A man holds two candles as he joins a candlelight vigil against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. South Korea’s president apologized Saturday for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law earlier this week hours ahead of a parliamentary vote on impeaching him. Yoon said in a brief televised address that he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration. The Associated Press

Nation

Michigan

Dems move to protect health data

LANSING — Michigan Democrats are pushing this month to pass legislation they say will improve reproductive health care, in particular the safety of digital health data, ahead of Republicans taking over the state House in 2025.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is backing a bill designed to protect reproductive health data including data logged on menstrual cycle tracking apps. Similar legislation that has passed in other states is aimed at keeping the data from being used to target people seeking abortions.

New York

Top charge in chokehold case dropped

NEW YORK — The judge overseeing the trial of a man accused of using a deadly chokehold on a subway passenger dismissed the top charge on Friday at prosecutors’ request, allowing jurors to consider a lesser count after they deadlocked on whether Daniel Penny was guilty of manslaughter.

Judge Maxwell Wiley’s decision will let jurors deliberate a charge of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a lighter punishment.

District of Columbia

Trump shows support for Hegseth

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is offering a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled choice to lead the Pentagon.

“Pete Hegseth is doing very well,” Trump posted on his social media site. The president added, “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”

World

Romania

1st round of presidential vote annulled

BUCHAREST — A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations emerged that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.

The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu.

Lebanon

Many flee Syrian insurgents’ advance

BEIRUT — Thousands of people have fled the central Syrian city of Homs, the country’s third largest, as insurgents seized two towns on the outskirts Friday.

The fighters are positioning themselves for an assault on a potentially major prize in their march against President Bashar Assad. The move was reported by pro-government media and an opposition war monitor.

Russia

Minister: Kremlin will defend interests

MOSCOW — Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released Friday that Moscow doesn’t want a war with the United States but will use “all means” to defend its interests.

Sergey Lavrov argued that while Russia and the U.S. are officially not at war, Washington’s permission for Ukraine to use American longer-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory marked a dangerous escalation.