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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

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ONLY ON AP

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILD BRIDES — Marriages of underage girls are on the rise as the coronavirus pandemic deepens poverty around the world, threatening to undo years of work by activists trying to stop the tradition in countries such as Sierra Leone. The United Nations estimates that hardships resulting from COVID-19 will drive 13 million more girls to marry before the age of 18. This year alone, Save the Children estimates nearly half a million more girls underage girls are at risk of being married off worldwide, most in Africa and Asia. By Krista Larson. SENT: 2, 430 words, photos WITH Abridged version of 980 words (sent.)

VIRUS OUTBREAK-ITALY'S HEROES- PHOTO GALLERY — Eight months later, they allow themselves a faint, forced smile. The tired terror in their eyes has faded. But for the doctors and nurses who have been on the front lines of Italy’s coronavirus battle since the start, the passage of time has taken a toll. The Associated Press went back to photograph the 16 health care workers whose portraits, taken on the single deadliest day of Italy’s first wave of infection, came to epitomize the sacrifice of the world’s medical personnel during the pandemic. BY Luca Bruno, Antonio Calanni and Domenico Stinellis. SENT: 740 words, 18 photos.

AP POLL-VIRUS RESTRICTIONS — The ferocity of the pandemic has hit new levels across the U.S. but Americans’ alarm over the virus and their preferences on government restrictions have barely budged from the quieter period in the summer. A survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds less than half of Americans say they are extremely or very worried about themselves or a family member being infected with the virus, though a majority are in favor of requirements that people wear masks, limit gatherings and mostly stay at home. By Stephen Groves and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 1010 words, photos, graphics.

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TOP STORIES

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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history got underway as health workers in select hospitals rolled up their sleeves for shots to protect them from COVID-19 and start beating back the pandemic — a day of optimism even as the nation’s death toll neared 300,000. “I feel hopeful today. Relieved,” said critical case nurse Sandra Lindsay after getting a shot in the arm at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. By Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 725 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EXPLAINING-VACCINE-SHIPMENTS — How much COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped in US? SENT: 660 words, photos; VIRUS-OUTBREAK-TRUMP — President Donald Trump says he’s reversing an administration directive to vaccinate top government officials against COVID-19 while public distribution of the shot is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. SENT: 580 words, photos; VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent.)

ELECTORAL COLLEGE — Across the nation, presidential electors cast the votes that will formally choose Joe Biden as the nation’s next president, even as President Donald Trump refuses to concede and pushes unsupported allegations of fraud. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 740 words. UPCOMING: 990 words by 5 p.m., with updates from developments into the evening. With: ELECTORAL COLLEGE-THE LATEST, developing.

BIDEN — President-elect Joe Biden has a message for President Donald Trump and his supporters: It’s past time to move on. Biden is scheduled to deliver an address Monday evening after the Electoral College votes confirm his November presidential victory. By Aamer Madhani and Will Weissert. SENT: 792 words. UPCOMING: Developing from Biden remarks at 8 p.m., 890 words by 9 p.m., photos, video.

Find the AP’s full coverage plan for Monday’s Electoral College vote here.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-NURSING HOME WORRY — After 110,000 deaths ravaged the nation’s nursing homes and pushed them to the front of the vaccine line, they now face a vexing problem: Skeptical residents and workers balking at getting the shots. Being first has for some come with fears that the vaccines were rushed into development, that their effects have not been fully studied, and that the frail and those who care for them will essentially be test subjects. Federal health officials say testing has uncovered no serious side effects and they are launching a $250 million ad campaign to sway skeptical people to get the vaccines. By Bernard Condon and Matt Sedensky. SENT: 1, 230 words, photos.

UNITED STATES-IRAN-LEVINSON —The Trump administration for the first time formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 900 words, photos.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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TREASURE HUNTER-STILL-IN-JAIL — A former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing gold coins. SENT: 745 words, photos.

RUSSIA-SPACE ROCKET — Russia test-launches Angara A5 heavy lift space rocket. SENT: 142 words, photos.

JAPAN-ASTEROID-PROBE — Japan space agency confirms asteroid soil inside capsule. SENT: 260 words, photos.

BRITAIN-JUSTIN-BIEBER-NHS — Justin Bieber has teamed up with a choir of London medical staff to record a charity Christmas single. SENT: 200 words.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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RACING FOR A REMEDY-NEXT PANDEMIC — Teams of researchers around the globe are now racing to study the places and species from which the next pandemic may emerge. Even as the world struggles with the devastation of COVID-19, scientists say this pandemic likely won’t be the last. It’s no coincidence that many scientists are focusing attention on the world’s only flying mammals — bats. Viruses that emerge from bats are more lethal in humans than those from other species. SENT: 1,810 words, photos. WITH Abridged version of 930 words (sent.)

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — London and its surrounding areas will be placed under Britain’s highest level of coronavirus restrictions beginning Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital, the health secretary said, adding that a new variant of the virus may be to blame for the spread. He said in some areas cases are doubling every seven days. SENT: 745 words, photo.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY — Germany’s health minister demanded that the European Union’s regulatory agency work faster to approve a coronavirus vaccine and bring an end to the suffering on the continent, while other officials suggested that residents should forgo Christmas shopping as a new lockdown loomed that will close schools and most stores. SENT: 730 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-CANADA-VACCINE — Canada has administered its first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. SENT: 320 words.

Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP — Senior U.S. officials will begin receiving coronavirus vaccines this week as part of updated federal continuity of government plans that now include terrorism and pandemics as threats to the nation, and its leaders. By Zeke Miller. 650 words by 5 p.m.

UNITED STATES-TURKEY — The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of a Russian air defense system, setting the stage for further confrontation between the two nations as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. By Matthew Lee. SENT: 580 words, photo.

ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS — For more than a month, America’s democratic institutions have withstood a historic barrage of partisan attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies, revealing both the durability of an electoral system crafted by the nation’s founding fathers and the intense strain that system is under. By Julie Pace, Brian Slodysko and Colleen Long. UPCOMING: 1000 words by 7 p.m., photos.

ELECTION 2020-REPUBLICANS — Republican leaders face a choice of whether to declare Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election or keep standing silently by President Donald Trump’s continued assault on the Electoral College outcome. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the process will come to its conclusion on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. By Lisa Mascaro. UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos.

FEDERAL AGENCIES HACKED — U.S. government agencies and private companies rushed to secure their networks following the disclosure of a sophisticated cyber-espionage attack tied to a foreign state. It’s not yet publicly known who is behind the attack, or the extent of the damage, but the intrusion exposes the vulnerability of executive branch and corporate computer systems even amid the well-established threat posed by adversaries such as Russia and China. By Ben Fox and Frank Bajak. SENT: 1140 words. UPCOMING: 990 words by 5 p.m., photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — A bipartisan, pragmatically-oriented group of lawmakers is unveiling a detailed COVID-19 aid proposal as lawmakers labor toward a final agreement on a new round of virus relief. Progress is being reported on other fronts, too, as lawmakers cobble together a year-end catchall funding package that will be the last significant legislation of the Trump presidency. By Andrew Taylor. UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos.

HEALTH CARE SIGN-UPS — A crush of sign-ups expected Tuesday on the last day of open enrollment for HealthCare.gov could cement “Obamacare’s” place as a survivor of the Donald Trump years. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. UPCOMING: 700 words by 4 p.m., photo.

ELECTION 2020-GEORGIA-EARLY VOTING — Early in-person voting begins in Georgia for the state’s twin U.S. Senate runoffs. The early voting period runs as late as Dec. 31 in some counties. It could determine the outcome of the races between Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. SENT: 780 words, photo.

ELECTION-2020-WISCONSIN — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state. The court’s ruling ends the president’s legal challenges in state court. SENT: 550 words.

MONARCH BUTTERFLY-THREATENED — Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species. By . By John Flesher and Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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US-2020-CENSUS — A federal judge has rejected an emergency request from the Trump administration that would stop it from being immediately forced to release documents showing how the 2020 census numbers have been crunched in the weeks since the U.S. head count ended in October. SENT: 675 words, photo.

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INTERNATIONAL

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SAUDI-ARABIA — An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jiddah suffered an explosion early Monday after being hit by “an external source,” a shipping company said, suggesting another vessel has come under attack off the kingdom amid its yearslong war in Yemen. The Singapore-flagged BW Rhine saw all 22 sailors on board escape without injury, the BW Group said in a statement. The company warned it was possible some oil leaked out from the site of the blast. SENT: 750 words, photos.

SUDAN-US — The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said that President Donald Trump’s administration has removed Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that could help the African country get international loans to revive its battered economy and end its pariah status. SENT: 680 words, photos.

INDIA-FARMER PROTESTS — Tens of thousands of protesting Indian farmers have called for a second national strike in a week to press for the quashing of three new laws on agricultural reform that they say will drive down crop prices. The farmers are camping along at least five major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi and have said they won’t leave until the government rolls back what they call the “black laws.” SENT: 490 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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US-UAW-SCANDAL-SETTLEMENT — An independent monitor will help root out corruption in the United Auto Workers union’ and members will decide if they will vote directly on the union’s leadership under a reform agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office. The deal was announced in the wake of a wide-ranging federal probe into corruption. It holds off a possible federal takeover of the 400,000-member union. SENT: 830 words, photo.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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YE-THE-YEAR-IN-PUBLISHING — Book publishing had a year like no other in 2020, and yet proved remarkably stable. The pandemic halted and threatened to wipe out a decade of growth for independent bookstores. It forced the postponement of countless new book releases and led to countless others being forgotten. Through it all though book sales managed a steady pace. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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INDIANS-NAME CHANGE — The Cleveland Indians are changing their name. They just don’t know to what or when. After months of discussions with a variety of groups, including Native Americans who have long protested against the team’s use of a moniker and symbols that many deem racist, the American League team is dropping the name it has been known by since 1915. Owner Paul Dolan told the Associated Press in an interview Monday that the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen. That process is in its early stages and it’s possible the team will play their entire 2021 season as the Indians. SENT: 950 words, photo.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Mike Stewart 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.