Europe’s ‘Come This Madness’ (Silver Lining Music / Hell & Back Recordings)
Europe is getting ready to release their first new album in nine years.
The Swedish rockers, best known for their 1986 hit “The Final Countdown,” have announced that their 12th studio album, Come This Madness, will be released Sept. 25. They are previewing the record with the new single “One on One.”
“‘One On One’ is definitely one of my favorite tracks from the album,” says Europe’s founding member and frontman Joey Tempest. “The power and feel is fresh, but some of the melodies bring me back to where it all began.”
“Lyrically, it’s perhaps not filled with as much escapism as early Europe. These lyrics automatically ended up being more of a reflection of the times we live in today,” he adds. “Ever since ‘One On One’ was just a demo, we’ve stayed with it … never gave up on it, and elevated it to a place where it belongs: a high-flying, classic hard rock track.”
The “One on One” release is accompanied by a new video, featuring Fargo actor Peter Stormare.
Come This Madness, Europe’s first album since 2017’s Walk the Earth, features guest appearances by Ghost’s Tobias Forge and Opeth’s Michael Åkerfeldt. It will be released digitally, and on CD and vinyl, and is available for preorder now.
How’d you like to see Tucker Wetmore and The Red Clay Strays for free the week of CMA Fest? Thanks to Billboard, that’s certainly in the realm of possibility.
The respected music magazine will once again take over Luke Combs’ Nashville honky-tonk, Category 10, June 3-5 for Billboard Country Live.
The festivities kick off that Wednesday with an exclusive rooftop gathering honoring Billboard‘s Country Power Players. Then Thursday, CMA vocal group of the year The Red Clay Strays take the stage, followed by Tucker Wetmore on Friday.
Look for more talent to be added in the weeks to come.
The shows are free and open to the public. RSVP online if you’d like to attend.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour on Aug. 3, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
Taylor Swift, one of the most recognizable names in entertainment, is moving to protect her world-famous image and voice.
The pop superstar filed three trademark applications on April 24, each attempting to protect the likeness of Swift as questions continue to swirl around how artificial intelligence will respect artistic brands.
The applications, filed individually, look to trademark two voice clips and one image of Swift. In the voice clips, Swift is heard saying “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.” The image shows Swift playing a guitar mid-concert during the Eras Tour.
Josh Gerben, a prominent trademark attorney, explained the ramifications of the trademark applications on ABC’s Good Morning America Tuesday.
“By filing a trademark application that contains her voice … Taylor’s lawyers could then make claims that anything that sounds like her voice is a violation of her trademark rights,” Gerben said.
Swift has been recreated in AI form in several instances over the years, which have then been shared online. In one instance, President Donald Trump, while campaigning for his second term in August 2024, reshared on his social media platform one AI-generated image of Swift and others appearing to show her fans falsely endorsing him.
In response, Swift posted on Instagram at the time, “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.”
In early 2024, fake sexually explicit AI-generated images of Swift made rounds on social media, prompting then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to tell ABC News the Biden administration was “alarmed” by what happened to Swift online and that Congress “should take legislative action.”
The trademark filing is not unique among high-profile entertainers. Actor Matthew McConaughey recently filed a trademark to protect his likeness, including his famous phrase “Alright, Alright, Alright.”
Paul Dean (L) and Mike Reno of Loverboy performs at Pine Knob Music Theatre on June 08, 2022 in Clarkston, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
Loverboy’s Mike Reno and Paul Dean are among this year’s inductees into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The pair, known for writing such songs as “Working for the Weekend” and “Turn Me Loose,” will be celebrated at a ceremony taking place at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Sept. 26.
“We set out to write songs that made people feel something right away, that energy, that release, that connection,” Reno and Dean said in a statement. “To have that songwriting recognized all these years later, and to know the songs are still out there doing their job, means everything to us.”
This year’s other Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees include Tragically Hip, Feist and Roch Voisine.
“The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame exists to honour the songwriters whose work has shaped our culture and defined how Canadian music is heard at home and around the world,” said Nick Fedor, executive director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. “This year’s inductees represent that standard at the highest level. These are writers whose songs have endured, traveled, and become part of the country’s shared experience. They did not follow a template; they defined one.”
He added, “Their induction recognizes a body of work that continues to resonate across generations and audiences.”
Tickets for the induction ceremony go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m ET.
A wooden judge’s gavel and sounding block on a desk with a blurred courtroom in the background. (imaginima/Getty)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Army special forces soldier who was indicted last week on charges of using classified information about the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and was released on bond.
Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke appeared in the same courthouse complex where Maduro appeared following the raid on his Caracas compound that Van Dyke helped plan and execute.
Judge Margaret Garnet asked how he pleaded to charges including unlawful use of confidential governmental information for personal gain.
“Not guilty, your honor,” Van Dyke said.
He was accompanied in the courtroom by his attorneys, Zach Intrater, Mark Geragos and Tina Glandian, following his arrest last week at Fort Bragg, where he is posted.
Van Dyke is currently on leave from the Army. His ultimate military status is “unsettled,” Intrater said.
The defense attorney said he expected few disputes over the factual allegations. Instead, Intrater said the case would “largely rise and fall” on motions to eliminate certain evidence and to dismiss the charges.
“This is anything but a usual case,” Intrater said.
In what is believed to be the first case of insider trading on a prediction market, prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke used inside knowledge to place 13 bets on the outcome of the Maduro operation.
According to the indictment, Van Dyke opened a Polymarket account the day after Christmas and began placing bets on Dec. 27 through the evening of Jan. 2 — hours before soldiers entered Venezuelan airspace for the pre-dawn operation. After Trump made the operation public that day, Van Dyke allegedly profited $409,881 from his $33,034 in bets.
Prosecutor Ryan Finkel said there were no plans to add defendants or bring additional charges against Van Dyke but said, “I would not entirely rule it out.”
Judge Garnet released Van Dyke on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond. His travel is restricted to California, where his family lives, North Carolina, where he is posted and New York, where he is being prosecuted.
He has surrendered his firearms. Garnet said she would modify that condition if his military service required him to possess and use a gun.
Finkel said there is a “moderate” amount of evidence in the case including Polymarket records, bank transactions, cryptocurrency exchanges and email accounts. There could also be a certain amount of classified information that would require special handling.
“The events covered by the classified information have now occurred,” Garnet said. She said the case would move faster “if evidence could be declassified to the greatest extent possible.”
Van Dyke’s next court date is Monday, June 8.
Following his arrest on Thursday, Van Dyke briefly appeared in a North Carolina courtroom on Friday. He signed a bond after acknowledging that he understood the charges and potential penalties.
His case is being overseen in New York by the same judge who is presiding over the high-profile federal case against alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.
Amid mounting criticism of prediction markets for allegedly enabling insider trading, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said his company is “constantly” monitoring for suspicious activity and referring cases to authorities. Coplan argued that the public nature of prediction markets makes it easier to crack down on insider trading.
“The transparency afforded by onchain markets makes global compliance more effective than ever. Every trade is public, permanent, and auditable. Bad actors leave a trail,” he said.
Artwork for Jeezy’s ‘Legend of the Snowman’ residency (SterlingPics)
Jeezy is bringing the snow to Las Vegas for a few more shows. He’s added 11 dates to his Legend of the Snowman residency, bringing the total to 21 shows.
He will now also perform throughout July, early August and late August. A presale is currently underway using the code “SNOWMAN.” Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. PT. All shows will be held at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.
Jeezy’s new residency follows his Guinness World Record-breaking TM: 101 Live shows in Vegas, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. This time around, he’ll perform songs from his entire catalog. Derrick Hodge will return as composer and conductor, and Adam Blackstone is back as musical director. The show will remain a black-tie affair, complete with an orchestra and band.
The residency is currently scheduled to kick off Friday and run through Aug. 22.
Jeezy says in an Instagram video, “It’s gon’ be epic, it’s gon’ be crazy. … Let’s have some fun.”
Timothy Brown speaks at a press conference on April 28, 2026, in New York. (WABC)
(NEW YORK) — A man who was seen on video being beaten and wrongfully arrested by two NYPD officers at a liquor store in Brooklyn has filed a notice saying he plans to sue the department over the incident.
Timothy Brown told reporters Tuesday that he felt “humiliated, disrespected and embarrassed” by the arrest and will never be the same after the April 14 incident.
Brown, a home health aide and security guard, was buying wine at the liquor store after work when he was suddenly approached by two plainclothes detectives who allegedly seized him and attacked him as other customers looked on in shock, according to the notice of claim that he filed with the city.
“What happened to me should not happen to anyone else. It was wrong and it was disgusting. My life will never be the same,” Brown, who was seen with an apparent limp in his walk, holding a cane, and wearing an arm brace, said Tuesday.
The New York Police Department has not immediately commented on the notice, which seeks $100 million in punitive damages over several alleged claims including negligence, false arrest, assault and battery.
The incident was filmed by bystanders and the detectives were not wearing body cameras, according to the notice.
The notice states that NYPD policy requires officers to wear or activate body worn cameras during narcotics enforcement operations.
The NYPD claimed that the undercover detectives allegedly witnessed a narcotics purchase of crack cocaine and that the suspect was seen wearing the same clothes as Brown.
Police said there were no drugs or contraband found on Brown after his arrest, and that he was not the suspect they were looking for. However, the NYPD issued Brown a ticket for resisting arrest and obstruction of government administration.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office ultimately dismissed the charges against Brown.
Brown contests the accusations that he resisted arrest.
“I never resisted arrest not at all,” he said. “There was nothing I could do, I was being beating and battered.”
The detectives did not identify themselves “adequately” when confronting Brown and used “gratuitous and excessive force,” according to the notice.
The notice contends that Brown was beaten for eight minutes, “slammed into a glass display wall and shelving stocked with glass bottles, causing numerous bottles to shatter” and thrown and dragged across the floor “through broken glass.”
Brown suffered “contusions, lacerations, a black eye, head and facial trauma and injuries to his leg,” according to the notice that he filed.
The two detectives involved in the incident — identified by the department as Volkan Maden and Michael Algerio — are under internal NYPD investigation, had their badges and guns stripped, and are serving on modified duty, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Additionally, the narcotics module responsible for the incident has been disbanded, the supervising sergeant involved in the incident was placed on modified duty and six other detectives were reassigned, according to the notice. The NYPD has not confirmed these actions.
“We will have more to say about it as the investigation unfolds, but I understand the community’s interest in it, because it is an upsetting video,” Tisch told reporters during an unrelated news conference on April 15.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani echoed that sentiment in a social media post a day after the incident.
“The violence used by NYPD officers in this video is extremely disturbing and unacceptable. Officers should never treat a person this way,” he said.
Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro, however, criticized the mayor’s comments in a social media post on April 15 and called for more facts to come out.
“NYPD detectives put their lives on the line daily, doing the dangerous work politicians would never have the courage to do,” he said.
Brown and his mother told reporters that they were disappointed that have not been contacted by the mayor or Tisch.
Josh Groban’s new album, Cinematic, is coming out May 8, but you can get an early listen Friday on YouTube.
If you subscribe to Josh’s YouTube channel, you can tune in for the YouTube x @TalkShopLive CINEMATIC Listening Party, starting at 1 p.m. PT. In addition to a preview of the album, Josh will do a special Q&A; you can submit questions now on Instagram. One fan has already asked what he plans to sing at his upcoming wedding to fiancée Natalie McQueen.
As the title suggests, Cinematic features Josh singing famous songs from movies. To mark the occasion, he’s hidden a certificate for a year’s worth of movie tickets for one lucky fan to find on London’s Wardour Street, which was once a film industry hub. It remains to be seen if he’ll do the same in any U.S. cities.
Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter attend The 2024 Met Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York City. (Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Sabrina Carpenter never publicly commented on rumors that the reason she and Barry Keoghan split up was because he cheated on her. But now Barry is speaking out, seemingly addressing that rumor.
While appearing on Benny Blanco’s podcast, Friends Tell Secrets, the Irish actor talked about why he stopped using social media and going out in public for a while. “There was a narrative out there that was never really sort of even spoken on, a narrative that’s not true, and I never confirmed or said anything about it,” he explained. “And I just disappeared.”
When Benny’s co-host Dave Burd asked Barry to clarify what narrative he was referring to, asking, “Is it something about cheating?” Barry confirmed, “Yeah, that I cheated.”
“I don’t want to ever bring anyone else into it. But like, you know, unfortunately, having a relationship in the public eye … it gets put out there,” he continued.
Sabrina dated Barry in 2024. He starred in the video for her song “Please Please Please” and is widely assumed to have inspired several songs on her album Short n’ Sweet, particularly the line in “Bed Chem” where she sings, “Who’s the cute boy with the white jacket/ And the thick accent?”
James Comey is seen on May 20, 2025 in New York City. (Patricia Schlein/Star Max/GC Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal grand jury in North Carolina has indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a controversial Instagram post from last year that President Donald Trump and members of his administration claimed was a threat against the president.
Renewing efforts to prosecute one of Trump’s longtime adversaries, Department of Justice prosecutors brought the case after a judge last year threw out an indictment against Comey on unrelated charges.
The new indictment centers on a controversy that erupted nearly a year ago when Comey, in a since-deleted Instagram post, shared a picture showing the numbers “86 47” written in seashells on the beach with the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Citing the slang meaning of “86” as to “nix” or “get rid” of something, allies of the president alleged that the post was a veiled threat against Trump, and the Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service quickly launched investigations into the posts.
CNN was first to report news of the indictment.
Prosecutors will likely face a high legal bar to prove that the Instagram post constituted a “true threat,” which the Supreme Court in 2023 found required showing an individual understood their message would be perceived as threatening. With the phrase “86 47” increasingly adopted by protesters of the Trump administration, the case could carry sweeping implications for the First Amendment.
When asked about the post last year, Trump suggested that Comey should be prosecuted over the post, which Trump alleged was a call “for the assassination of the president.”
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear,” Trump told Fox News last year.
At the time, Trump said he would leave a decision about charging Comey to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, though he insisted that Comey was a “dirty cop.”
“When you add his history to that … he’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency, but I’m going to let them make that decision,” Trump said.
Following backlash over the post, Comey removed the photo from Instagram and said he was unaware that the post could be associated with violence.
“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” Comey said on May 15.
The post drew swift criticism from the Trump administration, with White House staff describing the post “deeply concerning” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard calling for Comey to be imprisoned.
“James Comey in my view should be held accountable and put behind bars for this,” Gabbard told Fox News.
Comey is not the first public figure to face pushback for invoking number “86,” with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer drawing criticism in 2020 for appearing during a television interview with a small figurine of the numbers “86 45” on a table behind her, and similar “86 46” references appearing online during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Comey was indicted last year on unrelated charges for allegedly lying to Congress and obstruction related to his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. Comey’s lawyers moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing the case was politically motivated and that the grand jury never saw the charges in their entirety, and the case was ultimately dismissed over issues with the legitimacy of the prosecutor who brought the case.
The new indictment comes as the Department of Justice in recent weeks has ramped up investigations of some of Trump’s perceived political foes under Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is heading up the Justice Department following Trump’s ouster of Pam Bondi.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice removed a top career prosecutor from a controversial investigation in Florida after sources told ABC News that she had expressed concerns about a rushed effort to bring criminal charges against former CIA Director John Brennan.
Prosecutors in April also secured an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center — frequently criticized by conservatives for their assessment of hate groups — for bank fraud and money laundering offenses related to its paying of informants to infiltrate such groups. The organization has denied all wrongdoing.
