The 1975 has premiered a new song called “All I Need to Hear,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language.
“What I’ve struggled is, like, this song, what does it say?” frontman Matty Healy tells Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “It’s, like, I don’t need music in my ears, I don’t need the crowds and the cheers. Just tell me you love me. That’s all that I need to hear.”
You can listen to “All I Need to Hear” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.
Being Funny in a Foreign Language, the follow-up to 2020’s Notes on a Conditional Form, arrives October 14. It also includes the previously released songs “Part of the Band,” “Happiness” and “I’m in Love with You.”
For Diego Luna, exploring the backstory of his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s character in the new Disney+ series Andor was an “immediate yes.”
Six years after Cassian Andor was first introduced in Rogue One, the series, which dropped its first three episodes Wednesday, sees Luna back to fill in the blanks about who his character is at his core.
Luna, 42, told Good Morning America the Star Wars universe is unique in that “there is a chance to answer every question — and there was no answer to who this guy was.”
“To me, Rogue One is a film about an event,” he said. “You get very little hints of who the characters are.”
In that film, Cassian joins with a band of rebels, led by Felicity Jones‘ Jyn Erso, to steal the Galactic Empire’s Death Star plans. The events lead directly into 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope. While the crew is ultimately successful, they all perish in the mission — including Cassian.
Luna called it “fascinating” having the chance to go back and explore what needs to happen in someone’s life for them to make “that ultimate sacrifice.”
In Andor, “it’s about the nuances. It’s about the little details, the different layers,” he explains.
In Rogue One, Cassian states that he’s been “in this fight since I was 6 years old.” According to Luna, the new series asks, “What needs to happen in the life of someone to believe he’s capable of something like this, to connect with a cause in this way?”
While Andor mostly focuses on Cassian, it also sees a few returning players from Rogue One — like Genevieve O’Reilly‘s Mon Mothma and Forest Whitaker‘s Saw Gerrera, as well as a cast of newcomers, including Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough and Kyle Soller.
Disney is the parent company of Lucasfilm as well as ABC News.
Luke Combs is helping to kick off a new season of the Circle Network’s Talking in Circles With Clint Black, a show in which ‘90s superstar Clint Black chats with his fellow country artists about their careers.
Luke will be the show’s guest for the first episode of Season 3. During the conversation, he’ll discuss his humble beginnings as a guitarist, his songwriting process and much more.
The rest of Talking in Circles’ new season will feature guest artists such as Chris Janson, Deana Carter, Bill Anderson, Peter Frampton and more. The roster of star appearances isn’t entirely limited to musicians: Olympic legend Scott Hamilton will also make a stop on the show on October 22.
“I’m truly humbled by my friends, old and new, who sit and talk shop with me,” Clint says of his show’s next season. “I give much credit to the network — Circle — where I’m encouraged to depart from the regular interview format and have the kinds of conversations I would have backstage with a fellow artist or musician.”
Tune in to the Circle Network to watch Talking in Circles With Clint Black beginning October 1.
(NEW YORK) — Two Americans who were being held captive by Russian-backed forces after volunteering to fight with Ukrainian forces have been released, their families said.
Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, both military veterans from Alabama, were reported missing by their families following a fight in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine in June.
They are currently in the custody of the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, their families announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“We are thrilled to announce that Alex and Andy are free,” the families said. “They are safely in the custody of the US embassy in Saudi Arabia and after medical checks and debriefing they will return to the States.”
“We deeply appreciate everyone’s prayers and especially the close communication and support of our elected officials, Ukrainian Ambassador Markarova, and our members of the US embassies in Ukraine and Saudi Arabia and the US Department of State,” the statement continued.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Puerto Rico is facing yet another devastating hurricane that has knocked out electricity across the island, just as the five-year anniversary of the deadly, destructive Hurricane Maria passes.
President Joe Biden has authorized FEMA to supply federal emergency aid to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in response to Hurricane Fiona, which touched down on Sept. 17 after strengthening from a tropical storm.
More than 1.5 million people are without electricity as torrential rain, 85-mph winds, and what the National Hurricane Service calls “catastrophic” flooding, pummels the U.S. territory.
Here are organizations helping deliver relief efforts in the wake of this latest hurricane:
United Nations World Food Programme: international disaster relief
The United Nations group is on the ground providing relief assessment emergency equipment to support recovery efforts in the Dominican Republic following severe flooding and power outages.
The U.N. is one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, working with victims of climate change, conflict and other disasters.
GoFundMe: hosting personal fundraisers
GoFundMe has dedicated a page to verified fundraisers for people affected by the hurricane in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
“We are working around the clock to ensure the families, businesses and communities affected receive the quick and trusted support they need,” GoFundMe said in a statement.
Verified fundraisers are vetted by GoFundMe, and funds are held until the recipients can be added to the fundraiser to withdraw the money themselves.
Hispanic Federation: a coalition of organizations rebuilding Puerto Rico
The Hispanic Federation has helped rebuild homes, health centers and farms, supply solar panels, and more through community-based projects following the devastation of Hurricane Maria. The federation responded then by supplying 25 relief planes that carried 7.4 million pounds of food, water, medicine, solar panels and resources to the island and coordinated with mayors on the ground to organize donation delivery.
In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Hispanic Federation is already on the ground providing emergency relief services.
Their efforts have been combined with hyperlocal organizations such as La Maraña and ViequesLove that focus on different aspect of recovery, many of which were born out of the needs highlighted by Hurricane Maria.
PRxPR: disaster relief fund donating 100% of funds
The PRxPR Relief and Rebuild Fund, run by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, has delivered humanitarian aid to the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastation. Maria killed roughly 3,000 people and left the infrastructure of the country devastated.
The fund works with local organizations to address basic, economic, agricultural and energy needs in an effort to provide immediate and long-lasting relief to communities.
Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rico Community Foundation)
The Puerto Rico Community Foundation has been working for more than 35 years to increase access to renewable energy, drinking water, housing, education and economic development for the people it serves.
The foundation has reactivated the Community Recovery Fund for Puerto Rico to help recovery efforts following Hurricane Fiona.
Foundation for Puerto Rico
The Foundation for Puerto Rico was created to “unleash Puerto Rico’s potential in the global economy.” Now, the organization plans to prioritize relief in the wake Hurricane Fiona, calling for donations and volunteers.
“Our priority is to focus on the emergency that the country is facing and achieve the recovery of Puerto Rico together,” said the organization in a tweet.
SBP: disaster management headed to Puerto Rico
SBP is a nonprofit based in New Orleans, Louisiana, that was created after two volunteers saw what they called “the inefficiency and unbearably slow progress” of institutional or traditional rebuilding processes in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. The group aims to reduce the time between when a disaster hits and when recovery reaches those affected.
SBP says as soon as weather conditions are safe, it will touch down in Puerto Rico to help recovery efforts.
The group will “partner with local and regional organizations to establish contact lists and distribute recovery supplies to impacted communities,” according to the SBP website.
It said it will “connect with state, parish, and municipal leaders in affected areas to ensure survivors and communities secure access to vital recovery resources, protect survivors from fraud, and set clear and aggressive recovery goals to build back quickly and more robust than before.”
Puscifer has announced a pair of new streaming concerts to celebrate Halloween.
The virtual shows premiere October 28 and are described as “concert-meets-feature films.” One performance, titled V Is for Versatile, will feature reworked versions of songs from Puscifer’s 2007 debut album, V Is for…, while the other, Parole Violator, will revisit the band’s 2011 sophomore effort, Conditions of My Parole.
Both concerts will also be released as live albums on November 11.
Puscifer previously staged streaming shows in 2020 and 2021, which were themed around their last two albums, 2020’s Existential Reckoning and 2015’s Money $hot, respectively.
Meanwhile, Puscifer is launching a U.S. tour in continued support of Existential Reckoning October 13 in San Francisco. Maynard James Keenan and company are also releasing a remixed version of Existential Reckoning on December 9, featuring artists including Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor, Tool‘s Justin Chancellor and Phantogram.
Cardi B and Offset celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary Monday night, and the “I Like It Like That” rapper serenaded her husband with a Beyoncé song.
While riding to a restaurant for a romantic candlelit dinner, Cardi sang “Plastic on the Sofa” from Queen Bey’s new album, Renaissance.
“We don’t need the world’s acceptance, they too hard on me / They’re too hard on you, boy / I’ll always be your secret weapon in your arsenal,” she sang softly while gently caressing her husband’s face in a video posted to her Instagram Stories.
When she asked if he thinks she can sing, Offset replied, “Yeah, you got some vocals.”
Earlier that day, Cardi also sang a line from “Plastic on the Sofa” when she received a surprise personalized early birthday gift from Beyoncé. Mrs. Carter sent her a handwritten note across the top of a vinyl copy of the Renaissance album.
“To: Cardi B,” the 28-time Grammy winner wrote. “Hard working, beautiful and talented queen, thank you for always supporting me. Sending so much love to you and yours, Respect, Beyoncé.” The “Bodak Yellow” rapper was thrilled as she displayed her present on Twitter.
“Look what Beyoncé sent me,” Cardi said, holding the vinyl up to the camera for all her followers to see. “It’s so beautiful, so lovely. I’m gonna put it in a glass frame with laser beams on it. Anybody who gets motherf***ing next to it is gonna get electrocuted on motherf****ing sight.”She ended her video saying, “I just wanna say thank you so much. I feel so special.”
Cardi turns 30 years old on October 11. She married Offset on September 20, 2017 in Atlanta. They have two children together: son Wave, who turned one on September 4, and daughter Kulture, 4.
(NEW YORK) — Regions along the Atlantic basin likely won’t see relief once Hurricane Fiona passes, as four more systems follow in the Category 4 hurricane’s wake.
Tropical Storm Gaston is the newest named system to form in the Atlantic. The storm currently carries winds of 65 mph and is located off the Azores, the archipelago in the mid-Atlantic.
The storm will strengthen as it drifts to the east but is forecast to perform a loop-de-loop and head west-northwest, eventually transitioning into a post-storm system.
Meteorologists expect Gaston to remain a “fish storm” because it will only affect marine life, other than some ships that will redirect their routes to avoid the storm.
It is unclear whether the same will apply to three more systems that have formed off the west coast of Africa.
At least one of the systems is likely to strengthen into a named storm as it heads toward the Caribbean in the coming days.
The next named storm will be Hermine, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The succession of storms threatening the Caribbean comes after Hurricane Fiona wreaked havoc on islands such as Guadalupe, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico — where the majority of utility customers lost power as a result of the storm. At least two fatalities have been reported.
Fiona is now heading north toward Bermuda as a strong Category 4 storm with winds at 130 mph — prompting a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch there and an increase in rip current threats along beaches on the East Coast of the U.S. Fiona is not forecast to hit Bermuda directly but is expected to pass just west of the island.
The recent uptick in activity comes after a record quiet stretch in July and August.
Billie Eilish released the live videos for her songs “TV” and “The 30th,” which were both filmed in Singapore.
The Grammy winner traveled to the Cloud Forest in the country’s Gardens by the Bay — most likely because they stand for several causes near and dear to Billie’s heart: innovation, sustainability and conservation.
“Singapore was one of the first places I ever went on tour. I was only there for a day and absolutely fell in love with it,” she said in a statement. “The Cloud Forest is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Billie is surrounded by a lush, green garden bursting with bright orange, pink, red and yellow flowers as she performs her two songs. She said it felt right to film the music videos for “TV” and “The 30th” in the Cloud Forest.
“These two songs really are just very important to me in a lot of ways,” the Oscar winner expressed. “I feel really connected to them and very personally protective over them, and I wanted to have some sort of peace with the songs that felt really intimate and personal. It just felt really comfortable to do it in a place as beautiful at the Cloud Forest.”
Billie released the songs early into the summer after launching a surprise performance of “TV” when on her Happier Than Ever world tour. Before debuting the song alongside her brother, FINNEAS, she told the excited crowd, “We haven’t played a new song live before it’s out since 2017 or 2018.”
The new music videos were made in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board as part of their international recovery campaign, SingapoReimagine.
(NEW YORK) — Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, President Joe Biden on Wednesday cast the defining conflict facing global leaders as a duel between democracy and autocracy, directly responding to new threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the war in Ukraine.
The speech is Biden’s first at the forum since Russia’s invasion, offering him the opportunity to condemn the Kremlin in front of an audience of fellow heads of state.
Biden opened his remarks with a strong rebuke of Putin after he earlier Wednesday ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia and raised the specter of using nuclear weapons after a retreat in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
“Let us speak plainly, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase the sovereign state from the map,” Biden said. “Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenants of the United Nations Charter.”
“Just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe and reckless disregard of the responsibilities of a nonproliferation regime,” Biden continued. “Now, Russia is calling, calling up more soldiers to join the fight and the Kremlin is organizing a sham referendum to try to annex parts of Ukraine, an extremely significant violation of the U.N. Charter.”
Biden called the conflict “a war chosen by one man” and slammed Putin for his attacks on Ukraine’s schools, railway stations, hospitals.
“Even more horrifying evidence of Russia’s atrocity and war crimes: Mass graves uncovered in Izium, bodies, according to those that excavated those bodies, showing signs of torture. This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple. And Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not–that should make your blood run cold,” he said.
Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to help Ukraine and called on other U.N. members to do the same.
“Each of us in this body who determined to uphold the principles and beliefs we pledged to defend as members of the United Nations, must be clear, firm and unwavering in our resolve,” he said.
Biden also announced a commitment of $2.9 billion in global food aid, an effort to address growing famine in the Horn of Africa, and rising food prices worldwide due to the war in Ukraine, and inflation.
As Biden grapples with a series of complicated global issues, the high-stakes summit presents a range of challenges for the administration.
The no-shows
Although U.N. General Assembly meetings offer an abundance of opportunity for face-to-face diplomacy — something the president prides himself on — two key players weren’t in attendance: the leaders of Russia and China.
“Our competitors are facing increasingly strong headwinds, and neither President Xi nor President Putin are even showing up for this global gathering,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday.
In Putin’s case, the most pressing of those headwinds are losses on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to administration officials.
Ahead of an engagement with his counterpart from the U.K., Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced reports that Moscow plans to hold sham referenda in occupied territories in Ukraine to pave the way to annex territory.
“I think this is also not a surprise this is happening now. We have seen in the last weeks significant gains by Ukraine,” Blinken said. “It’s a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of Russian failure.”
But as a number of other heads of state push for negotiations for peace, the gathering won’t offer a robust opportunity for Biden to pursue that path with the leaders of the countries involved in the conflict. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in New York, but there are no plans for a meeting with U.S. officials on the books.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also give a speech on Wednesday, but he will do so remotely as the only leader allowed to appear virtually this year.
China’s Xi Jinping’s absence means there’s no chance an in-person meeting with the president, something that hasn’t happened since Biden took office. And the two have an ever-growing list of differences to discuss.
The past months have seen multiple escalations, with China responding to any step perceived as the U.S. moving towards recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign state with shows of force, a strategy a senior State Department official described as an attempt to normalize military pressure.
While the administration says Washington’s long-standing “One China” policy remains in effect, Biden also said U.S. troops would defend Taiwan if it were attacked.
The impermanent 5?
Russia’s exalted position as one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council has thrown a significant wrench in the body’s efforts to check its aggression, prompting calls that it should be removed altogether.
U.S. officials appeared to be aligning behind a plan that, instead of subtracting Russia as a permanent member, would seek to make additions to the Security Council.
A senior State Department official said that Biden would attempt to “reenergize” the push for reform by arguing the arm needs to be “more representative of the world’s population, and filled with countries that are ready to work together.”
The odds of expanding the council appear slim. Reforming its makeup would require amending the U.N. charter, a step that Russia or any other permanent member could veto.
The rest of the agenda
While the war in Ukraine is shaping up to dominate the General Assembly, administration officials have stressed they want to take on other global issues as well.
Biden in his speech discussed the need to tackle food insecurity, the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and climate change.
“Let this be the moment, we find within ourselves, the will to turn back the tide of climate devastation and unlock a resilient, sustainable clean energy economy to preserve our plant,” Biden said.
One pressing matter facing the White House is its push to return to an Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran. Indirect negotiations appear to have stalled again, and officials from both countries appear increasing pessimistic that the pact can be renewed.
Sullivan said Biden plans to reiterate that the U.S. is open to returning to an agreement, but that he isn’t anticipating any major breakthroughs.
Even a meeting with one of America’s closest allies has its thorns. Biden will hold his first meeting with the U.K.’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, as the differences between the two’s economic policies become ever apparent.
Recently, Truss said completing a long-awaited trade deal with the U.S. was not a key priority and unlikely to happen anytime soon. But Sullivan said it would be on the president’s list.
“I do think that they will talk about the economic relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.,” Sullivan said, adding they would also hit other areas where Truss and Biden have more in common, such as support for Ukraine and addressing Europe’s energy crisis.
