Stevie Wonder is on board for an NBC miniseries set against the 19th-century Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves find freedom.

Wonder, who will serve as executive producer for the project, also may be involved in a musical adaptation of the miniseries that is aimed at Broadway, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said Friday.

What's a girl to do when, just hours before her long-awaited marriage, some other guy tries to strong arm her into wedlock!

Such is the slim dilemma driving the sassy, flashy new musical comedy, "Honeymoon in Vegas."

A man searching for his wallet in a trash bin in Northern California was scooped up by a garbage truck and taken on a long ride.

The Oroville Mercury Register reports (http://bit.ly/14JIPc3 ) that the man survived the ride in the rear of a garbage truck. His name was not released.

A giant beaver is on the mend after getting captured near a Phoenix-area lake this week.

The beaver drew the attention of joggers and onlookers in recent weeks at Tempe Town Lake because of its more than 40-pound size. Wildlife workers captured the animal with a net this week and took it to the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, where the beaver will stay until it gets healthy again and is released back into the wild. The animal was lethargic when it came in.

Authorities in Iraq say a series of bombings and mortar attacks have killed nine people in the capital, Baghdad.

Police officials say the first attack took place Friday around noon when mortar shells landed on houses in Baghdad's northwest district of Shula, killing four people and wounding 13 others.

Apple, Google and two other Silicon Valley companies have agreed to pay $415 million in a second attempt to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging they formed an illegal cartel to prevent their workers from leaving for better-paying jobs.

The settlement filed Thursday in a San Jose, California, federal court revises a $324.5 million agreement that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected as inadequate five months ago. Koh indicated that she believed the roughly 64,000 workers in the case should be paid at least $380 million, including attorney fees.

Top-seeded Serena Williams will play Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in her first-round match at the Australian Open as she begins her attempt to win a 19th Grand Slam singles title.

Williams could meet former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semifinals following Friday's draw. The season-opening major begins Monday at Melbourne Park.

Fernando Torres scored twice as Atletico Madrid ended Real Madrid's defense of the Copa del Rey title with a 2-2 draw on Thursday, maintaining its dominance over its crosstown rival this season.

Atletico advanced 4-2 on aggregate and will play Barcelona in the quarterfinals after it won 4-0 at Elche to move on 9-0 over both legs.

A gun-like sensor is put against the head of each person as soon as they get off a plane in Equatorial Guinea, the host country for the African Cup of Nations. When the sensor beeps, the man holding it nods and the passenger is ordered to move along.

Next, unsmiling women wearing white coats and masks spray cleansing gel on everyone's hands and tell them to rub them together. And questionnaires have to be filled in, asking if you've had a fever in the last 21 days. The body temperature of everyone is checked.

Muhammad Ali was back in the hospital Thursday for follow-up care related to a severe urinary tract infection, his second stint in the hospital in the last four weeks.

The three-time former heavyweight boxing champion was admitted to an undisclosed hospital earlier this week, Ali family spokesman Bob Gunnell said Thursday. Ali was in stable condition.