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Facebook to remove imposter accounts tied to immigration scams, DA’s office says

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, has pledged to remove imposter accounts tied to scams that were recently flagged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, following a phone call between the two parties this week, the DA’s office told ABC News Friday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last week accused Meta of failing to remove imposter accounts that Bragg said pose as organizations like Catholic Charities to offer fake immigration services that scam money from unsuspecting victims.

“These imposter accounts have led to tens of thousands of dollars of fraudulent transfers,” Bragg said in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding the company take action after requests to remove false profiles were declined.

“Scammers frequently target immigrant populations because they are perceived to be, and often are, more vulnerable to fraud and in need of a specific type of legal assistance,” Bragg wrote.

In some instances, scammers create public Facebook accounts that mirror real accounts belonging to pro bono legal services organizations, Bragg said. In others, they create WhatsApp profiles posing as immigration lawyers associated with those same organizations, frequently using the names and logos of legitimate organizations to give the appearance of credibility.

“Your company has made representations about the importance of the safety and security of your platform for its users,” Bragg’s letter to Zuckerberg said. “If you sincerely wish to protect the safety of your users from fraud, we urge you to take necessary, proactive steps.”

In a statement issued in response to Bragg’s letter, a Meta spokesperson said, “Account impersonation violates our policies, and we take action against people and groups that attempt to misuse our platforms. We’re committed to engaging constructively with all levels of government, law enforcement and cross-sector partners to tackle this industry-wide challenge.”

Bragg is the latest prosecutor to go public with criticism of Meta for failing to protect the public from criminals lurking on its social media platforms. New Mexico recently won a $375 million civil case that held Meta liable for failing to police its sites for child predators, and a jury in Los Angeles found Meta, along with Google, liable for a 20-year-old woman’s social media addiction.

Trump tells ABC News he thinks he can trust the Iranians

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After announcing the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” and saying a deal can soon be secured with Iran, a triumphant-sounding President Donald Trump told ABC News he believes he can trust the Iranians.

“I think they’ve had it,” Trump said in a phone interview on Friday. “I think they’ve had enough. That can happen to anybody. Even people like you and I can say, ‘I’ve had enough.'”

Trump said that the United States will be working with Iran to remove their enriched uranium, what he calls “nuclear dust,” and that it will be brought to the United States.

The president said it will be done with the Iranians in a “very peaceful manner.”

Trump also told ABC News the Iranians will be receiving no money for the exchange, saying that reports of a $20 billion payment are “fake news.”

Trump said this will all be resolved “very soon,” and that the U.S. blockade on ships coming to and from Iran will not come down until the agreement is finalized.

When asked if he thinks he can trust the Iranians to fulfill their commitments here, Trump said yes.

On his negotiating team, Trump told ABC News, “Steve [Witkoff] and Jared [Kushner] will be going out, and maybe J.D. [Vance]. Haven’t spoken to J.D. about that yet.”

The president said talks would take place in “Islamabad only. I’m not interested in going to countries that didn’t help.” Trump said a second round of talks could happen as soon as this weekend, though no formal announcement has been made.

“They want to make a deal. They want to make some money, you know. … They’re not making any money as long as I have the blockade,” Trump said.

Trump also said NATO called him, though he didn’t say specifically who, and offered to help.

“NATO called me and said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, stay away,'” he said.

The president also spoke at length about Lebanon. On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. The Israeli military action in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group, had been an obstacle in talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Trump said that’s a separate peace deal, and he reiterated what he has said on his social media platform: “I am going to prohibit him [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] from bombing Lebanon.”

When asked how, Trump said he’ll tell Netanyahu “he cannot do it.”

Regarding Lebanon, Trump said that he is going to involve the president of Syria in the final deal, and that he’s going dealing with Hezbollah.

First on ABC: Memo to Rubio details data on HIV/AIDS treatment program under Trump administration

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Data collected by the State Department that has not previously been made public indicates that the number of people receiving treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has remained steady despite dramatic cuts to foreign aid funding under the Trump administration, according to an internal department memo sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen exclusively by ABC News.

The memo, which is marked sensitive but unclassified, says that even though overall spending on the initiative fell by roughly 30%, 20.6 million people living with HIV in more than 50 countries received anti-retroviral treatment through U.S. government programs during the 2025 fiscal year — the same number government data shows were receiving the therapy in 2024.

However, the memo did not provide information on the number of individuals who had received testing and counseling services through PEPFAR, which was 84.1 million in 2024. Global health experts estimate that figure could have fallen by more than 15 million in 2025, due in part to an interruption to some testing programs during the Trump administration’s freeze on most foreign aid in early 2025.

But Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s senior official for foreign and security assistance, reports that the data collected in 2025 shows progress towards other Trump administration goals, including ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Lewin wrote to Rubio that the number of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers who began pre-exposure prophylaxis through PEPFAR more than doubled. He said it climbed from 43,000 in 2024 to 103,000 in 2025, ” showing early progress on any early focus area of yours and President Trump’s.”

Additionally, Lewin said the 2025 data demonstrates “an important shift toward country self-reliance,” indicating that treatment programs for 3 million people with HIV/AIDS were now being managed by national governments rather than organizations working on behalf of PEPFAR.

Lewin said the department expected to see “further progress” toward country self-reliance as it further shifts toward its new global health strategy based on bilateral agreements that mandate a level of co-investment from participating nations.

In a letter outlining the plan in September 2025, Rubio said that the U.S. would enter pacts with 71 countries by the end of the year and establish detailed implementation plans with those nations by the end of March 2026 — a timeline the administration has fallen behind.

In his memo, Lewin said that as of April 7, the U.S had now “signed 30 compacts with nearly $20.6 billion dollars in both U.S. and partner co-investment commitments,” adding that the current data “does not yet show the impact of these historic deals.”

The Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy will confidentially brief members of Congress on the 2025 PEPFAR data before releasing it to the public on Friday, according to the memo.

Since it was launched by former President George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR has saved 25 million lives globally, supported 7 million orphans and vulnerable children, and enabled 5.5 million babies to be born HIV-free, according to the State Department. It’s credited as the largest commitment by any country to fight a single disease in history.

Trump’s lawyers say they’re ‘in discussions’ to resolve his $10B suit against the IRS

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Trump’s lawyers say they’re ‘in discussions’ to resolve his B suit against the IRS

Trump’s lawyers say they’re ‘in discussions’ to resolve his $10B suit against the IRS — U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on April 16, 2026, in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump is traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada to promote the tax cuts he signed into law in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” ahead of the midterm election. Tomorrow he will deliver remarks at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for President Donald Trump say they are “in discussions” with the Department of Justice to potentially resolve a $10 billion lawsuit that Trump, two of his sons, and his company filed against the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year.

According to a court filing on Friday, lawyers for the Trumps requested a deadline extension so they can “engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation.”

President Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department in January related to the unauthorized disclosure of tax information during Trump’s first term.

A government contractor with the IRS pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing the tax information of Donald Trump and other wealthy Americans and leaking it to media outlets in 2019 and 2020.

“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the Trumps said in their lawsuit, which requested $10 billion in damages.

“The Parties are engaging in discussions and need time to work through how to ensure those discussions can take place productively to avoid protracted litigation,” the attorneys said in Friday’s filing with the consent of the DOJ lawyers. “This brief period will allow the Parties to initiate and structure those discussions in a manner that best serves the interests of all Parties and the Court.”

The Department of Justice had not yet responded to the lawsuit and faced an impending deadline this month. Friday’s filing said both sides agreed to the 90-day extension.

A group of former government officials last month filed an amicus brief with the court to raise concerns about the ethics of the president suing his own government for billions.

“This case is extraordinary because the President controls both sides of the litigation, which raises the prospect of collusive litigation tactics,” the amicus filing said. “To treat this case like business as usual would threaten the integrity of the justice system and the important taxpayer and privacy protections at the heart of this case.”

The Trumps, in the suit, argued that the IRS and Treasury Department should have had “appropriate technical, employee screening, security, and monitoring” to prevent the theft of tax information.

Music Notes: Rihanna, Anderson .Paak and more

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Rihanna chimed into the comments section of a post suggesting she and partner A$AP Rocky are expecting their fourth child. She wrote, “Is the baby in the womb with us?” She is the mother of Rocki Irish, RZA Athelston, Riot Rose Mayers.

Momo Boyd shared the visual for her song “Oops” from her debut EP Miss Michigan. “I wanted to create something fun and exciting and present myself in a way that feels familiar yet fresh,” she said in a statement. “I’ve always loved the timeless beauty of women from classic TV and movie roles like Hilary Banks, Moesha, Fran Fine and pretty much any character Halle Berry has played. So much like most of my imagery thus far, this is my interpretation of an era of beauty and glamour that I admire immensely.”

Anderson .Paak has teamed with World ID for a Concert Kit designed to give artists control over ticketing by reserving access for verified humans. Fans attempting to the purchase tickets must verify their identity before gaining access. His alter ego DJ Pee .Wee is set to perform for 1,000 verified fans at the inaugural Humans Only Concert in San Francisco on Friday.

Another Kanye West show will no longer take place following his canceled gig at Wireless Festival. Adam Strzyzewski, the director of Silesian Stadium in Poland, where Ye was supposed to perform on June 19, shared the news on Facebook. As translated by Reuters, the post says, “We would like to inform you that the Ye (Kanye West) concert planned for 19 June 2026 at the… Slaski stadium will not take place due to formal and legal reasons.” This follows the announcement of Ye’s postponed show in France.

Music notes: Taylor Swift, Olivia Dean and more

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Another day, another chart record set by Taylor Swift. This time, it’s Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart, which has been around since 1996. She currently has, not one, not two, but three songs in the chart’s top 10, which no other artist has ever done. Here’s the rundown: “Elizabeth Taylor” is at #10, “Opalite” is #8 and “The Fate of Ophelia” is #9.

Olivia Dean’s song “Man I Need” has officially passed one billion streams on Spotify, giving her her first entry into the Billions Club. On her Instagram Story, she wrote, “this is wild. thank u for listening.” Olivia is the female artist with the biggest increase in global streams on Spotify over the past year. Meanwhile, her album The Art of Loving is back at #1 on the U.K. album chart.

You may want to tune in to the Coachella live YouTube stream Friday night at 9 p.m. PT to watch Sabrina Carpenter’s set: It’s rumored that none other than Madonna will join her onstage. Madonna just revealed that she’s got a new album, Confessions II, coming out July 3.

Olivia Rodrigo confirms she dropped a ‘drop dead’ Easter egg at last year’s Glastonbury show

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

We didn’t know it then, but when Olivia Rodrigo played the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival in June of 2025, she’d already written her new single “drop dead.” Now, she’s confirmed that what she wore during part of that set was a deliberate reference to the song

At Glastonbury, Olivia performed a couple of songs with The Cure’s Robert Smith, including their hit “Just Like Heaven.” Then, during the encore, she wore a t-shirt that said, “You Know All The Words to ‘Just Like Heaven'” — to which Robert Smith had added, in Sharpie, “But do you?”

Of course, that seemed completely normal at the time — she’d just performed the song, right? But when “drop dead” arrived today, we all found out that “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven'” is actually a lyric in the song.

“I knew that this song was coming out and I wanted to, like, do a little Easter egg,” Olivia tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.

Asked if she played the song for Robert Smith, Olivia says, “Oh my God, I actually don’t know if I played it for him. … I played him a bunch of other songs on the album, I don’t know why I didn’t think to play this one for him though, I should.”

As for the overall theme of “drop dead,” Olivia tells Zane, “It’s about a first date, and so it just feels like a new beginning and it’s just trying to capture all those feelings of meeting someone that you have feelings for, and just being, like, nervous and, like, kind of insecure, but super-excited and just lovesick over this person.”

Olivia’s new album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love is out June 12.

Petition launched to save recording studio used for classic Iron Maiden, Def Leppard albums

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Now that Iron Maiden is finally getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, wouldn’t it be a shame if the studio where they recorded one of their best-known albums was demolished?

An online petition has been started by the studio’s owners to stop the destruction of London’s Battery Studios, which is currently facing redevelopment into an apartment building. The studio is where Iron Maiden recorded their 1982 album, The Number of the Beast, their first to feature singer Bruce Dickinson and top the U.K. charts. The album features the classic title track and the hit “Run to the Hills.”

Other albums recorded at the studio in northwest London included Def Leppard’s 1981 album High ‘n’ Dry and the 1983 smash Pyromania, Black Sabbath’s 1975 release Sabotage, and albums by Whitesnake, Krokus, The Cars, The Stone Roses, Paul McCartney and more.

“We are calling on the music industry, artists, and the public to stand together to protect this irreplaceable cultural landmark,” the petition reads, adding, “The music created within its walls has shaped global culture and helped define the UK as a world leader in music.”

The Zombies release mono remaster of ‘Begin Here,’ announce details of annual festival

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

The Zombies have just released the mono remaster of their debut album, 1965’s Begin Here, and to mark the occasion, they’ve announced details of their third annual Begin Here Festival.

Taking place over Halloween weekend, Oct. 30-Nov 1, in the band’s hometown of St. Albans, U.K., this year’s festival will include a candlelit acoustic performance from Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone, taking place within the nearly 1,000-year-old St. Albans Cathedral.

The Begin Here festival, which launched in November 2023, will feature a whole host of other Zombies-related events, including record signings, dance parties, fan meet-ups and appearances by original band members.

A presale for tickets begins Wednesday to fan club members and anyone who purchases Begin Here (Mono Edition) from the band’s website. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting April 24.

More details can be found at TheZombiesMusic.com.

The mono remaster of Begin Here is the second of four planned reissues, following 2025’s reissue of their iconic sophomore album, Odessey and Oracle. It features all 17 tracks from the U.K. and U.S. versions of the album, with new liner notes by rock journalist David Fricke.

To coincide with the release, The Zombies have released “She’s Not There (Mono Edition)” to digital outlets, accompanied by a new lyric video.

Jennifer Stone to return as Harper Finkle in ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’

April 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Harper Finkle and Alex Russo are reuniting.

Jennifer Stone is set to reprise her Wizards of Waverly Place role of Harper Finkle in the final season of its spinoff series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

Harper is the eccentric human best friend of Selena Gomez’s beloved wizard Alex Russo.

Disney announced earlier in April that Wizards Beyond Waverly Place will return for its final chapter this summer. Production on the new episodes started this month.

Gomez is set to make her directorial debut as she helms the premiere episode of this final chapter in the Russo family’s story. In addition to directing, Gomez will reprise her role of Alex over multiple episodes and continue executive producing.

Stone made a return to acting after she took a hiatus to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She graduated in 2019 with plans to resume acting full-time, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she stepped into the emergency room and served on the front lines. Now, Stone balances ER shifts with her love of acting, according to a press release.

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place stars David Henrie as Justin Russo and Janice LeAnn Brown as the young wizard Billie. Alkaio Thiele, Max Matenko, Taylor Cora and Mimi Gianopulos also make up the main cast.

This final chapter of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is being billed as a special four-part event.

“Billie, still reeling from losing Alex at the end of season 2, discovers that the only way to rescue her mother is to reunite with her long-lost father,” according to an official description from Disney. “As her family bands together to find Alex, Billie realizes that their combined power is the only way the Russos can defeat the evil plaguing them.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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