“Being unbothered is about emotional intelligence, unbothered is giving yourself space to create the life that you want instead of reacting to life,” the “Post to Be” singer tells Rolling Out. “Being thoughtless, responding to life, and being thoughtful. That’s what being unbothered is all about. I have journal prompts, mantras, yantras, and affirmations. This book is what I would call the power for people that want to create wellness in their life.”
In Unbothered, Omarion shows how he has centered his life around holistic wellness, detailing the practices he uses including breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, dancing, and ancient mantras.
Omarion says his book provides a guide on how to improve mental health.
“This is a full circle moment for me because, through all of the ups and downs as artists, you have to ask yourself, ‘Why am I going through this?’ For it to manifest into a book and a tool that not only I use, but that can be useful to someone else is an amazing feeling,” he continues.
After over 20 years as a recording artist, Omarion says the book is one of the most intense projects of his career.
“It took me a year and a half to write this book, so this is the densest work that I’ve ever done,“ the BET and Soul Train Music award winner says. “So to be able to inspire, which is the highest human act, feels good.”
As Luke Combs‘ career continues to skyrocket, he’s intentional about keeping trustworthy people around him, especially the songwriters he’s been working with since the start of his career.
Since moving to Nashville in 2014, Luke continues to work with the same songwriters that he did when he was an unknown artist, including Ray Fulcher, Randy Montana and Dan and Randy Isbell. Noting that his circle of songwriting collaborators is close-knit, Luke says that he feels grateful to have that sense of consistency in his life.
“I’m lucky that those people have been really talented and willing to share their ideas with me and share their songs and stories with me and be willing to go out of their way to make time to write with me, especially when they didn’t have any reason to, other than that they believed in what I was doing or believed in my voice or my shows,” Luke expresses. “So I would really give all the credit to those folks.”
In addition to his writing partners, the hitmaker also acknowledges the team of people behind-the-scenes who’ve made his career a success, sharing that the only pressure he feels is to honor their hard work and dedication.
“There’s so many other people that make this thing tick, and I think those people hardly ever get the credit that they deserve. I’m the guy that gets to be on the interviews and on the album covers, but there should be 250 faces on the front of that thing to make it happen,” he says. “I’m real thankful for those people and the only pressure I would feel is to continue to make those people proud.”
Paul McCartney and Mary McCartney; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage
If These Walls Could Sing, the new documentary about London’s Abbey Road Studios that was directed by Paul McCartney‘s daughter Mary, which got its world premiere at Colorado’ Telluride Film Festival in September 3, will soon make its TV debut on Disney+.
The news was revealed at Abbey Road’s official website and a preview clip from the doc was posted along with the announcement featuring Paul sharing recollections about working at the studio.
In the clip, McCartney recalls a time during the late 1970s when his late wife and Mary’s mom, Linda, walked a black pony they owned named Jet into Abbey Road from their nearby London residence. Paul’s memories are accompanied by photos of Linda walking with the pony across the famous zebra crossing outside of the studio.
The preview also features Paul explaining why he continued to work at Abbey Road with his solo band Wings after the breakup of The Beatles, who did most of their recording at the studio.
In London, we had used other studios, but we always liked this [Abbey Road] the best,” he notes. “So that when I was looking to record with Wings, I thought, ‘Well, this is the best studio. I know it. I know a lot of the people here … It’s just a great studio. You know, all of the microphones work … So it was great. It was great to come back home.”
As previously reported, the documentary looks at highlights of Abbey Road’s 91-year history. To make the movie, film crews were allowed to have intimate access to the studio’s premises for the first time ever.
The doc also features interviews withElton John, Jimmy Page, members of Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Oasis‘ Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher, conductor John Williams, producer Giles Martin and more.
Two Bachelorettes, one happy ending — Gabby Windey’s journey as The Bachelorette concluded on Tuesday night with an engagement to Erich Schwer, a 29-year-old real estate analyst from Bedminster, New Jersey. Co-star Rachel Recchia‘s romance with Tino Franco, unfortunately, didn’t have the storybook ending they’d hoped for.
Gabby and Erich’s relationship seemed to be on the skids, after their final date with him saying he wasn’t ready to for an engagement and just wanted to “date” her.
That sent Gabby storming off in tears, insisting “I don’t want to do this anymore,” adding, “So, here we are, a big fat dumpster fire.”
However, when the big moment arrived, Erich ultimately did get down on one knee and proposed to Gabby.
Their young romance hasn’t exactly been rosy, though. During the live After the Final Rose part of the show, the couple admitted they’re “not done learning about each other.” Specifically, revelations on social media where an ex-girlfriend of Erich’s said he broke up with her to have an opportunity to be on the show.
“I handled it poorly a hundred percent. I led her on and I want to own that,” he said about his previous relationship. “I have no hard feelings for her at all and I understand her actions…but I kind of took the easy way out…I didn’t want a hard conversation.”
He went on to say that he was “using the show as an excuse to not confront [the girl] about our relationship.” Referring to Gabby, Erich insisted, “I love this girl with all my heart. It’s a hundred percent real, I never expected it and, you know, I want this thing to be forever.”
Earlier, Rachel and Tino seemed to have gotten their happy ending when he proposed. Unfortunately, that’s not how the story ended.
The couple hit a rough patch shortly after that last episode, during which Rachel accused Tino of cheating on her. The two arranged a meeting to try and patch things up, which failed when he insisted on placing at least some of the blame for his alleged indiscretion on her, claiming he interpreted her reference to not wearing her engagement ring “if they broke up,” to mean they were through as a couple.
Tino got one more chance to save the relationship, but failed again, leading to a surprise appearance from Aven Jones, who surprised the audience — and Rachel — by asking if she’d like to step out and “catch up.”
“I’d love nothing more,” she said, before the two strolled off the set, indicating her Bachelorette journey may not be over after all.
In other news, Zach Shallcross, whom Rachel had cast off after hometowns, was introduced as the next Bachelor for the show’s 27th season, premiering January 23 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
(WASHINGTON) — The Washington Monument has been temporarily closed after a man vandalized the national landmark with profanities and red paint.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening when the unnamed male suspect splashed the base of the historical monument with red paint and wrote an obscene message across the side of the structure.
“The United States Park Police has an adult male in custody for vandalizing the base of the Washington Monument with paint,” the United States Park Police said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “The area at the base of the monument will be temporarily closed.”
It is currently unclear what the motivation behind the vandalism was or if the message scrawled on the base of the monument was targeting anybody specific.
“National Park Service conservators will work on the restoration process,” said the United States Park Police.
Authorities did not say how long the restoration process would take or how long the tourist attraction is expected to be closed to the public.
The investigation is currently ongoing and authorities will not be releasing any more information at this time.
The Washington Monument, completed in 1884, stands at 555 feet tall and was once the tallest structure in the world from 1884 to 1889 before it was overtaken in height by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The historical obelisk is named after the first president of the United States and attracts over 600,000 visitors a year.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Boston 5, Cincinnati 3
Toronto 18, Philadelphia 11
NY Yankees 9, Pittsburgh 8
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 5, Tampa Bay 0
Detroit 3, Baltimore 2
LA Angels 5, Texas 2
Kansas City 5, Minnesota 4
Oakland 4, Seattle 1
Cleveland 10, Chi White Sox 7
NATIONAL LEAGUE
LA Dodgers 6, Arizona 5
Arizona 5, LA Dodgers 2
Chi Cubs 2, Miami 1
Atlanta 3, Washington 2
NY Mets 7, Milwaukee 5
San Francisco 6, Colorado 3
San Diego 5, St. Louis 0
NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As global leaders descend on New York City for the annual U.N. General Assembly, the body’s Secretary-General António Guterres issued a dire warning in an opening speech on Tuesday: “Our world is in big trouble.”
“Divides are growing deeper. Inequalities are growing wider,” he said. “And challenges are spreading farther.”
The annual gathering of high-level diplomats in the General Assembly is the first to happen in a fully in-person format since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s the first to take place since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — an international conflict that has drawn deep divides between the organization’s most powerful members, sparking calls for the U.N. to be reformed and prompting questions about whether it can still serve its stated purpose “to maintain international peace and security.”
Guterres alluded to these fractures in his address Tuesday, arguing they undercut the organization’s work.
“We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction,” he said. “The international community is not ready or willing to tackle the big dramatic challenges of our age. These crises threaten the very future of humanity and the fate of our planet. Our world is in peril — and paralyzed.”
Overcoming those major challenges, he said, depended on cooperation.
“Let’s work as one, as a coalition of the world, as united nations,” he urged.
Hunger on the horizon
While much of Guterres’ speech was devoted to outlining the problems facing the planet, he sought to remind the audience that the U.N. was still capable of finding solutions.
Large projectors in the room displayed a picture of a ship called Brave Commander that Guterres called “an image of promise and hope.” Laden with grain and flying the blue-and-white flag of the U.N., the vessel was the first to leave Ukrainian ports since the outbreak of Russia’s invasion, navigating Black Sea trade routes to bring its badly needed cargo to the Horn of Africa thanks to an agreement Guterres played a pivotal part in brokering.
“Some might call it a miracle at sea. In truth, it is multilateral diplomacy in action,” he said, calling the dozens of ships that have followed in Brave Commander’s path a testament to what can be accomplished through cooperation.
But while that safe passage deal is allowing grain exports to ameliorate the global food crisis, Guterres warned there was another on the horizon due to a shortage in fertilizer — saying that while the current problems can be chalked up to distribution issues, the world’s hunger may soon be the result of not having enough to go around at all.
“Without action now, the global fertilizer shortage will quickly morph into a global food shortage,” he said.
The secretary-general then alluded to the U.N.’s next major initiative: a proposal to export Russian fertilizer components through Ukraine.
“It is essential to continue removing all remaining obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and their ingredients, including ammonia. These products are not subject to sanctions, and we are making progress in eliminating indirect effects,” Guterres said.
The U.N. separately says it is “pursuing all efforts” to maximize fertilizer output, but the clock is ticking. The body’s trade negotiator advises that shortages need to be addressed in October and November before the window for the northern hemisphere’s planting season closes.
Dire problems, drastic plans
The secretary-general on Tuesday also spoke to the even broader-sweeping challenges of the day, and advocated for even more ambitious — or, to some, radical — plans to address them. “We need action across the board. Let’s have no illusions,” he said. “Our planet is burning,”
Guterres called not only for initiatives to address the root causes of damage to the environment but also to compensate developing countries that bear the brunt of those problems.
“Polluters must pay,” he said. “Today, I am calling on all developed economies to tax the ‘windfall’ profits of fossil fuel companies. Those funds should be re-directed in two ways: to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis, and to people struggling with rising food and energy prices.”
Guterres argued that the climate crisis was fueling “a once-in-a-generation global cost-of-living crisis” that could only be remedied through radical change.
“Today’s global financial system was created by rich countries to serve their interests. It expands and entrenches inequalities. It requires deep structural reform,” he said. “The divergence between developed and developing countries — between North and South, between the privileged and the rest — is becoming more dangerous by the day. It is at the root of the geopolitical tensions.”
The U.S. agenda
While President Joe Biden isn’t scheduled to take part in the summit until Wednesday, Guterres’ speech mentioned a number of other items that coincide with the White House’s priority list.
On nonproliferation, the secretary-general noted that “a nuclear deal with Iran remains elusive.”
The Biden administration, with help from the European Union, has been embroiled in months of indirect negotiations with Tehran over returning to an Obama-era nuclear pact that then-President Donald Trump scrapped in 2018. But talks appear to have stalled again. Although a high-level delegation from Iran will participate in the General Assembly, there are no planned meetings with any U.S. officials.
While addressing women’s rights, Guterres also hit on a domestic matter: the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The U.N. women’s rights committee has previously denounced the landmark ruling which reversed the national access to abortion in the U.S., calling “access to reproductive rights is at the core of women and girls’ autonomy and ability to make their own choices about their bodies and lives, free of discrimination, violence and coercion.”
More broadly, Guterres said that gender inequality is “going backwards” and “women’s lives are getting worse, from poverty, to choices around sexual and reproductive health, to their personal security.”
(JACKSON, Miss.) — As Jackson, Mississippi, continues efforts to recover from the city’s water crisis this summer, residents have filed a class action lawsuit against former and current city officials, as well as infrastructure engineering companies, for their alleged role in neglecting or worsening a “foreseeable” public health crisis, according to the filed complaint.
Raine Becker, one of four named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told ABC News she was unaware of the ongoing water issues in Jackson when she moved there two years ago. Becker says her first experience with these problems came in 2021 when winter storms left her without water for two weeks.
After a failing water treatment plant led to low water pressure and the contamination of Jackson’s water supply last month, Becker says she was left wondering how she would pay her bills and care for her seven-year-old son Shylar, who is terminally ill.
“I pick up people’s laundry…bring it to my house, wash it, dry it, fold it, and bring it back. Two days without water meant two days without a paycheck,” she said. “So now I’m being hit professionally and personally.”
Becker told ABC News that Shylar, who she says was born with a heart defect and developed terminal liver disease, has a feeding tube that requires sanitary water to flush it. Using contaminated water could have fatal consequences, she says.
“If I had been flushing with the water we were given through the tap, we might be in a whole different predicament right now. Like that would hospitalize him, potentially kill him,” she said. “It’s important and imperative that we have clean, safe water. I mean for everybody, not just because I have a sick child. This is a human right.”
Becker said that while she does not want to minimize the impact of officials’ efforts to mitigate the crisis, including offering state-run water distribution sites, residents should not have to rely on them.
“I feel like they were reactive instead of proactive,” she said. “And the second they knew there was a problem–the second they knew there was an issue whether it was with the plant or the pipes, they should have looked into fixing it then and they didn’t and they failed to protect us.”
Mississippi ended its boil water notice for all of Jackson’s residents on Sept. 15, nearly two weeks after water pressure returned to the state capital’s residents after days of a water shortage crisis that impacted thousands of Jacksonians.
The complaint names the City of Jackson; Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba; former mayor Tony Yarber; former public works directors Kishia Powell, Robert Miller and Jerriot Smash; Siemens Corporation, Siemens Industry and Trilogy Engineering Services as defendants.
Spokespersons for Lumumba, Powell, Miller, and Siemens declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
Yarber, Smash, and Trilogy Engineering did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Lumumba spoke with “ABC News Prime” last month about the roots of this water crisis, which he said has been unfolding over several years.
“This is due to decades, decades and decades, of possibly 30 years or more of deferred maintenance, a lack of capital improvements made to the system, a lack of a human capital, a workforce plan that accounted for the challenges that our water treatment facility suffers from,” Lumumba said.
Mark Chalos, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He told ABC News that the water system’s failure last month “is not a surprise and shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone in connection with running the Jackson water system.”
Plaintiffs are seeking damages and relief including regular water testing, removal of contaminated pipes, cancellation of bills and debts for contaminated or undelivered water and community health centers for those affected by contaminated water, according to the complaint.
Chalos says he and his clients ultimately hope that the lawsuit pushes officials to resolve the water system’s issues entirely and immediately.
Becker says she hopes officials have a structured plan to prevent this from happening again.
“I have faith and I believe that hopefully they will actually fix this,” Becker said. “I hope nobody else ever has to go through this. This has been horrible. It’s been costly. It’s had a lot of bad effects. And so I hope that they can learn from this and grow from this.”
(WASHINGTON) — The number of suicides among military veterans dropped to its lowest rate in over a decade, according to a report released Monday by the Department of Veteran Affairs. The latest figures come days after a national suicide prevention nonprofit said the federal agency was underestimating the problem.
After instances of suicide rose among veterans from 2001 to 2018, the VA’s annual report documented a near 10% decline between 2018 to 2020.
The VA recognized 6,146 deaths from suicide among veterans in 2020, the most recent year with reportable data. This was 343 fewer instances than recorded in 2019, marking the sharpest decline since 2001. (By contrast with veterans, according to Pentagon data, there were 580 suicides among current service members in 2020.)
The drop in veteran suicides persisted during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The VA cited strengthened mental health programming, clinical support, community collaboration and paid media campaigns as important intervention methods for veterans in crisis.
But Monday’s report also acknowledged that there was still work to be done to create more comprehensive resources.
“Unemployment, chronic pain, insomnia, relationship strain, homelessness and grief are examples of factors outside of mental health that may play a role in suicide,” the report states. “We must also move beyond the individual factors in suicide and look to address broader international, national, community and relational factors that play a role.”
The VA said it remains cautiously encouraged by the drop in the suicide rate. The 10% decline between 2018 and 2020 is close to double the 5.5% reduction among non-veteran adults over the same two-year period.
The issue is still disproportionately impacting former service members. The report determined that in 2020, the age- and sex-adjusted suicide rate for veterans was more than 57% higher than non-veteran adults.
The VA found that on average in 2020, 16 veterans took their lives each day.
That may be an undercount, outside advocates say: A report released Saturday says the number could be closer to 24. America’s Warrior Partnership, a national suicide prevention nonprofit, found that when factoring in unexplained or accidental deaths as well as county record-keeping mistakes, the suicide rate was 37% higher than the VA estimated between 2014 to 2018.
America’s Warrior Partnership said this discrepancy is “likely due to undercounting of [former service member deaths] and the greater specificity of the decedent’s demographics, military experience, and death details available” to the nonprofit.
While America’s Warrior Partnership was working alongside Duke University and the University of Alabama using death records from eight states corroborated with the Department of Defense, the VA was using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense.
The independent investigation, labeled “Operation Deep Dive,” also found unique risk factors that influenced a former service member’s decision to kill themselves. The report found the longer someone served in the military, the less likely they were to commit suicide, by a declining rate of 2% per year served.
The report also assessed that a demotion during military service was associated with an increased suicide risk of 56%.
America’s Warrior Partnership has requested the VA share its current data to better collaborate and make recommendations that would support former service members considering suicide.
“We need everyone at the table, leveraging work within and outside of clinical health care delivery systems to decrease both individual and societal risk factors for suicide,” the VA stated at the conclusion of its report. “The public health approach reminds us that what we do can and does make a difference.”
(NEW YORK) — Banning someone from buying a gun while under felony indictment goes against their Second Amendment right to bear arms, a federal judge in Texas ruled Monday.
“There are no illusions about this case’s real-world consequences—certainly valid public policy and safety concerns exist,” U.S. District Judge David Counts, a Trump appointee, wrote in his decision.
Counts cited a June Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association vs. Bruen, in which the justices rolled back concealed-carry permit restrictions for gun owners in New York state.
Counts’ opinion relied heavily on the framework set out by the high court in Bruen, saying that it was unclear after that ruling “whether a statute preventing a person under indictment from receiving a firearm aligns with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The Texas judge had been asked to weigh the case of Jose Gomez Quiroz, who was indicted for felony burglary on June 9, 2020, and then allegedly jumped bail, attempted to purchase an automatic weapon, lied on his ATF firearms transaction form and was able to purchase the gun.
Quiroz was convicted of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm and illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment. But he moved to dismiss the verdict “because of the United States Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Bruen.” (Quiroz’s burglary case is still pending.)
Counts agreed, finding that the Supreme Court had established a new “standard” with which to view Second Amendment rights.
“No longer can courts balance away a constitutional right. After Bruen, the Government must prove that laws regulating conduct covered by the Second Amendment’s plain text align with this Nation’s historical tradition. The Government does not meet that burden,” Counts found.
He also wrote that he was skeptical that a felony indictment should preclude anyone from owning a weapon.
“The nature of grand jury proceedings is one such area that casts a shadow of constitutional doubt on [making a false statement on a gun form],” he wrote. “Some feel that a grand jury could indict a burrito if asked to do so.”
The government has submitted notice of intention to appeal the decision.
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
