AP-National

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a short film shown at the end of the Super Bowl halftime performer news conference, the show’s headliner Usher comes up missing. The singer’s sudden absence prompts instant panic from his friends including Ludacris, Lil Jon and Taraji P. Henson, sparking a search

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden returned to Earth on Friday, ending a private three-week mission to the International Space Station. The trio were accompanied by a retired NASA astronaut who now works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Elections Commission has complied with court orders and voted to tell the more than 1,800 local clerks who run elections in the battleground state that they can accept absentee ballots that are missing parts of a witness’s address. The Wisconsin State Journal reports the commission voted 5-1 Thursday to

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Thousands of doctors in the early years of their careers in England are to go on strike later this month for another five-day stretch as their long-standing pay dispute with the British government remains in stasis. The British Medical Association, the union that represents the so-called junior

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer For decades, the plotline for LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S. was one of advances — often slow-paced and hard-fought but inexorably moving forward. Now, faced with unprecedented attacks in state legislatures, transgender rights leaders acknowledge they are playing defense — and two of the biggest groups are joining forces

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in New York’s third congressional district will decide who will complete the remaining 11 months of George Santos’ unfinished term. The epilogue to Santos’ short and tumultuous congressional career will be written Tuesday as two candidates vie to replace him. Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, the

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry said Friday that his “mission” to rein in the British media continues, after he accepted costs and damages from a tabloid publisher that invaded his privacy with phone hacking and other illegal snooping. Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, said at a court hearing that Mirror Group

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press KENNEBUNK, Maine (AP) — As long as they still have each other, they’re still going to go to every Super Bowl. That’s the sentiment shared by three friends who say they are the final fans who can claim membership in the exclusive “never missed a Super Bowl” club. And they’re

By SAMYA KULLAB and ALEX BABENKO Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s new military chief signaled Friday that he wants to build new momentum, saying his immediate goals are to improve troop rotation at the front lines and harness the power of new technology, at a time when Kyiv’s forces are largely on the

By AIDA SULTANOVA Associated Press BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has officially won another term in office with 92.12% of the vote, according to the country’s Central Election Commission. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says Azerbaijan’s presidential election took place in a “restrictive” environment and that critical voices

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Seven royal artifacts looted 150 years ago by British colonial forces from Ghana’s ancient Asante kingdom and kept by a United States museum have been returned and presented to the kingdom on Thursday, the latest of a series of stolen treasured items being repatriated to several

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives hangs in the balance in a special election in the Philadelphia suburbs. Tuesday’s election there is the fourth time in a year a vacancy has put the Democratic majority at risk. The candidates are Democrat Jim Prokopiak and Republican Candace

By CIARÁN GILES and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland are demonstrating as part of ongoing protests against European Union farming policies and to demand measures to combat production cost hikes, reduced profits and unfair competition from non-EU countries. The actions follow similar ones in other EU member nations in recent weeks

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is announcing an investment of $5 billion in a public-private consortium aimed at supporting research and development in advanced computer chips. The announcement of the chip investment came Friday. The National Semiconductor Technology Center is being funded through the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Calls for Hungary’s conservative president to resign grew on Friday amid outrage over her pardoning of a person convicted of covering up a child sexual abuse case. The decision has unleashed an unprecedented political scandal for the country’s long-serving nationalist government. Katalin Novák, the first female

By MAE ANDERSON and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Big name advertisers will be pulling out all the stops on Super Bowl Sunday — enlisting high-profile actors, investing in dazzling special effects and, they hope, going for laughs as they seek to win over viewers during game breaks. In an increasingly

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — World-renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa has died of heart failure at his home in Tokyo, his management office said Friday. He was 88. The acclaimed Japanese maestro led the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002, longer than any other conductor in the orchestra’s 128-year

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government has adopted plans to scrap its current foreign trainee program, which has been criticized as a cover for importing cheap labor, and replace it with a system it says will actually teach skills and safeguard trainees’ rights as Japan desperately seeks more foreign workers

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Maddie Musselman wants to go to the Paris Games. So does her husband, Pat Woepse, who was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in September. Musselman is looking to help the U.S. women’s water polo team to an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — A Nasdaq-listed Chinese technology company that makes parts for self-driving vehicles has threatened to sue the U.S. government after it was included in a list of companies the Pentagon says have links to the Chinese military. Hesai Technology’s core product is LiDAR, which is used in