Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. WHAT SENATORS ARE GRAPPLING WITH
Side with Trump or vote to temporarily end the longest shutdown in U.S. history and keep negotiating.
2. VENEZUELA BRACES FOR PROTESTS
The country’s opposition faces a crucial test in an appeal to the military and the poor to shift loyalties that until recently looked solidly behind the socialist government.
3. WHO’S BACK IN THE CLASSROOM
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers plan to return to work after voting to ratify a deal, ending a six-day strike in the nation’s second-largest district.
4. GIULIANI GRATING ON TRUMP, ALLIES
The presidential lawyer’s latest scattershot media blitz raises the possibility that he may be at least temporarily sidelined from TV interviews, sources tell AP.
5. PONTIFF EMBARKS ON WORLD YOUTH DAY PILGRIMAGE
Pope Francis is looking to leave the sex abuse scandal buffeting his papacy behind as he heads to Panama amid a standoff over Trump’s promised wall.
6. INDIANA DEMOCRAT JOINS 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, is forming an exploratory committee, AP learns.
7. NATURAL GAS FIELDS GIVE ISRAEL REGIONAL POLITICAL BOOST
Its newfound riches foster economic bonds with its neighbours, tighten relations with Arab allies, and build new bridges in a historically hostile region.
8. BREXIT AWAKENS OLD FEARS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
The Britain-EU divorce deal’s intense focus on the future of the border between the North, part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland revives painful memories of the bitter and bloody conflict and the fragile peace that has followed.
9. FALLING HOME SALES NOT HELPING MIDDLE-CLASS BUYERS
Despite a slowdown in price gains, more middle-income Americans are finding home ownership unaffordable, an AP analysis finds.
10. WHERE IT UNRAVELED FOR SERENA
One point from a comeback victory in the Australian Open quarterfinals, the 23-time Grand Slam champion injured her left ankle and eventually lost to Karolina Pliskova.
The Associated Press
