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, after nearly a year of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas repeatedly stalled.

Diplomats see a potential opening after last week’s ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, an ally of Hamas that began launching rocket attacks and trading fire with Israel the day after the October 2023 attack.

The fragile ceasefire has held despite repeated Israeli strikes that have angered Lebanese officials but not yet triggered a response from Hezbollah. Israel says it has acted to thwart potential attacks.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage. More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

Israel’s ongoing retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,429 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Here’s the Latest:

BEIRUT —Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Monday one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike that hit a motorcycle, while the Lebanese army said that a soldier was wounded in an Israeli strike on a military bulldozer at an army base.

The Israeli military said that it carried out a series of strikes in Lebanon on Sunday and Monday, including one in the same area where the soldier was said to have been wounded. It said it struck several military vehicles in Lebanon’s Bekaa province as well as strikes on Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.

The incidents underscored the fragility of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah reached after nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting.

Since the ceasefire went into effect on Wednesday, Israel has struck several times in response to what it says have been ceasefire violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the deal but so far Hezbollah has not resumed its rocket fire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected accusations that Israel is violating the tenuous ceasefire agreement, saying it was responding to Hezbollah violations.

In a post on X, Saar said that he made that point in a call with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot. France, along with the U.S., helped broker the deal and is part of an international monitoring committee meant to ensure the sides uphold their commitments.

Israel says that it reserves the right under the deal to respond to perceived ceasefire violations.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Monday an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been taken hostage alive on Oct. 7, 2023, is now presumed to have been killed during Hamas’ attack and his body taken into Gaza.

Neutra, 21, was a New York native who enlisted in the Israeli military and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, led a public campaign while he was thought to be alive for their son’s freedom. They spoke at protests in the U.S. and Israel, addressed the Republican National Convention this year and kept up ties with the Biden administration in their crusade to secure their son’s release.

In a statement announcing the death, the military did not say how it came to the conclusion over Neutra’s fate. He was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now said to be dead. Hamas released a video of one, Edan Alexander, over the weekend, indicating he was still alive.

In late summer, Hamas killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another prominent Israeli American hostage, along with five other captives, whose bodies the Israeli military recovered.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Some 100 captives are still held inside Gaza, around two-thirds believed to be alive.

Iraqi militias supported by Iran deployed in Syria on Monday to back the government’s counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents who seized the largest city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said.

Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo last week and the countryside around Idlib before moving toward neighboring Hama province. Government troops built a fortified defensive line in northern Hama in an attempt to stall the insurgents’ momentum while jets on Sunday pounded rebel-held lines.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus Sunday and announced Tehran’s full support for his government. He later arrived for talks in Ankara, Turkey, one of the rebels' main backers.

Iran has been of Assad’s principal political and military supporters and deployed military advisers and forces after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

Tehran-backed Iraqi militias already in Syria mobilized and additional forces crossed the border to support them, said the Iraqi militia official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

According to Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some 200 Iraqi militiamen on pickups crossed into Syria overnight through the strategic Bou Kamal. They were expected to deploy in Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s pushback against the insurgents, the monitor said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.

U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement and said they had targeted the U.S. destroyers and “three supply ships belonging to the American army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”

Houthi attacks for months have targeted shipping through a waterway where $1 trillion in goods pass annually over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was announced in Lebanon last week.

The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on Nov. 12.

Read more of the AP's coverage of the Middle East wars: https://apnews.com/hub/mideast-wars

Palestinian children play on the rubble of destroyed buildings at a neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli soldiers look at a destroyed part of Gaza City from their position at the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Young Palestinians walk amongst rubble of destroyed buildings at a neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian walk past destroyed building at a neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian boy walks past destroyed building at a neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

This undated photo provided by the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters shows Omer Neutra. (Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AP)