(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he will seek a second term in office, confirming a reelection bid he has long previewed — as he faces a possible rematch with Donald Trump next November.
Biden announced his 2024 campaign in a pre-recorded video.
“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer,” he says in the video, entitled “Freedom” which was posted to his social media account early Tuesday morning.
“This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election,” he says.
The video announcement focuses on Biden’s closing argument to the country, making his case for four more years in office to “finish this job,” — a line he previewed during his State of the Union address this year.
“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they’ve had to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedoms. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. And this is our moment,” Biden says in the video.
“Let’s finish this job, I know we can,” he adds.
As part of that closing argument, the president also calls out “MAGA extremists” for attacking “bedrock freedoms” in the video.
While Biden does not directly name any of his GOP rivals, images from the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, and members of the Republican party including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flash on the screen.
Vice President Harris, again joining Biden on the ticket, is also featured prominently throughout the video.
Biden’s 2024 campaign will be managed by Julie Chávez Rodríguez, a senior advisor to the president at the White House, and the granddaughter of labor leader Cesar Chávez.
Quentin Fulks, who previously served as the campaign manager of Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock’s 2022 reelection campaign, will serve as Principal Deputy Campaign Manager.
The campaign is also announcing a slate of national co-chairs, including Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Tuesday also marks four years to the day since Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign.
(NEW YORK) — Over the weekend, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had tested positive for COVID-19, his third time battling the virus.
Lopez Obradour, who suffered a heart attack in 2013, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that his case is mild and that “my heart is at 100 percent.”
Studies suggest that most Americans have been infected with COVID at least once but a growing number have been infected multiple times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not provide reinfection data but state-level data paints a varied picture.
Data from the New York State Department of Health shows that about 8.5% of total infections are reinfections. In Washington state, about 1% of all infections are reinfections as of October 2022, the latest date for which data is available, the state health department said.
Experts say reinfection is caused by a number of factors — including waning immunity and more transmissible variants — but the risk is highest for those who are vulnerable to serious complications from COVID.
What is the risk of being reinfected?
There are several factors tied to a person’s likelihood of being reinfected.
As of March 19, CDC data shows the COVID-19 case rate for unvaccinated people was 81.11 per 100,000 — more than three times higher than the rate of 25.81 per 100,000 among people fully vaccinated and boosted.
While being fully vaccinated and getting the bivalent booster shot can lower the risk of reinfection, studies have shown that immunity does wane over time.
Additionally, the chances of reinfection increases if a person lives in a county with high community transmission levels versus low transmission levels.
Another study from the CDC looked at essential workers who had previously been infected. It found that being unvaccinated, not frequently wearing a mask since first infection and being Black all increased the risk of being reinfected.
“The reality is three years into the pandemic, we know that infection is dependent on a variety of factors, including prior immunity,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation office at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “It’s not impossible especially over a long period of time, with immunity waning, whether that’s through infection or through vaccination.”
He continued, “We’ve seen many people with two, three, even four times COVID infection. It’s related to behavior. It’s related to practices around masking or travel.”
Role of variants
Currently, XBB.1.5, a subvariant of omicron, makes up the majority of new COVID cases in the U.S., CDC data shows.
Meanwhile, another subvariant, XBB.1.16, which was first detected in India, makes up nearly 10% of new cases.
Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for COVID-19, said at a briefing that the variant “has one additional mutation in the spike protein, which in lab studies showed increased infectivity.”
Currently, no data suggests XBB.1.16 causes an increase in more severe illness, hospitalizations or deaths.
Brownstein said it’s important to stay vigilant because a new variant could change how likely reinfection is.
“We still have concern about being thrown a curveball when it comes to variants,” Brownstein said. “So far, we’re seeing a pretty predictable path along this omicron front but it is possible we’ll see something completely out of left field that could challenge that underlying immunity that we’ve had from previous infections and vaccines.”
Is reinfection dangerous?
Brownstein said there has been conflicting data on whether or not COVID reinfection raises the risk of chronic illness. Having a prior infection, however, does offer some protection, experts say.
“At the end of the day having the underlying immunity is beneficial … some level of immunity will provide some cross protection to new variants,” he said.
Brownstein said there is still a risk for those who are more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19, including the elderly and those who are immunocompromised.
Additionally, every COVID infection increases the risk of someone developing long COVID, which occurs when a person has ongoing symptoms of COVID lasting three months or longer.
“The concern that we have is not just about hospitalizations and deaths; it’s the long-term chronic impact of COVID,” Brownstein said. “And each time that you get infected, there’s a potential for having longer-lasting symptoms, which we’ve seen strong data support, how debilitating some of these impacts can be for the population.”
SZA’s “Kill Bill” first entered the Billboard Hot 100 back in late December, and now, four months later, it’s finally topped the chart. It’s SZA’s first-ever number one on the Hot 100.
“Kill Bill,” from SZA’s number-one album SOS, entered the chart at number three and spent eight weeks at number two, but it now rises to the top thanks to a boost from a new remix featuring Doja Cat. The last time Doja and SZA teamed up, back in 2021, they scored a number three hit with “Kiss Me More.”
Prior to “Kill Bill,” SZA had hit the top 10 six times, including “Kiss Me More,” the Maroon 5 collab “What Lovers Do,” and “All the Stars,” which she recorded with Kendrick Lamar. Her other top 10s were “I Hate U, “Good Days” and “Nobody Gets Me.”
Elsewhere on the chart, Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” holds at number three, while “Princess Diana” by Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj debuts at number four. It’s Ice Spice’s second top 10, following her Pink Pantheress collab “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2.” Meanwhile, it’s Nicki’s 22nd top 10.
A lot of people have been revisiting the nu metal days of Linkin Park.
The band’s 2003 album, Meteora, returned to the top 10 of the Billboard 200 last week following the release of its 20th anniversary reissue, which features the unearthed single “Lost.” While Meteora followed in the nu metal footsteps of its predecessor, 2000’s Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park’s next album, 2007’s Minutes to Midnight, found them exploring entirely new directions.
Speaking to ABC Audio, LP’s Mike Shinoda shares that the band made that shift intentionally.
“[Our sound] was starting to get paint-by-numbers, it was starting to be the point where other people could copy it in theory,” Shinoda explains.
He quips, “No pun intended.”
At that point in their career after Meteora, Shinoda feels he and the rest of Linkin Park were faced with a choice.
“We can either keep doing this exact thing and turn it into McDonald’s, where you go anywhere in the world and you can get a Big Mac,” Shinoda says. “Or we can push the envelope and try different and new things and expand our taste, expand our skill set, hopefully make stuff that’s more exciting.”
While the sonic jump from HybridTheory and Meteora to Minutes to Midnight was certainly striking at the time, Shinoda feels that Linkin Park hinted at the upcoming change and future explorations during those nu metal days.
“The reason songs like ‘Breaking the Habit’ and ‘Session’ and ‘Nobody’s Listening’ are on [Meteora] is because we needed to indicate to people that we were going to go outside of the DNA or the expected sound of the band,” he says.
On Monday, the pop star took to Instagram to share photos of some of her looks over the years, including some of the iconic cone bras designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.
“A trip to my archives is always a nostalgic trip down memory lane! If I think about my journey through music over the last 4 decades— how could I not think about all the incredible clothes I got to wear and all the amazing designers I was lucky enough to work with,” she captioned the carousel of photos.
The “Material Girl” singer went on to recall being a little girl and her mother always being cold.
“She always spent what little money we had on our coats and I remember standing outside waiting for the schoolbus With my mother shivering in the cold in the middle of winter,” Madonna wrote. “Years later when I became successful my mother’s sister said to me, “Now You can buy all the coats your mother couldn’t buy for herself!”
She continued, “The journey from the memory of my shivering mother in Winter to me shivering in the over air-conditioned storage space where all my costumes are stored is quite remarkable! I am overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Madonna added that putting on “an incredible coat” always reminds her of her mother.
“I hope she likes my taste in costumes But most of all I hope she’s warm,” the post concluded.
In July, Madonna, 64, will kick off her Celebration Tour in Vancouver. The tour will honor the icon’s four decades of music.
Kane Brown and his wife, Katelyn, topped the country charts in February with their duet “Thank God” and now it’s becoming a crossover hit. Kane says he’s not surprised and is thrilled that Katelyn, a pop/R&B artist who put her career on hold when she married Kane, is getting her chance in the spotlight.
“I mean, Kate loves R&B and pop and, like, you know, big singers like Whitney Houston and all that, like, her voice just naturally leads there. So I think that’s, like, a huge reason,” Kane told reporters when asked why the song has a broad, multiple-genre appeal.
But in addition to the vocals, Kane thinks people like hearing a love song sung by a husband and wife.
“The song to me is really well written and written for any format that you want to put it at,” he noted. “Plus, it’s actually two people that really love each other singing that type of song … I think it just meshes well and everybody can relate to it.”
But Kane, who shares daughtersKingsley and Kodi with Katelyn, says seeing his wife be able to fulfill her musical ambitions is definitely the best thing about the success of “Thank God.”
“I mean, Kate’s always been an artist and, you know, she’s stepped back and is doing the mom and wife thing and she’s … holding our house together,” Kane says. “And she sings all the time. She loves music. So just to get to do that with her and get to live her dream with her means the world to me.”
Kane’s on tour all through this summer, and Katelyn’s been joining him onstage to sing “Thank God.”
Tuesday, April 25, in Arizona, Seal is kicking off his 30th anniversary tour, during which he’ll play his first two albums — Seal and Seal II — in their entireties. Seal says he’s excited to dig into the parts of those albums he doesn’t normally do in concert.
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do more than to tour and play those songs,” he tells ABC Audio. “I don’t necessarily play stuff from the old albums, other than the kind of pinnacle tracks like ‘Kiss from a Rose,’ ‘Prayer for the Dying,’ and ‘Crazy’ and things like that … so it’s a great opportunity to be able to do that, especially with Trevor.”
“Trevor” is Trevor Horn, who you may know as the guy with the big glasses in the “Video Killed the Radio Star” video. He’s the frontman of The Buggles, but he’s also a legendary producer who signed Seal to his first record deal and produced Seal’s first two albums. The Buggles are opening for Seal on the tour, then Horn will join him onstage as musical director.
“What makes it, I guess, even more exciting for me is that [Trevor] is M.D.-ing those songs that he produced,” Seal says. “So if it is possible to replicate and enhance upon every bit of emotion of those records, he’s going to be the person to do that.”
But no matter what song he’s singing, Seal says he has one goal in mind when he does concerts.
“If you were to say, ‘OK Seal, what do you hope to achieve with these live shows — other than everyone having a good time?’ My answer would be I just want to connect,” he tells ABC Audio. “When we are connected, I think that’s when we’re at our most beautiful.”
U2 just confirmed dates for their Las Vegas shows, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, which will kick off in September. The shows will be without drummer Larry Mullen Jr., which has upset some fans, but The Edge doesn’t seem concerned about fans accepting fill-in Bram van den Berg behind the drum kit.
The Edge tells Variety rehearsals for the show have “been fun” and says so far Bram has been “doing an incredible job.”
The Edge admits Bram has “some serious shoes to fill,” noting, “Larry is one of the greatest drummers of his era, so that’s in no doubt.” But, he says, “I think everyone will be very happy when they get to see us live,” adding, “The songs are sounding incredible, and it’s just so much fun to play them again. We just had a real blast in the rehearsal room.”
Since this will be the first show ever at the Sphere at The Venetian, The Edge expects there may be some bumps in the road they have to deal with, and he’s ready for the challenge.
“Inevitably, you know, when you’re doing something for the very first time, as this is on multiple levels, there’s going to be surprises along the way. And I think we’re OK with that,” he says. “You know, this is rock ‘n’ roll. It should feel a little dangerous. It should feel a little like there’s some jeopardy in the air.”
So far, the U2 Sphere shows will consist of five dates: September 29 and 30, and October 5, 7 and 8. Verified fan registration is open until Wednesday, April 26, at 10 a.m. ET, with the presale happening Thursday, April 27.
Following talk of a possible spinoff of The Big Bang Theory, Mayim Bialik, who played Amy Farrah Fowler on the original CBS sitcom, says she’d be open to making an appearance, if she’s asked.
“We’re all still pretty close, so there was a lot of texting going on,” the Jeopardy! host told E! News at the Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala on April 22, “And I asked my agent. He was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I guess no one knows at this point, but I can’t wait to find out.”
“I’ll do anything related to anything like that,” adds, Bialik, 47, “But yeah, we really have no idea. So I’m in the same boat as everyone else.”
Meanwhile, Bialik is eyeing a potential reboot of her 1990s sitcom, Blossom, in which she starred as the titular character, Blossom Russo.
“We’re thinking about coming back,” said Mayim. “There’s a lot of things that have to happen … But Don Reo, our creator, and I have finally been able to find a breath and an opening in my life and schedule where we’re ready to talk about it actively.”
“A lot of shows from the ‘90s have been rebooted,” noted Mayim, who’s hopeful Blossom can get the revival treatment as well.
“We were on from ‘90 to ‘94, so we were right in that pocket,” she continued, “and I’m just excited to think about putting our own spin on what it would be like to see where these characters are.”
State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy/ Public Domain
(WASHINGTON) — After intense negotiations, the Sudanese Armed Forces & Rapid Support Forces had agreed to implement a 72-hour cease-fire across the country beginning at midnight Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Monday afternoon in Washington.
Blinken added that the U.S. would “coordinate with regional and international partners, and Sudanese civilian stakeholders, to assist in the creation of a committee to oversee the negotiation, conclusion, and implementation of a permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements in Sudan.”
The statement comes after a successful operation over the weekend rescued dozens of U.S. embassy personnel and their families from war-torn Sudan, and top officials in Washington saying Monday they aren’t losing sight of the thousands of American citizens still believed to be in the country.
“In just the last 36 hours since the embassy evacuation operation was completed, we continue to be in close communication with U.S. citizens and individuals affiliated with the U.S. government to provide assistance and facilitate available departure routes for those seeking to move to safety via land, air and sea,” Blinken told reporters hours earlier.
While it’s unclear exactly how many Americans remain in Sudan, Blinken said officials had been in contact with “some dozens” who “expressed an interest in leaving.”
Blinken also said that the State Department was exploring ways to reestablish a diplomatic footprint in Sudan, possibly in Port Sudan — a city on the Red Sea and a destination for many fleeing intense violence in the capital, Khartoum. But Blinken cautioned it would depend on the conditions in the country, which he described as “very, very challenging.”
The secretary also said officials within the department were closely monitoring convoys transporting some Americans as well as other foreign nationals away from Khartoum.
“Some of them have encountered problems including, robbery, looting, that kind of thing,” he said.
While the Biden administration is standing by its warning that Americans in Sudan should not expect a mass evacuation, during a White House briefing on Monday national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it wasn’t completely off the table.
“There’s certainly a willingness to take steps to help Americans be able to get out of the country,” he said. “The president has asked for every conceivable option to be able to help Americans.”
Sullivan noted that conditions in the country would have to be deemed secure enough to carry out a larger operation before one could take place.
“Right now, we believe that the best way for us to help facilitate people’s departure is in fact to support this land evacuation route, as well as work with allies and partners who are working on their own evacuation plans as well,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. drones were watching over a United Nations-led convoy that consisted of dozens of Americans, ensuring its safety as it navigated to Port Sudan.
Volker Perthes, the U.N.’s special representative of the body’s security-general to Sudan, said the journey took 35 hours to complete.
“We had some challenges on the road. It wasn’t first class airlift, but I think it was good that we all together moved out,” Perthes said. “Thirty-five hours in a not-so-comfortable convoy is certainly better than three hours bombing and sitting under the shells.”
While the White House is continuing to advise U.S. citizens still trapped in Sudan to shelter in place, saying it’s not safe to facilitate a mass evacuation, Blinken said American officials have been able to “facilitate Americans being folded into” some convoys.
The State Department is also collecting information from Americans in Sudan through a crisis-intake form that allows citizens to indicate they want to leave the country and need assistance.
Blinken said because the majority of Americans still there are dual citizens, the State Department anticipates many won’t want to leave.
But as the fighting enters its second week, remaining in an active warzone is becoming increasing untenable for many, like a Massachusetts teacher Trillian Clifford and her 18-month-old daughter Alma.
“To think that the two of them are in this much danger is horrific. She’s telling us stories about airstrikes within a kilometer of her apartment,” Rebecca Winter, Clifford’s sister-in-law said in an interview to ABC News. “Her situation is becoming more dire every day.”
Over 420 people have already been killed during the course of the conflict, and thousands more have been injured.
Explosions have inflicted heavy damages on Sudan’s infrastructure, complicating civilians’ efforts to flee. Widespread phone and internet outages have also been reported across the country, impacting stranded individuals’ ability to communicate with embassy officials or friends and family outside of the country who can provide guidance.
![Mike Shinoda reflects on going “outside of the [Linkin Park] DNA” with post-‘Meteora’ sound](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2023-04-24/M_lpmeteora_021023.jpg "Mike Shinoda reflects on going “outside of the [Linkin Park] DNA” with post-‘Meteora’ sound")
