Over the weekend, President Joe Biden welcomed the members of U2 to a White House reception honoring this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees, noting their shared heritage in his praise of them and their music.
“From this Irish American president, in the White House designed by Irish hands who built this … I want to thank U2 for all you’ve done and the way you lift people up,” Biden said. “You really make a difference.”
He added, “For more than 40 years U2 has changed the world. Anthems about civil rights, solidarity of workers and the struggle for peace. Ballads about love and family. Concerts dedicated to ending poverty and disease.”
Biden quoted the band’s hit “One,” saying, “At a moment when there’s too much hate, too much anger, too much division here in America, and quite frankly, around the world, we have to remember today, as their song goes, ‘We’re one, but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.'”
According to the BBC, U2 guitarist The Edge then noted that the ceremony took place almost 42 years to the day that the band played its first U.S. concert: December 6, 1980.
“We had big dreams and like so many people in Ireland, America was the focus of those dreams,” he said. “There is such a close bond between U2 and this country, and we can’t fully explain it but since that very first gig, we’ve always felt warmth and love, but this tonight goes way above and beyond.”
At the gala following the ceremony, U2 was saluted by Sacha Baron Cohen who, in his guise as Kazakhstan journalist Borat, made numerous inappropriate jokes. According to the Washington Post,Eddie Vedder then sang U2’s “Elevation” and “One”; Hozier and Brandi Carlile, joined by Sheryl Crow and others, sang “Walk On.”
Nick Cannon, who’s long lived with lupus, was recently hospitalized with pneumonia. He revealed the news on Instagram, along with a reminder to others to take care of their health.
“Okay, so I guess I’m not Superman,” Cannon wrote. “I promised myself I would never be back at this place again…But this is a great lesson to take care of YOU or YOU won’t be able to take care of everyone else.”
According to Nick, he went from “rocking a sold out crowd at Madison square garden in front of thousands of fans” as part of his Wild ‘N Out tour to being “all alone in a tiny hospital room.” He noted that he doesn’t “need any well wishes or prayers” and assured that he’d be fine with “some solid rest,” adding, “I will be back on the journey to becoming stronger than ever.”
“It’s just pneumonia, nothing I can’t handle,” he concluded.
While Nick physically recovers, he admits he’s been struggling mentally and spiritually. The actor’s son Zen passed away a year ago on December 5 following a battle with brain cancer. “Been tossing and turning all night, and as much as I know I need rest, last night I couldn’t sleep at all,” he wrote in a tribute honoring his late son’s death anniversary. “I can’t believe it’s been a year already since the toughest day of my life occurred. Such a painful anniversary.”
“Losing a child has to be the heaviest, most dark and depressive experiences that I will never get over,” he said. “A mixture of guilt, pain, and sorrow is what I suppress daily.”
Nick added, “…I love with my entire Heart and Soul and I just wish my Little Man could’ve felt more of that love while he was here on Earth.”
(Note Language)Just days after releasing the single “Sh***in’ Me,” A$AP Rocky has dropped the visual for the song.
The Krash-produced track is featured on the video game Need for Speed™ Unbound, and the video, directed by Grin Machine, pays homage to Rocky’s collective AWGE.
“Grin Machine did a great job paying homage to the game collaboration with AWGE with the fun wacky aesthetics, and shout out to krash and hec for the music as always,” Rocky says in a statement.
“Sh***in’ Me” marks Rocky’s third collaboration with Krash, who produced his songs “Buck Shots” and “Black Tux, White Collar.” Both tracks appeared on his most recent album, 2018’s TESTING.
Fans expect that a new album is on the way, but no release date has been announced.
Christine McVie‘s untimely death last week seems to have led to some impressive sales figures at the auction of Fleetwood Mac instruments and memorabilia, held over the weekend by Julien’s Auctions.
According to the auction house, McVie’s maxi dress, which she wore on the back cover of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest album, Rumours, sold for $56,250 — five times its original estimate of $10,000. A dress she wore to the 1976 Rock Music Awards went for $31,250, while her two American Music Awards dresses from 1978 went for $16,000 and $12,800. Her piano accordion, which she used to perform “Tusk” live onstage, sold for just over $11,500.
In addition, McVie’s speaker and microphones sold for $37,500 — some 37 times their original estimate. Her two Hammond B3 Organs went for $28,125 and $18,750.
Items from John McVie and Mick Fleetwood were sold, as well. John’s custom fretless bass guitar, which he used to record the classic song “The Chain” and played live onstage from 1976 to 1980, sold for $100,000.
The star of the auction, though, was the set of wooden balls that Mick Fleetwood wore on the cover of Rumours. The balls were originally part of the pull chains on the toilets in a club the band played early on in his career, and Fleetwood stole them and took to wearing them onstage. The balls brought in $128,000.
Amber Heard is seeking a new defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp, claiming the Virginia trial last spring stacked the deck against her. Depp was awarded a $10.35 million verdict after arguing Heard’s Washington Post op-ed, in which she claimed she’d experienced domestic abuse, was defamatory.
“The trial court improperly prevented the jury from considering several separate instances in which Heard reported Depp’s abuse to a medical professional,” the Aquaman actress’s lawyers argue in a 68-page document, filed November 23 and obtained by the New York Post.
“If not reversed, the trial court’s exclusion of contemporaneous reports of domestic abuse to medical professionals will make it more difficult for other abuse victims to prove allegations of abuse, and likely deter them from coming forward,” they insist.
Attorneys for Heard also argued the trial should have taken place in California, where the couple once lived together, and not in Virginia, where the Washington Post houses its servers.
Virginia was an “entirely inconvenient forum with no connection to Depp or any meaningful connection to his claims,” the filing states.
The case “should never have gone to trial because another court had already concluded that Depp abused Heard on multiple occasions,” her lawyers added, referencing the 2020 English ruling in favor of Britain’s The Sun, which Depp had sued for calling him a wife-beater.
Depp, 59, filed his own appeal in the case, claiming, “The jury’s emphatic favorable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his complaint fully vindicated Mr. Depp and restored his reputation.”
A group of judges will issue a ruling on both claims, and each party will then have a chance to appeal once more, according to the newspaper.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 05, 10:36 AM EST
Missiles rain on Ukraine after purported drone strikes in Russia
A new barrage of missiles strikes was launched against Ukraine on Monday, hitting targets across the country, including the capital city of Kyiv, officials said.
Casualties and damage from the attacks were being assessed, Ukrainian officials said.
The majority of the missiles were shot down by air defense forces, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the Russians launched missiles from the Volgodonsk, Caspian and Black seas.
The strikes damaged two infrastructure objects in the Odesa region, leaving the area without electricity and running water, officials said. One person was hospitalized, according to Ukrainian officials.
Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said a missile hit a substation that supplies the city of Belvaevska’s pumping station with electricity.
According to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, missile strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region killed two people and injured three others, including a toddler, in the village of Novosofiyivka.
Explosion were also heard in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Cherkasy, officials said.
The missile strikes followed reports from Russian media outlets that drones were used to bomb two military air bases in Russia, hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, but Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s president, posted a cryptic tweet, saying “if you launch something very often into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later the unknown flying objects will return to the place of departure.”
Dec 02, 2:18 PM EST
No peace talks till Russian soldiers leave, Ukraine says
Ukraine said it would not consider peace talks before the last Russian soldier leaves Ukrainian territory. This comes after President Joe Biden indicating he would be willing to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he has legitimate interest in peace negotiations.
Ukraine also said that there must not be any peace negotiations without Ukraine, reiterating that Biden has been clear that there won’t be any talks happening without the participation of U.S. allies and Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 02, 2:17 PM EST
IAEA expresses optimism over creation of protection zone around Zaporizhzhia
The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed optimism over possibly creating a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant before the end of the year.
“I know that President Putin is following the process, and I do not rule out another meeting with him soon, as well as with Ukrainian President Zelensky,” IAEA Director General Rafael Rossi said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
“There is a concrete proposal on securing Zaporizhzhia and important progress has been made. …The two sides now agree on some basic principles. The first is that of protection: it means accepting that you don’t shoot ‘on’ the plant and ‘from’ the plant. The second is the recognition that the IAEA is the only possible way forward: that was the heart of my meeting with President Putin in St. Petersburg on October 11,” Rossi added.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 02, 12:27 PM EST
Bloody packages with animal eyes sent to Ukrainian embassies
Packages believed to be blood-soaked and containing the eyes of animals, were sent to Ukrainian embassies worldwide, including in Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs said Friday.
The entrance to the ambassador’s residence in the Vatican was also vandalized, according to the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs.
The Ukrainian embassy in the U.S. received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine. Like most other envelopes, the letter arrived along with others from the territory of an unnamed European country.
“We have reason to believe that a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates is taking place. Not being able to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front, they are trying to intimidate us. However, I can immediately say that these attempts are useless. We will continue to work effectively for the victory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.
The Ukrainian embassy in Spain received a letter-bomb on Wednesday which was opened and ignited, resulting in one slight injury.
A similar envelope was sent to the U.S. embassy in Madrid, but it was detected before going off, according to Spanish officials.
All Ukrainian embassies and consulates have been placed under heightened security. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions.
Dec 01, 3:28 PM EST
Biden ‘prepared to speak with Putin’ if he wants to end war
Speaking at a joint press conference with France’s Emmanuel Macron, President Joe Biden said he would be open to speaking with Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader has legitimate interest in peace negotiations. Biden, however, said he has “no immediate plans to contact Mr. Putin.”
Biden also noted that Putin has “miscalculated every single thing” when it comes to this war.
“So the question is what is his — how does he get himself out of the circumstance he’s in? I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do, but I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO. I’m not going to do it on my own,” Biden said.
Meanwhile, President Macron, who has continued speaking with Putin, said it’s up to Ukraine to come to the negotiating table.
“So it’s only legitimate that President Zelenskyy sets some conditions to talk. We need to work on what could lead to a peace agreement. But it’s for him to tell us when the time comes and what the choices of the Ukrainians are,” Macron said.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Dec 01, 1:46 PM EST
Shelling in Kherson damages power lines as energy company works to finish repairs
Electricity was back for 60% of customers in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, but shelling overnight damaged power lines, according to the head of Ukraine’s regional energy company.
Workers are hoping to finish the repairs by the end of Thursday.
In Kyiv, 652,000 residents were subject to power outages throughout Thursday, according to the director of YASNO energy company, Serhiy Kovalenko. Kyiv’s main power grid is operating at less than 70% capacity and 20% of residents are still without power or heat.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 01, 12:20 PM EST
Russia accuses US, NATO of direct involvement in war
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of being directly involved in the war in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.
“You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries,” Lavrov said at a press conference Thursday.
Lavrov also claimed that Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of weapons from the West.
Lavrov also said Moscow is open to peace talks to end the conflict.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 29, 11:47 AM EST
US to send $53M in energy aid to help Ukraine through winter
The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more than $53 million to acquire critical electric grid equipment to help its citizens get through the winter, the State Department announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes amid Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“This new assistance is in addition to $55 million in emergency energy sector support for generators and other equipment to help restore emergency power and heat to local municipalities impacted by Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s power system,” the State Department said in a release.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Nov 28, 4:36 PM EST
UN lays out ‘dire’ situation in southern Ukraine
Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, traveled to the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv over the weekend to get an update on the humanitarian issues affecting the southern part of the country, according to the U.N.
Although repairs to the area’s water system are finally able to commence, there is still a lot of work to be done to help the people in those cities, the U.N said.
“We continue to be concerned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine especially as winter sets in,” a U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.
Some heating points have already been established in Mykolaiv to help people who cannot heat their homes, according to the U.N.
“Aid workers are providing supplies and generators to make these places functional,” the U.N. said in a statement.
The agency added that donations and funding for humanitarian efforts are critical as the cold weather sets in.
Nov 25, 1:13 PM EST
Power restored in all regions, Ukraine grid operator says
All of Ukraine’s regions are now connected to the European Union’s energy system and all three nuclear power plants located in the Kyiv-controlled area are working, CEO of Ukrenergo grid operator Volodymyr Kudrytskyi announced.
“In one to two days, they will reach their normal planned capacity, and we expect to introduce planned rolling blackouts instead of emergency outages,” Kudrytskyi said.
Power is slowly returning to all Ukrainian cities, but blackouts and emergency shutdowns continue. Power issues are the worst in Kyiv, Kirivigrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava and Lviv, according to Kudrytskyi.
Kyiv’s critical infrastructure receives electricity, the water supply is fully restored and heating is being restored, but 50% of residential houses remain without power. Only one-third of houses currently have heating, according to the mayor.
(NEW YORK) — Women in Iran will still be required to wear the hijab under Islamic Republic law, even if the country’s government decides to abolish the religious police who were in charge of enforcing the dress code.
Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced on Saturday the country’s morality police had been dismantled, adding that the judicial system will keep monitoring people’s behavior in the country.
But on Sunday, Alalam News, the Arabic outlet of the Iranian state media, denied the attorney general’s comment on ending the morality police in a short piece on Sunday.
In addition, Iran’s parliament and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution are studying the topic of hijab, and the result will be announced in 15 days, Montazeri announced on Thursday.
However, it is unclear how things will change as a result of these moves by the government. The announcements do not indicate that the mandatory hijab rule in Iran is over, as wearing the hijab is still mandatory under Islamic Republic law.
Morality police were just one of the enforcement arms for the regime to implement the law of mandatory hijab for women. There are “security” offices in all state organizations and malls, as well as parks and other public places, that are manned and managed by the intelligence ministry. One of the major tasks of these offices is to monitor women’s hijabs. Morality police was the name of the patrolling vans that would arrest women on the streets.
Even if the religious police were to be abolished, protesters and activists have been warning that it’s very likely authorities will rebrand the morality police and the mission will be back in no time under another name — as the morality police was itself a rebranded mission of a former police division name “Sar-allah Patrol.”
Women are controlled in many other ways to abide with this law. Girls — from the age of 7 — are not admitted at school if they do not wear clothes that are deemed proper. Women patients are not admitted at the hospitals if they do not wear a hijab. Women do not receive any service at the banks or any other organizations if they don’t follow the hijab laws.
The announcement to eliminate the religious police comes three months after deadly demonstrations in Iran — as well as protests all over the world — which could be an indication that the government is bowing down to global pressure.
On Sept. 16, Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in the hospital days after she was arrested for allegedly not adhering to the dress code correctly.
Amini’s death ignited protests among women who risked their lives by ripping off their hijabs and cutting their hair in public.
At least 448 people, including 60 children, have been killed since the protests began, though the true number is believed to be higher because of the difficulty in accessing death certificates, according to NGO Iran Human Rights.
The protests are also targeting the head of the regime, Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with slogans such as “Death to dictator” and “Death to Khamenei.”
An estimated 14,000 people across the country, including many journalists and school children, have been arrested on charges related to demonstrations, the United Nations announced last month.
(NEW YORK) — Many Taylor Swift fans expressed outrage online over the presale ticket disaster, but now some of those fans are taking it a step further and claiming the ordeal was illegal.
Nearly two dozen Taylor Swift fans filed a complaint Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Ticketmaster, alleging intentional deception, following major issues with the Taylor Swift: Eras Tour presale tickets, which left many fans unable to buy tickets for the singer’s upcoming tour.
“There is a problem with the way they’re doing business, but they’re really hurting the fans in how they’re doing it,” said Julie Barfuss, a plaintiff in the suit.
The complaint asks for Ticketmaster to be fined $2,500 per violation, theoretically meaning that a violation could be counted on every one of the two million tickets sold, according to the lawsuit.
ABC News reached out to both Ticketmaster as well as LiveNation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, for comment on the lawsuit but has not yet heard back.
In a recent statement, LiveNation denied allegations of price-hiking and said Ticketmaster “does not set or control ticket prices” and “does not embrace deceptive and questionable secondary ticketing practices.”
Barfuss is one of more than two dozen fans suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation alleging “fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations.”
“Ticketmaster is a monopoly that is only interested in taking every dollar it can from a captive public,” the complaint states.
The highly anticipated Eras Tour will be the first time Swift is on tour in nearly five years, performing new songs off her record-breaking Midnight album released in October.
Presale tickets for the tour went live on Ticketmaster on Nov. 15. At that time, tickets were reserved only for “verified” Swift fans, who had registered to a Ticketmaster program prior to the release of the tickets. But, due to the overwhelming surge in demand, many fans reportedly waited for hours in online waiting rooms for access to the tickets, and many reportedly never got the chance to even buy one.
Those who were able to purchase tickets reported exorbitant prices and up-charges. The debacle led Ticketmaster to cancel general ticket sales due to “insufficient” inventory.
Fans took to social media to accuse Ticketmaster of hiking ticket prices and selling most of the tickets to scalpers, who they say often charge even more fees in the resale market.
Swift broke her silence on social media and shared a statement that expressed her disappointment, saying “I’m extremely protective of my fans” and it’s “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”
Some fans still think that it was more than just a mistake.
“They messed with the wrong fan base,” said Jennifer Kinder, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “If Ticketmaster can do this to hardworking Americans that are trying to buy a ticket, they can do it to anybody.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the deadline for air travelers to have a REAL ID another two years, the agency announced Monday.
The program, which was to begin in May 2023, will now not go into effect until May 7, 2025.
This is the third time the deadline has been extended.
(WASHINGTON) — Paul Pelosi, alongside his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made his first public appearance on Sunday since being attacked with a hammer in his home in October, receiving a warm welcome at the high-profile Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.
Pelosi, 82, who is still recovering from his injuries to his head and hands, wore a black hat and a single black glove at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he rose to his feet several times to applaud the event. President Joe Biden, seated near him and Vice President Kamala Harris in the mezzanine, threw a fist pump in the air toward Pelosi when he saw him present.
Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein also shouted out the Pelosis’ presence, prompting thunderous applause, a standing ovation, and the couple to raise their clasped hands up together.
“I would like to single out one member of Congress who has been, for more than several decades, really devoted to the Kennedy Center — and her husband of 60 years who’s here with us as well — Nancy Pelosi,” Rubenstein said.
The public appearance comes about five weeks after Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer when an intruder broke into the couple’s San Francisco home on Oct. 28, looking for the speaker, sources said. He underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and “serious injuries” to his right arm and hands, according to the speaker’s spokesperson, and stayed in the hospital for six days.
David DePape, the man accused of assaulting Pelosi, pleaded not guilty to all charges, including attempted murder and attempted kidnapping of a federal official, last month in federal court.
Nancy Pelosi has said the attack affected her thinking on whether to run for Democratic leadership. She announced last month that she would not seek reelection to leadership, as Republicans narrowly took the House majority in midterm elections.
“For my dear husband, Paul, who has been my beloved partner in life and my pillar of support, thank you,” she said in her farewell speech on the House floor. “We’re all grateful for all the prayers and well wishes as he continues his recovery. Thank you so much.”
Earlier Sunday, Biden recognized the 45th class of Kennedy Center Honors — including the band U2, singers Amy Grant and Gladys Knight, composer Tania León and actor George Clooney — in a reception at the White House. Actress Julia Roberts even donned a dress covered in photos of Clooney to support her friend.
