Harry Styles attends The BRIT Awards 2026 at Co-op Live on February 28, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Harry Styles’ birthplace is looking for his help.
Chris Bloore, a member of Parliament for the town of Redditch, penned a letter to the singer asking him to support the town’s bid to be the U.K. Town of Culture 2028. The title awards a smaller U.K. town with funding for a local cultural program.
“I’m writing as the Member of Parliament for Redditch with a simple ask: will you help us bring the UK Town of Culture 2028 title home?” the letter begins. “While Redditch might not always be centre stage, we’ve already got One Thing going for us: we’re the birthplace of Harry Styles.”
The letter goes on to name drop more of Harry and One Direction’s songs as Bloore touts all the town has to offer.
“For young people here, you’ve shown what’s possible – going from Redditch to the world stage,” Bloore continues, addressing Harry. “We’re not asking for Watermelon Sugar-coated promises – just a genuine show of support from someone whose roots are right here.”
Zendaya on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Zendaya has worked alongside stars including John David Washington, Colman Domingo and Timothée Chalamet, but during a recent appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, she revealed someone who is on her collaboration bucket list.
“You know, I would love to work with Ryan Coogler. … For years I’ve felt this way, since Fruitvale Station,” she said of her fellow Bay Area native. “I thought that was such a beautiful and powerful film. But I’m from Oakland, too, and I remember when that happened.”
“He means so much to the world but he also means so much to us,” she went on. “I always joke, I’m like, ‘I know I don’t know you. But I feel like you’re my cousin,’ you know what I mean? He sounds like my family, his accent is so strong, and so Oakland.”
She continued, “He just makes beautiful work, absolutely beautiful work. So talented.”
Zendaya most recently worked alongside Robert Pattinson; their new film, The Drama, is now available to watch in theaters nationwide.
In conjunction with their newly released EP Easter Lily, U2 released a digital edition of their fanzine Propaganda in which guitarist The Edge gives fans some insight into their decision to release the new EP, as well as Days of Ash, the EP that was released on Ash Wednesday in February.
“We wrote some songs meant for our album but they started to assert themselves in some unexpected ways, demanding special attention,” he says. “Their own devotional world, suggesting they didn’t feel part of our album.”
He added, “So we folded … agreed to their timeline … which was Easter … 40 days after Ash Wednesday … the songs are the boss, you have to do what they say or they’ll abandon you for someone else.”
The Edge says the songs on both EPs “had a point,” noting, “they had a symmetry.”
“If the songs on Days of Ash captured our response to the outside world and emergencies that keep us away at night,” he says, “with the Easter Lily EP it’s more what’s going on in our interior world and asking prayerfully have we the strength to meet the moment personally before we approach the politics.”
Propaganda also includes an interview with U2’s producer Jacknife Lee, who’s working with the band on their upcoming album.
He says of U2’s work in the studio, “[T]he four of them playing in a room was less important for the last few records, there were other things to learn, but they have a new focus on that now.”
“They’re rediscovering their power as a group of people. That is a joy to witness,” he adds. “I think this is an important era for the band. They have not sounded so energized in decades.”
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in ‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.’ (FX)
It’s a Love Story, and audiences just said yes.
The FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette has crossed 65 million hours streamed across Hulu and Disney+, according to numbers from Disney.
Its season finale marked a series high on those streaming platforms, as it was up nearly 20% from the prior week’s episode and 90% ahead of the series premiere after its first day streaming.
Additionally, the show’s premiere episode added 1 million views on Hulu and Disney+ since the finale dropped last Friday, meaning it has reached over 14 million multi-platform views across FX, Hulu and Disney+ to date.
All nine episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette are streaming now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.
Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star as the titular couple in this first installment of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story anthology series. It is based on the book Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizabeth Beller.
“He was the closest thing to American royalty. The country watched him grow from a boy to a beloved bachelor and media sensation. She was a star in her own right. Fiercely independent and with a singular style, she rose from being a sales assistant to an executive at Calvin Klein, and became a trusted confidante of its eponymous founder,” according to the show’s official synopsis. “As their love story unfolded on a national stage, the intense fame and media attention that came along with it threatened to rip them apart.”
The show also stars Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein.
RAYE, ‘This Music May Contain Hope’ (Human Re Sources)
This music may be a #1 hit. RAYE’s new album, This Music May Contain Hope, debuted atop the U.K.’s Official Album Chart.
The achievement marks the British singer’s first #1 album in her home country. Her last album, My 21st Century Blues, peaked at #2 on the chart.
Earlier this year, the lead single off the new album, “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!,” hit #1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart.
Not only is RAYE topping the charts, she’s inspiring rising artists. “Die on This Hill” singer Sienna Spiro tells Elle magazine she admires RAYE’s vulnerability and creative approach.
“As I started working in the industry, she released that song ‘Ice Cream Man’ [about being sexually abused by a music producer],” Spiro says. “I, thank God, haven’t had any problems like that. But she talks about dark and scary things, and I look up to her using her voice.”
RAYE is currently on the U.S. leg of her THIS TOUR MAY CONTAIN NEW MUSIC tour, which wraps up in LA on May 13. She’ll open for Bruno Mars on his The Romantic Tour starting in August.
Ringo Starr ‘Long Long Road’ album artwork. (Universal Music)
Ringo Starr has released a second track from his upcoming country-inspired album, Long Long Road.
The latest is “Choose Love,” described as a “fresh take” on the title track of Ringo’s 2005 album. The new version features vocal harmonies from rocker St. Vincent.
Long Long Road, described as having “roots in Country and Americana,” will be released April 24. It is Ringo’s second album with producer T Bone Burnett, following 2025’s Look Up. Ringo previewed the record at a listening party in Los Angeles Thursday, with stars like Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges and John Mellencamp in attendance.
Ringo and his All-Starr Band — Toto’s Steve Lukather, Men At Work’s Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson — are set to hit the road this spring, starting May 28 in Temecula, California, and wrapping June 14 in Los Angeles. A complete list of dates can be found at RingoStarr.com.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. recorded strong job gains in March, rebounding from dismal losses a month earlier, 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.
The BLS collected survey data through the second week of March, before the full effects of the oil shock set off by the Iran war.
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 was elected.
The government report 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.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the time period covered by the BLS survey.
Halle Bailey attends the “You, Me & Tuscany” UK special screening at Ham Yard Hotel on March 23, 2026, in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images)
Halle Bailey stars in the upcoming film You, Me & Tuscany as Anna, a woman who “crashes at an empty Italian villa, posing as the owner’s fiancée,” according to IMDB, and “discovers an unexpected romance that may transform her life.” Speaking to People, Halle reveals, “I saw myself in her a lot.”
“[She is] someone who gets it wrong sometimes,” she says, “but still has the courage and the gumption to get back up again.”
Halle knows a thing or two about getting back up again following her breakup with DDG, the father of her child, which she wrote about in her diary. Those entries turned into lyrics for her most recent album, love?… or something like it.
“It was a lot of my diary entries about my experience through love the past few years,” Halle says of the lyrics. The project, she adds, is about “coming out of your version of what you thought was love in the moment and looking back and asking yourself, ‘Was that love?’ Just the journey you go on as a young woman.”
Halle and DDG, born Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., were together for over two years. According to People, they are now co-parenting their son, Halo Grandberry, following a recent custody battle.
Nowadays, Halle says she’s doing great and is “just grateful to be here.”
“I was grateful that I got to put that out into the world,” she says of her album. “It makes me so happy to see people responding to those songs. It literally blows my mind when I can find some version of a creative outlet and have it impact people.”
Melissa Gilbert speaks with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview airing on ‘Good Morning America’ on April 6, 2026. (ABC News)
Melissa Gilbert is speaking out for the first time about the child sexual contact charges against her husband, actor Timothy Busfield.
“This has been the most traumatizing experience of our lives,” Gilbert told Good Morning America co-anchor George Stephanopoulos in her first interview about the charges, airing Monday on GMA.
In the interview, a preview of which was released Thursday, Gilbert opened up about what she believes happened and the aftermath of the charges.
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had. All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects,” said Gilbert, who wed Busfield in 2013. “For Tim, it’s done. He’s canceled … even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy. The last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
She continued, “And believe me, if I thought for a second that Tim Busfield hurt a child, he’d have a lot more to worry about than prison.”
When asked by Stephanopoulos why she is speaking out now, Gilbert — who spoke alongside her and Busfield’s attorney Larry Stein — replied, “It’s time.”
Busfield was indicted on Feb. 6 by a grand jury in New Mexico on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, according to Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman.
The actor — best known for his role as Danny Concannon on The West Wing — later pleaded not guilty to all four counts.
The charges against Busfield stem from accusations that he inappropriately touched a child actor on the set of the TV show The Cleaning Lady, which was filmed in Albuquerque, according to a criminal complaint.
The actor denied the allegations when interviewed by investigators, according to the criminal complaint.
Busfield turned himself in to authorities in New Mexico in January and was held without bond. He was later released on his own recognizance pending trial.
At the time of the indictment, Stein told ABC News that the grand jury’s decision was “not unexpected.”
“As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. What is deeply concerning is that the District Attorney is choosing to proceed on a case that is fundamentally unsound and cannot be proven at trial. The detention hearing exposed fatal weaknesses in the State’s evidence — gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure,” Stein said in a statement.
He added, “Mr. Busfield will fight these charges at every stage and looks forward to testing the State’s case in open court — where evidence matters — not behind closed doors.”
In a statement to ABC News Thursday, the district attorney’s office said its focus “remains on the victims.”
“The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office handles hundreds of child abuse cases every year. When a child reports abuse, we take it very seriously,” the statement said. “In this matter, a neutral grand jury indicted the defendant on four Counts of Criminal Sexual Contact of a Minor (Child Under 13).”
“This office follows our ethical duty to only proceed on cases where a good faith basis exists to prosecute,” the statement continued. “While it is not surprising that the defendant is attempting to garner public support through the media, our focus remains on the victims. We will continue to fight for them every step of the way.”
Busfield’s trial is tentatively set for May 2027 in New Mexico.
Watch more of Melissa Gilbert’s interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Monday, April 6, on Good Morning America from 7 a.m. ET to 9 a.m. ET on ABC.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — An internal inspection report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement found dozens of safety and security violations at the country’s largest migrant detention center during a recent visit.
Inspectors with ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight found 49 deficiencies at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, during a three-day visit.
Of those, 22 violations involved “use of force and restraints,” and included failing to document incidents, failing to provide medical exams after physical altercations, and failing to record incidents on video.
The report, however, said that none of the 49 detainees inspectors randomly interviewed made allegations of discrimination, mistreatment, or abuse.
The federal inspection of the facility, which opened in 2025, comes amid concerns from lawmakers and immigrant advocates about the treatment of detainees being held there as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Three people have died at the $1.2 billion facility, including a Cuban immigrant whose death was ruled a homicide by the local medical examiner. In a statement in January, the DHS said the detainee was pronounced dead after “experiencing medical distress.”
A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said that ICE has recently hired a new contractor and is “always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody.”
“This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards WITH the ability to provide MORE medical care on-site,” the statement said. “This contract also allows more on-site staff and a PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility.”
The inspection report, released this week, identified four “priority” deficiencies within the facility’s medical department, including multiple failures to properly isolate and notify leadership regarding a detainee showing symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Inspectors found that a detainee showing symptoms of TB was not isolated, posing a potential risk to others. According to the report, the facility failed to notify ICE leadership of the medical risk.
Inspectors also found that staff at the facility did not document whether they were conducting required checks to prevent self-harm and suicide among detainees. At least one of the detainees who died is presumed to have died by suicide.
“ICE will continue to ensure that all of the detainees in our custody receive the level of care, service, and medical support they need to match our high detention standards,” the DHS statement said.
