President Donald Trump pauses as he finishes speaking about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House, in their budget request for the 2027 fiscal year, is asking Congress to approve roughly $1.5 trillion for defense — a record-breaking military spending request as the U.S. remains in its fifth week of war with Iran.
That is a $445 billion, or a 42% increase from the 2026 total level, according to the White House. Non-defense spending is reduced by $73 billion, or 10%, according to the budget released by the White House on Friday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Sting has dropped a new EP dedicated to his 2000 single “Desert Rose.”
Desert Rose Reimagined includes three new mixes and three extended mixes of the song, including a reimagined version by Middle Eastern-American duo Tamer Malki and Rami Abousabe, who are also known as Bedouin. There are also remixes from African artist and producer Zakes Bantwini and DJ/producer Darque.
Desert Rose Reimagined is now available via digital outlets.
“Desert Rose” was the second single off Sting’s sixth solo album, Brand New Day. The original version featured Algerian raï singer Cheb Mami and peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was Sting’s last top-40 hit.
Released in September 1999, Brand New Day hit #9 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and sold over 3.5 million copies in the U.S.
Sting will return to the U.S. for a new leg of his Sting 3.0 tour on May 6 in Hollywood, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at Sting.com.
Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney perform during the 68th GRAMMY Awards Pre-GRAMMY Gala & GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons, Jan. 31, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Dan + Shay have dropped the song they call “the most important release of our career so far.”
“Say So” has a theme of suicide prevention, and as perVariety, it was inspired by the death of the duo’s friend Ben Vaughn, a music industry executive who took his own life in 2025. “As we were talking about Ben, we were just like, ‘Man, I wish we would’ve known. I wish we could have reminded him that there’s always somebody on the other line,'” Dan Smyers tells Variety.
While the duo is best known for their love songs, Shay Mooney tells the outlet, “We felt like with [our forthcoming album] project in particular, we needed to come with this song first. We live in a crazy world right now. Obviously in the first verse it touches on Ben’s story, and it is very heavy, but I think that the rest of this song really offers hope to people.”
Adding that both he and Dan have benefited from therapy, Shay notes, “Talking about these things can oftentimes prevent somebody from getting to that point where they do feel hopeless. It isn’t just for people who are already at their wit’s end.”
In the song, the duo sings, “I’ll be there every time you call/ Pick you up every time you fall/ If you’re going through hell, you’re not alone/ If you need somebody, say so.”
On Instagram, the duo writes, “We are beyond proud of this song and hope it becomes a hit (manifesting), but someday when we look back, we will define its ‘success’ not by the amount of sales + streams, but by the amount of people it helped.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health challenge or thoughts of suicide – free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988.
Shinedown has premiered a new song called “Outlaw,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, EI8HT.
In the chorus, frontman Brent Smith sings, “What will you do/ now that I’m gunning for you?/ Where is the outlaw in you?”
You can watch the “Outlaw” lyric video streaming now on YouTube.
EI8HT, the follow-up to 2022’s Planet Zero, drops May 29. It also includes the singles “Three Six Five,” “Dance, Kid, Dance,” “Searchlight,” “Killing Fields” and “Safe and Sound.”
Shinedown will launch a U.S. tour in support of EI8HT in May.
In other Shinedown news, the band’s celebrating its annual 4:03 Day with exclusive merch. 4:03 Day takes place April 3 and is named after the lyric, “It’s 4:03 and I can’t sleep” from the 2009 Shinedown single “If You Only Knew.”
The bluesy rockers follow White’s 2024 solo album, No Name. The tracks are available now via digital outlets, and will be released on limited-edition vinyl Saturday via ThirdManRecords.com and the Third Man Records shops in Detroit, Nashville and London.
Also on Saturday, White will be performing on Saturday Night Live, marking his sixth overall appearance as a musical guest on the show. In a promo for the episode, White and host Jack Black remark that the show will coincide with both Easter and Passover, which the Tenacious D frontman declares to be “the two most metal holidays of all time.”
White will launch a European tour in May. He’ll be back onstage in the U.S. for the Borderland Festival in East Aurora, New York, in September.
The youngest Jonas Brother is set to star in a horror holiday flick called White Elephant, alongside Kathryn Newton.
Deadline reports that the film is about eight friends whose “annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.” It will be directed by Clown in a Cornfield’s Eli Craig.
“Let’s get it! So excited about this one.” Nick wrote on his Instagram Story.
White Elephant is the latest in a string of recent acting gigs for Nick. He’ll be seen next in Power Ballad opposite Paul Rudd, out in theaters June 5. He’ll also star in the latest Jumanji installment with Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart, due out later this year.
The sequel, which is available to watch in theaters everywhere, has a star-studded voice cast including Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Donald Glover, Keegan-Michael Key and Jack Black. Added to the ensemble this time around is Luis Guzmán, who voices Wart. The villainous, toad-like foe makes his highly anticipated return to the Mario universe after years of no major appearances in the video games.
So, how does Guzmán feel about Wart making his return in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie?
“Finally!” he said. “Some really cool things take a while and this took a while for the right reasons.”
Watching the film for the first time on a big screen, Guzmán said he was happy throughout the entirety of its runtime.
“I used to take my kids to see these kind of movies when they were young and here I am and I’m still watching these kind of movies,” Guzmán said. “It’s a good feeling. And in times that we’re dealing with these days, it’s nice to have this kind of departure and be entertained so colorfully and [see] all these characters that people know.”
Another thing Guzmán appreciates in the film is the diversity of the voice cast.
“That’s important, because this is worldwide. This is for a worldwide audience of many different cultures. And to have that kind of inclusion in this movie, I think it’s super important, and it makes people feel good about themselves, and for that matter, about their culture and who they are,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. recorded strong job gains in March, rebounding from dismal losses a month earlier, even as the nation weathered a global oil shock set off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, a jobs report on Friday showed. The reading far exceeded economists’ expectations.
The U.S. added 178,000 jobs in March, according to the report, which marked a sharp increase from 133,000 jobs lost in the previous month.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in March from 4.4% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. Unemployment remains low by historical standards.
As in previous months, the health care sector stood out as a top source of hiring in March, adding 76,000 jobs, the BLS said. The construction sector, as well as transportation and logistics, also contributed to the surge in hiring.
Employment in the federal government continued to decline in March, shedding 18,000 jobs, the BLS said. The federal government has lost 355,000 jobs, or nearly 12% of its workforce, since October 2024, a month before President Donald Trump took office.
The government data arrived as the war continues to drive up gasoline prices and borrowing costs, threatening a drag on the economy.
The U.S. added an average of about 15,000 jobs per month in 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed. That performance amounted to a sharp slowdown from 186,000 jobs added each month in 2024.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began on Feb. 28, triggered one of the worst global oil shocks in decades, prompting gloomy forecasts on Wall Street of a potential U.S. recession over the coming months.
In theory, a prolonged oil shortage could drive up prices for a vast array of goods, sapping energy from consumer spending, which powers most of the nation’s economic growth.
Iran has mounted an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
The disruption in oil shipping has pushed U.S. crude prices above $110 a barrel, which marks a staggering rise of more than 50% since the war began on Feb. 28.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. ticked up to $4.08 on average per gallon as of Wednesday, marking a leap of $1.09 over the past month, AAA data showed.
A potential jump in costs for additional goods delivered through the Strait of Hormuz — such as fertilizer and diesel fuel — could also raise prices beyond gasoline, putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates in an effort to quell possible inflation.
The benchmark interest rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the Fed moved to raise interest rates, it would hike borrowing costs for many consumer and business loans, risking a slowdown in hiring.
Speaking at Harvard University on Monday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could take a patient approach as it monitors potential price effects from the Middle East conflict.
“We feel like our policy is in a good place for us to wait and see how that turns out,” Powell said.
CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover speak with ABC News from the Orion spacecraft as it heads to the moon, April 2, 2026. (NASA)
(NEW YORK) — The Artemis II mission launched on Wednesday, taking four astronauts on a historic, 10-day mission around the moon and giving them views of a lifetime along the way.
A day after lift-off, ABC News’ Gio Benitez spoke with astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen from their Orion spacecraft about the journey so far, and what they are anticipating for the days ahead.
“I don’t know what we all expected to see … but you could see the entire globe, from pole to pole,” Commander Wiseman said of the crew’s view of Earth from space Thursday.
“You could see Africa, Europe, and if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights. It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” he added.
This mission marks the first time humans have flown beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission that landed on the moon in 1972.
The crew is going on a 685,000-mile journey around the moon, also known as a lunar fly-by.
The launch on Wednesday was seen around the world, as the crew successfully lifted off at 6:35 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Hansen, mission specialist and part of the Canadian Space Agency, said that even though they were all expecting it, when the rocket boosters actually lit up and they left the launch pad, “there’s just a moment of disbelief.”
“The fact that we launched — it just totally takes you by surprise, even though you’re expecting it, at least for me anyway, and just had a huge smile across my face,” he said.
Koch, a mission specialist who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days, addressed the toilet issue onboard the spacecraft, which was reported after launch.
‘”I’m proud to call myself the space plumber,” Koch said. “I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board.”
Crew members said at the time that the Orion capsule’s toilet, dubbed the Universal Waste Management System, had a blinking fault light while they tested it, but it had been resolved since.
“So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine,” Koch said.
Glover, the mission pilot who will make history as the first person of color to go to the moon, said from high Earth orbit, the divisions of Earth are far out of view.
“Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful,” he said of Earth. “You also look like one thing. Homo sapiens is all of us, no matter where you’re from or what you look like. We’re all one people.”
“We call amazing things that humans do ‘moonshots’ for a reason, because this brought us together and showed us what we can do when we not just put our differences aside, when we bring our differences together and use all the strengths to accomplish something great,” Glover said.
Before speaking with ABC News on Thursday, the Artemis II crew successfully completed a critical milestone in the mission, the translunar injection burn that boosted the Orion spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit onto a trajectory toward the moon.
During a press conference after the maneuver, Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator at NASA, said that the critical translunar injection burn was “flawless.”
“From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the moon, around the far side and back to Earth,” Glaze said.
