Poppy performs at Foro Pegaso on November 4, 2023 in Toluca, Mexico. (Luis Gutierrez/ Norte Photo/Getty Images)
Poppy is performing at the 2026 Welcome to Rockville festival, which kicks off Thursday in Daytona Beach, Florida. While fans of the “new way out” artist are familiar with her penchant for switching from screaming and crushing riffs to sugary pop, the nature of festivals means she may find herself performing in front of crowds that may not know her music.
“I think maybe if you’re new to my music and to Poppy, there might be a bit of questioning and uncertainty,” Poppy tells ABC Audio.
Still, Poppy is confident she can convert an unknowing audience into fans, judging from her past festival experiences.
“By the end, when we can get them jumping, I feel like we’ve accomplished something,” she says.
After her Welcome to Rockville set, Poppy will launch a full U.S. headlining tour in July in support of her new album, Empty Hands. While those crowds will surely be filled with dedicated Poppy fans, if you’re still unsure of what to expect, Poppy’s got you covered.
“Nice outfits, loud music, guitars, breakdowns, smiling faces,” she says. “That’s what you’re in for.”
Cover art for Akon’s ‘Beautiful Day’ album (Konvict Kulture)
Akon’s new album, Beautiful Day, bridges cultures, genres and generations with a wide range of collaborators, including R&B artist SIMIEN, dance electronic DJ/producer Ochok and others he’s actively helping to spotlight. Akon told ABC Audio he’s committed to supporting new artists following his own struggles in the industry.
“They need that platform, especially when they come in with such talent that the world needs to hear. I didn’t have that opportunity when I was coming up … the doors was being shut in my face … so I never really wanted the artists to feel that, especially when they’re in a position where they actually are genuine to that craft that they’re trying to … share with the rest of the world,” Akon said. “So, if I’m in a position where it doesn’t cost me nothing to give that artist that exposure, why not?”
He added that while he wants to support many artists, he only focuses on what he can manage.
“I’m only one man and only can do so much,” he said. “There’s gonna be a lot more coming, but I am doing what I can responsibly handle, and properly promote and give the attention to.”
To that end, he helped promote SIMIEN’s “Sugar” single, which he’s featured on, much like he did his own album. Akon said they’re “about to be so big.”
Beautiful Day is led by “Akon’s Beautiful Day,” a song he believes resonates with people because of its positivity.
“Look at the world we live in today and how much is going on negatively around us that distracts us from the great things we should be appreciating,” he said. “That record actually brings you in that moment, like, damn … no matter how bad I got it, it’s somebody out there that got it worse.”
Sir Paul McCartney performs at The O2 Arena during his ‘Got Back’ world tour on December 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Paul McCartney’s new solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, will be celebrated with record store release parties across the country.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer revealed a list of record stores hosting the events May 29-31. The Instagram announcement noted that the parties will include postcard party favors and tote bags that come with the purchase of the album, plus a chance to win an undisclosed “special prize.”
Those attending will also have the chance to purchase a special limited-edition silver vinyl variant of the album, which will only be available at the parties.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane, dropping May 29, is McCartney’s first solo album since 2020’s McCartney III. It is described as “a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared along with some newly inspired love songs.”
The album includes the song “Home to Us,” a collaboration with McCartney’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, which will be released Friday. The song also features Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri from the band Texas.
Sleep Token has announced an instrumental version of their 2025 album, Even in Arcadia.
The set, which strips out all of the original vocals, will be released on digital platforms Friday, nearly a year to the day Even in Arcadia was first released.
“Behold, another path of worship,” the Sleep Token Instagram teases in the band’s usually cryptic way.
The instrumental Even in Arcadia will also be released on vinyl on Aug. 7 and is available to preorder now.
The original Even in Arcadia debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Sleep Token’s U.S. arena tour in support of the album sold out.
Offset and Quavo perform onstage during the BET Awards 2023 at Microsoft Theater on June 25, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Offset and Quavo have revived the Migos Instagram account after nearly two years, continuing to fuel rumors about their reunion and upcoming music. In their first post since February 2024, they shared three photos of them together.
The post arrives on the heels of the teases they posted on socials over the weekend, when Offset shared a photo of Quavo sitting at a computer. Another photo that made its way onto the internet was one of Quavo in front of the booth in a music studio, with Offset appearing to record a verse.
Fans first speculated a Migos reunion was in the works when Quavo posted on Instagram, “Warriors Never fold. Jobs Not Finished. TAKEOFF ALBUM. UNC N PHEW 2. LAST ????? ALBUM. REAL MIGO BLOOD RUN IN MY VIENS!!! AINT NO NEW CHAPTER JUST THE NEXT ONE,” alongside a photo of the late Takeoff.
Offset then followed with a post of Migos next to the caption, “On dat.”
If an Offset and Quavo collaboration is indeed in the works, it will be their first without fellow Migos member Takeoff, who was shot and killed in 2022. Migos’ last album, Culture III, was released in 2021.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attends an event on advancing health care affordability in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified behind closed doors on Wednesday about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, making him the first Trump cabinet official to face questions as part of the House Oversight Committee investigation into the late financier.
Lutnick agreed to the voluntary transcribed interview after months of criticism over his relationship with Epstein — who was once Lutnick’s neighbor — and past statements distancing himself from the notorious sex offender.
During an interview last year with The New York Post, Lutnick described Epstein as “gross” and claimed that he said in 2005 he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again” after touring Epstein’s New York City mansion.
However, documents released by the Department of Justice showed that Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein’s private island in 2012 — years after Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related charges in 2008.
“We are looking forward to visiting you,” Lutnick’s wife emailed Epstein’s assistant. “We would love to join you for lunch.”
When asked about the documents in February, Lutnick acknowledged he visited the island and said that he did not see anything inappropriate during his visit.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill in February.
While the DOJ’s Epstein files included a photo from that trip, the Department of Justice acknowledged they temporarily removed the photo before restoring it following backlash. A DOJ official claimed that the photo was temporarily removed with a “batch of files that were flagged for nudity,” though the photo did not contain any nudity and did not include any redactions when it was restored.
Lutnick also appeared to enter a business deal with Epstein in 2012, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. Both men signed business documents in 2012 to acquire an advertising company called Adfin.
Other documents released by the DOJ showed Epstein agreed to donate $50,000 in 2017 related to a dinner hosted in Lutnick’s honor.
During his New York Post interview last year, Lutnick said he believed that Epstein may have used blackmail to get the “sweetheart deal” he received during his first criminal case in 2008.
“I assume, way back when, they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail. I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade,” Lutnick said.
But those allegations contrast with statements from multiple Trump administration officials who have insisted that Epstein neither trafficked young women for people beyond himself nor held compromising information about high-profile individuals,
“There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” FBI Director Kash Patel said last year.
When asked about Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein in February, President Trump described Lutnick as a “very innocent guy” and suggested he would be willing to testify.
“Well, Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say,” Trump said. “He’s a very innocent guy, doing a good job.”
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., presents documents related to Rep. Cory Mills,R-Fla., as she participates in a House Armed Services Committee hearing with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Rayburn House Office Building on April 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says she has obtained records through a congressional subpoena that reveal the value of several confidential sexual misconduct and harassment settlements struck on behalf of members of Congress and paid at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer totaling more than $338,000 over a 10-year run — while a letter to the House Oversight Committee shows that many additional records on the subject have been destroyed.
Mace shared the names of eight former members and the office of one former member shortly after obtaining the documents on Monday.
None of the former members shared by Mace still hold public office anywhere, but the underlying disclosure offers a glimpse into the legislative branch’s recent history addressing sexual harassment.
In a post on X, Mace — a member of the House Oversight Committee — first posted a picture of a binder she says contained more than 1,000 pages of records from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights beginning in 2007 and stretching into 2017.
The settlements are paid by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights Section 415 fund, which is authorized by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995.
Among those named by Mace are former Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and former Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., and former Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who both passed away shortly after leaving Congress.
Mace listed a settlement of $8,000 in 2009 for the office of McCarthy, who is alleged to have been aware of and conducted mistreatment related to a consensual sexual relationship between an aide and a senior staffer. She also faced allegations of discrimination based on sex and disability, and reprisal.
For Conyers, a $50,000 payment was made in 2010. He’s alleged to have made advances on a staffer. Four years later, Conyers faced a hostile workplace, sexual harassment, age discrimination, and reprisal allegations, resulting in improper termination, resulting in a $27,111.75 payout.
Meehan is listed to have two cases involving alleged sexual harassment by a senior staffer that the member was aware of and alleged sexual harassment by the member. The severance pay period for the complainant is listed at $39,250.
Meehan confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that he paid back the settlement after resigning.
“There is no comment. There is nothing [Mace] puts out that wasn’t already public 8 years ago,” Meehan wrote. “Yes, I personally repaid the full settlement amount within 30 days of leaving as I said I would.”
Alexander, who left Congress in 2013 and went on to become the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, faced an allegation of a consensual sexual relationship with a staffer prior to her employment, resulting in her alleged mistreatment and firing, according to a source familiar with the document production. The payout was listed at $15,000.
Alexander told ABC News in a statement that the $15,000 settlement tied to his name was the result of “the behavior of two staffers” in his office.
“Nineteen years ago, during my tenure in Congress, there were two separate and unrelated incidents involving the behavior of two staffers in my office. The allegations were referred to the proper authorities and settlement payments were made by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights,” Alexander wrote. “After an immediate investigation, both offending staffers’ employment with my office were terminated immediately. At no time during my tenure in Congress was any allegation made against me.”
An attorney for Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., who faced allegations of hostile workplace, sexual harassment and inappropriate touching, told ABC News in 2017 that the former congressman had no knowledge of the payments. There were three Massa cases listed and three settlements totaling to $115,000.
Former Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, told ABC News in 2018 that he had no intention of repaying the $84,000 sexual harassment settlement stemming from a 2014 complaint by a former congressional aide alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. He resigned in 2018 and died last year.
The records surrounding nine cases were provided Monday to Mace and the House Oversight Committee by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights as part of an initial document production pursuant to a committee subpoena, according to a letter signed by John N. Ohlweiler, general counsel at the OCWR, that was sent to the committee on April 24.
The letter presents “relevant statistical information” regarding OCWR cases from Jan. 1, 1996, through Dec. 12, 2018. The OCWR says it “approved a total of 349 awards or settlements to resolve complaints against legislative branch offices.”
“Some of these awards or settlements may have resolved more than one complaint filed by the same individual against the same office. Of these 349 awards or settlements, there were 80 that were settled by the Office of a Member of the House of Representatives or the Office of a Senator,” the letter states.
ABC News has reviewed an April 24 letter to the committee, which does not name any of the lawmakers whose cases are detailed in the 1,000-page document production to the Oversight Committee, meeting an April 30 deadline imposed by a committee subpoena. A source familiar with the document production confirmed to ABC News that the names listed by Mace do appear in the 1,000-page response from OCWR, though ABC News has not yet independently reviewed the complete document production.
Mace says she will release the documents after carefully reviewing them to ensure that any sensitive information about victims is fully redacted.
In his letter to the committee, Ohlweiler explained how the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights determined which documents met the committee’s objective to investigate sexual misconduct or harassment involving a member of Congress.
Ohlweiler’s letter notes that the CAA Reform Act of 2018 requires OCR to establish a program for the permanent retention of records and OCR’s current Record Retention Policy requires the digital preservation of records from all filed cases.
“We prioritized our efforts on identifying those cases involving allegations of actual Member misconduct — particularly sexual misconduct or sexual harassment — that resulted in awards or settlements, and locating the documents associated with those cases,” Ohlweiler wrote Oversight Chairman James Comer and ranking Democrat Robert Garcia.
The letter from Ohlweiler explains that from the 80 total settlements, at least 20 case files “were destroyed pursuant to an ‘OCWR Record Retention Policy’ that required case records to be destroyed ten years after the case was fully closed” in accordance with a retention policy “put in place in 2013 to align OCWR with regular government-wide record retention practices.”
The OCWR says it maintained a retention policy that requiredcase records to be destroyed ten years after the case was fully closed — a policy it put in place in 2013 to align OCWR with “regular government-wide record retention practices.”
Ohlweiler’s letter notes that the CAA Reform Act of 2018 requires OCR to establish a program for the permanent retention of records and OCR’s current Record Retention Policy requires the digital preservation of records from all filed cases.
“These 20 destroyed physical case files dated to the time period between 1996 and 2003. There are 3 additional physical case files from 2003 and 2004 for which the ‘OCWR Record Retention Policy — Destruction Schedule’ indicates the physical case files were destroyed, but we have not yet physically confirmed that destruction took place because the relevant boxes from long-term storage have not been examined.”
Ohlweiler says that OCWR does still possess and has reviewed the original Settlement Agreements for these 23 cases — including the terms of the settlements. But Ohlweiler says the documents “do not specify any details about the underlying allegations, including who was accused of committing the alleged misconduct.”
There were six additional cases scheduled for destruction between 1997 and 2001 for which OCWR does not have the Settlement Agreement or the case file, according to Ohlweiler’s letter. Ohlweiler says that information within the office’s retired content management system confirms that these six cases were filed against member offices and were ultimately settled.
“For these 6 cases, the CMS does not provide any information regarding the terms of the settlement (except that only one of the six required a payment from the 416 Fund) or the details of the underlying allegations,” Ohlweiler wrote.
“The results of my subpoena of Congress’s sexual harassment slush fund are in. Nine members. One thousand pages,” Mace posted on X on Monday. “All records prior to 2004 were destroyed — which tells you everything you need to know about how long this has been buried. We are reviewing every page. We will name all nine. We will release the full 1,000 pages — once we confirm that personally identifiable information of victims and witnesses has been properly redacted. Accountability is not a threat. It is a promise.”
“Read that again: they destroyed all the evidence prior to 2004,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, reacted on X.
A hantavirus is a virus found in the urine, saliva or excrement of deer mice and certain other infected wild rodents (Icy Macload/Getty Images)
(LONDON and BELGRADE, Serbia) — The total number of suspected hantavirus cases aboard a cruise ship has risen to five as global health authorities work to contain a potentially deadly cluster of the disease.
More than 100 passengers remain on the ship and the World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring their health. Officials said that the “overall public health risk remains low” but that there may be some person-to-person spread.
The ship, the MV Hondius, which was off the coast of Africa in Cape Verde, is now en route to the Canary Islands after officials medically evacuated three people, including two in “serious condition.”
Some passengers disembarked the ship before knowledge of the cluster and are back in their home countries. In some cases, authorities are advising those passengers to self-isolate.
In addition to the two patients who were evacuated, a third person, who is asymptomatic but a close contact of a German national who died on May 2, was also removed from the ship, WHO officials in Cape Verde told ABC News.
“WHO continues to work with the ship’s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, said in a post on X on Wednesday, in which he confirmed the evacuations.
“Monitoring and follow-up for passengers on board and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship’s operators and national health authorities,” he continued.
Tedros added that “the overall public health risk remains low.”
Health officials confirmed two additional cases of hantavirus among crewmembers, bringing the total confirmed cases to five.
The three previously confirmed hantavirus cases include a woman who disembarked and was on her way home from the Netherlands, a British national who is in critical but stable condition in a hospital in Johannesburg, and a passenger who traveled on the first leg of the voyage and is currently being treated at the University Hospital Zurich, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the ship. So far, three deaths have been recorded.
“Swiss authorities have confirmed a case of hantavirus identified in a passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship,” the WHO said on X on Wednesday. “He had responded to an email from the ship’s operator informing the passengers of the health event, and presented himself to a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and is receiving care.”
The type of virus in this outbreak has been confirmed as Andes hantavirus by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa and Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland, the WHO said Wednesday. The Andes hantavirus historically has been shown to potentially transmit between people, according to the WHO.
Oceanwide Expeditions said of the three passengers who were evacuated from the ship, two are symptomatic and in serious condition and the third is asymptomatic but a close contact of a German national who died on May 2.
“In partnership with the RIVM (Dutch Institute for Public Health and Environment), Oceanwide Expeditions is expanding medical care on board with two infectious disease physicians, arriving today by plane from the Netherlands. This ensures that optimal medical care can be provided if necessary, during the next stage of this evolving situation,” the company said in a statement.
Cape Verde officials said on Tuesday that the vessel was expected to sail to the Spanish island of Tenerife, but the president of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa, said on Wednesday that the regional government was opposed to allowing the luxury cruise ship to dock in Tenerife.
“This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety,” President Fernando Clavijo told radio station COPE, according to Reuters.
Clavijo said on social media that he had requested a meeting with the Spanish prime minister to discuss the ship. He added that the Canary Islands “always acts with responsibility, but it cannot accept decisions taken behind the backs of the Canary Islands institutions and without sufficient information to the population.”
Mónica García, Spain’s minister of health, said once the ship arrives at the port of Granadilla de Abona in the Canary Islands, there will be a “joint screening and evacuation mechanism will be launched to repatriate all passengers,” according to RTVE, a Spanish national public broadcaster.
“Unless their medical condition prevents it, all foreign passengers will be repatriated through the European civil protection mechanism, about which the Interior Minister will provide further details later,” Garcia said in Spanish.
WHO officials earlier on Wednesday said the three evacuated people were to be transferred to planes bound for both the Netherlands and Tenerife, but later updated the plan so that all would be sent to the Netherlands, officials told ABC News.
Pro-Palestinian activists rally for Mohsen Mahdawi and protest against deportations outside of ICE Headquarters on April 15, 2025, in New York City. Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year at Columbia University, was detained by the Department of Homeland Security during his naturalization interview in Vermont on Monday. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)
The Board of Immigration Appeals has reinstated deportation proceedings against pro-Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi, according to a court filing from his attorneys.
In February, Judge Nina Froes dropped the deportation case against the Columbia University student, ruling in part that the Department of Homeland Security failed to authenticate a memo allegedly signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming Mahdawi posed a threat to United States foreign policy.
The Trump administration appealed that decision and the BIA, which skews conservative, overturned Froes’ decision.
he move reinstates deportation proceedings against Mahdawi, but it will be overseen by a different judge after Froes was terminated from her position. Her firing comes as critics of the Trump administration say it has sought to reshape immigration courts by replacing immigration judges in an attempt to ramp up deportations.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Mahdawi’s arrest is still being challenged in federal court, so the government can’t deport him for the moment, the ACLU said. He was detained in April 2025 when he arrived at his citizenship interview.
“The government continues to weaponize the immigration system to silence dissent,” Mahdawi said in a statement. “But it cannot erase the Constitution or the First Amendment, which protects free speech for all. The government is trying to punish and deport me, a stateless Palestinian refugee from the occupied West Bank, because it opposes my peaceful advocacy for human dignity and equal rights for Palestinians. But I remain unafraid and faithful that justice will prevail in America and in Palestine.”
Arguing for his detainment last spring, lawyers for the Trump administration pointed to a 2015 FBI investigation, in which a gun shop owner alleged that Mahdawi had claimed to have built machine guns in the West Bank to kill Jews.
However, the FBI closed that investigation and Mahdawi was never charged with any crime, a point a federal judge highlighted when he ordered Mahdawi’s release in May 2025.
Craig Berry is seen in an undated photo released by the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office. (Stewart County Sheriff’s Office)
(STEWART COUNTY, Tenn.) — An Army Special Forces veteran accused of trying to kill his wife then fleeing into the woods was found dead, likely from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Wednesday.
Craig Berry, 53, went into the woods near his home in Dover on May 1 after allegedly shooting his wife, according to the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident sparked a dayslong manhunt involving assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, Tennessee Highway Patrol and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
“During search today, Stewart County Sheriff’s Office SWAT, along with TBI agents, located the body of wanted subject Craig Berry,” the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Initial indications show he died due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The U.S. Marshals also confirmed Wednesday that Berry is dead “and no longer a threat to the public.”
Deputies responded to a domestic altercation at his residence around 1:30 a.m. on May 1, and Berry was gone before deputies arrived, authorities said. His wife was transported to a medical facility, according to the sheriff’s office, which did not provide details on her condition.
He was wanted for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic assault, and leaving the scene of an accident, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which had added him to the state’s Most Wanted list earlier Wednesday.
Berry was an Army Special Forces veteran with “extensive military training,” according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which on Tuesday had also issued a wanted bulletin for the suspect.
He had “extensive training in survival tactics,” the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office said, and had warned that it could be a “lengthy process” to capture him.
Berry was last seen alive in the wooded area near Old Paris Landing in Dover on May 2, according to the U.S. Marshals.
He was armed with “at least one handgun” and may have taken extra ammunition, Stewart County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paulette Redman said in a statement on Monday. He was captured by a trail camera wearing camouflage clothing, the sheriff’s office said.
The U.S. Marshals Service was offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information on Berry, while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was offering $2,500.
