The FBI pored over Jeffrey Epsteins bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the worlds most influential people.

But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.

Videos and photos seized from Epsteins homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didnt depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

RELATED STORY | Powerful men, including 'Melania' director, dispute Epstein connection after appearing in more files

An examination of Epsteins financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he lent her to his rich friends, agents couldnt confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.

Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said four or five Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.

The AP and other media organizations are still reviewing millions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

But the documents, which include police reports, FBI interview notes and prosecutor emails, provide the clearest picture to date of the investigation and why U.S. authorities ultimately decided to close it without additional charges.

Dozens of victims come forward

The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaires home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school age students $200 or $300 to give him sexualized massages.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | DOJ to let lawmakers review unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files

After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls visits and payments. But instead, then-Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta struck a deal letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019. One month later, he killed himself in his jail cell.

A year later, prosecutors charged Epsteins longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, saying shed recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse. Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Prosecutors fail to find evidence backing most sensational claims

Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the departments latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.

Some allegations couldnt be verified, investigators wrote.

In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Britains former Prince Andrew.

Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.

Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also lent out to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.

No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men, the memo said.

Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalized memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that didn't take place. She had also offered shifting accounts in interviews with investigators, they wrote, and had "engaged in a continuous stream of public interviews about her allegations, many of which have included sensationalized if not demonstrably inaccurate characterizations of her experiences." Those inaccuracies included false accounts of her interactions with the FBI, they said.

Still, U.S. prosecutors attempted to arrange an interview with Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He refused to make himself available. Giuffre settled a lawsuit with Mountbatten-Windsor in which she had accused him of sexual misconduct.

In a memoir published after she killed herself last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her they didn't include her in the case against Maxwell because they didn't want her allegations to distract the jury. She insisted her accounts of being trafficked to elite men were true.

Prosecutors say photos and videos don't implicate others

Investigators seized a multitude of videos and photos from Epsteins electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They found CDs, hard copy photographs and at least one videotape containing nude images of females, some of whom seemed as if they might be minors. One device contained 15 to 20 images depicting commercial child sex abuse material pictures investigators said Epstein obtained on the internet.

No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, none showed any males with any of the nude females, and none contained evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email for FBI officials last year.

Had they existed, the government would have pursued any leads they generated, Comey wrote. We did not, however, locate any such videos.

Investigators who scoured Epsteins bank records found payments to more than 25 women who appeared to be models but no evidence that he was engaged in prostituting women to other men, prosecutors wrote.

Epstein's close associates go uncharged

In 2019, prosecutors weighed the possibility of charging one of Epsteins longtime assistants but decided against it.

Prosecutors concluded that while the assistant was involved in helping Epstein pay girls for sex and may have been aware that some were underage, she herself was a victim of his sexual abuse and manipulation.

Investigators examined Epstein's relationship with the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who once was involved in an agency with Epstein in the U.S., and who was accused in a separate case of sexually assaulting women in Europe. Brunel killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France.

Prosecutors also weighed whether to charge one of Epstein's girlfriends who had participated in sexual acts with some of his victims. Investigators interviewed the girlfriend, who was 18 to 20 years old at the time, but it was determined there was not enough evidence, according to a summary given to FBI Director Kash Patel last July.

Days before Epsteins July 2019 arrest, the FBI strategized about sending agents to serve grand jury subpoenas on people close to Epstein, including his pilots and longtime business client, retail mogul Les Wexner.

Wexners lawyers told investigators that neither he nor his wife had knowledge of Epsteins sexual misconduct. Epstein had managed Wexner's finances, but the couple's lawyers said they cut him off in 2007 after learning he'd stolen from them.

There is limited evidence regarding his involvement, an FBI agent wrote of Wexner in an Aug. 16, 2019, email.

In a statement to the AP, a legal representative for Wexner said prosecutors had informed him that he was neither a coconspirator nor target in any respect," and that Wexner had cooperated with investigators.

Prosecutors also examined accounts from women who said they'd given massages at Epstein's home to guests who'd tried to make the encounters sexual. One woman accused private equity investor Leon Black of initiating sexual contact during a massage in 2011 or 2012, causing her to flee the room.

The Manhattan district attorneys office subsequently investigated, but no charges were filed.

Black's lawyer, Susan Estrich, said he had paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice. She said in a statement that Black didn't engage in misconduct and had no awareness of Epstein's criminal activities. Lawsuits by two women who accused Black of sexual misconduct were dismissed or withdrawn. One is pending.

No client list

Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in February 2025 that Epsteins never-before-seen client list was sitting on my desk right now. A few months later, she claimed the FBI was reviewing tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn.

But FBI agents wrote superiors saying the client list didn't exist.

On Dec. 30, 2024, about three weeks before President Joe Biden left office, then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate reached out through subordinates to ask "whether our investigation to date indicates the client list, often referred to in the media, does or does not exist, according to an email summarizing his query.

A day later, an FBI official replied that the case agent had confirmed no client list existed.

On Feb. 19, 2025, two days before Bondis Fox News appearance, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote: While media coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case references a client list,' investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmers chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain's most important diplomatic post in 2024.

The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself, McSweeney said in a statement. When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice."

RELATED STORY | UK police open criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged leaks to Epstein

Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgement after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. governments business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.

Starmers government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelsons appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.

Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.

RELATED STORY | Powerful men, including 'Melania' director, dispute Epstein connection after appearing in more files

Metropolitan Police officers searched Mandelsons London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.

Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the U.S. Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmers judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.

Lindsey Vonn, racing on a badly injured left knee, crashed early in the Olympic downhill on Sunday and was taken off the course by a helicopter after the 41-year-old American received medical attention on the snow for long, anguished minutes.

Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air. She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier's storied career. Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.

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Breezy Johnson, Vonn's teammate, won gold and became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italys Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for Team USA.

Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course. Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course she knows so well and holds a record 12 World Cup wins.

Vonns crash was tragic, but its ski racing," said Johan Eliasch, president of the Internationl Ski and Snowboard Federation.

I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport, he said, because this race has been the talk of the games and its put our sport in the best possible light.

All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

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The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.

Still, no one counted her out even then. In truth, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events shed planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.

Its definitely weird, she said then, going from the hospital bed to the start gate.

Cortina has always had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.

This would be the best comeback Ive done so far, Vonn said before the race. Definitely the most dramatic.

After the crash, the celebration for the medalists was held and fellow skiers thought about Vonn's legacy.

She has been my idol since I started watching ski racing, said Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway. We still have a World Cup to do after Olympics ... I wouldnt be surprised if she suddenly shows up on the start gate, but the crash didnt look good.

The U.S. has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal to end the nearly fouryear war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure forced nuclear power plants to cut output on Saturday.

If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, he added.

The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule, Zelenskyy said, speaking to reporters on Friday. Zelenskyys comments were embargoed until Saturday morning.

RELATED STORY | Zelenskyy heads to Florida for high-stakes meeting with Trump amid war stalemate

And they say that they want to do everything by June. And they will do everything to end the war. And they want a clear schedule of all events, he said.

He said the U.S. proposed holding the next round of trilateral talks next week in their country for the first time, likely in Miami, Zelenskyy said. We confirmed our participation, he added.

Zelenskyy said Russia presented the U.S. with a $12 trillion economic proposal which he dubbed the Dmitriev package after Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Bilateral economic deals with the U.S. form part of the broader negotiating process.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure continued with over 400 drones and about 40 missiles launched overnight Saturday, Zelenskyy said in a post on X. Targets included the energy grid, generation facilities and distribution networks.

Ukrenergo, the state energy transmission operator, said the attack was the second mass strike on energy infrastructure since the start of the year, forcing nuclear power plants to reduce output. Eight facilities in eight regions came under attack, it said in a statement.

As a result of missile strikes on key high-voltage substations that ensured the output of nuclear power units, all nuclear power plants in the territories under control were forced to reduce their load, the statement said.

It said the power deficit in the country has increased significantly as a result of the attacks forcing an extension of hourly power outages in all regions of Ukraine.

The latest deadline follows U.S.-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi that produced no breakthrough as the warring parties cling to mutually exclusive demands. Russia is pressing Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas, where fighting remains intense a condition Kyiv says it will never accept.

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Difficult issues remained difficult. Ukraine once again confirmed its positions on the Donbas issue. We stand where we stand is the fairest and most reliable model for a ceasefire today, in our opinion, Zelenskyy said. He reiterated that the most challenging topics would be reserved for a trilateral meeting between leaders.

Zelenskyy said no common ground was reached on managing the Russianheld Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and expressed skepticism about a U.S. proposal to turn the Donbas region, coveted by Russia, into a free economic zone as a compromise.

I do not know whether this can be implemented, because when we talked about a free economic zone, we had different views on it, he said.

He said in the last round of talks the negotiators discussed how a ceasefire would be technically monitored. He added that the U.S. has reaffirmed it would play a role in that process.

Repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraines power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter, putting more pressure on Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said the U.S. again proposed a ceasefire banning strikes on energy infrastructure. Ukraine is ready to observe such a pause if Russia commits; but he added that when Moscow previously agreed to a one-week pause suggested by the U.S., it was violated after just four days.

The Department of Justice will allow members of Congress to review unredacted files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein starting on Monday, according to a letter that was sent to lawmakers.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press says that lawmakers will be able to review unredacted versions of the more than 3 million files that the Justice Department has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year.

To access the files, lawmakers will need to give the Justice Department 24 hours notice. They will be able to review the files on computers at the Department of Justice. Only lawmakers, not their staff, will have access to the files, and they will be permitted to take notes, but not make electronic copies.

RELATED STORY | Rep. Khanna calls for those who emailed Epstein to testify before House panel

The arrangement, first reported by NBC News, showed the continued demand for information on Epstein and his crimes by lawmakers, even after the Justice Department devoted large numbers of its staff to comply with the law passed by Congress last year. The Justice Department has come under criticism for delays in the release of information, failing to redact the personal information and photos of victims and not releasing the entire 6 million documents collected in relation to Epstein.

Still, lawmakers central to the push for transparency, described the concession by the Justice Department as a victory.

When Congress pushes back, Congress can prevail, Rep. Ro Khanna, who sponsored what's known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, posted on social media.

Khanna has pointed to several emails between Epstein and individuals whose information was redacted that appeared to refer to the sexual abuse of underage girls. The release of the case files has prompted inquiries around the world about men who cavorted with the well-connected financier. Still, lawmakers are pressing for a further reckoning over anyone who may have had knowledge of Epstein's abuse or could have helped facilitate it.

RELATED STORY | Judge will hear from Epstein survivors after released documents published their names

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while he faced charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls. The case was brought more than a decade after he secretly cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of nearly identical allegations. Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.

lberto Castaeda Mondragn's memory was jumbled after he says he was badly beaten last month while being taken into custody by immigration officers. He did not remember much of his past, but the violence of the Jan. 8 arrest in Minnesota was seared into his battered brain.

The Mexican immigrant told The Associated Press this week that he remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friends car outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, and then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton.

He remembers being taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again. Then came the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

Castaeda Mondragn, 31, is one of an unknown number of immigration detainees who, despite avoiding deportation, have been left with lasting injuries following violent encounters with ICE. While the Trump administration insists ICE limits its enforcement operations to immigrants with violent rap sheets, he has no criminal record.

RELATED STORY | 'No way' he ran into a wall: Nurses say ICE story on injuries doesnt add up

Heres what to know about the case, one of the excessive-force claims the federal government has thus far declined to investigate.

Immigrant says attack was unprovoked

ICE officers who arrested Castaeda Mondragn on Jan. 8 told nurses the man purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall, an account Hennepin County Medical Center staff immediately doubted. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull injuries a doctor told AP were inconsistent with a fall.

ICE's account evolved as Castaeda Mondragn lay stricken in the hospital. At least one officer told staff the man "got his (expletive) rocked, according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking his release and nurses who treated him.

There was never a wall, Castaeda Mondragn told AP, recalling ICE officers striking him with the same metal rod used to break the windows of the vehicle he was in. He later identified it as a telescoping baton routinely carried by law enforcement.

Training materials and police use-of-force policies across the U.S. say such a baton can be used to hit the arms, legs and body. But striking the head, neck or spine is considered potentially deadly force.

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Once he was taken to an ICE holding facility in suburban Minneapolis, Castaeda Mondragn said, officers resumed beating him. He said he pleaded with them to get a doctor, but they just laughed at me and hit me again."

DHS will not discuss the case

The Trump administration this week announced a broad rollout of body cameras for immigration officers in Minneapolis even as the government draws down ICEs presence there. But it's not clear whether Castaeda Mondragn's arrest was captured on body-camera footage or if there might be additional recordings from security cameras at the detention center.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the case.

The government's only acknowledgment of the injuries came in a Jan. 20 court filing that said it was learned during his arrest that had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment."

The same filing said Castaeda Mondragn entered the U.S. legally in March 2022 and that the agency determined only after his arrest that he had overstayed his visa. A federal judge ruled his arrest had been unlawful and ordered him released from ICE custody.

Elected officials call for accountability

The case has drawn the attention of several officeholders in Minnesota, including Gov. Tim Walz, who this week posted an AP story about the case on X. But it's not clear whether any state authorities are investigating how Castaeda Mondragn was injured.

The Ramsey County Attorneys Office, which oversees St. Paul, urged Castaeda Mondragn to file a police report to prompt an investigation. He said he plans to file a complaint. A St. Paul police spokesperson said the department would investigate all alleged crimes that are reported to us.

We are seeing a repeated pattern of Trump Administration officials attempting to lie and gaslight the American people when it comes to the cruelty of this ICE operation in Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement.

Rep. Kelly Morrison, another Democrat and a doctor, recently toured the Whipple Building, the ICE facility at Ft. Snelling. She said she saw severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and an almost complete lack of medical care. She and other Minnesota Democrats say injuries that occur in ICE custody should be investigated.

If any one of our police officers did this, you know what just happened in Minnesota with George Floyd, we hold them accountable, said Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul. Theres no reason why federal agents should not be held to the same high standard.

The U.S. stock market roared back, as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge, at least for now.

The S&P 500 jumped 2% Friday for its best day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared roughly 1,200 points and topped the 50,000 level for the first time, while the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.2%.

Chip companies helped drive the gains on hopes for more big spending by customers diving into AI technology. Stocks also got a boost from a better reading on sentiment among U.S. consumers. Bitcoin rose back above $70,000.

They were among the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500, and they benefited from hopes for continued spending by customers diving into artificial-intelligence technology. Amazon, for example, said late Thursday it expects to spend about $200 billion on investments this year to take advantage of seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites.

Such heavy spending, similar to what Alphabet announced a day earlier, is creating concerns of its own, though. The question is whether all those dollars will prove to be worth it and create much bigger profits in the future. With doubt remaining about that, Amazons stock dropped 7%.

Even with Fridays rebound, the S&P 500 is still potentially heading toward its third losing week in the last four. Besides worries about big AI spending by Big Tech companies, whose stocks are the most influential on Wall Street, concerns about AI potentially stealing customers away from software companies also hurt the market through the week. The hits for software stocks accelerated after AI firm Anthropic released free tools to automate things like legal services.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, steadied following a weekslong plunge that had sent it more than halfway below its record price set in October. It climbed back above $70,000 after briefly dropping close to $60,000 late Thursday.

Prices in the metals market also calmed a bit following their own wild swings. Gold rose 1.8% to settle at $4,979.80 per ounce, while silver added 0.2%.

Their prices suddenly ran out of momentum last week following jaw-dropping rallies, which were driven by investors clamoring for something safe to own amid worries about political turmoil, a U.S. stock market that critics called expensive and huge debt loads for governments worldwide. By January, prices for gold and silver were surging so quickly that critics called it unsustainable.

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On Wall Street, the recovery for bitcoin helped stocks of companies enmeshed in the crypto economy. Robinhood Markets jumped 13.6% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. Crypto trading platform Coinbase Global rose 11.4%. Strategy, the company thats made a business of buying and holding bitcoin, soared 24.5%.

Stocks of smaller U.S. companies also helped lead the market, along with companies whose profits depend on U.S. households spending more money. They benefited from potentially encouraging data on how U.S. consumers are feeling.

A preliminary report from the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is improving slightly, when economists were expecting to see a drop. The improvement was strongest among households who own stocks, which are benefiting from the S&P 500 setting a record late last month.

To be sure, sentiment remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings, according to Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.

Airline stocks were strong with hopes that more confidence among U.S. households will translate into more spending on trips. That included gains of 9.2% for United Airlines, 7.6% for Delta Air Lines and 7.5% for American Airlines.

The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index jumped 3.4%, roughly double the gain of the S&P 500. Smaller companies profits can be more dependent on the strength of the U.S. economy than those for big, multinational rivals.

MORE ECONOMIC NEWS | Economists warn Trump's $200B mortgage move could backfire, lifting home prices

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe.

That was even though Stellantis, the auto giant whose stock trades in Italy, lost 25.2% after saying it would take a charge of 22 billion euros, or $26 billion, as it dials back its electric vehicle production. The automaker acknowledged over-estimating the pace of the energy transition and said it was resetting its business to align the company with the real-world preferences of its customers.

Stocks fell across much of Asia, but Japans Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%. It benefited from a 2% climb for Toyota Motor, which said CEO Koji Sato will step down in April and will be replaced by the companys chief financial officer, Kenta Kon.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an earlier modest loss and held at 4.21%, where it was late Thursday.

Luigi Mangione spoke out in court Friday against the prospect of back-to-back trials over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, telling a judge: Its the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.

Mangione, 27, made the remarks as court officers escorted him out of the courtroom after a judge scheduled his state murder trial to begin June 8, three months before jury selection in his federal case.

Judge Gregory Carro, matter-of-fact in his decision after a lengthy discussion with prosecutors and defense lawyers at the bench, said the state trial could be delayed until Sept 8 if an appeal delays the federal trial.

Mangiones lawyers objected to the June trial date, telling Carro that at that time, they'll be consumed with preparing for the federal trial, which involves allegations that Mangione stalked Thompson before killing him.

Mr. Mangione is being put in an untenable situation," defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said. "This is a tug-of-war between two different prosecution offices.

The defense will not be ready on June 8," she added.

Be ready, Carro replied.

RELATED STORY | Judge dismisses federal murder charge, death penalty off table for Mangione

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges, both of which carry the possibility of life in prison. Last week, the judge in the federal case ruled that prosecutors cant seek the death penalty.

Jury selection in the federal case is set for Sept. 8, followed by opening statements and testimony on Oct. 13.

Wearing a tan jail suit, Mangione sat quietly at the defense table until his outburst at the end of the hearing.

As the trial calendar began to take shape, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann sent a letter to Carro asking him to begin the New York trial on July 1.

The prosecutor argued that the states interests would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay until after the federal trial. Under the law, he said, the state has priority of jurisdiction for purposes of trial, sentencing and incarceration" because Mangione was arrested by New York City police, not federal authorities.

When Mangione was arrested, federal prosecutors said anticipated that the state trial would go first. Seidemann told Carro on Friday that Thompsons family has also expressed a desire to see the state trial happen first.

It appears the federal government has reneged on its agreement to let the state, which has done most of the work in this case, go first, Carro said Friday.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | A man impersonating an FBI agent tried to get Luigi Mangione out of jail, authorities say

Scheduling the state trial first could help Manhattan prosecutors avoid double jeopardy issues. Under New York law, the district attorneys office could be barred from trying Mangione if his federal trial happens first.

The states double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea. The cases involve different charges but the same alleged course of conduct.

Mangione isnt due in court again in the state case until May, when Carro is expected to rule on a defense request to exclude certain evidence that prosecutors say connects Mangione to the killing.

Those items include a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which they say he described his intent to wack a health insurance executive.

Last week, Garnett ruled that prosecutors can use those items at that trial.

In September, Carro threw out state terrorism charges but kept the rest of the case, including an intentional murder charge.

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Groups annual investor conference.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say delay, deny and depose were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

Matthew Stafford walked away with the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award and a declaration that he's returning to the Los Angeles Rams for another season.

Stafford edged Drake Maye for the MVP award on Thursday night in the closest race since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners in 2003.

Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes while Maye got 23. But Maye has a chance to go home this week with a Vince Lombardi Trophy. He leads the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Stafford, who turns 38 on Saturday, wants another opportunity to try to win his second Super Bowl ring with the Rams.

Oh yeah, I'll be back. It was such an amazing season and I play with such a great group of guys and great group of coaches that I was lucky enough to finish this season healthy, and I wanna make sure that I go out there and see what happens next year," Stafford told the AP.

Stafford brought his four daughters all dressed in identical black-and-white dresses to the stage to accept the award.

He thanked his team and saved his wife and daughters for last: Youre unbelievable cheerleaders for me. I appreciate it. I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me, and I cant wait for you to cheer me on next year when were out there kicking (butt).

It was Staffords way of announcing he will be back next season after contemplating retirement.

Myles Garrett was a unanimous choice for the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award after setting a season record for sacks with 23.

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All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba beat out Christian McCaffrey for the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year award.

New Englands Mike Vrabel beat out Jacksonvilles Liam Coen for the AP NFL Coach of the Year award, becoming the seventh coach to win it with two different teams.

McCaffrey became the first running back to win the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 24 years.

Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger was a runaway winner for the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan ran away with the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels won the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award in the first season of his third stint with the team.

A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began. Votes were tabulated by the accounting firm Lutz and Carr.

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Voters selected a top 5 for the eight AP NFL awards. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.

Josh Allen, the 2024 NFL MVP, received two first-place MVP votes, and Justin Herbert got the other one.

Stafford, who earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his 17-year career, finished with 366 points to Mayes 361. Allen placed third with 91 points, Christian McCaffrey (71) was fourth and Trevor Lawrence (49) came in fifth.

Its McCaffreys second top-five finish in three years, more than any other non-quarterback since the weighted point system was implemented in 2022.

Stafford led the NFL with 4,707 yards passing and 46 TDs. He threw eight picks and finished second to Maye with a 109.2 passer rating. Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams lost to Seattle in the NFC championship game.

Maye had 4,394 yards passing, 31 TDs and eight picks. The second-year pro led the league in passer rating (113.5) and completion percentage (72).

A New Mexico grand jury has indicted actor Timothy Busfield on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman announced the indictment Friday in a social media post.

Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Busfield over allegations of misconduct from when he was working as a director on the set of the TV series The Cleaning Lady.

RELATED STORY | Actor Timothy Busfield granted release in New Mexico child sex abuse case

Busfield has denied the allegations. He turned himself in to authorities and later was released from jail.

Busfield is best known for appearances in The West Wing, Field of Dreams and Thirtysomething.

Larry Stein, an attorney for Busfield, did not comment on the sexual contact charge in the indictment but said the grand jury declined to endorse grooming charges sought by prosecutors.

RELATED STORY | Director Timothy Busfield turns himself in to face child sex abuse charges in New Mexico

He said in a statement that a detention hearing already exposed fatal weaknesses in the states evidence gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure.

It just wouldn't feel like the Super Bowl for them if they weren't all there. And this might be the last time they all do it.

That's what three old friends were coming to grips with just before this year's Super Bowl. The trio of octogenarians are the only fans left in the exclusive "never missed a Super Bowl" club.

Don Crisman of Maine, Gregory Eaton of Michigan and Tom Henschel of Florida were back for another big game this year. But two of them are grappling with the fact that advancing years and decreasing mobility mean this is probably the last time.

This year's game pits the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday. Crisman, a Patriots fan since the franchise started, was excited to see his team in the game for a record-setting 12th time.

"This will definitely be the final one," said Crisman, who made the trip with his daughter, Susan Metevier. "We made it to 60."

Getting older, scaling back

Crisman, who first met Henschel at the 1983 Super Bowl, turns 90 this year. Meanwhile, Henschel, 84, has been slowed by a stroke. Both said this is the last time they'll make the increasingly expensive trip to the game, although members of the group have said that before. For his part, Eaton, 86, plans to keep going as long as he's still physically able.

Eaton, who runs a ground transportation company in Detroit, is the only member of the group not retired. And he'd still like to finally see his beloved Detroit Lions make it to a Super Bowl.

Even so, all three said they've scaled back the time they dedicate each year to the trip. Crisman used to spend a week in the host city, soaking in the pomp and pageantry. These days, it's just about the game, not the hype.

"We don't go for a week anymore, we go for three or four days," Crisman said.

Eaton, too, admits the price and hype of the big game have gotten to be a lot.

"I think all of them are big, they're all fun. It's just gotten so commercial. It's a $10,000 trip now," he said.

Friendly rivalries over the years

Henschel said this year's Super Bowl would be the most challenging for him because of his stroke, but he was excited to see Eaton and Crisman one more time.

Eaton met Crisman and Henschel in the mid-2010s after years of attending the Super Bowl separately. And Henschel and Crisman have a long-running rivalry: Their respective favorite teams the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots are AFC rivals.

The fans have attended every game since the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, as the first two Super Bowls were known at the time, in 1967. They have sometimes sat together in the past, but logistics make it impossible some years.

But this year it was just about being able to go to the game at all, Henschel said.

"I don't talk or walk good," he said.

An ever-shrinking club

The club of people who have never missed a Super Bowl once included other fans, executives, media members and even groundskeepers, but as time has passed, the group has shrunk. Photographer John Biever, who has shot every Super Bowl, also plans to let his streak end at 60.

The three fans spin tales of past games that often focus less on the action on the field than on the different world where old Super Bowls took place. Henschel scored a $12 ticket for the 1969 Super Bowl the day of the game. Crisman endured a 24-hour train ride to Miami for the 1968 Super Bowl. Eaton, who is Black, remembers the many years before Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl in 1988.

Metevier, Crisman's daughter, was born the year of the first Super Bowl and grew up with her dad's streak as a fixture in her life. She's looking forward to going to one last game with him.

"It's kind of bittersweet. It's about the memories," Metevier said. "It's not just about the football, it's something more."

Crisman's son, Don Crisman Jr., said he's on board with his dad making the trip for as long as he's still able, too.

"You know, he's a little long in the tooth, but the way I put it, if it was me and I was mobile and I could go, I would damn sure go," he said.

A key participant in the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans has been taken into custody and will be prosecuted in their deaths, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday

Bondi said in a news conference that Zubayr Al-Bakoush had landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at 3 a.m. on Friday.

We have never stopped seeking justice for that crime against our nation, Bondi said.

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U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said that an eight-count indictment charged Al-Bakoush with crimes including the murders of Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith. It was unclear if Al-Bakoush had an attorney representing him.

The 2012 attack on the U.S. compound immediately emerged as a divisive political issue as Republicans challenged President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on security at the facility, the military response to the violence and the administrations changing narrative about who was responsible and why.

A final report by a Republican-led congressional panel faulted the Obama administration for security deficiencies at the Libyan outpost and a slow response to the attacks. The report, however, found no wrongdoing by Clinton.

Clinton dismissed the report as an echo of previous probes with no new discoveries, saying it was time to move on. Other Democrats denounced the Republicans report as a conspiracy theory on steroids."

On the night of Sept. 11, 2012, U.S. officials have said, at least 20 militants armed with AK-47s and grenade launchers breached the gate of the consulate compound and set buildings on fire.

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The fire led to the deaths of Stevens and Smith. Other State Department personnel escaped to a nearby U.S. facility known as the annex.

A large group assembled for an attack on the annex. That attack, including a precision mortar barrage, resulted in the deaths of security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

A Libyan militant suspected of being a mastermind of the attacks, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured by U.S. special forces in 2014 and was brought to Washington for prosecution. He was convicted and is serving a prison sentence. His attorneys argued that the evidence was inconclusive and that he was singled out because of his ultra-conservative Muslim beliefs.

A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed 189 decomposing bodies in a building over four years and gave grieving families fake ashes will be sentenced Friday on corpse abuse charges.

Jon Hallford owned Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs with his then-wife Carie. They pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors.

Jon Hallford faces between 30 and 50 years in prison. Carie Hallford faces 25 to 35 years in prison at sentencing on April 24.

The Hallfords stored the bodies in a building in the small town of Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, from 2019 until 2023, when investigators responding to reports of a stench from the building discovered the corpses.

RELATED STORY | Corpse, cremated remains found after ex-funeral home owner evicted

Bodies were found throughout the building, some stacked on top of each other, with swarms of bugs and decomposition fluid covering the floors, investigators said. The remains including adults, infants and fetuses were stored at room temperature. Investigators believe the Hallfords gave families dry concrete that mimicked ashes.

The bodies were identified over months with fingerprints, DNA and other methods.

Families learned the ashes they had been given, and then spread or kept at home, weren't actually their loved ones' remains. Many said it undid their grieving process, others had nightmares and struggled with guilt that they let their relatives down.

The funeral home owners also pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after prosecutors said they cheated the government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era small business aid.

Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison in that case. He told the judge he opened Return to Nature to make a positive impact in people's lives, "then everything got completely out of control, especially me."

"I still hate myself for what I've done," he said at his sentencing last June.

Carie Hallford's federal sentencing is set for March 16.

Attorneys for the Hallfords did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

During the years they were stashing bodies, the Hallfords spent lavishly, according to court documents. That included purchasing a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, luxury items from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., and laser body sculpting.

One of the recovered bodies was that of a former Army sergeant first class who was thought to have been buried at a veterans' cemetery, said FBI agent Andrew Cohen.

When investigators exhumed the wooden casket at the cemetery, they found the remains of a person of a different gender inside, he said. The veteran, who was not identified in court, was later given a funeral with full military honors at Pikes Peak National Cemetery, he said.

The corpse abuse revelations spurred changes to Colorado's lax funeral home regulations.

The AP previously reported that the Hallfords missed tax payments, were evicted from one of their properties and were sued for unpaid bills, according to public records and interviews with people who worked with them.

In a rare decision, state District Judge Eric Bentley last year rejected previous plea agreements between the Hallfords and prosecutors that called for up to 20 years in prison. Family members of the deceased said the agreements were too lenient.

The U.S. military said Thursday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. It said the strike killed two people. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.

The strike was announced just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that some top cartel drug-traffickers in the region "have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean. However, Hegseth did not provide any details or information to back up this claim, made in a post on his personal account on social media.

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Neither U.S. Southern Command nor the Pentagon would answer follow-up questions about Hegseths claim.

The boat attacks, which began in September 2025, have slowed in frequency since January a month that only saw one strike after the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. By contrast, the Pentagon struck more than dozen boats in December 2025.

Thursday's attack raises the death toll from the Trump administrations strikes on alleged drug boats to 128 people. Last week, the military said that figure was up to 126 people, with the inclusion of those presumed dead after being lost at sea. That figure included 116 people who were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Southern Command said. Ten others are believed dead because searchers did not locate them following a strike.

RELATED STORY | Congress questions admiral about alleged illegal follow-up attack on drug boat survivors

Meanwhile, the families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike in Octobersued the federal government last week, calling the attack a war crime and part of an unprecedented and manifestly unlawful U.S. military campaign. The suit is believed to be the first wrongful death case arising from the campaign and will test the legal justification of the attacks, which many experts say are a brazen violation of the laws of armed conflict.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in armed conflict with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing narcoterrorists.

An unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Winter Olympics opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture plus American pop diva Mariah Carey was scheduled to officially start the Milan Cortina Games on Friday as the sports spectacle returns to a nation that last hosted the event 20 years ago.

This is the most spread-out Olympics Summer or Winter in history, with competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles (more than 22,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.

RELATED STORY | Vance says Olympics unite the entire country as he meets US athletes in Milan

The main hub Friday is in Milan at San Siro soccer stadium, which is home to Serie A titans AC Milan and Inter Milan, opened a century ago and is due to be razed and replaced in the next few years. There also will be three other places where athletes can march, some carrying their country's flag: Cortina d'Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomite mountains; Livigno in the Alps; Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.

That allows up-in-the-mountains sports such as Alpine skiing, bobsled, curling and snowboarding to be represented in the Parade of Nations without needing to make the several-hours-long trek to Milan, the country's financial capital, and back.

For good measure, the Feb. 22 closing ceremony will be held in yet another locale, Verona, where Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet was set.

Another symbol of how far-flung things are this time: Instead of the usual one cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Olympics, there will be two, both intended as an homage to Leonardo da Vincis geometric studies. One is in Milan, 2 miles (4 kilometers) from San Siro, and the other is going to be 250 miles (400 kilometers) away in Cortina.

The people given the honor of lighting both was a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any Olympics. At the Turin Winter Games in 2006, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo.

Other links to Italy's heritage scheduled to be a part of Friday's festivities include a performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli; classically trained dancers from the academy of the famed Milan opera house, Teatro alla Scala; a tribute to the late fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died last year at 91. Armani designed the Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the Italian national team for decades, and was a personal friend of the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malag.

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Plenty more planned for Friday was being kept under wraps by organizers who said they sought to convey themes of harmony and peace, seeking to represent the city-mountain dichotomy of the particularly unusual setup for these Olympics while also trying to appeal to a sense of unity at a time of global tensions.

Another unknown: What sort of reception would greet U.S. Vice President JD Vance when he attended the ceremony in Milan? And what about the American athletes?

When new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was asked this week what sort of greeting the U.S. delegation would get when they enter San Siro in the Parade of Nations, she replied: I hope the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful.

The Trump administration on Thursday launched TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly at a discounted rate at a time when health care and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.

Youre going to save a fortune, President Donald Trump said at the sites unveiling. And this is also so good for overall health care.

The government-hosted website is not a platform for buying medications. Instead, it's set up as a facilitator, pointing Americans to drugmakers direct-to-consumer websites, where they can make purchases. It also provides coupons to use at pharmacies. The site launches with over 40 medications, including weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.

The site is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to show it's tacking the challenges of high costs. Affordability has emerged as a political vulnerability for Trump and his Republican allies going into November's midterm elections, as Americans remain concerned about the cost of housing, groceries, utilities and other staples of middle-class identity.

Trump stressed that the lower prices were made possible by his pressuring of pharmaceutical companies on prices, saying he demanded that they charge the same costs in the U.S. as in other nations. He said prescription drug costs will increase in foreign countries as a result.

We're tired of subsidizing the world, Trump said at the event on the White House campus that lasted roughly 20 minutes.

The president first teased TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of his more than 15 deals with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations. He said in December the website would provide massive discounts to all consumers" though it's unclear whether the prices available on drugmakers' websites will routinely be any lower than what many consumers could get through their insurance coverage.

The website's Thursday release came after it faced multiple delays, for reasons the administration hasn't publicly shared. Last fall, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Trump the site would share prices for consumers before the end of the year. An expected launch in late January was also pushed back.

MORE ON HEALTHCARE | Trump unveils health care plan that would pay Americans directly to buy coverage

The president has spent the past several months seeking to spotlight his efforts to lower drug prices for Americans. Hes done that through deals with major pharmaceutical companies, including some of the biggest drugmakers like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, which have agreed to lower prices of their Medicaid drugs to so-called most favored nations pricing. As part of the deals, many of the companies' new drugs are also to be launched at discounted rates for consumer markets through TrumpRx.

Many of the details of Trump's deals with manufacturers remain unclear, and drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on many factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Trumps administration also has negotiated lower prices for several prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, through a direct negotiation program created by a 2022 law.

Bad Bunny says he's approaching his highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance with a mix of excitement, gratitude and perspective.

To be honest, I don't know how I'm feeling. There's a lot. I'm still in the middle of my tour. I was just at the Grammys last week. All of that, he said in English on Thursday at a press event hosted by Apple Music. He walked out to his 2017 single Chambea.

Im excited, but at the same time, I feel more excited about the people than even me my family, my friends, the people who have always believed in me, he said. This moment, the culture thats what makes these shows special.

Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar born Benito Antonio Martnez Ocasio, is one of the most-streamed artists on the planet. He will take the Super Bowl stage just one week after he won album of the year at the 2026 Grammys for Deb Tirar Ms Fotos. Its the first time an all Spanish-language album has taken home the top prize.

RELATED STORY | Bad Bunny wins album of the year at the 2026 Grammy Awards, a first for a Spanish-language album

During the conference, Bad Bunny joked that fans didn't need to learn Spanish to enjoy his set but they should be prepared to dance, a reference to his Saturday Night Live monologue from last October.

Apple Musics Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden hosted the conversation with Bad Bunny. Thursday's event began with conversations with pregame performers at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

This year, a long line formed well before the doors opened, with credentialed media including a noticeable presence of Spanish-language and Latin American outlets packing the conference room nearly an hour before the news conference began.

It marked a stark contrast to Kendrick Lamars 2025 news conference, when the room didnt fill up until roughly 15 minutes before the event.

What can viewers expect from the Super Bowl halftime show?

Despite the heightened interest, Bad Bunny offered few specifics about what viewers will see Sunday.

Its going to be a huge party, he said. What people can expect from me I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really dont, I dont want to give any spoilers. It's going to be fun.

For the artist, the journey to the Super Bowl was never driven by recognition or awards. He said Deb Tirar Ms Fotos became his most meaningful project because it was rooted in reconnecting with his identity, history and culture but not chasing milestones.

RELATED STORY | Conservatives launch All-American Super Bowl halftime show to rival Puerto Rican Bad Bunny

I wasnt looking for album of the year. I wasnt looking to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, he said. I was just trying to connect with my roots, connect with my people, connect with myself.

That mindset, he said, ultimately opened the door to something larger: bringing a deeply personal expression of culture to one of the worlds biggest stages.

You always have to be proud of who you are and where youre from, he said. But dont let that limit where you can go.

Bad Bunny is no stranger to the Super Bowl stage. He previously appeared during the halftime show at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 alongside Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. But he said his focus has remained unchanged.

My biggest pleasure is just to create, have fun doing it and connect with the people, he said. Thats what Im always looking for every time Im in the studio.

When asked if he will have surprise guests, he said That's something I'm not going to tell you.

Then he said he will actually have a lot of guests watching his friends, family, the Latino community, and people around the world who love his music.

At the end of the interview, Bad Bunny took questions from a few student journalists, including one who asked him to name an early supporter. My mom, the singer replied.

Before everything, she believed in me as a person, as a human. She believed in me, in my decisions, in my opinions, he continued. I think thats what got me here, you know? Not because she believed that I was a great artist but that she believed that I am a great person.

The Super Bowl will be held Sunday at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Seattle Seahawks facing off against the New England Patriots.

Who else is performing at the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl pregame show will open with several standout performers in Northern California: Charlie Puth will hit the stage to sing the national anthem, Brandi Carlile will take on America the Beautiful and Coco Jones will sing Lift Every Voice and Sing.

I want them to feel inspired. I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing, Puth said of his performance.

This is pretty much the top of the top, added Jones. This is the bee's knees. It's hard to compete. Maybe my wedding will be up there.

The national anthem and Lift Every Voice and Sing will be performed by deaf performing artist Fred Beam in American Sign Language. Julian Ortiz will sign America the Beautiful.

Before the game, Green Day will play a set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Super Bowl. The band, which has its roots in the Bay Area, plans to Get loud! according to lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong.

In a historic first, the halftime show will include a multilingual signing program featuring Puerto Rican Sign Language, led by interpreter Celimar Rivera Cosme. She was also the interpreter for Bad Bunny's landmark residency in Puerto Rico last year that drew more than half a million fans.

All signed performances for the pregame and halftime shows will be presented in collaboration with Alexis Kashar of LOVE SIGN and Howard Rosenblum of Deaf Equality.

President Donald Trump is taking steps toward installing near the White House a replica of a statue of famed explorer Christopher Columbus that had been tossed into Baltimore's harbor during his first term amid protests against institutional racism.

John Pica, a Maryland lobbyist and president of the Italian American Organizations United, said his group owns the statue and agreed to loan it to the federal government for placement at or near the White House.

Pica told The Associated Press in an interview that he was contacted about the statue around Columbus Day last year by an intermediary who said the White House was looking for a statue of the explorer. Pica says his organization took a straw vote and unanimously decided to send the statue to the White House. They signed the loan agreement Wednesday.

Asked if he was optimistic the statue would make it to the White House, Pica said, Cautiously optimistic, yes. The exact timing for any planned installation was unclear, he said, though he added, possibly within two weeks.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | The Shift From Columbus Day To Indigenous Peoples Day

Maryland state Del. Nino Mangione, a Republican who has worked with the Italian American group to find the statue a new home after it was pulled from the harbor, also confirmed the plans for the statue, which were first reported earlier Wednesday by The Washington Post.

The White House declined to comment to the AP on plans for the statue but reaffirmed Trumps affinity for Columbus, whose legacy has shifted as historians and educators amplify how white European figures and their descendants treated Native Americans and enslaved Africans to develop the New World.

In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, said Trump spokesman David Ingle. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.

Trump wants to put his own stamp on American history ahead of big anniversary celebration

For Pica and his group, the statue's Washington placement would celebrate a famous Italian who holds iconic status among Italian Americans. For Trump, it would be another move to reshape the telling of U.S. history as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Trump endorses a traditional view of Columbus as leader of the 1492 mission that marked the unofficial beginning of European colonization in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order. But in recent years, Columbus also been recognized as a primary example of Western Europes conquest of the New World, its resources and its native people.

The statue now headed to Washington is a replica of one toppled by protesters on July 4, 2020, and thrown into Baltimore's Inner Harbor after anger boiled over following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. It was one of many statues of Columbus that were vandalized around the same time, with protesters saying the Italian explorer was responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Demonstrators Topple Christopher Columbus Statue In Baltimore

I was there when we got it out of the harbor, Mangione said, adding that artist Will Hemsley used parts of the old statue, first unveiled during Ronald Reagans presidency, to build and restore a beautiful, brand new statue.

In recent years, some individuals, institutions and government entities have displaced Columbus Day with recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day. President Joe Biden in 2021 became the first U.S. president to mark Indigenous Peoples Day with a proclamation.

The statue may not be permanent

Pica emphasized that his group is lending the statue and would reclaim it if a future administration wanted it taken down.

Trump dismisses the shift on Columbus as left-wing arsonists bending history and twisting Americans collective memory. Im bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes., he declared last April. Echoing his 2024 campaign rhetoric, he complained that Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.

Trump issued a Columbus Day proclamation last October and ignored Indigenous Peoples Day. He praised Columbus as the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth.

That tribute reflected Trump's broader take on history. Last spring, he signed an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which bemoaned a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nations history in a way that misrepresents the U.S. as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.

Since the order, the administration has demanded a comprehensive review of exhibits across all Smithsonian museums and pushed Executive Branch agencies and state and local entities especially colleges, universities and schools that receive federal funding to roll back their diversity initiatives.

Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will take place Friday in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister said, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

The announcement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday came after hours of indications that the anticipated talks were faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks.

Im grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements, Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

Earlier Wednesday, a regional official said Iran was seeking a different type of meeting than that which had been proposed by Turkey, one focused exclusively on the issue of Irans nuclear program, with participation limited to Iran and the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The Trump administration confirmed the U.S. will take part in high-level talks with Iran in Oman instead of Turkey as originally planned, according to a White House official.

RELATED STORY | Iran's supreme leader warns any US attack would spark 'regional war'

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration on Wednesday not to walk away from talks even as Iranian officials pressed to narrow the scope of talks and change the venue for the negotiations.

The official added that the White House remains very skeptical that the talks will be successful but has agreed to go along with the change in plans out of respect for allies in the region.

Tensions between the countries spiked after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to the crackdown on protesters. Trump also has been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.

Rubio hopes talks will go beyond nuclear ones

Irans reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said he had instructed the foreign minister to pursue fair and equitable negotiations with the U.S., in the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate. That signaled the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state and previously dismissed any negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. hoped to discuss a number of concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including discussions on Irans ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the treatment of their own people.

The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where theres a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there, he told reporters.

RELATED STORY | Trump says Iran wants talks as US carrier group deploys to the region

Vice President JD Vance told The Megyn Kelly Show that diplomatic talks with Iran are challenging because of Tehrans political system, overseen by Khamenei.

Its a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you cant even talk to the person whos in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated, and it makes the whole situation much more absurd, Vance said, noting that Trump could speak directly by phone with the leaders of Russia, China or North Korea.

Vance said Trumps bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting that other states in the region would quickly do the same.

Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. However, Iranian officials in recent years have increasingly threatened to pursue the bomb.

Vance said he believed Trump would work to accomplish what he can through non-military means. And if he feels like the military is the only option, then hes ultimately going to choose that option.

Talks expected even after U.S. shot down Iranian drone

On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the U.S.

On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base in an attempt to highlight its military readiness after a 12-day war with Israel in June devastated Irans air defenses. The base holds the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and was launched towards Israel during the war last year.

Turkey urges diplomacy

Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkeys opposition to foreign intervention in neighboring Iran, calling for the resolution of issues through dialogue.

Turkey has been urgently working for the past week to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, and was previously expected to host the talks.

We believe that external interventions involving our neighbor Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region, Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.