WASHINGTON >> The crew of the Army helicopter that collided in midair with an American Airlines jet near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and also may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said Friday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the Jan. 29 crash, in which all 67 aboard the two aircraft were killed,

“That transmission was interrupted -– it was stepped on,” she said, leaving them unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because the helicopter’s microphone key was pressed at the same moment.

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was shifting to a different runway, she said.

Homendy said the helicopter was on a “check” flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles. Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

It will take more than a year to get the final NTSB report on the collision, and Homendy warned reporters that many issues were still being probed.

The collision was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.

Russian drone damages Chernobyl shield

KYIV, Ukraine >> Russia’s military used a drone with a high-explosive warhead to hit the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine overnight, damaging the protective shelter that prevents radiation leaks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Friday.

In a post on social media, Zelenskyy called the damage “significant” but said that there were no signs of increased radiation at the plant, the site of the worst nuclear accident in history back in 1986.

Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, said Friday morning that emergency crews had extinguished a fire at the site. A Kremlin spokesperson denied that Russia had attacked the plant.

The structure that was damaged was designed to seal in vast quantities of radioactive isotopes from the fire and meltdown in 1986 at Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, and was intended to last generations.

The strike comes as pressure grows on Ukraine and Russia to sit down at the bargaining table three years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

Rwanda-backed rebels advance into Congo

GOMA, Congo >> Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo entered the region’s second-largest city of Bukavu on Friday, local and civil society leaders said, the latest ground gained since a major escalation of their yearslong fighting with government forces.

The M23 rebels entered the city’s Kazingu and Bagira zone and were advancing towards the center of the city of about 1.3 million people, according to Jean Samy, vice-president of the civil society in South Kivu. He reported gunfire in parts of the city.

Videos posted online appeared to show rebels marching toward the Bagira area. In one of the videos, a voice in the background shouted: “They are there ... there are many of them.”

Hours earlier, the rebels had claimed to have seized a second airport in the region, in the town of Kavumu, following a days-long advance, while the U.N. warned that the recent escalation of fighting with government forces has left 350,000 internally displaced people without shelter.

Munich suspect admits ramming car into crowd

MUNICH >> The 24-year-old suspect in Thursday’s vehicle attack in Munich confessed to intentionally crashing his car into a trade union rally, and investigators believe he acted out of an “Islamist motive,” a senior Munich public prosecutor said on Friday.

The suspect, an Afghan citizen, admitted during questioning to intentionally accelerating into the march, said Gabriele Tilmann, the chief public prosecutor for Munich’s Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET).

During questioning, the man “cited a motivation that I would describe as a religious motivation,” said Tilmann, although she declined to reveal any details about his comments to investigators.

She said that the investigation so far has not uncovered any sign that he had any connection to known Islamist extremist groups. She emphasized that the investigation remains in its early stages, but as things stand at present, she was confident in assuming an Islamist background to the attack.

Pope hospitalized with infection, mild fever

ROME >> Pope Francis was hospitalized Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened and was receiving drug therapy for a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said. It was the latest setback to the 88-year-old’s pontiff’s health that forced him to cancel his agenda through Monday at least.

Francis was serene, in good spirits and had read some newspapers after arriving at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after presiding over his morning audiences, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

In an evening bulletin, the Vatican said preliminary tests showed Francis had a respiratory tract infection, was running a mild fever and was in “fair” condition at Gemelli where he was undergoing drug therapy.

Francis has complained of breathing trouble and was diagnosed with bronchitis Feb. 6, but had continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel suite.

Missouri judge rules abortions can resume

KANSAS CITY, Mo. >> Abortions are set to resume in Missouri after a judge blocked regulations that had restricted providers even after voters approved enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution.

Friday’s ruling came after a Kansas City judge ruled last year that abortions were now legal in the state but kept certain regulations on the books while a lawsuit by abortion-rights advocates played out.

One regulation required abortion facilities to be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Planned Parenthood said most of its facilities could not comply with some of the licensing rules, including “medically irrelevant” size requirements for hallways, rooms and doors.

Suit withdrawn against Jay-Z, Combs

An Alabama woman who said she was raped by rappers Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 withdrew her civil lawsuit against both men on Friday, according to court filings.

The unidentified woman in December added Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, to a lawsuit she had filed against Combs in Manhattan federal court, alleging that she was attacked by the singers in 2000 after Combs’ limo driver offered her a ride to an MTV Video Music Awards after-party.

Jay-Z, who vehemently denied the claims and tried to get extracted from the lawsuit, called the woman’s decision to withdraw the lawsuit “a victory” and said the “fictional tale” she and her lawyers created was “laughable.”

OpenAI board rejects Musk takeover bid

SAN FRANCISCO >> OpenAI says its board of directors has unanimously rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid by Elon Musk.

“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” said a statement Friday from Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI’s board.

OpenAI attorney William Savitt in a letter to Musk’s attorney Friday said the proposal “is not in the best interests of OAI’s mission and is rejected.”

Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the ChatGPT maker nearly a year ago, suing for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit.

Man pleads guilty in ‘wrong house’ shooting

LIBERTY, Mo. >> An 86-year-old Kansas City man pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake, in a case that shocked the country and renewed national debate about gun policies and race in the U.S.

Andrew Lester was scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then-16-year-old, who survived and is now a freshman at Texas A&M, where he is a member of ROTC and the school’s marching band.

As part of a plea deal, Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a charge that Judge David Chamberlain said carries up to seven years behind bars. Lester, who will be sentenced on March 7, was hunched over as he was wheeled into the courtroom, his hands folded.

A$AP Rocky’s assault trial goes to jury

LOS ANGELES >> Jurors in the felony assault trial of A$AP Rocky got the case late Friday after a prosecutor told them in his closing argument that they must set aside their feelings for the hip-hop star, his singing superstar wife Rihanna, and their small children.

The Los Angeles jury of seven women and five men got the case late in the day and will begin discussing two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Tuesday, after a three-day weekend.

Convictions on both counts could mean up to 24 years in prison.

Rihanna came to court shortly after closing arguments began Thursday, as she did often during the three week trial. But for the first time she brought their 2-year-old and 1-year-old sons.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin suggested it was an attempt to manipulate jurors.

— From news service reports