(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans to impose his global tariffs a different way after the Supreme Court struck down most of the levies as illegal — a decision he lambasted as “deeply disappointing.”
“We’re going forward,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl is the biggest-selling global album of 2025, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
The album took the #1 spots on the IFPI Global Album Chart, Global Album Sales Chart and Global Vinyl Album Chart, which saw Taylor break her own global vinyl sales record for the fourth consecutive year.
Other albums making the top-10 ranking on the Global Album Chart include the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n Sweet, Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, SZA’s SOS and Lady Gaga’s Mayhem.
“Taylor Swift topping the IFPI Global Album rankings once again is a clear reflection of the strength of her connection with fans around the world,” IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley said in a statement. “This year’s results also show how truly global today’s music market is, with success being driven across streaming and physical formats by artists from a wide range of countries and genres.”
The IFPI, which represents the recorded music industry business around the world, previously named Taylor the top-selling artist in the world in 2025, and “APT.” by Bruno Mars and ROSÉ as the official biggest-selling global single of 2025.
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Megan Moroney’s long-awaited new album, Cloud 9 is out now, along with lyric videos for all 15 songs. Starting Friday in New York City, she begins her “9 Cities. 9 Days” promotional tour: She’ll travel across the country to visit nine places in all, performing some of her new songs and hits at each stop.
Megan talks about the new album in a note on Instagram, thanking fans for “the pure joy y’all brought me night after night” on her Am I Okay? tour, which coincided with her writing the album. That experience, she writes, “resulted in so may of these songs & ideas so I can’t thank y’all enough for inspiring me.”
“There’s a newfound confidence woven throughout Cloud 9 along with humor, honesty, hearbreak (duh), softness, & love,” she continues. “It’s got everything I love about country music.”
Noting that she got both Ed Sheeran and Kacey Musgraves to appear on the album, Megan writes, “Never in a million years would I have guessed I’d have songs with [them] but I hope it inspired and and all dreamers out there to keep going. Your wildest dreams are not out of reach.”
Megan signs off by writing that she’s “feeling so excited and sooooo grateful!” and adding, “i hope you love it.”
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Gorillaz will be premiering a short film alongside the release of their upcoming album, The Mountain.
The film is called The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God. Its accompanying trailer, now streaming on YouTube, features the cartoon Gorillaz members fighting their way through a jungle as they attempt to reach the titular mountain.
“A journey that should’ve been a dream soon became a nightmare,” a creepy voice-over teases.
The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God will debut on Feb. 27, the same day the album The Mountain drops.
Gorillaz will be performing The Mountain in full during two shows in Los Angeles taking place Sunday and Monday. You can also catch them performing on Saturday Night Live March 7.
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Another year, another Tycoon Musical Festival with Chris Brown. The singer is set to return for the 2026 edition of the festival on April 4. The event will make a move to Amerant Bank Arena in Miami, Florida, after previously taking place in Detroit.
Tickets will first become available via the Live Nation presale on Saturday and Sunday. They will then go on sale to the general public on Monday.
The lineup also includes Plies, Sexyy Red, Trick Daddy and Monica, as well as performances from BossMan Dlow, Tank, Rob49 and Loe Shimmy. Additional artists will be announced at a later date.
In other Chris Brown-related news, he’s been telling fans to sit down as he works on his upcoming album, and prepares to release new music and videos in the summer.
“Stepping on S*** ALL SUMMER. Be patient with me,” he wrote on Instagram. “BROWN ALBUM COMING SOON, and make sure Yall save ya money. Summer time is next level. I’m dropping videos and songs.”
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Lou Gramm has shared another preview of his upcoming solo album, Released.
The former Foreigner frontman has dropped the new track “Long Hard Look,” the second single from the record following “Young Love.”
The song, written by Gramm and his former Black Sheep bandmate Bruce Turgon, is described in a press release as a “brooding, mid-tempo rock anthem” that’s “both defiant and reflective.”
“Long Hard Look” is available now via digital outlets.
Released, available for preorder now, is Gramm’s third solo album and his first since his 1989 release, also titled Long Hard Look. It is made up of unreleased songs the rocker recorded in the 1980s for his previous solo albums but didn’t make the cut.
Gramm is due to hit the road in support of the album this summer, with dates to be announced.
He is set to reunite with Foreigner, hosting the opening weekend, March 6 and 7, of their Foreigner: The Hits Orchestral – Celebrating 50 Years Live in Vegas residency at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort. He will also join them for a string of Florida shows that kick off April 17 in St. Augustine, wrapping April 23 in Key West.
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(WASHINGTON) — Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are petitioning the Government Accountability Office to investigate the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
In a letter first obtained by ABC News, the two senators call for nonpartisan congressional watchdog to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the department winding down its functions and transferring offices to other agencies.
“Students and families deserve better — we need a full independent investigation into the latest attempts to sabotage our schools,” Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a statement to ABC News.
Led by Warren and Sanders, I-Vt., and signed by Democrats Patty Murray of Washington and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, the letter alleges that the Education Department is illegally dismantling itself through its interagency agreement with the Department of Labor that allowed Labor to administer adult education, family literacy and career and technical education (CTE) programs previously homed in the department.
“We are deeply concerned that the administration’s decisions to implement CTE and adult education grant programs in this manner delayed crucial funding that millions of students and schools rely on,” the senators wrote.
They also said they worry that the decisions may have created “administrative inefficiencies, increased the cost of program administration, and compromised the quality of technical assistance provided to states and grantees.”
GAO is working through its process to determine the next steps in responding to the senators’ request, a spokesperson with the agency confirmed to ABC News.
Education Department spokeswoman Savannah Newhouse argued that the lawmakers’ request prioritizes bureaucrats over students.
“The Trump Administration will not sit idle while students, educators, and states suffer under our broken federal education system which undermines our economy, national security, and civic health,” Newhouse wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Also, as the Senators likely know, interagency agreements are a standard, lawful tool used across government — including by the Biden Administration’s own DOJ and Bureau of Prisons to allow the Department of Labor to administer grants under the First Step Act,” she added.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has also defended the department’s moves. She said in a statement in July that the way the education and workforce programs had been administered was “inefficient and duplicative” and they needed to be streamlined in order to best serve students and families.
The workforce development partnership between the two agencies launched last summer following President Donald Trump’s executive order entitled “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future.” In November, the Department of Education made an additional announcement that it would transfer some of its offices to other government agencies, including the departments of State, Health and Human Services, and Interior.
A senior department official said the interagency agreements (IAA) marked a “major step forward” in abolishing the agency and fulfilling McMahon’s mission of returning education to the states. The senators’ letter requested that GAO extend its probe into all of the IAAs because they allegedly attempted to transfer “statutory requirements” to other agencies. They’re requesting GAO determine whether the moves jeopardize services for students, weaken federal support to protect the rights of students, children, youth and families, and affect other indicators of program integrity and quality.
The GAO works to provide timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government, per the agency’s website. The senators’ latest request is a part of Warren’s Save Our Schools campaign that she launched last year to investigate the administration’s attempts to shutter the education department.
Peoria Federation of Teachers union representative Michael Brix worries that the Education and Labor partnerships could roll back CTE progress for his students.
“When we hear of these changes, the Department of Education being dismantled, and then other departments then taking on similar roles — or the same roles — it’s very nervous not knowing what is coming ahead,” he said, adding, “It’s kind of scary.”
Editor’s note: This story’s headline has been updated to reflect that the senators want the GAO to investigate the Department of Education’s dismantling.
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(WASHINGTON) — A majority of Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling tariffs on imported goods, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted via Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel shortly before the Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s global tariffs.
The poll was conducted Feb. 12-17. The Supreme Court’s decision came out Feb. 20.
Majorities of Americans with various income backgrounds, men, women and Americans of all age groups disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, along with majorities of white, Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans, according to the poll.
A majority of those who did not vote in 2024 disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs along with almost all of those who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. Over 9 in 10 Americans who disapprove of Trump oppose how he is handling tariffs.
While most Republicans approve of how Trump is handling tariffs (75%), that drops to 43% among self-described non-MAGA Republicans (which include independents who lean Republican and call themselves MAGA supporters). A 55% majority of non-MAGA Republicans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs. Most MAGA Republicans (87%) approve of how he is handling tariffs on imported goods.
In all, 54% of Republicans and Republican- leaning independents say they are supporters of the MAGA movement and 42% say they are not.
While majorities of those with college degrees and without disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, White people without college degrees are split. White people with college degrees disapprove by a more-than 2-to-1 margin.
Rural Americans are also split over whether they approve or disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, while most suburban and urban people disapprove.
Opinions on tariffs have remained stable since ABC/Post/Ipsos first asked in April last year; the same share approved and disapproved of how Trump was handling the issue then as they do now.
Methodology — This ABC News-Washington Post-Ipsos poll was conducted via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel, Feb. 12-17, 2026, among 2,589 U.S. adults and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The error margins are larger among partisan group subsamples.
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(LONDON) — Investigations are continuing on Friday after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III — was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released under investigation.
Police confirmed that searches being conducted in Norfolk have now concluded, while searches in Berkshire remain underway and that Mountbatten-Windsor has not been charged. The former prince was pictured returning to Sandringham in Norfolk on Thursday night.
In a statement on Thursday, Thames Valley Police said it had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.”
There have been no senior royals arrested in recent history.
Under United Kingdom law, an arrest requires police to have reasonable grounds to suspect an offense has taken place and reasonable grounds for believing that it is necessary to arrest the person in question.
In a statement issued on Thursday, King Charles III said, “I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office.”
“What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation,” Charles added.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”
Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest on Thursday follows the emergence of documents detailing communication between Andrew and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has previously denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.
In late 2010, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to share sensitive information stemming from his role as the U.K. trade envoy with Jeffrey Epstein, who had just months earlier completed his sentence in Florida for solicitation of a minor into prostitution, emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice suggest.
Emails sent by Mountbatten-Windsor show the former prince passing along what he described as “confidential information” stemming from his government role to Epstein. Other emails sent by his former liaison suggest that Mountbatten-Windsor discussed Epstein’s connections in his personal dealings.
“It’s undoubtedly a threat to the monarchy,” ABC News royal contributor Robert Jobson said Thursday of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, noting the historic and “seismic” nature of a police raid taking place at a royal estate.
“I think some people, many people, younger people included, will argue, what is the point of an institution that’s unelected when you’ve got criminality, or potential criminality, actually unfolding like this and members of the royal family being arrested and cautioned … to give evidence under oath in an interview?” Jobson said on “Good Morning America.” “It’s shocking.”
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Yungblud has released Idols II, a sequel album to his 2025 effort, Idols.
The set includes six new songs, plus the updated version of the Idols single “Zombie” featuring The Smashing Pumpkins.
“Part 1 was a journey that helped me reclaim my identity from the darkest position I’ve ever been in my life,” Yungblud says in a statement. “Part 2 is about realising that I am alive, that I am real, that this journey that I’ve been on didn’t kill me.”
“It’s about realising that you can feel invincible when you actually feel yourself,” he continues. “It’s about comprehending that my heart is beating and that my lungs are filling up with air.”
You can watch the lyric video for the Idols II single “Suburban Requiem” on YouTube.
Yungblud will launch a North American tour in May.
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