Dorothy Abernathy, regional media director of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. MAGNITUDE 6 QUAKE KILLS AT LEAST 37 IN CENTRAL ITALY
The hardest-hit towns are Amatrice and Accumoli, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Rome. The toll is expected to rise as crews reach homes in more remote hamlets.
2. TURKEY SAYS OPERATION LAUNCHED TO FREE IS-HELD SYRIAN TOWN
As many as 20 tanks reportedly cross into Syria in a bid to liberate Jarablus, following the Turkish foreign minister’s pledge of “every kind” of support for operations against the extremist group along a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of Syria’s frontier.
3. WHY SOME QUESTION TRUMP’S OUTREACH TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS
Many black voters dismiss the GOP nominee’s overtures as another racially charged pitch from a campaign aimed exclusively at whites.
4. WHO IS GETTING NOSTALGIC ABOUT MITT ROMNEY
Horrified by the prospect of Trump in the White House, Democrats change their tune about the former Massachusetts governor, whom they now describe as principled and competent.
5. RAPED BY ISLAMIC STATE GROUP, YAZIDI WOMEN RECOVER IN GERMANY
After escaping the clutches of the extremists, Yasmin, a 17-year-old girl, was so traumatized that she poured gasoline on herself and set it alight. She’s one of 1,100 former IS captives, who Germany has brought in for help.
6. WHAT’S LATEST SOURCE OF FRICTION BETWEEN TWO KOREAS
South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired a missile from a submarine off its east coast into the sea.
7. TURKEY TARGETS FETHULLAH GULEN-INSPIRED PROJECTS AROUND WORLD
Ankara launches an international campaign to shut schools and foundations linked to the Muslim preacher it blames for an attempted coup last month.
8. CHINA SETS SIGHTS ON NEW GLOBAL EXPORT
The Hualong One, a reactor being built in the country’s south, is the flagship for Beijing’s ambition to compete with the U.S., France and Russia as an exporter of atomic power equipment.
9. U.S. PARK SERVICE SEEKS MINORITIES’ SUPPORT
The federal agency faces a challenge of reaching out to minority communities in an increasingly diverse nation and getting them to visit and be invested in preserving national parks.
10. U.S. WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS TEAM FLIPS OVER BROADWAY’S ‘HAMILTON’
The gymnasts sit together in Row G to take in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-flavored biography about the first U.S. treasury secretary, and then greet the cast onstage afterward.