Selena Gomez candidly shared with fans Wednesday the message she would tell her younger self.
Taking to her Instagram Story, the singer opened up about what she wished she knew when she was a child. “Something I wish I could tell my younger self is appreciate the face and the body that you have,” she said.
Selena continued, “It may not look like everyone else, but you are who you are — and be proud of that.”
The singer shared even more lessons she wishes she could send back in time in a separate Instagram post, where she uploaded a throwback headshot that was taken when she was little.
“Dear younger me, please don’t be afraid to ask for help,” the post began. Selena then saluted International Women’s Day, which was Wednesday, and extended that same message to her fanbase.
“I want each of us to be gentler to ourselves. Write your younger self a @RareBeauty #rarereminder and stick it on your mirror to remind yourself that you deserve the world,” she wrote.
This message comes a few days after Selena took to TikTok and implored fans in a comment under her makeup tutorial video, “Please, please be kinder and consider others mental health. My heart has been heavy and I only want good for everyone.”
The singer did not explain what is causing her such distress, but she did say toward the end of her video that she is OK: “I’m the happiest ever.”
(WASHINGTON) — Oil spills along the Keystone pipeline that runs from Canada to Texas have become more frequent and severe, prompting stricter regulations for a 1,200-mile stretch of the pipeline, a federal agency said on Tuesday.
TC Energy, the company that operates the Keystone pipeline, must lower the operating pressure for crude oil on the targeted stretch, which makes up nearly half of the pipeline, the agency said.
“We are currently reviewing the Amended Corrective Action Order (ACAO) issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,” TC Energy said in a statement to ABC News. “Our commitment to the safe operations of our system is unwavering, and we will comply with the ACAO. The Keystone Pipeline System has been operating under operational mitigations, within the pressure restrictions applied in the PHMSA ACAO, since it was returned to service.”
The federal order follows a major pipeline rupture on Dec. 7 near Washington, Kansas, a town at the state’s northern border with Nebraska, where about 13,000 barrels or 550,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Keystone pipeline, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said.
The pipeline failure occurred at a girth weld, a point that adjoins two pipes, the agency said.
Since 2009, the Keystone pipeline has experienced three failures at girth welds and at least three additional accidents that occurred for other reasons, the agency said. In all, those accidents resulted in spills totaling about 25,200 barrels of crude oil, the agency said.
Operation of the pipeline under current procedures “is or would be hazardous to life, property, or the environment,” the agency said.
In a statement to ABC News, TC Energy said it is investigating and addressing the issues with the pipeline following the accident in December.
“We continue to progress our remediation and the root cause investigation at our Keystone Milepost-14 incident site in Washington County, Kansas,” the company said. “Our commitment to the safe operations of our system is unwavering.”
The Keystone pipeline runs from oil sand fields in Alberta, Canada through the midwestern U.S. to oil refineries in Texas.
The Keystone XL pipeline, a proposed 1,179-mile pipeline mirroring the Keystone pipeline, shuttered after President Joe Biden canceled the pipeline’s border crossing permit in January 2021, days after taking office.
The move was applauded by environmental groups but drew sharp criticism from some Republican lawmakers, who decried the move for placing an unnecessary restriction on the U.S. oil supply.
Oil production in the U.S. in 2021 was nearly identical to that seen over the final year of the Trump administration, in 2020, and greater than the amount produced in 2017 or 2018, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, a federal agency.
Michael Bublé revealed that he isn’t as relaxed when speaking to the American press as he is with the British press because, as he puts it, it’s “very conservative.”
In a conversation with the Irish News, the Canadian singer described why he feels he can be more relaxed when chatting with the British media.
“They’re my kind of people. As a Canadian, as a Commonwealth country, there’s so many similarities,” he expressed. “There was almost a sense of relief because I had done a lot of American television and American press and they were very conservative in America – even compared to Canada.”
The singer didn’t provide names or examples of the outlets that made him feel that way.
Michael added he feels he “can be me” when dealing with British media, adding, “I don’t have to be as careful. I don’t have to worry about such a great divide.”
He clarified, “There’s a great divide [in America]. They are divided in ideology, politics, religion – everything. You just don’t feel that as much, or at least I just didn’t feel that as much [in the U.K.].”
Elsewhere in the interview, Michael shared a sweet memory of when he met Queen Elizabeth II in 2009 at the Royal Variety Performance.
“We were all lined up and I think Lady Gaga was holding her hand or something, and I remember being told what you can and cannot say, that you do not reach out your hand. All this protocol stuff,” he noted.
When the queen got to him, Michael recalled her saying, “It’s so nice to put a face with the music” as she “put out her hand.”
“She said, ‘We listen to you at the palace,’ and I remember being so … I was quite shocked by it,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday will roll out his proposed budget for fiscal year 2024, which the White House has said will reduce the deficit by nearly $3 trillion and include a record amount of defense spending.
The budget unveiling in Philadelphia comes as a larger spending fight looms on Capitol Hill with lawmakers facing a summer deadline to lift the debt ceiling or risk an unprecedented default.
Biden’s trip to Philadelphia, the site of his 2020 campaign headquarters and his prime-time speech ahead of the 2022 midterms about threats to democracy, signals a once arbitrary budget process is part of a wider push to connect with voters ahead of a possible reelection announcement.
The budget is “built on four key values, lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, investing in America and reducing the deficit by ensuring that the wealthiest in this country and big corporations pay begin to pay their fair share and cutting wasteful spending on Big Pharma big oil and other special interests,” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said on a call with reporters ahead of Biden’s speech.
The budget will include $842 billion in defense spending — an all-time high — as well as $6 billion in support for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Among the major domestic spending proposals included in the budget, are an expansion to the Child Tax Credit; a national paid family and medical leave program providing up to 12 weeks of leave; universal preschool; and funding to expand free community college. It would also provide $25 billion for immigration enforcement and $5 billion in new election assistance funding.
To pay for the proposals, Biden is proposing a 25% minimum tax on billionaires and reversing two Trump-era tax cuts: raising the corporate tax from 21% to 28% restoring a 39.6% rate for single filers making over $400,000 and couples earning more than $450,000 annually.
Biden’s budget as proposed is all but dead-on-arrival, as congressional Republicans are generally opposed to any tax increases.
Asked how the administration would respond to criticism that such major tax hikes will hurt economic growth, Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, countered that data shows the 2017 tax cuts didn’t provide a major boost to the economy, as former President Donald Trump said they would.
House Republicans have insisted on significant spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling to avoid an economically disastrous default, though they’ve yet to reveal they want in and out of the budget. Democrats have called for a “clean” increase to the debt ceiling not tied to federal spending.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday Democrats were “wrong” to advocate for a clean raise to the debt ceiling after members received a briefing by the Congressional Budget Office, which recently projected the U.S. will add $19 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.
“We can no longer ignore the major problem that we have: the size of our debt,” McCarthy told reporters. “One thing we have learned through all history: every great society has collapsed after they overextended themselves.”
Asked if there was anything in Biden’s budget he could support based on early reports of what it will include, McCarthy was noncommittal.
“You could always find common ground, a willingness to do that. I have not seen his budget,” McCarthy said. However he was critical of any tax increases, stating, “I do not believe raising taxes is the answer.”
The House speaker also accused Biden of delaying debt ceiling talks, and that Republicans will need to examine his budget proposal before releasing one of their own.
Meanwhile, Biden’s sought to draw a red line on Medicare and Social Security, which together take up a large part of the budget, going after some in the GOP he says want to gut the programs. McCarthy said Medicare and Social Security are off the table in upcoming negotiations.
Ahead of the broader rollout, Biden on Tuesday released his plan to shore up Medicare’s finances through 2050 as the program faces a funding shortfall that could result in benefit reductions by the end of the decade. The plan includes a tax increase on high-earners and expanding drug pricing controls.
Everything we know about the kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico
Emily Shapiro, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The two Americans who survived a violent kidnapping ordeal in Mexico are back in the U.S., as questions remain surrounding what happened to the two members of the group who died.
Here’s everything we know:
The kidnapping
The four Americans — Eric James Williams, Zindell Brown and cousins Latavia “Tay” McGee and Shaeed Woodard — drove Friday morning into Matamoros, Mexico, which is in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas just south of Brownsville, Texas.
“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the vehicle,” and then put the four Americans in another car and fled, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said.
Irving Barrios, the attorney general of Tamaulipas, said the Americans were not directly targeted and it appears “it was a misunderstanding.”
Mexican investigators think the kidnappers may have wrongly believed the Americans were rival human traffickers, a source close to the investigation told ABC News.
The rescue
Williams and McGee survived the kidnapping. They were found Tuesday morning in a wooden house in the Lagunona area, outside of Matamoros, Mexican officials said.
One of the deceased was also found inside the house, and the second was found outside the house, a source close to the investigation told ABC News.
The two Americans found dead had blankets or sheets on top of them, a source close to the investigation told ABC News. One of the dead was wearing a surgical robe when he was found, the source said.
One person has been arrested. The 24-year-old suspect was in charge of looking after the victims inside the house where they were found, Mexican officials said.
During the days they were held, the Americans were transferred to various places, including a clinic, in order to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts, said the governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal.
The survivors and the victims
McGee is a mother of five who traveled from South Carolina to Mexico for a cosmetic medical procedure, according to her family.
Her mother, Barbara Burgess, told ABC News she spoke to her daughter on Tuesday. She said McGee had no major injuries.
Michele Williams, wife of survivor Eric Williams, said the FBI told her that her husband had been shot twice in one leg and once in the other.
He has undergone surgery in a Texas hospital, she said.
Brown, who was among the two killed, was on the trip to Mexico to support his friend, McGee, for her surgery, according to Brown’s sister, Zalayna Brown Grant.
“Zindell was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend,” Grant wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Our family waited for any news about my brother’s return, but he won’t be coming home alive.”
Woodard, who was also killed, was McGee’s cousin, according to McGee’s mother.
A fifth person who was traveling with the group, Cheryl Orange, did not cross the border into Mexico and remained in Brownsville, according to a police report from the Brownsville Police Department.
The investigation
The FBI said it’s working with “federal and international partners to determine the facts of what happened and to hold those responsible for this horrific and violent attack accountable for their crimes.”
The FBI and State Department are working to bring the bodies of the two victims back to the U.S., the FBI added.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday, “Attacks on U.S. citizens are unacceptable, no matter where, under what circumstances they occur. We’re going to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is done in this case.”
President Joe Biden has “been kept updated” on the situation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
The FBI urges anyone with information to call its San Antonio office at 210-225-6741 or submit information on its website.
ABC News’ Miles Cohen, Ellie Kaufman, Matt Rivers, Anne Laurent, Shannon Crawford, Dan Carranza and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
Mairo Cinquetti/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker is recovering from a hip injury, but he’s not going to let that stop the music. Parker took to Instagram to reveal that he fractured his hip, sharing pictures and video of his injury and recovery with fans.
“Tried to run a half marathon on what turned out to be an existing stress fracture,” the frontman writes. “Whoops. Made it to within 1km of the finish line. That’s life I guess.”
As for the band’s upcoming concerts, he says, “All shows in Mexico and South America going ahead as planned I’m not quitting on you guys.”
And he won’t have a lot of time to recover, considering Tame Impala’s next show is happening Friday in Mexico City, with the South American dates kicking off March 18 in Buenos Aires. A complete list of tour dates can be found at tameimpala.com.
Attention all Scotty McCreery fans: Here’s your chance to be in featured in an upcoming fan music video for Scotty’s single “It Matters to Her.”
In a callout on social media, Scotty wrote, “Y’all have been telling me how much ‘It Matters to Her’ means to you — now I want you to show me! Submit your photos and videos showing what you do for the people you love for a chance to make it into the fan music video.”
Fans can submit their heartfelt images and videos via the submission link.
“It Matters to Her” is the latest single off Scotty’s album Same Truck and is currently inside the top 20 on the country charts.
This weekend, Jenna Ortega will be seen in theaters stalked by Ghostface in Scream VI, but in a promo for her upcoming stint hosting Saturday Night Live, she’s being haunted by something else: her viral dance from Wednesday.
In the spot, Ortega says to people off-camera, “This is really well written, I just, I don’t feel like I wanna want to do the Wednesday dance for promo, because we’ve seen so much of that already, and I think it’s time to do something new, you know?”
At that point, the camera pulls back to reveal writers Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy — the guys behind the show’s Do Not Destroy videos — all wearing black dresses identical to her character’s in the dance scene.
“Yes,” they all agree, with Herlihy offering, “We didn’t want to do the dance, either.”
She replies, “I just didn’t know, because you’re all dressed exactly like Wednesday.”
“Are we?” he responds.
Marshall adds, unconvincingly, “Is this from your television program?”
Ortega replies, “Yeah, down to the frill.”
Marshall says, “It wouldn’t be a dream come true to do the dance with you, so let’s just not do it then.”
Higgins then replies, “I barely know it,” before meekly miming all the moves.
“OK, fine,” she relents, and the guys cheer, before the four of them perform the dance, with Ortega considerably less thrilled than the dudes are.
Ortega takes the SNL stage again on Saturday night, with The 1975 as musical guest.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remained in the hospital Thursday following a fall at a Washington, D.C., hotel Wednesday night.
“This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” McConnell’s spokesperson Doug Andres told ABC News Wednesday night.
As of Thursday morning, his team was not providing any further information on the extent of McConnell’s injuries or how long he is expected to remain hospitalized.
The hotel where the fall occurred, sources said, was the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump International Hotel.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he spoke with McConnell’s staff after reaching out to his colleague.
“First, my thoughts this morning are with my good friend, Leader Mitch McConnell, who’s recovering from in the hospital after an accident last night,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. “This morning I offer a prayer of strength and healing for the leader and his family. I called the leader this morning and spoke briefly with his staff to extend my prayers and well wishes. My thoughts are also with Leader McConnell’s family and his team. I join every single one of my colleagues in wishing Leader McConnell a speedy and full recovery.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he hadn’t spoken with McConnell either but hopes to do so later.
“We are just checking, tying to get an update on the senator. I know he tripped last night, but I don’t have any new information,” McCarthy told reporters. “I haven’t been able to talk to him. Because I was in meetings. Hopefully, I’ll be able to talk to him today.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wished McConnell a speedy recovery at the top of his weekly press conference.
“Let me begin by extending on behalf of House Democrats with thoughts and prayers and best wishes to Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell. We are praying for a swift and a full and a speedy recovery and we stand with him and his family in that regard,” Jeffries said.
President Joe Biden tweeted Thursday afternoon that he and the first lady “are wishing Senator McConnell a speedy recovery” and “look forward to seeing him back on the Senate floor.”
McConnell, who’s 81, has walked with a limp after overcoming polio at a young age and suffered a fall in early August 2019, fracturing his shoulder.
He has served as Senate Republican leader since 2007 and became the longest-serving party leader in the history of the Senate earlier this year.
This Friday will see the release of a new album from August Alsina. Taking to Instagram Wednesday, the singer shared the artwork for the project, which is titled Myself.
“I’ve gone from a young boy to a man,” he says in a voice-over on the announcement video. “A man who’s wiser, smarter, stronger because of my experiences and adversities I’ve faced, and a man who is more resilient.”
News of August’s forthcoming album comes days after he was alluded to in Chris Rock‘s Netflix special Selective Outrage.
“Will Smith practices ‘selective outrage,’” Rock said when discussing the infamous Oscars slap. “Everybody who really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that sh**. I didn’t have any ‘entanglements.’ His wife was f***ing her son’s friend. I normally would not talk about this sh**.”
Alsina revealed in 2020 that he’d been in a relationship with Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, between 2018 and 2019.
“I have no idea why two talented people would do something that … lowdown,” Rock said. “We’ve all been cheated on. Everybody in here been cheated on. None of us has ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us … on television. She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”
August’s rep denied rumors that he laughed at Rock’s joke. “This is a lie,” the rep told Entertainment Tonight. “Mr. Alsina has not seen Chris Rock’s special at all, as he’s been busy on tour.”
Myself will mark August’s first full-length effort since 2020’s The Product III: State of Emergency.
