A new Queen photo exhibit is set to open in London this week.
Queen Will Rock You in 3D will open at London’s Proud Galleries on June 2 to coincide with the return of the band’s musical We Will Rock You, playing at the London Coliseum.
The exhibit, which runs through September 23, tells the band’s history using photos taken by guitarist Brian May with his own stereoscopic (3D) camera lenses.
The exhibit features photos taken onstage, on the road and more, some of which are being shared with the public for the first time. Many of them show the rarely seen private side of the band’s late frontman, Freddie Mercury, as viewed by his close friend and bandmate May. It also features fan-shot footage of the current Queen lineup with Adam Lambert, as well as the musical.
In a lengthy new interview with Esquire, Harrison Ford delves into well-known territory — how he got his role as Han Solo in Star Wars, for example — and deeper stuff, like what kind of a dad he thinks he is and how he’d like to be remembered.
Ford, who will turn 81 on July 13 — a couple of weeks after his final Indiana Jones movie hits theaters — is famously guarded, but shares some interesting tidbits about his life.
Like how his friend Jimmy Buffett helped snag him a boat to live on off the coast of Belize while filming 1986’s The Mosquito Coast.
Or his response to a “disappointed” Elton John when he told his fellow icon he would never write an autobiography. “I said, ‘I didn’t want to tell the truth … But I didn’t want to lie, either.'”
A pilot for 28 years, Ford enthused about aviation: “I will not be buried under a stone that says ‘actor’. For me, flying is as important a part of my life as my business. It’s not like playing golf.”
With shades of his role on Apple TV+’s Shrinking as a therapist whose daughter moves away because her parents are too busy, Ford admits, “I can tell you this: If I’d been less successful, I’d probably be a better parent.”
Ford says he “owns” his flaws, adding, “And certainly the more constant gardener is the better parent, and I’ve been out of town, up my own a** for most of my life.”
Ford is a father of five: Benjamin, 56, and Willard, 54, from his marriage to ex-wife Mary Marquardt; Malcolm, 35, and Georgia, 32, from his marriage to the late E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison; and Liam Flockhart Ford, 21, the adopted son of his wife, Calista Flockhart.
SZA beat the sophomore curse with SOS, which has broken Billboard records, earned Platinum records, won awards and led to her successful first arena tour. Yet, she remains realistic. Speaking with Elle, she accepts the reality that success is “all really fickle.”
“I know that people don’t love me because love is really unconditional, and I’m one scandal away from being canceled indefinitely like anyone else,” she says. “I’m grateful that they like my art and that it speaks to them, and it connects and tethers all of us together in this weird way. It’s dope, but it’s also still a string that could be cut at any moment.”
Despite the number of records sold and any detractors encountered along the way, SZA says she generally tries “not to care too much because I really had some deep disappointments when I would just be so invested.” What matters more than a Grammy is a tour, where she could prove her ability to pack stadiums all over the country.
Confident in her musical capabilities, SZA says she’d come out on top in a talent-based match with another woman. However, she’s more focused on proving her value to herself.
“What else am I going to do, in terms of how I help people? Me being whoever I’m led to be on this journey must be part of the work ‘cause it’s really hard emotionally,” the singer says. “My prayer is to see myself the way God sees me. Like, ‘Father, help me know my value and trust that I’m valuable, and that I am who You say I am.’”
SZA’s Elle interview also sees her discuss her decision to get a Brazilian butt lift, her ex-boyfriend’s reaction to being called out during a show and more.
(WASHINGTON) — A Hispanic man accused of shooting and killing eight people at an outlet mall in Texas earlier this month held a mix of views consistent with neo-Nazism and involuntary celibate extremist ideologies, authorities said.
Though a motive for the suspect, who was shot and killed by a police officer, remains under investigation, the mass shooting appears among recent examples that highlight a “persistent and lethal threat” to U.S. security posed by “lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a recent bulletin.
This type of threat is what’s often referred to by FBI director Christopher Wray as “salad bar” extremism. In the U.K., it’s known by the acronym MUU — mixed, unstable or unclear. Security firm Valens Global calls the phenomenon “composite violent extremism.”
The terms broadly refer to “idiosyncratic patterns of radicalization,” according to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the CEO of Valens Global who leads a project on domestic extremism for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
“Traditionally, terrorism is thought of as being largely nested within a single ideology,” Gartenstein-Ross told ABC News. “What we’re seeing is violent extremists who display an amalgamation of different disparate beliefs, interests and grievances.”
This pattern of radicalization has “taken on increasing salience in recent years,” with an uptick within the last decade, Gartenstein-Ross said.
Examples of this, he cited, include Frank James, who pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges for a 2022 shooting in the New York City subway; Nikolas Cruz, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2018 mass shooting at South Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School; and Zale Thompson, who was shot and killed by NYC police officers after attacking them with an ax in 2014.
John Cohen, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security acting undersecretary for intelligence and ABC News contributor, points to several factors that are contributing to this phenomenon in the U.S., including a highly-polarized society in which some people feel that violence is acceptable, and an online and media environment that is “saturated” with extremist content.
“You spend time online, you not only can find the justification for the conduct of that attack, but you can find content that will provide you detailed instructions on how to do it,” Cohen said.
Gartenstein-Ross said he feels that the idiosyncratic ideologies reflect people, in general, taking on very disparate ideas in today’s information and social media environment.
“We as a people are becoming more incoherent,” he said. “Extremists are becoming more incoherent as well.”
Such extremists may pop up on law enforcement’s radar prior to attacks — such as a concerned call from a family member — but the U.S. lacks a “cohesive strategy” in the investigation and prevention of this threat, according to Cohen.
“This is the most complex, dynamic and dangerous threat environment I’ve experienced — and I include in that the months following Sept. 11,” Cohen said. “The reason I say that is because we’re not adapting to address this [type of] threat, and it’s a threat that potentially impacts every city and town across the United States.”
Composite violent extremism poses several challenges to law enforcement, Gartenstein-Ross noted, from determining when someone who is ideologically idiosyncratic becomes a threat to how to best intervene, to how to define their community.
“We understand where jihadist groups exist, we can see very concretely what the neo-Nazi white supremacist sphere is,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “For idiosyncratic, violent extremism, what’s the digital or real-world community that forms a part of the extremist’s familia?”
There is also an “unsettled” methodology in determining this type of extremist’s core beliefs, Gartenstein-Ross said.
“I firmly believe these are things we can crack,” he continued. “A lot of these are new questions based on the increased prominence of idiosyncratic radicalization patterns.”
Cohen said addressing the threat will entail strategies from the local to federal level.
“We have to employ not just traditional law enforcement strategies to address it, but also community-based threat management strategies that involve collaborative efforts involving mental health professionals, law enforcement, community groups, faith leaders,” he said.
Educating both the public on the behaviors of these types of extremists so they know when to alert authorities, and front-line responders on how to respond, is also key, he said.
Common behaviors often exhibited by violent extremists, who tend to be people “who exist on the fringe of the community,” include publicly expressing anger and grievances; spending significant time online consuming violent and extremist content; acquiring firearms, ammunition and tactical gear; posting photos with that gear; and “making statements that represent an articulation of an intent to engage in violence,” Cohen said.
“We need to make sure that those calls are answered and that local authorities have a process in place to evaluate those behaviors — not just from the perspective of, has a crime been committed, but from the perspective of, is this person exhibiting behaviors that we know to be associated with somebody who may be preparing to conduct a mass casualty attack?” Cohen said.
Dire Straits fans are going to have a chance to enjoy their music live this fall.
DSL Dire Straits Legacy has announced a new tour that will kick off in September. DSL is made up of original Dire Straits band member Alan Clark; former Dire Straits musicians Danny Cummings, Mel Collins, Phil Palmer and Jack Sonni; and Italian musicians Marco Caviglia, PrimianoDi Biase and CristianoMicalizzi.
Clark shares, “We do this, we play the music of Dire Straits because we love it … and we made it!”
The tour is set to launch in Snoqualmie, Washington, on September 15, with dates confirmed through September 30 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at dslegacy.com.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will announce next week that he is running for president, giving a kickoff speech in Iowa and releasing a campaign video on June 7 ahead of a town hall with CNN later that day in Des Moines, a source familiar confirms to ABC News.
Pence will be running against his old boss, Donald Trump, in the Republican primary.
His expected announcement will come only weeks after a group of conservative allies launched a political group to support his potential candidacy.
The super PAC, Committed to America, hopes to both “reintroduce” Pence to voters — who, the group believes, don’t have a full sense of the former vice president — and to catch the attention of voters perhaps stuck on other candidates as the list of Republican hopefuls grows longer.
“People know Mike Pence, they just don’t know him well,” co-chair Scott Reed told a small group of reporters on Friday. “This campaign is going to reintroduce Mike Pence to the country as his own man, not as vice president, but as a true economic, social and national security conservative — a Reagan conservative.”
The pro-Pence group said it will make significant investments in Iowa, a state critical for Republicans as it holds the first nominating contest next year.
“We’re going to organize Iowa, all 99 counties, like we’re running him for county sheriff,” said Reed, who previously managed Sen. Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.
In March, during an exclusive interview with ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl, Pence said he was giving a run for the 2024 GOP nomination “serious consideration.”
At the time and in the ensuing months, Pence has held voter-facing events in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. He also published a memoir, “So Help Me God,” in November.
“We’re getting a lot of encouragement, not only here in Iowa, but all across the country,” Pence told Karl in March. “We’re giving prayerful consideration to what role we might play.”
A key ally for Trump while they were in office, Pence has since had a notable falling out with the former president over Trump’s push to overturn their election loss — climaxing in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters breached the complex and sent Pence and Congress into hiding.
“We all face the judgment of history, and I believe in the fullness of time that history will hold Donald Trump accountable for the events of Jan. 6, as it will other people that were involved,” Pence told Karl.
He added then: “I also think the American people will also have their say. I mean, the president is now a candidate for office again, he’s running for election, but as I go around the country, I’m convinced the American people have learned the lessons of that day.”
(WASHINGTON) — Work requirements for government safety net programs are back in the spotlight as the House readies for a key vote on the debt ceiling deal brokered by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In a twist, a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office released late Tuesday found tougher rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that Republicans demanded would actually increase the number of people eligible for benefits, sometimes referred to as food stamps.
The nonpartisan agency estimated the provisions relating to SNAP would add $2.1 billion in direct spending and 78,000 people would gain benefits in an average month.
Top Republicans are calling the CBO report flat-out inaccurate, and McCarthy suggested the agency “double counted” some recipients already exempt from work requirements.
“The estimates are wrong. They’re just wrong,” Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said in a news conference Wednesday alongside his fellow GOP negotiator Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.
The CBO has not commented on the criticism from Republicans.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, on the other hand, said the CBO development “speaks for itself” as he criticized Republicans for making them one of the focal points in the debt ceiling agreement.
“In terms of the so-called work requirements, which by the way have been in law since 1996, this was a phony, fake talking point injected unnecessarily into this discussion,” Jeffries said at his own news conference alongside House Democratic leadership.
Imposing stricter eligibility rules for SNAP and other federal assistance programs was a major sticking point that held up negotiations even as talks stretched closer to the potential default date. At one point, McCarthy described their inclusion in a final deal as a “red line” for Republicans.
At the same time, progressive Democrats warned of pushback if stricter work requirements were included. Progressive Whip Greg Casar told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott he was leaning no on Wednesday’s vote to approve the bill for that exact reason.
“Many progressives, including me, lean no because the bill does contain taking some folks like 53 and 54 year olds off of their food stamps,” Casar, D-Texas, said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told ABC’s Scott that she won’t vote yes on the bill because she it’s up to Republicans to “own this vote.”
“They’re the ones trying to come in and cut SNAP,” she said. “They’re trying to come and cut environmental protections.”
Republicans won some changes to SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) but their demand for stricter requirements for recipients of Medicaid and Medicare were taken off the table.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act would increase the age limit for work requirements on able-bodied adults without dependents from 49 to 54 by 2025, though the provision would expire by 2030.
The legislation also includes new exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and people ages 18 to 24 who are aging out of the foster care system.
Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said Tuesday the Biden administration was waiting for a USDA analysis on the impact of the SNAP changes, but believed the number of those now exempted would be about the same as those subject to work requirements.
“There’s a very real possibility, when we see the numbers, that the number who are phased in, who have new requirements on SNAP, is offset by the number who will now be covered under the new exemptions,” she said at the White House press briefing.
McHenry defended the new exemptions in his presser with Graves, calling them “thoughtful public policy” and highlighted the bill would cut down the cap for the population states can exempt from work requirements from 12% to 8%.
But the CBO score only added to the furor to the growing number of House Republicans who are opposed to the debt ceiling deal.
“Don’t really want to hear how CBO is wrong on SNAP [because] CBO did this bill a lot of favors, and it’s still a bad deal,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on Twitter.
“The Biden-McCarthy deal expands welfare,” Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., tweeted. “Heckuva negotiation, guys.”
(WASHINGTON) — Despite calling for a ban on foreign lobbying, in which Americans lobby lawmakers and the public for foreign interests, Republican 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has raised tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from foreign lobbyists, disclosure reports show.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the Trump administration, Haley has recently been campaigning on her opposition to foreign lobbying, saying that embassies — and not private consultants or lobbyist agents — should represent foreign interests in the U.S.
Banning foreign lobbying has been part of her stump speech against aid to foreign countries, especially money she suggests is going to countries whose interests seem to be at odds with those of the United States.
“The first thing we have to do is stop giving money to countries that hate America,” Haley said during a town hall in Iowa in April.
“All these lobbyists that get paid from foreign entities to lobby Congress — outlaw all foreign lobbying whatsoever,” Haley said. “That’s what embassies are for.”
She then took it to Twitter the next day, writing, “Ban all foreign lobbying.”
Later in the month, she told a town hall in New Hampshire, “We will stop lobbyists, foreign lobbyists, in our country. That’s what embassies are for. We are not going to allow Americans to lobby for foreign countries. If an ambassador wants something, an ambassador can ask for it, but no more lobbying of Congress for foreign entities.”
But Haley’s rhetoric hasn’t stopped her from raising funds from supporters that are currently or formerly registered agents working for foreign entities. Under United States FARA laws, as part of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, individuals and entities acting as an agent of a foreign client are required to register with the Department of Justice.
One of Haley’s top fundraisers, Oswaldo Palomo, the managing director of D.C.-based consulting firm Chartwell Strategy Group, is himself a registered foreign agent.
Palomo so far this year has contributed a total of $6,600 to Haley’s joint fundraising committee, which raises money for her presidential campaign and her leadership PAC, Stand for America, according to campaign disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
According to FARA registration records, Palomo represents a number of foreign entities, including the government of Georgia in Eastern Europe, which he had worked for at least since 2018, and the Social Democratic Party of Romania, one of his more recent clients. Each of those clients pays him between $35,000 and $40,000 each month, and he has reported making contacts with hundreds of U.S. lawmakers in the course of his lobbying, FARA filings show.
Palomo also represents the Israeli cyberintelligence firm NSO Group, and the partially state-owned Chinese information technology company iFLYTEK, and has previously also worked for the government of Kosovo.
Palomo’s work has brought him hundreds of thousands of dollars from each of his foreign clients over the last six months, according to filings.
Despite Haley’s calls for a ban on foreign lobbying, Palomo has been a vocal supporter of the presidential hopeful, often touting her fundraising success.
Like Palomo, David Horton Wilkins, who was U.S. ambassador to Canada under President George W. Bush and is now a registered foreign agent, donated $6,600 to Haley’s joint fundraising committee, according to disclosure filings. Previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, the longtime Haley ally led her transition team when she was first elected the governor of South Carolina in 2010.
Now a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, Wilkins has been a registered agent for the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia for more than a decade, meeting with numerous members of Congress and representing the provinces’ interests over the years, FARA records show.
Another Haley donor, Alexandra Scott Amorosi, whose LinkedIn profile says she worked at the public relations firm Ketchum, is a former registered foreign agent who between 2011 and 2014 represented the Russian Federation, as well as a Russian majority state-owned energy company called Gazprom and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, providing media relations and communications services, according to foreign lobbying records. She has not renewed her foreign agent registration since 2014.
Haley’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment by ABC News.
Palomo declined to comment when contacted by ABC News, while Wilkins and Amorosi could not be reached for comment.
Although federal election laws prohibit foreign nationals from making donations to U.S. political campaigns, lobbyists who are U.S. citizens representing foreign interests are allowed to do so, and it’s a common practice especially at the federal level.
During the 2020 presidential election cycle, more than $33.5 million in federal political contributions came from foreign lobbyists, including at least $8.5 million from FARA-registered agents, and $25 million from lobbyists who were registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act while representing foreign clients with U.S. subsidiaries, according to FEC disclosure reports.
“It is not uncommon for presidential contenders to make promises rejecting campaign contributions from foreign lobbyists before ultimately accepting them — though some politicians have refunded money from foreign lobbyists after media backlash,” Anna Massoglia, editorial and investigations manager at the nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets.org, told ABC News.
Even if a candidate swears off campaign contributions directly from foreign lobbyists, those lobbyists may route funds to outside groups like nonprofits or super PACs supporting the candidates, Massoglia said.
Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s husband, Michael Haley, is set to deploy in the coming weeks to Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard, a source familiar confirms to ABC News.
The yearlong deployment would span much of Nikki Haley’s campaign schedule and would be her husband’s second active-duty tour overseas since joining the National Guard in 2006. He first served in Afghanistan in 2013.
Details of the assignment were first reported by The Associated Press.
Nikki Haley’s husband has been a continual part of her campaign since it launched in February, attending the kickoff as well as a number of rallies.
“Our family, like every military family, is ready to make personal sacrifices when our loved one answers the call. We could not be prouder of Michael and his military brothers and sisters,” Nikki Haley said in an emailed statement to ABC News.
“Their commitment to protecting our freedom is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in America,” she said.
Michael Haley, a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, will remain deployed through spring of 2024.
The pair met in college and married in 1996 and have two adult children, Rena and Nalin.
“More Hearts Than Mine” hitmaker Ingrid Andress is slated to open for five Stevie Nicks shows this fall.
“opening for my absolute hero never gets old [heart hands emoji] cannot wait to warm y’all up for @stevienicks !!!!! what is my life?!?!” Ingrid wrote on Instagram.
Ingrid will join Stevie on tour on August 8 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), August 12 (Houston, Texas), November 29 (San Diego, California), December 2 (Los Angeles) and December 5 (Palm Springs, California).
On the music front, Ingrid released her latest album, Good Person, in 2022. The project, which features “Wishful Drinking” with Sam Hunt and the current single “Feel Like This,” also received the deluxe treatment in March 2023.
