(L-R) Elwood Francis, Frank Beard, and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top perform on stage at Viejas Casino & Resort on November 02, 2025 in Alpine, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
ZZ Top has added more tour dates to their 2026 schedule.
The band has revealed dates for a U.S. leg of their The Big One! tour, with the trek kicking off March 21 in Abilene, Texas, and wrapping May 19 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
The tour is one of many the band has planned for next year. They previously announced dates for the Dos Amigos tour with Dwight Yoakam, consisting of 15 shows starting March 26 in Brookings, South Dakota.
They also announced they’ll be bringing The Big One! tour to Europe, their first European tour in two years. The 23-show tour will have them hitting 13 countries, with a mix of festival appearances and headlining dates. It starts June 13 in Estonia.
A complete list of ZZ Top dates can be found at ZZTop.com.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, after initially saying he had “no problem” with releasing the video of the Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea that killed two survivors, is now reversing course and deferring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I didn’t say that,” Trump claimed when pressed on Monday by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott about his Dec. 3 comments.
“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is OK with me,” Trump said on Monday.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday morning, Trump further distanced himself from the controversy when asked if he believed the second strike on the survivors was necessary.
“Well, it looked like they were trying to turn back over the boat. But I don’t get involved in that. That’s up to them,” Trump said.
Though last week, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson spoke about Trump and Hegseth’s responsibility for the strike.
“At the end of the day, the president and the secretary are the ones directing these strikes, and any follow-up strikes that were directed by Adm. Bradley, the secretary 100% agrees with,” Wilson told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon on Dec. 2.
ABC Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang asked the president in the Oval Office on Dec. 3, “Will you release video of that strike — so that the American people can see for themselves?”
Trump responded, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release no problem.”
Officials have confirmed there were four military strikes against the alleged drug boat on Sept. 2, the first strike killing nine of the 11 people aboard. About 40 minutes later, a second strike was ordered to kill the two survivors. Two additional strikes were ordered to sink the boat, officials said.
Some Democrats and legal experts have suggested that the killing of survivors could constitute a war crime.
Hegseth, who was heading to Capitol Hill on Tuesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine to brief the “Gang of Eight” on national security matters, has not committed to releasing the video of the strike. The defense secretary cited concerns that releasing the video could expose sources or methods that would need to be protected.
Hegseth also has suggested the survivors killed posed an imminent threat.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who has seen the video of the strike, pushed back on the description provided by Hegseth and other Republicans.
Smith, during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, called the video “deeply disturbing” and said “it did not appear that these two survivors were in any position to continue the fight.”
Members of Congress are attempting to pass new legislation to force Hegseth to provide lawmakers the unedited footage of the strike.
Trump was asked in the interview with Politico if Hegseth should testify under oath about the Sept. 2 strike.
“I don’t care if he does. He can if he wants. I don’t care,” Trump said. He added that he believes Hegseth is “doing a great job.”
The Sept. 2 boat strike is part of what the administration has called its “war” on drug cartels. There have been more than 20 military strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, killing more than 80 people.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Mary Bruce contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least four rivers in Washington state are now at major flood stage — the highest level — and 11 others are forecast to reach the same level in the next day or two as an atmospheric river delivers heavy rain in the Pacific Northwest
The multiday event from Washington to Oregon is swelling rivers to near-record levels.
The event is forecast to bring up to 7 inches of rainfall in parts of Washington.
Stampede Pass, at an elevation of 3,600 feet in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, recorded more than 7 inches of rain on Monday. Usually, this would be snow, but due to the well-above-average temperatures plaguing the West, it’s been all rain so far.
More than 1 inch of rain has fallen at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and more than 1.5 inches was recorded at Portland International Airport in Oregon.
Some rivers may break records. Already, overnight into Tuesday, the Naselle River near Naselle, Washington, has gone from its normal 5 foot depth to nearly 20 feet deep, growing by 10 feet in 12 hours and coming within less than 1 foot of the historical record.
While Washington was the hardest hit on Monday, the atmospheric river has shifted slightly south on Tuesday and will hit Oregon the hardest.
The atmospheric river is expected to retreat north again Tuesday night and into Wednesday and deliver more rain to Washington state.
The rain will continue Thursday and Friday, but it will be much lighter for western Washington and Oregon.
Total rainfall accumulation through the event is still expected to reach over a foot of rain at high elevations and 3 inches or more at some of the lowest elevations.
Midwest winter storm
The Midwest will see a break in the brutal cold over the next couple days until the next shot of Arctic air plunges into the Midwest by Friday and digs in through the weekend. It will reach the Northeast by Sunday morning.
A strong low pressure system is moving through the Upper Midwest and creating dangerous wind and snow conditions on Tuesday.
A widespread area of damaging wind has led to high wind warnings across at least seven states from Montana to Minnesota to Colorado where gusts up to 65 mph are generally expected Tuesday. Higher elevations in the mountains of Colorado could have gusts up to 90 mph.
This could dislodge even hardened snow on the ground and create ground blizzard conditions.
Anyone driving in these areas should use extreme caution. High-top vehicles like semis can be overturned in these conditions. Power outages are also possible. Plus, there will be low visibility with any blowing snow.
Meanwhile, some areas will see falling snow, too.
A winter storm warning is in place with 2 to 7 inches of snow possible from parts of North Dakota through parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Minneapolis could see 2 to 4 inches of snow and gusts up to 35 mph Tuesday afternoon and overnight.
A winter storm warning is in place for parts of South Dakota, southern Minnesota and central Iowa because gusts up to 60 mph Tuesday night and Wednesday could lead to blizzard conditions by dislodging snow already on the ground, along with minor new snow accumulations.
On Wednesday, this storm will bring rain and snow to the Northeast.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 8, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Yang-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — One year after his arrest on Dec. 9, 2024, the pretrial hearing in the case of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione is in its fifth day in a lower Manhattan courtroom.
Attorneys for Mangione, who is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last December, are seeking to exclude from trial critical evidence that they say was illegally seized from his backpack without a warrant after officers apprehended him in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days after the shooting.
Tuesday’s first witness, Altoona police officer Stephen Fox, participated in the backpack search and is heard on body camera footage saying it was a “search incident to arrest” — the term that authorizes the search of an individual upon arrest in Pennsylvania.
After officers formally placed Mangione in custody, Fox is heard asking Mangione, “Anything in that bag we need to know about?”
Fox testified that he suspected the backpack contained a weapon.
“We were dealing possibly with the New York shooter,” he said on the witness stand.
Fox said he and his colleagues commenced the search of Mangione, consistent with “every arrest I make.” When asked by the prosecutor, Joel Seidemann, if he ever asked for a search warrant, Fox replied, “No.”
When his colleague, patrolman Christy Wasser, pulls out a loaded magazine wrapped in gray underwear, Fox is heard in the body camera video uttering, “It’s f—— him, dude.”
Fox expressed familiarity with the fatal shooting of Thompson.
“It appeared to be a clear, targeted assassination of an individual in the hierarchy of healthcare,” Fox testified. “I knew it was a violent act of cowardice that targeted a defenseless human being.”
Fox is seen in the footage patting down Mangione, whose back is to the officer with his hands against the wall.
“I felt uneasy based on the way he was sitting there. He wasn’t making eye contact,” Fox testified. “This was most likely the New York shooter we were dealing with. I wanted to make sure he was clear of any weapons.”
Fox read Mangione his Miranda rights and handcuffed him at the restaurant.
Nearly a dozen witnesses have testified in the hearing’s five days so far. Their testimony will help Judge Gregory Carro determine what evidence is allowed at trial and what, if any, evidence should be omitted.
The McDonald’s manager who called 911 said her customers recognized the young man seated in the back corner eating a Steak McMuffin and hash brown because of the distinctive eyebrows, which were visible even as a surgical mask and hood concealed much of his face.
On a slip of paper police said they pulled from his backpack, Mangione had reminded himself on Dec. 5, 2024, to “pluck eyebrows.”
On the reverse side of the paper is a crudely drawn map and a reminder to “check Pittsburgh red eyes, ideally to Columbus or Cincin (get off early).” Another reminder said, “keep momentum, FBI slower overnight.”
The piece of paper had not been seen publicly until it was shown during the ongoing hearing at which Mangione’s attorneys are trying to exclude everything taken from the backpack, including the alleged murder weapon, two loaded magazines, a silencer and a cell phone in a Faraday bag designed to conceal its signal.
They argue that officers from the Altoona Police Department skipped steps and violated Mangione’s constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure because they were eager to help crack a big case.
The district attorney’s office said the officers legitimately feared the backpack could contain something dangerous and their search complied with Pennsylvania law.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid criticism that he’s been focused heavily on foreign policy rather than an “America First” agenda, President Donald Trump will kick off what will be a year focused on domestic travel and touting his economic agenda with a speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Trump will push back against criticism of the economy and preview his upcoming economic plans.
“The president will be traveling to Pennsylvania to discuss how he and the Administration continue to focus on delivering on his Day 1 priority of ending Joe Biden’s inflation crisis,” the White House official said in an email to ABC News.
Trump may also hold another event similar to what is planned for Pennsylvania later this month and additional events are expected after New Year’s Day, the White House official said.
Trump has faced pushback, including from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former top ally, for not doing more to address the high cost of living. In response, Trump has claimed that affordability is being used as a “buzzword” by Democrats ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Last week, Trump called the issue of affordability the “greatest con job.”
“It’s a con job. I think affordability is the greatest con job. They look at you and they say, ‘affordability.’ They don’t say anything else. Everyone says, ‘Oh, their prices were so low.’ No, they had the worst inflation,” Trump said, referring to Democratic critiques of his economy.
Trump defended his economic agenda in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday morning, touting the revenue his global tariffs have generated while saying he would consider more carve-outs for goods impacted by the levies that Americans find too expensive.
Trump also pushed back on critics, including Greene, who said he’s been too focused on foreign affairs.
“Most of my time is spent here. But when I do go outside, it’s only going outside for here. For instance, settling and solving the problem with China, that has a huge effect in the United States. Making deals with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, all of these countries, you’re talking about trillions and trillions of dollars. So I could … I guess I could say let’s not deal with anybody. We wouldn’t have much of a country,” Trump told Politico.
Although Trump has extolled his economic plans, a recent Gallup poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, while 62% disapprove and 2% have no opinion.
And it’s clear that the Trump administration is feeling pressure to address concerns about the cost of living following November’s elections, which saw voters across New Jersey, Virginia and New York City push back against the president’s agenda.
In the weeks that followed, the Trump administration made shifts in its economic plans, including rolling back tariffs on some food imports in an attempt to lower grocery prices, and floating the idea of a 50-year mortgage.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday morning that Trump is “going to give a positive, economic-focused speech” in Pennsylvania and called on Republicans to “be more vocal about touting the accomplishments of this administration.”
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Trump will campaign for Republican candidates in the midterms “like it’s 2024 again.”
“The president started raising money for the midterms the day after the election, and he’s sitting on a huge war chest to help these people. And he’ll use it, and he’ll use himself, and he’ll use his money that he’s raised, probably his money too, and, and, and nobody can outwork him, so there’s every reason to be confident, but we have to actually get it done,” Wiles said on “The Mom View” podcast on Monday.
A man is facing murder charges after a social worker he allegedly attacked and stabbed repeatedly in a ward at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center died from her injuries, Dec. 6, 2025, according to police. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — Charges have been upgraded to murder against a man who allegedly attacked and repeatedly stabbed a social worker last week inside a San Francisco hospital after first allegedly threatening a doctor, according to prosecutors.
The charges against Wilfredo Jose Tortolero Arriechi, 34, were amended from attempted murder to murder on Monday after the victim died on Saturday, two days after he was stabbed repeatedly inside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office described the victim as a 51-year-old University of California, San Francisco, social worker. The victim’s age was initially reported by police as 31.
Arriechi is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, according to the District Attorney’s Office, which said it will move to have the suspect held without bail pending a trial.
The attack unfolded around 1:39 p.m. local time on Thursday in the hospital’s Ward 86, which, according to the medical facility’s website, is an HIV/AIDS clinic on the facility’s sixth floor.
Before the attack, a sheriff’s deputy was called to the hospital after the suspect, who was at the hospital for a scheduled appointment, allegedly threatened a doctor, according to an earlier sheriff’s department statement.
“While providing security for the doctor, our sheriff’s deputy heard a disturbance unfolding in the hallway involving the suspect, who was attacking a social worker,” according to the sheriff’s office statement. “The deputy intervened immediately, restraining the suspect and securing the scene.”
The District Attorney’s Office released new details about the attack on Monday, alleging Arriechi went to the hospital with a concealed knife.
“Allegedly Mr. Tortolero Arriechi appeared calm and engaged in a in a conversation with a social worker and was advised to leave. Allegedly he and the victim walked to the elevator together when he suddenly grabbed the victim from behind and stabbed him numerous times,” the District Attorney’s Office said in their statement.
The victim, according to he sheriff’s office, suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and shoulder.
A five-inch kitchen knife believed to have been used in the attack was recovered at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
UPTE-CWA 9119, the union representing professional and technical employees at the University of California, released a statement on social media Saturday, demanding a “full investigation and reliable, consistent, and transparent safety protocols that ensure every worker comes home safely at the end of their shift.”
“We at UPTE-CWA 9119 are devastated to learn of the death of a remarkable, compassionate, and dedicated social worker, who was beloved by their family, friends, colleagues, and fellow union members,” Dan Russell, UPTE president, said in the statement.
The San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association union also released a statement, criticizing the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), which runs the hospital, for recently reducing the number of deputy sheriffs assigned to the hospital and shifting to a “response-only” security model.
“This was not a random unforeseeable incident,” Ken Lomba, president of the deputy sheriff’s union, said in a statement.
Lomba added that the hospital’s own data shows “years of serious assaults and weapons on campus.”
In a statement to ABC News on Sunday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said, “Keeping our staff, patients, and community safe is our highest priority.”
DPH said it has taken steps to bolster security at the hospital, including adding more security officers, limiting access points and speeding up the installation of weapons detection systems.
“We are also conducting a full investigation and are committed to making both immediate and long-term safety improvements at all our facilities,” DPH said. “This tragic event underscores the urgency of our ongoing efforts to strengthen protections for every member of our workforce.”
The agency added, “We are committed to doing everything necessary to ensure that no one fears for their safety while providing care to the people of San Francisco.
‘Mariah Carey’s Here for It All Holiday Special’ (TikTok/Apple Music/gamma )
Mariah Carey is bringing Christmas cheer to fans who can’t make it to her show in Las Vegas.
Dec. 13 will mark the final show of her Vegas Christmas residency — Mariah Carey’s Christmastime in Las Vegas — at Dolby Live at Park MGM. It will stream on TikTokLIVE and Apple Music that night.
Apple Music subscribers can then watch the show, dubbed the Mariah Carey Here For It All Holiday Special, on demand after the livestream.
The 90-minute show will feature plenty of Christmas songs, as well as selections from Mariah’s latest album, Here For It All, such as “Jesus I Do” and “In Your Feelings.”
Mariah Carey’s Christmastime in Las Vegas kicked off Nov. 28. A dollar from every ticket is being donated to The Fresh Air Fund’s Camp Mariah, which inspires kids ages 11-15 to explore various careers.
One month after releasing their 10th studio album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, U2 made their Saturday Night Live debut, performing two songs off the record, “Beautiful Day” and “Elevation.” The night’s host was Top Gun star Val Kilmer.
U2 would return to the show three more times.
They made their second appearance with host Luke Wilson in November 2004 to promote their #1 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
They returnedin September 2009 with host Megan Fox, performing songs off their twelfth studio album, No Line on the Horizon, and again in December 2017 with host Saoirse Ronan, performing songs from their 14th studio album, Songs of Experience. Both of those albums would also hit #1.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is seen during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for judicial nominees in Dirksen building, November 19, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — For several years, as U.S. authorities have struggled to stop online extremist networks like “764” from pushing teens to livestream acts of violence or self-harm, including their own suicide, the Justice Department has faced what authorities and victims both say is a vexing challenge: Such coercion is not a federal crime.
That could change if the Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department, have their way.
Ahead of a committee hearing Tuesday on the evolving threat of online predators, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, introduced a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation that would explicitly criminalize the intentional coercing of minors to physically harm themselves or others, including animals.
Under their proposal, called the Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online Act, some perpetrators could face life in prison.
“When offenders are eventually caught by law enforcement, prosecutors charge them with the most appropriate charges,” Grassley said in the hearing. “However, there are no specific laws to address the terrible and shocking acts conducted by gore groups such as 764 and those engaged in sextortion.”
Grassley and Durbin’s proposed legislation comes in the wake of several recent reports from ABC News about the growing threat of 764, including an extended interview with the parents of Jay Taylor, a 13-year-old from outside Seattle who in 2022 took his own life — and aired it live on social media — after allegedly being manipulated by a member of 764 in Germany.
“It’s almost biblical in its definition of evil, what happened,” Jay’s father, Colby Taylor, said in the ABC News interview. “Ten minutes of murder.”
That’s why the U.S. needs “to have something in our actual laws that allows us to prosecute” cases as “digital homicides,” he said.
The FBI has described 764 as one of the greatest current threats to teens online, with members finding vulnerable victims on popular platforms, eliciting private information and intimate sexual images from them, and then using that sensitive material to blackmail victims into mutilating themselves or taking other violent action — all while streaming it on social media so others can watch and then disseminate recordings of it.
According to authorities, Jay Taylor is just one of many victims pushed to suicide.
German law explicitly criminalizes such coercion, so the young man allegedly behind Jay Taylor’s death — calling himself “White Tiger” online — has been charged in Germany with murder, along with 203 other offenses involving more than 30 other victims.
According to former FBI agent Pat McMonigle, who helped uncover “White Tiger” and what he allegedly did, making online coercion a federal crime in the United States “would be very helpful.”
“This is truly a bipartisan thing that … could effect some change,” he recently told ABC News.
According to Grassley’s office, the Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online Act — or “ECCHO Act” — would “specifically go after” networks like 764, creating a penalty of up to life in prison for those who intentionally coerce someone into even just attempting to die by suicide or who coerce someone into taking action that results in the death or killing of another person.
The bill would also create a 30-year maximum penalty for other harmful conduct that does not involve a death, Grassley’s office said.
“Because of modern technology, child predators from anywhere in the world can target American kids online,” Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate as the Democratic whip, said in a statement. “As technology has evolved, so have online child predators.”
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says it received more than 2,000 reports of abuse tied to 764 or similar networks in the first nine months of this year.
As ABC News has previously reported, the FBI is investigating more than 350 people across the United States with suspected ties to 764 or similar networks. And the Justice Department has already publicly charged at least 35 such people in recent years.
Their victims have been as young as nine years old, according to authorities.
FBI Director Kash Patel recently called 764 “modern-day terrorism in America.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Tuesday will include testimony from an executive director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a former federal prosecutor who retired from the Justice Department earlier this year, and the mother of a teenage son who was victimized by sextortion and then took his own life, unrelated to 764.
Some states have enacted laws aimed at helping to protect children online. And in May, President Donald Trump signed into law the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which prohibits the nonconsensual publication of sexually-explicit images and pushes online platforms to remove violative material.
Several lawmakers — from both sides of the aisle — have introduced additional pieces of legislation in both the House and Senate that could help fight online predators.
But those laws and proposals don’t specifically address the coerced self-harm that is emblematic of 764 and similar online networks.
On Tuesday, Grassley and Durbin are expected to introduce two other pieces of legislation to help protect children online, including the Stop Sextortion Act, which would amend existing laws to address offenders who use threats to distribute sexually-explicit material to extort and coerce minors, according to Grassley’s office.
“I’m proud to introduce these bills to protect children from online abuse, hold dangerous criminals accountable and secure much needed justice for victims and their families,” Grassley said in his statement.
Durbin similarly said he was “proud to join” Grassley’s effort.
At least one other top Democrat in the Senate, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Virginia, has previously expressed support for such legislation, recently telling ABC News that online coercion is “a total crime,” even if “it’s through a digital connection.”
Still, it’s unclear how successful Grassley and Durbin’s effort will be.
One high-profile piece of legislation aimed at protecting children online, the Kids Online Safety Act, passed overwhelmingly in the Senate last year — by a vote of 93 to 1 — only to languish in the House, largely due to First Amendment concerns.
“This is a problem that is going to continue to morph, and if we don’t do something, potentially could get worse,” Sen. Warner told ABC News.
