Prince will once again be celebrated this June with Paisley Park’s four-day Celebration 2023.
The event will include conversations with artists like Chaka Khan, ChuckD and D-Nice, and panel discussions about the legendary artist. Fans will be allowed entry into Prince’s infamous vault, where they’ll get to hear new, unreleased recordings by the late music icon.
Celebration 2023 goes down at Prince’s Minnesota compound June 8-11, and will include performances by Minnesota gospel groups Sounds of Blackness and The Steeles,Stokley of Mint Condition and more, along with a Prince Legacy Tribute to New Power Generation founding member Rosie Gaines.
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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is sending a new $300 million military aid package to Ukraine as it prepares for an expected spring counteroffensive against Russia’s invading forces.
The Pentagon said Wednesday it will include “additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression.”
While American officials have publicly stated the the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary, they have refused to share any details about Ukrainian battle plans, for operational security reasons.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics on timing in terms of any potential counteroffensive other than to say from the very beginning we’ve been working closely with Ukrainian leaders, with our allies and partners, to assess what Ukraine needs to defend their sovereignty and to take back their their sovereign territory,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.
The U.S. has now committed more than $35.7 billion in security assistance since the beginning of the invasion last February.
This has included more than 1.6 million artillery rounds, tens of thousands of anti-tank weapons, secure communications equipment, radar systems and more.
The new aid will come from existing U.S. military stockpiles, which means it can be sent to the battlefield relatively quickly.
The Pentagon also recently announced it is expediting its shipment of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which are now expected to arrive in the fall.
“The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements,” the Pentagon said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its short-term borrowing rate another 0.25%, escalating the central bank’s attack on inflation just two days after the forced sale of First Republic Bank.
The Fed’s 10th consecutive rate increase arrives less than a week after fresh government data showed that U.S. economic growth slowed over the first three months of this year.
Despite the economic turbulence, the central bank appears dedicated to tightening its grip on prices.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak though it remains more than double the Fed’s target of 2%.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reasserted the central bank’s commitment to cooling price increases but left open the possibility that the Fed could pause increases at its next meeting.
“Inflation pressures continue to run high,” Powell said. “The process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”
In response to a question about additional rate hikes, Powell noted the removal of a sentence that appeared in the Fed’s previous rate hike announcement in March that said “some additional policy increases might be appropriate.”
Powell described the omission in the announcement on Wednesday as “meaningful,” saying a decision about any additional rate hikes would be “data dependent.”
Increases in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate have contributed to the financial emergency facing U.S. banks.
As the Fed aggressively hiked interest rates over the past year, the value of long-term Treasury and mortgage bonds dropped, punching a hole in the balance sheets at some banks.
Three of the nation’s 30-largest banks have failed since March. While high interest rates contributed to the collapses, each of the banks also retained a sizable portion of uninsured depositors, who tend to panic without a government backstop for their funds.
The announcement on Wednesday raises the benchmark rate to a target range of 5% to 5.25%.
In a statement, the Fed affirmed the stability of the financial system but acknowledged the distress would likely cool the lending environment.
“The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient,” the central bank said. “Tighter credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects remains uncertain.”
The Fed has put forward a series of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession and putting millions out of work.
Data released last week showed that economic growth slowed at the outset of this year, suggesting the rate hikes have helped put the brakes on business activity.
U.S. gross domestic product grew by a 1.1% annualized rate over the three months ending in March, according to government data released Thursday.
The data marked a slowdown from 2.6% growth in the previous quarter. The slowdown resulted from a decline in business investment and residential fixed investment, which includes money spent on home buying and construction, the data showed.
The U.S. added 236,000 jobs in March, which marks strong job growth, but lower than the average of 334,000 jobs added each month over the previous six months, according to government data.
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell moderately in February but remained solid, suggesting that households still retain some pandemic-era savings.
Jason Mraz is out with “Pancakes & Butter,” the latest song from his upcoming album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, and he’s got a hilarious video to go with it.
In the retro video, which appears to be set in the ’70s, we see a couple watching a TV show with two hosts, who are sitting with a stack of pancakes on a table between them. They introduce Jason as the musical guest, and as he starts singing the ’70s-flavored slow jam, he magically makes things appear and throws them to the audience.
Soon, everyone who’s listening to Jason sing the song starts getting hot and bothered. The two TV hosts start smearing each other with the syrup from the pancakes and making out. Two guys in the control room start going at it, and then everyone in the audience starts pairing off and making out like crazy.
As the song ends, we cut back to the couple watching a TV show — except they’re not there anymore: all we can see is their discarded clothing strewn around the room.
Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride is out June 23.
Mickey Hart will certainly be busy this summer with Dead & Company’s final tour, but he’s making time in his schedule to help show off his art.
The rocker is set to make two rare in-person art gallery appearances to promote his latest art collection, the Art of Mickey Hart. The first will take place at the Wentworth Gallery at Tysons Galleria in McLean, Virginia, on June 4 at 2 p.m., followed by an appearance at the Wentworth Gallery at Short Hills Mall in New Jersey on June 23 at 6:30 p.m.
“These visual representations from my sonic-driven world are snapshots into the music I am making,” Mickey shares. “The basis of all life is vibratory, from the cosmos to human organism to the rhythms of nature and the music that come from what we make, from what we call culture. These are the worlds of rhythm that envelop us on a daily basis. Understanding these rhythms is essential in our daily lives.”
He adds, “These works have been drummed, vibrated into existence. This technique is essential in the creation of my art.”
But up next for Mickey, he and the rest of Dead & Company will headline New Orleans Jazz Fest on May 6. They’ll launch their final tour with a two-night stand in Los Angeles, California, May 19 and 20. A complete list of dates can be found at deadandcompany.com.
Ozzy Osbourne sure doesn’t sound like someone who’s retired from touring.
Earlier this year, the Prince of Darkness canceled his 2023 tour of the U.K. and Europe due to health reasons, adding, “Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way.”
Ozzy’s since announced that he’ll be playing the much-hyped Power Trip festival this fall, and he now tells Metal Hammer he’s “determined” to continue to perform live.
“I’ve gotta do more gigs if I have to get someone to wheel me out there,” Ozzy says. “I mean, you can’t retire from this game. It’s not a job, it’s a f****** passion. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“The thought of sitting in my house all day … I’m a road dog, you know?” the metal legend continues. “I’ve been doing it f****** 55 years. It’s the best thing to have ever happened to me.”
Power Trip takes place October 6-8 in Indio, California, on the same site as Coachella. The stacked bill also includes AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Tool.
Trey Songz has taken a plea deal in his bowling alley assault case, resulting in the dismissal of 10 charges, including assault and aggravated harassment. TMZ reports the singer pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct violation on Tuesday, May 2. He’s now required to complete 12 anger management classes by August. According to his lawyer, he is eager to move on from the situation.
“We appreciate the New York law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office for their comprehensive investigation and careful consideration of all evidence, which ultimately confirmed what we had known all along and resulted in the District Attorney’s office choosing not to pursue any of the original charges against our client,” Trey’s attorney Mitchell Schuster tells TMZ. “With each and every one of the 10 original charges now dismissed by operation of law, Trey looks forward to putting this matter behind him.”
As reported, Trey was accused of attacking two individuals at a blowing alley in late October. An unidentified woman claimed he repeatedly punched her face and dragged her by her hair, causing small but visible injuries that were treated at a nearby hospital. He also allegedly punched a man in the eye during the incident; the man refused medical treatment.
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Major changes at Twitter under CEO Elon Musk in recent months have elicited some calls for an alternative platform.
One such app, Bluesky Social, has drawn attention as a possible Twitter rival and amassed a waitlist of aspiring users.
Launched by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky features some prominent users, including model Chrissy Teigen and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.
Access to Bluesky is available on an invite-only basis while the platform undergoes testing.
Neither Bluesky nor Twitter immediately responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Here’s what to know about Bluesky and how to join:
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a text-oriented social media platform on which users can post messages as long as 300 characters. Like Twitter, the messages posted on Bluesky appear on a newsfeed displayed to users. The app is available on iOS and Android.
The platform operates on an open framework, meaning that users can post their messages to a server tailored for specific interests or communities. The system design resembles that used on another text-first app, Mastodon, as well as the decentralized platform Discord.
The site began in 2019 as a venture at Twitter overseen by Dorsey, and spun out as an independent company last year.
Development of the site started after a tweet from Dorsey announcing Twitter’s plans to fund a decentralized social media platform, Bluesky said in a blog post. The eventual leaders at Bluesky were among those who sent direct messages to Dorsey in response to his post, the blog added.
As of last April, Bluesky had received $13 million in funding from Twitter to “ensure freedom and independence,” Bluesky said in a statement last year.
Who owns Bluesky?
The board of directors at Bluesky features Dorsey as well as Jeremie Miller, the founder in the late 1990s of a free instant messaging service called Jabber.
The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber, who formerly founded an events-oriented social media site called Happening and worked as a software engineer on a cryptocurrency Zcash, according to LinkedIn. She also serves on the board.
The company is owned by Graber as well as “the Bluesky team,” the Bluesky website says.
While Bluesky has retained a traditional structure featuring a board and chief executive, the company said it aspires to take control of content away from a top-down entity and return it to creators.
“Traditional social networks are often closed platforms with a central authority,” the website says. “There’s a small group of people who control those companies, and they have total control over how users can use the platform and what developers can build.”
The system organization offered at Bluesky “changes this,” the website adds.
Dorsey criticized Musk’s leadership at Twitter on Bluesky last week, saying that “all went south” at the platform after Musk’s acquisition, CNBC reported.
Is Bluesky a viable challenger to Twitter?
Since Bluesky is still in its infancy, whether the app can compete with Twitter remains unclear.
Right now, Bluesky is much smaller than Twitter. The Bluesky app has recorded more than 360,000 downloads in the Apple store as well as over one million inquiring users on its waitlist, Fortune reported last week.
As of last week, more than 40,000 users had been given access to Bluesky, Bloomberg reported.
For context, Twitter reported 41.5 million average daily active users over the three months ending in June, which marked the last earnings report period before Musk took the company private.
The platform’s user data is no longer publicly available but in November Musk said usage had reached “an all-time high.”
How do you get Bluesky invite?
Access to Bluesky is only available to users who receive an invite, since the site is undergoing testing.
A sign-up on the company’s website allows individuals to join a waitlist by sharing their email address.
The company has not offered a timeline for when it plans to make the site public.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first RSV vaccine in the U.S.
Scientists have been trying to develop an RSV vaccine for decades after previous high-profile attempts failed.
The vaccine, made by the pharmaceutical company GSK, is for older adults. Pfizer and Moderna are also developing similar RSV vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still needs to weigh in with specific recommendations, which is expected in June. GSK anticipates it will have enough vaccine to meet demand in time for the fall and winter respiratory illness season.
GSK said it has “millions of doses ready to be shipped.”
Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement: “Older adults, in particular those with underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease or weakened immune systems, are at high risk for severe disease caused by RSV. Today’s approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to prevent a disease which can be life-threatening and reflects the FDA’s continued commitment to facilitating the development of safe and effective vaccines for use in the United States.”
RSV is a viral infection that leads to mild illness for most people; however, it can be dangerous for older adults and some young children. RSV is a common cause of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD), which affects the lungs and can cause life-threatening pneumonia and bronchiolitis, according to the FDA.
Each year between 60,000 and 120,000 older adults are hospitalized due to RSV.
RSV circulation is seasonal, typically starting in the fall and peaking in the winter. Pharmaceutical companies are also working on RSV vaccines that are targeted at young children.
Jamie Foxx has released his first statement since he was hospitalized for what was described by his daughter Corinne as a “medical complication” on April 12.
“Appreciate all the love!!!” began the message on the Oscar winner’s Instagram. “Feeling blessed,” the short message concluded, along with prayer hands, a heart and a fox emoji.
Celebrities were quick to throw their support behind the message, with Chris “Ludacris” Bridges offering his own prayer hands. DJ Khaled replied with the “raising hands” one, and AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys commenting, “your [sic] in my prayers day and night bro. Lets get you better and home.”
Tamar Braxton offered “Love to you my brother,” and The Purge and Marvel movie star Frank Grillo noted, “Lets go brother. You have lots to do and more people that love you. Heal up. Prayers in abundance warrior.”
Nothing is known about what landed Foxx in a Georgia hospital, which sidelined him from production on Back In Action, the Netflix action comedy in which he stars with Cameron Diaz, but previous comments from friends led to some fearing the worst.
TMZ reported Foxx’s Fox game show Beat Shazam was rolling on without him; the gossip site updated that Tuesday afternoon to say his pal Nick Cannon would be taking Foxx’s place temporarily, with Kelly Osbourne taking Corinne’s place in the DJ booth.
