Thom Yorke of Radiohead performs live on stage at Sydney Entertainment Centre on November 12, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Artists including Radiohead and Iron Maiden have signed an open letter calling for the U.K. government to put a cap on the price of which concert tickets can be resold on secondary market sites.
The letter, published by the U.K. consumer rights organization Which?, requests governmental protections to “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticketing market that serve the interests of touts [resellers], whose exploitative practices are preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre and sports they love.”
“For too long certain resale platforms have allowed touts to bulk buy and then resell tickets at inflated prices, forcing fans to either pay above the odds or miss out entirely,” the statement reads. “This erodes trust in the live events sector and undermines the efforts of artists and organizers to make shows accessible and affordable.”
It continues, “Introducing a cap will restore faith in the ticketing system, help democratize public access to the arts in line with the Government’s agenda and make it easier for fans to spot illegal behavior, such as ticketing fraud.”
Other artists who signed include Coldplay, The Cure‘s Robert Smith, Sam Fender, PJ Harvey, Mark Knopfler, New Order, Bastille, Johnny Marr, Keane and alt-J.
59th CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey Wilson (ABC/Country Music Association)
You can add Kelsea Ballerini, Brandi Carlile, Kenny Chesney, Riley Green, Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, Old Dominion, The Red Clay Strays and Chris Stapleton to the list of performers who’ll take the stage at the 59th Annual CMA Awards.
Kelsea will debut her new song, “I Sit in Parks,” while Riley will deliver his #1, “Worst Way.”
Old Dominion will perform a medley of their hits, including “Break Up With Him,” “Memory Lane,” “One Man Band,” “Hotel Key” and “Snapback.”
Miranda and Chris will have “A Song to Sing,” while Chris will also offer a solo performance of “Bad as I Used to Be” from F1: The Movie. The Red Clay Strays will do “People Hatin’.”
They join previously announced performers BigXThaPlug, Luke Combs, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Shaboozey, Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore,host Lainey Wilson and Stephen Wilson Jr.
You can tune in to watch Country Music’s Biggest Night live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Allegheny Mountains (Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(NICHOLAS COUNTY, W. Va.) — A missing miner trapped in a flooded West Virginia coal mine for nearly a week has been found dead, according to West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey.
“At approximately 6:00 a.m. this morning, water levels inside the Rolling Thunder Mine in Nicholas County had receded sufficiently for rescue crews to safely enter. The team began their search, examining every section as they advanced underground. At 7:37 a.m., one two-man team located the body of the missing miner, foreman Steve Lipscomb,” Morrisey said in a statement posted on X.
Alpha Metallurgical Resources, the company that owns the mine where Lipscomb was trapped, also confirmed Lipscomb’s death in a statement obtained by ABC News.
“During routine operations, a crew in the underground mine encountered a sudden and substantial inflow of water. Tragically, Steven Lipscomb, 42, of Elkview, W. Va., was unable to reach safety. He was last seen attempting to ensure his crew made it out safely,” the statement reads.
“Our hearts are broken,” Andy Eidson, the CEO of Alpha Metallurgical Resources, said in the statement. “Steve joined our company in 2006 and was a dedicated employee, respected leader and friend to many. His actions to ensure the safety of his crew members were heroic. On behalf of the entire organization, we extend our prayers and deepest sympathies to his wife, two children and all who knew and cared for him.”
Rescuers had been searching for Lipscomb, whose name was not immediately released, since Saturday, when he became trapped in the flooded mine. Crews pumped 6,000 gallons of water per minute from the mine, Morrisey said earlier this week.
“The big strategic goal right now is to drain as much of the water as possible, so that can give the mine rescue individuals the opportunity to go in and further their search,” Gov. Morrisey said at a Wednesday press conference, adding that it was being drained at a rate of approximately one inch of water per hour. “Separately there’s an effort to open up a hole to be able to do the drill to ultimately have a capsule that goes down.”
Morrisey said on Monday that dive teams were working to find pockets of air where the miner might be located while the mine was being drained.
“This has been an around-the-clock response since Saturday, and we’re going to continue to do everything imaginable to help,” said Morrisey. “We’re going to continue to push, because we want to make sure that we give the miner every opportunity to live.”
Lipscomb’s death at Rolling Thunder Mine is the second mining fatality in West Virginia this month, following the death of another miner at a different mine last Thursday, according to Morrisey.
“Our coal miners are among the hardest-working and most courageous people in our state. They represent the strength, humility, and resolve that define West Virginia. We owe these men and women an enduring debt of gratitude for the sacrifices they make every day to power our communities and our nation,” Morrisey posted on Facebook earlier this month.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend the ‘Wicked: For Good’ Asia-Pacific Premiere in Singapore, November 13, 2025 (Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
The same Australian prankster who crashedKaty Perry and The Weeknd concerts this past summer accosted Ariana Grande on the yellow carpet during the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good Wednesday night.
Johnson Wen, known as Pyjama Man, ran at top speed towards Ariana on the carpet and threw his arm around her shoulders. Security sprang into action, while Ari’s co-star, Cynthia Erivo, inserted herself between Wen and Ari and tried to pull him off her. Wen was eventually taken away, leaving Ari looking shaken.
Furious fans expressed their anger in the comments section of Wen’s post about the incident, with one writing, “After all the trauma Ari has been through, this is beyond disrespectful. Not just to her, but to the cast and to all the fans. It’s literally infuriating. You should be ashamed.”
The fan was referring to the PTSD Ariana suffered following the 2017 bombing of her concert in Manchester, England, which left 22 people dead. A year later, she was deeply impacted by the death of her former boyfriend Mac Miller, who died of an accidental overdose at age 26.
In more positive Ariana news, Ben Stillerappeared onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night and raved about her performance in his upcoming film Focker In-Law. “She’s so good with comedy. She’s just like a total natural,” he told Fallon. “I feel like she could do anything.”
Taylor Swift, ‘The End of an Era’ docuseries (Courtesy Disney+)
In the new trailer for her Disney+ docuseries, Taylor Swift says she created the Eras Tour so she could “overserve” her fans — and in it, you can definitely see her doing the most.
The six-episode series The End of an Era debuts with two episodes on Dec. 12 on Disney+ and as promised, it takes fans behind-the-scenes of the Eras Tour, which Taylor reveals she conceived two years before it actually started.
You see Taylor rehearsing choreography, planning the set list, getting into the famous “cleaning cart” that took her to the stage unseen every night, changing outfits at lightning speed and riding a trolley underneath the stage with her now fiancéTravis Kelce while kissing him. “He brings a lot of happiness,” says Taylor’s mom.
You can also see Taylor with some of her special guests, including Sabrina Carpenter, Ed Sheeran and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, and rehearsing the moment when Travis carried her onstage in London during The Tortured Poets Department segment of the show.
“This was a seismic, momentous period of time in my life and in the lives of anyone this tour touched,” says Taylor.
Also on Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. ET, ABC will air a preview event featuring episode 1 of The End of an Era, and a one-hour version of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show, the full version of which also debuts on Disney+ that same day.
On Instagram, Taylor wrote of the series, “Honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate my (almost) birthday than to relive the Eras Tour with you!” Her birthday is Dec. 13.
Jason Momoa is looking to reteam with Apple TV. Deadline reports that the actor is in talks to star in the upcoming drama series Nomad for the streaming service. Nomad is co-created by Sons of Anarchy‘s Kurt Sutter and Chris Collins. It tells the story of the violent underworld of New Zealand’s outlaw bikers …
The late-night HBO comedy series It’s Florida, Man has released the official trailer and premiere date for its second season. The upcoming season 2 will debut on Nov. 28 on both HBO and HBO Max, with the six-episode season dropping new installments weekly through Jan. 2, 2026 …
Michelle Monaghan is heading to the rink. The actress is set to star in a new hockey series for Netflix. The show finds Monaghan playing Harper Sullivan, an unlikely hockey coach who is tasked with bringing a team up from the brink of defeat …
(NEW YORK) — Food banks and pantries have been experiencing historic demand since SNAP benefits halted on Nov. 1 for many Americans due to the federal government shutdown.
That halt affected nearly 42 million Americans, many of whom are older or low-income, and use benefits to help pay for groceries and other essentials.
President Donald Trump late Wednesday night signed a funding bill to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier said that full SNAP benefits will be paid out once the shutdown was resolved.
However, food assistance workers said the restoration of food assistance can’t come soon enough as they struggle to fill in the gap left behind by SNAP.
Cyndi Kirkhart, executive director at Facing Hunger Food Bank, said she’s been working at the food bank for 11 years and has never seen the surge in people she is seeing now, and that it is higher than what she saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Facing Hunger Food Bank — which serves 17 counties in West Virginia, Ohio and eastern Kentucky — said some locations in the southern part of West Virginia have seen a 1,800% increase in the number of families visiting.
“Typically, we do mobile pantry distribution, which are cars [lining] up [and] we load their car up with food,” she told ABC News. “At the most, we’ll see 250 families. The past week, solidly, we have seen 900 families at each distribution, at each site.”
Kirkhart said their mobile pantries have seen such demand that instead of sending large box trucks to load up supplies at the food bank, she has had to send tractor-trailers. She added that she only has two tractor-trailers, which puts a lot of pressure on drivers to load up and visit multiple distribution sites.
Kirkhart said her organization encourages individuals to go to the food pantries for food rather than the bank, but they will still serve people who visit the bank.
“We’ll still have maybe, over the course of a month, 50 people that will show up directly at the food bank for an emergency food box,” she said. “And these past two weeks at least, we have had 60 a day. … It’s non-stop.”
In Washington state, food banks are also seeing an exponential increase in visitors. Jordan Beaudry, development and communications manager at North Help Line — which provides emergency services including food aid — said there has been a surge at the two food banks the organization serves that has been years in the making.
Starting in 2022, “we saw our numbers practically double overnight, and it’s just been a steady increase since then,” he told ABC News. “We’re serving twice as many folks as we did three years ago, and that is sort of setting the stage going into this latest round of SNAP cuts and the government shutdown. … We’ve seen just a massive increase in the amount of folks accessing services, particularly since the pause on SNAP benefits.”
The most recent demand began in October, when it was first announced that SNAP benefits may be halted in November, Beaudry said.
From July through September, the banks saw an average of 1,086 visitors per week for the first two weeks of the month, according to data provided by Beaudry. In October, the average for the first two weeks was 1,136 per week. Last week, the banks saw 1,329 visits.
At one of the food banks, Beaudry said the last Thursday in October was the highest number of people the organization has ever seen on a Thursday, with about a 14% increase in households visiting to receive food.
Similarly, Kristen Wild, president and CEO of hunger relief organization Operation Food Search, which serves 25 counties in Missouri and Illinois, said the pantries, shelters and community sites where the organization’s supplies are distributed are seeing increases in people visiting between 30% and 50%.
She described a distribution event last week during which Operation Food Search had prepared 700 meals to issue starting at 10 a.m. CT. An hour before the event, the line of cars was 500 long and more than 200 families had to be turned away.
“We’ve had agencies report to us that they have had to shut down earlier than their typical operating hours because they have run out of food,” she told ABC News. “We’re seeing agencies are being approached by people looking for food who’ve never needed to use a pantry in the past because the SNAP benefits were sufficient enough for them to get the food resources that they needed.”
The organization also runs a metro market program, which is like a mobile grocery store, that has seen a surge in customers.
The program charges for food at or below cost but has recently started issuing $15 vouchers to customers due to the increase in demand, Wild said. Workers have also had to replenish shelves multiple times throughout a two-hour metro market stop due to the increase in traffic.
Wild added that 90% of food assistance comes from federal programs like SNAP and about 10% comes from food banks and food pantries. The halt in SNAP benefits has forced food banks to go into “overdrive” to make up as much of the gap as possible.
“We’ve had terrific community support, both in terms of more food donations, more financial donations, so we can purchase more food, but we can’t make up for the full SNAP gap,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — The Supreme Court of India issued an order directing all states and union territories to remove stray dogs from public spaces — including schools, universities, hospitals, and transport hubs — sparking a debate about animal welfare.
The move came through a suo motu petition, where the court takes on a matter of public interest without any official petition, and was said to be in response to the alarming number of dog-bite incidents and the threat to human safety, particularly children.
The order called for dogs that are taken off the street for preventative medical treatments — including those related to rabies — to not be returned. They are meant to be shifted to a “designated shelter,” as per the judgement, because India’s 2023 law doesn’t allow culling.
The conditions and capacity of these shelters to host millions of India’s stray dogs has been questioned by activists and protestors.
Although some animal rights groups have noted a need for a solution to the problems caused by the dogs, some have also called the proposed approach into question.
The judgment announced on Nov. 7 cites several media reports and incidents, including one with a Welsh entrepreneur who was bitten by a stray dog during a morning run in Bengaluru, a city in India’s south.
India had an estimated 9 million dogs in their 2019 livestock census; other surveys done in 2021 estimated the number much higher, at 52 million. In 2024, the country recorded 3.7 million dog bite incidents and 54 human deaths from rabies. Estimated cases of rabies have declined by 75% between 2003 and 2023.
“These numbers have been falling steadily for two decades — the court orders do not seem to have taken this official and research data into consideration,” said Dr. Krithika Srinivasan, professor of political ecology at the University of Edinburgh.
Until now, India’s stray dog management was guided by the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, under which stray dogs were to be sterilized, vaccinated and dewormed before being released back into the same locality.
Though the recent judgment calls for the dogs not to be released back at all.
“Stable dog populations are less likely to bite and transmit rabies,” Srinivasan said. “When you start removing them, you create what ecologists call a perturbation effect.”
Ayesha Christina Benn, founder of Neighbourhood Woof and a longtime partner of the local urban body in implementing the ABC program, warned that infrastructure simply cannot handle the court’s directive.
Benn says the order isn’t practical. Delhi alone has a million dogs, and almost 20 centers to house them. “These centers themselves lack compliance,” Benn said. “We had to tear ours down and rebuild it to meet the norms.”
Her NGO currently receives the equivalent of about $11 per dog for sterilisation and vaccination — which is about two-thirds of the actual cost per dog. The government doesn’t have the necessary funds.
A similar directive was issued by the same court, in August, but on a smaller scale in Delhi National Capital Region. This directive was rescinded after protests from animal-rights groups.
In the current judgment, the court wants adequate fencing, boundary walls and gates around education institutes and hospitals within eight weeks.
Akanksha Majumdar, a lawyer by training, said, “The judgment is a step in the right direction, but detached from the ground reality.”
She runs an organization called The Philanthropist and the Happy Dog, which assists in the rescue and rehabilitation of community animals, including dogs and cats. Her group is “taking steps to file a review petition against the said order,” she said.
Srinivasan said she agreed that while the ABC policy’s implementation needs improvement, it has nonetheless been instrumental in bringing down rabies and dog population numbers in some regions.
She attributed the country’s progress to two key factors: the widespread availability of post-exposure prophylaxis for bite victims and the 2001 decision to end mass culling in favour of sterilisation and vaccination programmes.
Yet, despite the long-term decline, controversies around stray dogs have grown. Srinivasan warned that such incidents, while tragic, cannot be effectively addressed by policy decisions that are not based on long-term, nation-wide data and evidence that show which strategies have been successful.
Srinivasan said officials should focus on what has worked: Ensure human anti-rabies treatment is available across the country, avoid regular mass feeding of complete meals to prevent increases in dog population density in particular locations, and, of course, the vaccination-sterilization program.
And, to make them more effective, she said, officials should take the help of grassroots groups that work in the community and understand the dogs better.
(NEW YORK) — Airline disruptions continued across the U.S. on Thursday morning, with at least 989 flights canceled before about 5 a.m. ET, according to tracker FlightAware, as officials warned that it may take days for airports to get back up to speed.
It could take up to a week for air travel to return to normal operations after the government shutdown ends, Airlines for America President and CEO Chris Sununu said at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.
The Federal Aviation Administration froze flight reductions on Wednesday that were initially set to increase on Thursday, as the number of canceled flights in the United States has steadily decreased this week.
The FAA issued an emergency order on Wednesday evening freezing the flight reductions at its current level of 6%.
Under a prior order, airlines had been required to reduce operations at 40 “high-impact airports” by 8% by Thursday and by 10% by Friday. The new order means those reductions will no longer increase.
With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, Sununu said he doesn’t see any impacts lasting into the holiday season.
“I don’t think any flights over the Thanksgiving week have actually been canceled yet. I think the airlines have been pretty tight working with the FAA looking a few days out to be sure,” said Sununu. “We’re still a good week plus away from that Thanksgiving week. There’s still plenty of time to make sure that everything over the Thanksgiving week goes off as originally planned.”
However, consumer confidence in travel declined during the shutdown and a survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association found that nearly 20% of Americans have canceled or changed their Thanksgiving travel plans.
“Our poll has shown that that consumer confidence has impacted travel, and concerns about that have led to some changes with what we’re seeing is that 75% have lost or spent money as a result, already because of being affected negatively by travel and future intentions,” President and CEO of American Hotel and Lodging Association Rosanna Maietta said.
The 6% flight reductions will remain in place “as the FAA continues to assess the situation and determines when airlines and systems can safely and gradually return to normal operations,” the Department of Transportation said.
The order comes after more than 900 flights were canceled Wednesday in the U.S. as of approximately 8 p.m. ET, with departures from the busy hubs of Chicago, Denver and Atlanta leading the list of the most cancellations, according to FlightAware.
(NEW YORK) — Starbucks baristas are set to walk off the job in dozens of U.S. cities on Thursday, aiming to galvanize public support and pressure the company on “Red Cup Day,” the coffee giant’s annual holiday promotion.
More than 1,000 Starbucks workers will go on strike at about 65 stores scattered across states as far-flung as California, Texas and Pennsylvania, Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the union representing the workers, told ABC News in a statement.
Union members say Starbucks has failed to make new proposals on key issues like staffing levels and pay since the labor group rejected a company offer in April. The workers also seek to resolve hundreds of allegations over illegal labor practices, including claims of retaliation targeting union members.
“We’re turning the Red Cup Season into the Red Cup Rebellion. Starbucks’ refusal to settle a fair union contract and end union busting is forcing us to take drastic action,” Amos Hall, a barista at a store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told ABC News in a statement.
In a statement to ABC News, Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson downplayed the scale of the anticipated strike and faulted the union for what she described as a refusal to bargain with the company.
“We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table. When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Anderson said.
“Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” Anderson added.
Anderson contested the union’s characterization of the impasse in negotiations, saying the union brought an incomplete proposal to its members for the ill-fated vote in April.
Starbucks Workers United said it represents more than 12,000 unionized baristas at over 600 stores. The company provided ABC News with a lower estimate, saying the union counts 9,500 members at about 550 locations.
In February 2024, Starbucks Workers United and Starbucks announced they would work on a “foundational framework” to reach a collective bargaining agreement for stores. Negotiations began in April of that year.
Within months, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol took the helm of the company, vowing to rejuvenate performance after a years-long spell of sluggish sales.
The company recently reported U.S. same-store sales over three months ending in September had been flat, snapping a streak of six consecutive quarters of decline. Same-store sales is a measure of revenue generated at existing locations over time.
“The plan is working,” Niccol said on a conference call with analysts last month. “We have more work to do, we’re building momentum.”
Meanwhile, the company and the union have yet to strike a deal on a contract. The average length of time before a new union signs its first contract is 409 days, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis in 2021. Roughly 625 days have passed since Starbucks and the union announced a mutual commitment to reach an agreement.
Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor relations professor at Cornell University, said the strike on Thursday marked an effort to pressure Starbucks and jumpstart negotiations.
“Starbucks workers are striking and engaging customer support to get Starbucks back to the table. They may also need to again mount a large campaign with investors and other stakeholders to convince Starbucks that reaching a first contract is in the company’s best interest,” Bronfenbrenner told ABC News in a statement.
