LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Super Bowl pregame will have some Louisiana flavor: Multi-talented performer Jon Batiste will hit the stage to sing the national anthem, while Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle are slated to perform “America the Beautiful.”

The performances will take place Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans before the NFL’s championship matchup and halftime show featuring rap megastar Kendrick Lamar, the league announced Thursday.

“We’re honored to work with this year’s pregame lineup to celebrate the rich musical legacy of New Orleans and the entire state,” said Seth Dudowsky, the head of music at the NFL.

Ledisi will perform “ Lift Every Voice and Sing ” as part of the pregame performances that will air on Fox. The pregame performers are all Louisiana natives.

The national anthem and “America the Beautiful” will be performed by actor Stephanie Nogueras in American sign language.

Otis Jones IV will sign “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and the halftime show will be signed by Matt Maxey.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company and Emmy-winning producer Jesse Collins will serve as co-executive producers of the halftime show.

Batiste is a Grammy and Oscar winner who is the former bandleader for the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” His documentary “American Symphony” is nominated for best music film, and his “It Never Went Away” from the documentary is up for best song written for visual media at the upcoming Grammys. He composed the score for Jason Reitman’s film “Saturday Night” and this month released “ Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1),” which reimagined the iconic German pianist’s work.

Trombone Shorty, a Grammy winner known for blending funk, soul, R&B and rock, has toured with major acts such as Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters. Daigle made her way as a contemporary Christian singer, winning two Grammys for her 2018 song “You Say” from her third studio album, “Look Up Child.”

Ledisi won a Grammy for her 2020 single “Anything for You.” She also appeared in the films “Leatherheads,” “Spinning Gold” and the Oscar-nominated “Selma.”

NATO’s senior expert on cyber and hybrid threats says the persistent attacks on undersea cables across Europe is “the most active threat” to Western infrastructure. 

Acting Assistant Secretary General for Innovation Hybrid and Cyber, James Appathurai says recent attacks on the communications cables attributed by the alliance to Russia is part of a significant growth in cyber, hybrid and other interference in Europe. 

Early in November two cables were severed in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Lithuania and another between Germany and Finland immediately alarming member states and NATO concerned about sabotage. 

‘The Russians are carrying out a program they have had for decades. It’s called the Russian Undersea Research Program, which is a euphemism for a paramilitary structure, very well-funded, that is mapping out all of our cables and our energy pipelines”, says Appathurai.

‘It has so-called research ships. They have little submarines underneath. They have unmanned, uncrewed, remotely operated vehicles they have divers and explosives’, he tells Euronews’ Europe Conversation. 

In Germany, Finland, the governments were quick to lay blame at potential saboteurs for the apparent attacks on the cables. 

“No one believes that the cables were accidentally damaged. I also don’t want to believe that the ships’ anchors caused the damage by accident,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorious.  

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said Nato needed to do a lot more to defend Western critical infrastructure. 

Sweden said an investigation into the cables is now underway. 

“Russia is systematically attacking European security architecture”, said a joint statement from foreign ministers of Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain and the U.K. 

“Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and E.U. countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks”, it read. 

Ninety per cent of the world’s digital communications data passes through the undersea cables. And around €10 trillion in financial transactions pass through daily. In addition to cables, critical undersea infrastructure also includes electricity connectors and pipelines supplying oil and gas.  

Appathurai says cyber-attacks, disinformation, political interference are also on the increase.  

‘They’re the baseline. And all of it higher than it used to be. What’s new is an increased Russian appetite and for a campaign of sabotage’, he says.  

‘That means arson, derailing trains, attacks on politicians’ properties, attempts to assassinate, for example, the head of Rheinmetal’, the largest German arms manufacturer which supplies Ukraine with important 155mm artillery shells. 

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US intelligence foiled the assassination plot last July which was likely a part of greater plan to target defence industry leaders supplying Ukraine.

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BEIRUT –

At least two people were wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to state media. The Israeli military said it had fired at people trying to return to certain areas on the second day of a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group.

The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.

A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.

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Frankel reported from northern Israel. Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel contributed.