AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST

Super Rally: Mahomes, Chiefs win Super Bowl with late surge

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Uncomfortable and under duress for much of the game, Patrick Mahomes suddenly recaptured his mojo and lifted Andy Reid and the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory, the team’s first NFL championship in a half-century.

All it took was falling behind by double digits in the post-season, again. Then Mahomes led the Chiefs to 21-straight points in the final 6:13, hitting two long passes on touchdown drives for a 31-20 victory Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers.

“We never lost faith,” Mahomes said. “That’s the biggest thing. Everybody on this team, no one had their head down. We believed in each other. That’s what we preached all year long.”

The Chiefs (15-4) trailed 24-0 and 17-7 in their previous playoff games. This time, Kansas City nearly didn’t have time for a comeback.

Kansas City’s fans in the crowd of 62,417 at Hard Rock Stadium got little opportunity to chant and do the tomahawk chop as KC fell behind 20-10 in the third quarter. Mahomes even threw his second interception of the night after they fell behind.

___

China finishes new hospital for virus patients as toll grows

BEIJING (AP) — China sent medical workers and equipment Monday to its just-completed, 1,000-bed hospital for treating victims of a new virus that has caused 362 deaths and more than 17,300 infections at home and abroad.

Reopening of schools was also delayed to keep the virus from spreading further in hardest-hit central Hubei province, where the specialized hospital in the provincial capital Wuhan was completed in just 10 days. A second hospital with 1,500 beds is under construction. Restrictions were tightened still further in one city by allowing only one family member to venture out to buy supplies every other day.

Medical teams from the People’s Liberation Army continued to arrive in Wuhan to relieve the city’s overwhelmed health workers and to work at the new hospital, located in the countryside far from the city centre. Footage shown by state broadcaster CCTV showed prefabricated wards equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and ventilation systems.

Leading Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said additional hospital space was crucial to stopping the spread of new infections.

“The lack of hospital rooms forced sick people to return home, which is extremely dangerous. So having additional (beds) available is a great improvement,” Zhong told CCTV’s 24-hour news channel.

___

Shanghai Composite index plunges 8.7% as market reopens

BANGKOK (AP) — The Shanghai Composite index tumbled 8.7% Monday then rebounded slightly as Chinese regulators moved to stabilize markets reopening from a prolonged national holiday despite a rising death toll from a new virus that has spread to more than 20 countries.

The Shanghai benchmark was trading 8.1% lower by late morning, flummoxed by the outbreak that has prompted governments around the world to step up surveillance and quarantine requirements. Airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights and cities in China have imposed stronger limits on public activities in moves that have led economists to begin downgrading their growth estimates for this year.

Many analysts have dropped their growth estimates for China, the world’s second-largest economy, to near 5% from earlier forecasts of 6% growth for the year. With tens of millions of Chinese living in cities ordered to mostly stay home, retailer and tourism-related businesses already are suffering.

The number of people infected by the virus first found in the central Chinese city of Wuhan had risen above 17,000 as of Sunday night, the government said. It has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China.

After nosediving on the open, the Shanghai Composite was down 8.1% at 2,734.66 by midday, steadied by the central bank, which on Sunday announced it was injecting 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) into the markets to ensure there would be enough cash. The benchmark for China’s smaller market, in Shenzhen, was down 8.3%.

___

In Iowa, anxiety and unpredictability cloud caucus finish

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Democratic presidential candidates hustled across the state on Sunday trying to fire up voters and make one last appeal to those struggling to reach a final decision about their choice in the crowded field.

Campaigns and voters acknowledged a palpable sense of unpredictability and anxiety as Democrats begin choosing which candidate to send on to a November face-off with President Donald Trump.

The Democratic race is unusually large and jumbled heading into Monday’s caucus, with four candidates locked in a fight for victory in Iowa and others still in position to pull off surprisingly strong finishes. Many voters say they’re still weighing which White House hopeful they’ll support.

“This is going to go right down to the last second,” said Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to former Vice-President Joe Biden campaign.

Polls show Biden in a tight race in Iowa with Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and entrepreneur Andrew Yang are also competing aggressively in the state.

___

The best and worst of Super Bowl ads

NEW YORK (AP) — During advertising’s biggest night, Super Bowl Sunday, marketers battled it out to bolster their brands and promote new products. Advertisers paid up to $5.6 million for 30 seconds, and almost 100 million people tune into the big game.

This year, Hyundai and Jeep scored with whimsical humour by poking fun at Boston accents and reuniting the “Groundhog Day” cast, Punxsutawney Phil included. Google struck heartstrings with a quiet message about aging and remembrance. Cheetos and Doritos both played off exaggerated dancing to good effect.

But Pop Tarts and a Hard Rock action-movie commercial failed to connect with viewers.

BEST

HYUNDAI

___

Klobuchar: Not aware of questionable evidence in teen’s case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday that she was not aware of questionable evidence and police tactics used to send a young black teen to prison for life when she was a top Minneapolis prosecutor.

But much of what The Associated Press found while investigating the case of Myon Burrell, now 33, would have been available to her office at the time.

Burrell was accused of firing the gun the killed 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards in 2002, while she was doing homework at her dining room table in south Minneapolis.

Klobuchar was Hennepin County attorney at the time, and has raised the case throughout her political career as an example of how she helped find justice for victims of gun violence.

“I didn’t know about this new evidence until I saw the report,” Klobuchar told Chris Wallace of Fox News when asked about allegations the teen may have been wrongfully convicted. “I couldn’t have. I haven’t been in the office for 12 years.”

___

Lopez, Shakira in joyful, exuberant halftime show

NEW YORK (AP) — Seizing their opportunity to make a cultural statement, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira infused the Super Bowl halftime show with an exuberance and joy that celebrated their Latina heritage.

Their breathless athleticism matched that of the football players waiting in the locker room.

Shakira opened with, yes, a hip-shaking performance of “She Wolf” and a fast-moving medley that included bits of “She Wolf,” “Whenever, Wherever” and a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” She managed a belly dance, some rope dancing and even backed into a crowd surf. Shakira ended her with her signature song, “Hips Don’t Lie.”

Lopez, in a black leather outfit that her dancers matched, started with a nostalgic snippet of “Jenny From the Block.” She exhibited some startling pole-dancing moves, a reference to her much-celebrated turn in the movie “Hustlers.” At one point she bent into a deep squat while standing on the shoulders of a dancer that likely had muscles aching across the country in sympathy.

She tore through “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “Get Right, ”On the Floor” and “Que Calor,” finding time to slip away from the black leather in to sparkling silver outfit that left little to the imagination.

___

Impeachment trial heads to historic end in frenetic week

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial heads toward a historic conclusion this week, with senators all-but-certain to acquit him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after narrowly rejecting Democratic demands to summon witnesses.

There’s still plenty of drama to unfold before Wednesday’s vote.

The vote is expected to cap a months-long investigation spurred by a whistleblower complaint that Trump improperly withheld U.S. military aid from Ukraine in a bid to pressure it to launch investigations into 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden.

In the Senate, Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage and there’s nowhere near the two-thirds needed for conviction and removal. On Friday, Republicans blocked consideration of new witnesses and documents, setting up the speedy acquittal vote for the coming week.

It will be a frenetic next few days.

___

Man wearing fake bomb stabs 2 in London and is shot to death

LONDON (AP) — A man recently released from prison after serving time for terrorism-related offences strapped on a fake bomb and stabbed two people on a busy London street Sunday before being shot to death by police, officials said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said police identified the attacker as 20-year-old Sudesh Amman. He had been convicted for publishing graphic terrorist videos online and had stockpiled instructions on bomb making and knife attacks, according to police.

Officers had been trailing Amman at the time of Sunday’s attack, D’Orsi said, but were unable to head off the bloodshed in the commercial and residential south London neighbourhood of Streatham, where Amman struck outside a major pharmacy on a busy shopping afternoon.

The incident in London recalled a November stabbing attack carried out by another man who had served prison time for terrorism offence. Two were killed in that attack.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said measures will be introduced Monday to bring “fundamental” change to the way people convicted of terrorism offences are handled in prison and afterward.

___

The critical fight inside Democrats’ establishment primary

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Within the Democrats’ sprawling presidential contest is a smaller, yet critical competition among a handful of candidates jockeying to secure the backing of their party’s establishment wing.

The first answers come Monday in the Iowa caucuses when voters begin sorting out the fight between progressive candidates, who are arguing for revolutionary change, and more moderate contenders, who many in the party believe have the better chance to defeat President Donald Trump in November.

Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have been making the case in Iowa that they can assemble a broader coalition of voters in states essential to denying Trump’s reelection. Waiting for them on the Super Tuesday primaries in March is Mike Bloomberg, an ideologically similar candidate who is skipping the early contests as he spends hundreds of millions of dollars in larger states.

Their candidacies are rooted in the idea of electability, and a belief that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are proposing ideas that excite core Democratic voters with sweeping, expensive calls for structural change but would fall well short of winning an electoral majority against the Republican incumbent.

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a leading establishment figure, believes Biden enters the caucuses as the moderate front-runner, even as McAuliffe acknowledges he has questioned whether the 77-year-old former vice-president can sustain his strength.

The Associated Press