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DOJ provides congressional leaders access to Trump, Biden, Pence classified docs

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has started to provide access to a group of bipartisan congressional leaders some of the classified materials recovered from the residences of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Tuesday.

Administration officials began sharing the documents with House and Senate leadership as well as the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees — known as the “Gang of Eight” — last week, sources said.

The production follows months of increasingly contentious back-and-forth negotiations between lawmakers and the Justice Department, which now has two separate special counsel probes investigating the potential mishandling of classified materials by Trump and Biden.

Trump is under scrutiny for his alleged obstruction of the government’s efforts to retrieve classified materials he retained after leaving the White House, while Biden has pledged full cooperation with the special counsel investigating him.

Punchbowl News first reported news of the agreement.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the developments. ABC News has reached out to lawmakers in the “Gang of Eight” but did not immediately receive a response.

What is not clear is the level of access to the documents the administration is providing to lawmakers, given sensitivities surrounding the ongoing criminal investigations of Trump and Biden.

Attorney General Merrick Garland acknowledged those sensitivities when he was pressed on the administration’s hesitance to provide access to some of the materials recovered from Trump, Biden and Pence’s homes in an appearance before Congress two weeks ago, though he also noted negotiations were progressing.

Jeremy Renner gives lighthearted post-accident interview to Jimmy Kimmel

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Four months after his near-fatal snowplow accident, Jeremy Renner made a hilarious appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night.

After being introduced as “the Avenger who beat Thanos, Loki and a 14,000-pound snowplow, the indestructible” Jeremy Renner took the stage, walking with a cane, but in amazing spirits.

“Was this a publicity stunt?” Kimmel asked, admitting he “can’t believe” the twice-nominated actor was even alive, let alone looking so well.

It was “a very, very bad way to start the year,” Renner said, noting he broke “35 or so” bones in the incident.

“It’s a giant metal cookie roller” Renner said of the vehicle that he got pulled under while trying to save his nephew from it, adding, “It just missed every vertebrae, did not hit any organs, my brain did not swell, nothing like that.”

“My eye did pop out. That’s weird,” he added with a laugh. “But I got pretty lucky that none of the organs got messed up.”

As for his collapsed lung, the 52-year-old joked, “That’s OK, I got another one.”

The actor, there to promote his passion project Rennervations, which is about to premiere on Disney+, also talked about the support he got from his family and friends. He said it was his friends’ reactions, like his Avengers co-star Chris Evans, that let him know he was in such bad shape. “Terrible actors, they couldn’t hide the fact that I looked awful,” he joked.

Renner also shared that another Avenger, Paul Rudd, visited him in the hospital several times. The Hawkeye star even shared the Ant-Man lead’s fake Cameo call to “Jerry” to cheer him up after his “fight with a snowblower or something.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Sting’s My Songs world tour will hit North America this fall

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Sting‘s My Songs tour, which has essentially been going on since 2019, will return to North America this fall.

The tour, which highlights material from Sting’s entire catalog, both solo and with The Police, starts September 5 in Toronto and is set to wrap up October 12 in Arkansas. However, it’s billed as Leg 1, so it’s likely Sting will be returning at some point. Opening all dates will be special guest Joe Sumner aka Sting’s eldest son.

Sting’s fan club members can access a presale via Sting.com starting April 12. The general on-sale date is Friday, April 14, at 10 a.m. local time via Sting.com.

Sting’s My Songs tour began in 2019 and toured through Europe, Asia and North America, but of course was canceled in 2020. It resumed in the fall of 2021 and included Sting’s debut Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. It continued around the world in 2022, with a second run of Las Vegas shows that June.

The set list has changed from year to year, but has always included hits like “King of Pain,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Fields of Gold” and “Desert Rose.”

Sting’s already been to Australia and Asia this year, and has done a third run in Vegas. He’ll perform in Sacramento, California, on April 11 and 12 before heading back to Europe.

Avenged Sevenfold announces more ’Life Is but a Dream…’ tour dates

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Avenged Sevenfold has announced more U.S. tour dates in support of Life Is but a Dream…, the band’s upcoming album.

The newly added shows run from September 16 in West Palm Beach, Florida, to October 15 in Fort Worth, Texas. Falling in Reverse will also be on the bill.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 14, at 10 a.m. local time, with various presales throughout the week, including for members of A7X’s Deathbath NFT club.

Avenged Sevenfold previously announced a summer North American tour for July and August. Life Is but a Dream…, the follow-up to 2016’s The Stage, drops June 2.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit AvengedSevenfold.com.

Public Image Ltd. announces new album, ’End of World’

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Public Image Ltd. has announced a new album called End of World.

News of the record, which has been in the works since 2018, comes just a week after frontman John Lydon‘s wife, Nora Forster, died following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Nora loved the album, she wouldn’t have wanted us to postpone it or change any of our plans,” Lydon says.

End of World, the first PiL album in eight years, is due out August 11. It includes the previously released song “Hawaii,” which Lydon wrote about Forster and entered in the Eurovision Song Contest.

A second track, titled “Penge,” is out now via digital outlets.

Here’s the End of World track list:

“Penge”
“End of the World”
“Car Chase”
“Being Stupid Again”
“Walls”
“Pretty Awful”
“Strange”
“Down on the Clown”
“Dirty Murky Delight”
“The Do That”
“L F C F”
“North West Passage”
“Hawaii”

China ‘ready to fight’ after three days of large-scale military drills around Taiwan

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(TAIPEI, Taiwan) — China’s military declared it’s “ready to fight” after wrapping up three days of combat drills simulating a blockade to “seal off” Taiwan.

The large-scale land and sea exercises follow last week’s meeting by Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and hasn’t ruled out taking the self-governed island by force.

The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Monday it tracked a record 91 Chinese fighter jets in the final day of the exercises, with dozens of warplanes crossing over the sensitive maritime median line of the Taiwan Strait.

The drills involved Su-30 and J-11 fighters, navy destroyers and missile speedboats, practicing to “encircle” Taiwan. China said it was simulating attacks on key targets, with the People’s Liberation Army even releasing an animation of what hitting those targets would look like.

A voice recording obtained by ABC News captures the moment of a standoff between a Taiwanese ship and Chinese ship. The Taiwanese officers are heard telling the PLA Xuzhou: “Your actions have seriously undermined the region’s peace, stability and security and deliberately provoked trouble, which have intensified security risk in the Taiwan Strait. Please leave immediately. If you insist on trespassing into our 24 nm contiguous zone, I will be forced to expel you.”

China’s Xuzhou responds, “The 24 nm contiguous zone doesn’t exist. Taiwan is an integral part of China. Those pursuing Taiwan independence are the ones undermining peace and stability across the Strait.”

China also claimed a U.S. Navy ship “illegally intruded” into waters it claims as its own, about 800 miles south of Taiwan. The USS Milius is a guided missile destroyer, it was carrying out a freedom of navigation patrol in the Spratly Islands, in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The U.S. said it was monitoring China’s actions and that it was “comfortable and confident” it has the resources and capabilities to ensure peace and stability in the region.

This round of Chinese drills is shorter than the ones held last August, following former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. At that time China staged unprecedented drills for about a week, including firing missiles over the island.

Former Taiwanese defence minister Andrew Yang told ABC News that he thought this month’s drills were actually larger in scale, because of the use of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier.

On the streets of Taipei, ABC News spoke to a range of Taiwanese who had mixed views towards the Chinese threat, but many of them said it was easier “not to think about” whether there could be an invasion.

Brian Pien, who works in IT recruitment, said, “They made it clear they’re gonna do something. We don’t know when that’s going to happen, we just hope we’re going to be safe.”

Twenty-six-year-old Becky Chen said, “I feel ever since Nancy Pelosi visited us the tension has been more intense than ever.”

J.C. Cheng, however, said the threat of China is something “us Taiwanese grow up with,” but admitted it’s something he does worry about.

Wu Rwei-Ren, associate research fellow at Academia Sinica, said “Taiwan on the surface, looks quiet and peaceful, and it seems like everything is business as usual, but in people’s conscience, something fundamentally different has occurred.”

“The economy is good. We have a vibrant democracy, we have human rights and freedom,” he went on to say, “And yet, on the other hand, we are facing probably one of the most dangerous times in history.”

Metallica invades ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on the first of their four-night residency

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Metallica kicked off its weeklong residency on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, by sitting down for an interview, followed by a performance of “Lux Æterna,” the first single from their new album, 72 Seasons, out Friday, April 14.

In addition to the new album, the group — singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — talked about some of their other projects, including their marching band competition which invites bands of all levels to come up with unique performances of Metallica songs, with over $150,000 in prizes up for grabs for the winners.

“The fact that we get to play and love what we do and someone takes that and puts that…in their own sense, then they get their whole audience pumped up for their team to play…it’s double cool,” Hetfield told Kimmel.

They guys will also be doing something a little different for their upcoming tour, in which they’ll play “two nights in every city, two completely different shows, no repeats” which, according to Ulrich, “helps us avoid falling into autopilot.”

The metal legends also discussed their popularity with younger fans, thanks in part to the use of their song “Master of Puppets” — which they’ll perform in its entirety on Wednesday — in an episode of Netflix’s Stranger Things, and their own kids following in their footsteps.

“Maybe one day we’ll…hand the keys to [Metallica] to them.”

The Kimmel residency continues through Thursday, leading up to Friday’s release of 72 Seasons.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.

See Yara Shahidi, Jude Law in official trailer for Disney+’s ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

The official trailer for Peter Pan & Wendy is here.

The trailer for the upcoming live-action reimagining of the J.M. Barrie novel and the 1953 animated film features characters from the classic tale that we all know and love, including Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson), Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk), Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi) and Captain Hook (Jude Law).

Just like the original movie, fans are introduced to Wendy Darling in the trailer after she’s awakened from her sleep when Tinker Bell and Peter Pan appear in the room that she shares with her brothers John and Michael Darling, played by Joshua Pickering and Jacobi Jupe, respectively.

According to a synopsis of the upcoming film, Wendy and her brothers travel with Peter and Tinker Bell to the magical world of Neverland. There, they encounter the evil pirate Captain Hook.

The upcoming film is directed by The Green Knight and Pete’s Dragon‘s David Lowery.

Peter Pan & Wendy will be available for streaming on April 28, 2023, on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Rihanna is now the most-followed woman on Twitter

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Rihanna leads, and everyone else just follows — literally.

According to SocialBlade, Rihanna is now the most-followed woman on Twitter, with Katy Perry just about 20,000 followers behind. At press time, Rihanna had 108,278,326 followers, while Katy has 108,258,344.

As far as the most-followed musician on Twitter, that’s Justin Bieber: With 113,153,027 followers at press time, he’s also the third most-followed man on Twitter. The only two people who have more followers are Barack Obama and — no surprise — Twitter boss Elon Musk.

Over on Instagram, the most-followed woman is also the most-followed musician: Selena Gomez, who has 410 million followers.

Jon Bon Jovi’s son Jake apparently engaged to ‘Stranger Things’ star Millie Bobby Brown

April 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Seems like Jon Bon Jovi is about to add a new A-lister to the family.

The rock star’s son Jake Bongiovi has apparently gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.

19-year-old Millie seemingly confirmed the news in a post on Instagram, featuring a happy photo of the couple embracing, with a ring clearly visible on Millie’s finger. In the caption she quoted another music superstar, Taylor Swift, writing, “I’ve loved you for three summers now, honey, I want ’em all.” That’s a lyric from Taylor’s top 10 hit “Lover.”

20-year-old Jake also shared photos of himself with his apparent new fiancée at the beach, captioning the pics “Forever.”

The couple has been publicly linked since 2021.

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