U.S. Army paratroopers, assigned to 82nd Airborne Division, execute Joint Force Entries as part of a multinational exercise at Luna and Cincu, Romania, May 13-15, 2024. (US Army)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon is preparing to surge as many as 5,000 troops to the Middle East — with some forces already in transit, according to two U.S. officials.
It’s a mix of Army paratroopers and Marines.
Among them are some 1,500 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the Army’s premier ground combat unit based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
There are also two Marine units likely headed to the region, according to the two U.S. officials.
The Airborne unit is designed to deploy on short notice and seize contested terrain by parachuting out of airplanes behind enemy lines.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean they would jump out of planes for a mission. The last time the 82nd Airborne parachuted into combat was the invasion of Panama in 1989. Before that, they did four jumps in World War II.
It’s unclear where the troops will land or when they will arrive. It’s likely they would flow into established U.S. hubs such as Jordan or Kuwait.
Additionally, Marine forces are already moving into position, the officials said. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a 2,200-strong crisis response force, is slated to reach the Middle East this week after a transit by sea from Japan, according to the two officials.
Another Marine unit, the 11th MEU — also a 2,200-strong force — has begun sailing from California toward Japan and could ultimately be redirected to the Middle East as part of the buildup, the officials said. But any contribution from that force would take weeks to materialize because of time taken to get to that part of the world by ship.
The Marines and paratroopers are apart of “light infantry” units, meaning they are not arriving with any notable arsenal of heavily armored vehicles such as tanks.
ACM Next Wave: Country’s Beach Bash (Academy of Country Music)
The Opry’s heading to the wave pool, as members of the NextStage Class of 2026 play poolside May 16 in Las Vegas.
Hudson Westbrook, Vincent Mason, Tyler Braden, Emily Ann Roberts, Alexandra Kay, Graham Barham and Willow Avalon will all take the stage at ACM Next Wave: Country’s Beach Bash at Mandalay Bay Beach and Wave Pool.
NextStage is the Grand Ole Opry’s yearly initiative to promote up-and-coming country artists. Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney, Riley Green, Ella Langley, Nate Smith and Parker McCollum are just some of the big-name artists who’ve been part of the program.
The Vegas show takes place on Saturday, May 16, before the 61st ACMs take over MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, May 17. Look for the host and nominations to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Cover art for Akon’s ‘Beautiful Day’ album (Konvict Kulture)
It’s a Beautiful Day, as Akon has new music on the way. He’s set to release a new album, Beautiful Day, on April 22.
The album will feature lead single “Akon’s Beautiful Day”; “Never Really Mattered” with rising sister group SIMIEN; “Que Calor” with DJ/producer OCHOK; and guest appearances from Stephen Marley, Tears of Joy, Ozuna and more.
Akon last released two studio albums in 2019 — the Latin-focused album El Negreeto and the Afrobeats album Akonda — which he’s followed with some EPs, the most recent being 2023’s Afro Freak.
He’s set to hit the road with Ne-Yo as part of their Nights Like This tour. They are scheduled to perform in over 50 cities across the globe.
Train’s ‘Drops of Jupiter’ 25th anniversary show poster (Courtesy of Train)
Train’s album Drops of Jupiter, which features the Grammy-winning title track, was released on March 27, 2001, which is why this Friday the band will play a unique gig to mark the album’s 25th anniversary.
Train will perform a pop-up show at the Sigma Chi frat house at San Diego State University. It will be livestreamed on Instagram starting at 6:30 p.m. PT. While the band is generally associated with San Francisco, they have a connection to the university through a family member, hence the choice of venue.
Drops of Jupiter, Train’s second album, is their bestselling release to date. A summer tour celebrating the anniversary will kick off July 8 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Train plans to release a new album later this year; earlier in March they previewed it with the release of the song “The Weekend.”
Brian Bell, Rivers Cuomo, and Scott Shriner of Weezer perform during 2025 When We Were Young festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on October 18, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage)
Weezer has announced a U.S. tour dubbed The Gathering.
The arena trek kicks off Sept. 8 in Sacramento, California, and will travel throughout the country before wrapping up back on the West Coast Oct. 24 in Los Angeles. The bill will also include The Shins and Silversun Pickups.
Presales begin March 31 at 10 a.m. local time, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Weezer.com.
Weezer is celebrating the tour announcement with a week of events in Los Angeles dubbed Weezer: The Gathering – Initiation Week. Events include a trivia night at the restaurant Barney’s Beanery, taking place Thursday, and a pickleball tournament featuring the Weezer members held March 30.
In other Weezer happenings, a new song called “Shine Again,” which the band previously teased, will premiere on April 1. It will mark the first single from Weezer’s next album, release date and title TBD.
The upcoming record will be the follow-up to Weezer’s two 2021 albums, OK Human and Van Weezer. They also put out four EPs in 2022 as part of their SZNZ project.
Meanwhile, the Weezer single “Go Away,” which originally appeared on their 2014 album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End,is currently charting on the Billboard Alternative Airplay ranking after going viral on TikTok.
Signage outside the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Megan Varner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Cigarette smoking among U.S. adults continues to fall to record low levels as e-cigarette use rises, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published early Thursday.
Nearly 10% of adults in the U.S. smoked cigarettes in 2024, the report found. This is down from about 11% in 2023, CDC data shows.
Rates of cigarette use have dramatically fallen since a landmark 1964 Surgeon General report warned about the dangers of cigarette smoking and linked it to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and other serious diseases.
The 1964 report also found a 70% higher mortality rate among smokers and helped launch a nationwide anti-smoking campaign.
At the time, more than 42% of adult Americans were smokers, according to the Surgeon General.
“Decreased cigarette use is certainly in line with decades of trends and really hard work on the part of public health and education folks to get the word out about how awful cigarettes are and how deadly they are,” Dr. Maria Rahmandar, medical director of the substance use & prevention program in the division of adolescent and young adult medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, told ABC News.
“However, with decreased cigarette use, that means that big tobacco companies are losing money, and so they’re always looking for new ways to capture customers and hook new people on powerfully addictive … nicotine,” she added.
The new CDC report found those living in rural areas were more likely to smoke more than city dwellers. More than 15% of those in non-metropolitan areas smoked cigarettes compared to those living in cities, the report noted.
Meanwhile, the report found that 7% of American adults used e-cigarettes, or vapes, in 2024.
This is a slight uptick from 6.5% of adults reporting e-cigarette use in 2023 and nearly double from the 3.7% of adults who reported using e-cigarettes in 2020, CDC data shows.
“I think we had a shot [at] the first tobacco‑free generation prior to e‑cigarettes coming onto the market. Unfortunately, it’s kind of derailed that progress,” Thomas Carr, director of national policy at the American Lung Association, told ABC News.
The report found that vaping patterns were similar to cigarettes by metro areas, where 6.1% reported using e-cigarettes compared to 9.2% in rural areas.
Previous CDC data found that men; those who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual; and those who report serious psychological distress are more likely to report current e-cigarette use.
The CDC has also previously found that some adults use e-cigarettes to try to quit smoking cigarettes. The health agency notes the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any e-cigarette to help people quit smoking.
Rahmandar said e-cigarettes have been marketed as a way for people to get off cigarettes, which she noted can help. But she cautioned that there are still many unknowns about e-cigarette harms.
“Cigarettes are terrible, and it is possible that e‑cigarettes are safer — not safe — safer than cigarettes,” she said. “So could it be better for somebody to switch that in a harm reduction philosophy? Yes, however, we still don’t know long term effects of e‑cigarettes, either … We know that there are immediate effects. There certainly are harmful chemicals, carcinogens, toxins, heavy metals, respiratory irritants and other things inside of there that certainly can cause immediate harm.”
By age, those between age 45 and 64 were most likely to be smokers followed by those between ages 25 and 44.
Among vapers, those between ages 18 and 24 had the highest prevalence of e-cigarette use followed by those between ages 25 and 44.
Previous CDC data has shown that the majority of young adults who use e-cigarettes have never smoked cigarettes.
“I think this is … the JUUL generation,” Carr said, referencing what was the most popular e-cigarette in the U.S. “From 2017 to 2019, they got teens to get hooked on JUUL, and they’re now adults, and unfortunately, they haven’t been able to quit using e-cigarettes.”
Tiffany Le, MD, is a pediatrics resident at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News’ Liz Neporent contributed to this report.
Chappell Roan attends the McQueen Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026-2027 show on March 8, 2026 in Paris, France. (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
The bodyguard who allegedly made 11-year-old Ada Law cry by scolding her for walking past Chappell Roan in a hotel restaurant is now telling his side of the story. The takeaway is that, as Chappell originally noted, he wasn’t acting on her orders.
Ada is the daughter of actor Jude Law and stepdaughter of soccer star Jorginho Frello, who is married to Ada’s mother, Catherine Harding.
To recap, Jorginho said that he, Catherine and Ada were recently staying in the same Brazilian hotel as Chappell. Jorginho said that Ada spotted Chappell in the hotel restaurant, “passed by the singer’s table, looked over to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to the table with her mom.” He added, “She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for anything.” Jorginho alleged that a security guard then confronted his family and spoke “extremely aggressively” to Catherine and Ada, which ended with the girl in tears.
Chappell subsequently denied that the security guard worked for her and noted, “I did not ask [him] to go up and talk to this mother and child.” She also apologized if they “felt uncomfortable,” adding, “You did not deserve that.”
The guard, Pascal Duvier, posted on Instagram Wednesday, “I take full responsibility for the interactions on March 21st. I was at the hotel on behalf of another individual, and I was not part of the personal security team of Chappell Roan. The actions I took were not on behalf of Chappell Roan, her personal security team, her management, or any other individuals.”
He wrote that he “made a judgement call” and took action based on “information we obtained from the hotel, events I had witnessed in the days prior and the heightened overall security risk of our location.”
“My sole interaction with the mother was calm and with good intentions, and the outcome of the encounter is regretful,” he concluded.
Paul McCartney’s ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ (MPL/Capitol Records)
Paul McCartney is back with his first solo album in over five years.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will release The Boys of DungeonLane on May 29, described in a press release as “a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared along with some newly inspired love songs.”
The songs have a reflective McCartney writing about his childhood in Liverpool, early adventures with future Beatles bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon, and more.
“Looking back on your life, you go, ‘Wow, did we really do that?'” he writes on Instagram. “All of that comes flooding back… it’s like a dream.”
And fans are getting their first preview of the album with the release of the song “Days We Left Behind,” which is now available via digital outlets.
“This is very much a memory song for me. The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track,” McCartney says. “I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?”
The Boys of Dungeon Lane, produced by Andrew Watt, is McCartney’s first solo album since 2020’s McCartney III. It is available for preorder now.
And it’s possible some lucky fans may soon hear McCartney’s new music live. He’s set to headline two shows at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.
Here is the track list for The Boys of Dungeon Lane: “As You Lie There” “Lost Horizon” “Days We Left Behind” “Ripples in a Pond” “Mountain Top” “Down South” “We Two” “Come Inside” “Never Know” “Home to Us” “Life Can Be Hard” “First Star of the Night” “Salesman Saint” “Momma Gets By”
Corey Kent’s “Something’s Gonna Kill Me,” the follow-up to his #1 “Wild as Her” didn’t seem to find the same success as its predecessor. But it turns out it just took a little longer: It’s just hit a million in sales, according to the RIAA.
“‘Something’s Gonna Kill Me’ going platinum is so special to me and something that I have to thank the fans for,” Corey says in a statement. “This song is a huge part of my world view. Living life fully. Not allowing fear, even the fear of death, to stop you from doing the things that make you feel most alive. It means so much that the message resonated so deeply with fans. Their support made this a platinum record.”
Just like the triple Platinum “Wild as Her,” “Something’s Gonna Kill Me” is from Corey’s 2023 Blacktop album.
He followed it up with his #1 “This Heart,” from his Black Bandana record.
Right now, fans are waiting for news of his next album, which will feature his current top-20, “Rocky Mountain Low” with Koe Wetzel, as well as the recently released “Empty Words.”
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty (Photo credit: Leigh Cherry)
Just in time for baseball’s opening day, John Fogerty, the only musician to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, has announced that he’s reissuing his 1985 solo album, Centerfield.
Centerfield (Hall of Fame Edition), set to arrive this summer, will feature a remastered version of the album sourced from the original half-inch master analog tapes. The CD and digital editions will also feature live performances of the album’s three hit singles: the title track, “The Old Man Down The Road” and “Rock and Roll Girls.” The live tracks were recorded in 2024 and performed with his sons, Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty.
Released in January 1985, Centerfield was the third solo album from Fogerty, who played all the instruments on the project. It hit #1 in the U.S. and gave Fogerty his only top-10 single as a solo artist, “The Old Man Down The Road,” which peaked at #10.
Fogerty has a busy 2026 ahead of him. He’ll perform at the “Thank You, NYPD” concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden Saturday, and he has a string of solo tour dates booked for May and June. In September, he’ll launch a new leg of his Legacy Tour, this time with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood. It kicks off Sept. 3 in Tinley Park, Illinois, outside of Chicago.
On June 11, Fogerty will be honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the 2026 Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s highest honor.
