McEntire, Post Malone to sing during Super Bowl pregame

Country music star Reba McEntire will grace next month’s Super Bowl stage to sing the national anthem while Post Malone will perform “America the Beautiful.”

The performances will take place Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas before the championship matchup and halftime show featuring Usher.

Andra Day will also perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as part of the pregame performances that will air on CBS.

Actor Daniel Durant will perform the national anthem in American sign language. He’ll follow his “CODA” film castmate and Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, who took on the role last year. Model-dancer Anjel Piñero will sign “America the Beautiful” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” will be signed by actor-dancer Shaheem Sanchez.

McEntire, a three-time Grammy winner, has become a country music icon with more than 30 studio albums that include a variety of hits such as “Fancy,” “Consider Me Gone” and “Does He Love You.”

Post Malone, a 10-time Grammy nominee, has recorded multiple hits including “Congratulations” with Quavo, “rockstar” with 21 Savage and “Sunflower” featuring Swae Lee from the 2018 animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

Schwarzenegger stopped by customs over luxury watch

Arnold Schwarzenegger was stopped for hours by customs at Munich Airport after entering Germany with a luxury watch that was potentially to be auctioned at a charity event.

The former movie star and California governor was stopped for a routine check after arriving Wednesday, customs spokesperson Thomas Meister said. Schwarzenegger was able to leave after about 2½ hours, he said on Thursday.

Goods over the value of 430 euros ($467) that will stay in the European Union have to be declared and, where appropriate, duty paid on them. German daily Bild reported that the allegedly undeclared watch made by Swiss manufacturer Audemars Piguet was valued at more than $21,000 by Schwarzenegger, for whom it was specially produced.

The matter now goes to a customs penalty body in Augsburg, which will evaluate the case.

2 Malaysian filmmakers charged with offending religious feelings

The director and producer of a banned Malaysian film that explores the afterlife were charged Wednesday with offending the religious feelings of others in a rare criminal prosecution of filmmakers, slammed by critics as an attack on freedom of expression.

Mohamad Khairianwar Jailani, the director and co-scriptwriter of “Mentega Terbang,” and producer Tan Meng Kheng pleaded not guilty to having a “deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of others” through the independent, low-budget film. If found guilty, they could face up to a year in jail, a fine or both.

Defense lawyer N. Surendran said the two believe the charge is “unreasonable and unconstitutional” because it violates their right to freedom of expression.

The film, which debuted at a regional film festival in 2021, revolves around a young Muslim girl who explores other religions to figure out where her ailing mother would go when she dies. Scenes that angered Muslims included ones showing the girl desiring to eat pork, which is forbidden in Islam, and pretending to drink holy water, and her father supporting her wish to leave Islam. It also sparked death threats against Khairianwar.

The film was briefly shown on a Hong Kong streaming platform last year before it was removed. The Home Ministry banned the film last September without giving any reason.

Dominican authorities arrest US rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested U.S. rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, who was scheduled to appear in court on charges of domestic violence.

The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernández, is being held at a jail in the capital of Santo Domingo, where he was arrested Wednesday, officials said.

No further details were immediately available, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Hernández has an attorney.

The arrest is Hernández’s latest brush with the law.

He was arrested at a seaside hotel in the Dominican Republic in October after being accused of assaulting a local music producer.