An energy drink called “Purple Rain” will no longer be hitting the shelves because of Prince‘s estate. Billboard reports a judge said Bang Energy could not trademark their drink’s name because it is “uniquely and unmistakably” connected to the late singer. Bang Energy will not appeal, but hopes to collab with his estate in the future.
Jennifer Lopez is setting a new wedding trend by declaring “milky nails” the new French manicure. Voguereports the “On The Floor” singer wore her almond-shaped nails long and painted them in a transparent white polish when she wed Ben Affleck. This has led the fashion mag to declare it the new manicure for brides.
Andy Grammer and his wife, Aijia, surprised Christina Perri with a house call. The “Jar of Hearts” singer shared a snap from her video doorbell of the two dressed as “Italian ‘heart’ repair men.” She said on her Instagram Story that they “put positive post-it notes all over [her] house.” Christina thanked the couple and said she “hit the life jackpot” by being their friend. Christina didn’t divulge why her heart might need repairs.
Meghan Trainor poked fun at her infamous kiss with Charlie Puth at the 2015 American Music Awards on TikTok. Taking part in the viral “Hal Walker Plays the Banakulas” audio meme, Meghan pretended not to be amused by the kiss, but she did like a comment that said she “would do it again.”
fun.’s 2011 hit “We Are Young” has joined YouTube’s billion views club. This marks the first song for both fun. and collaborator Janelle Monáe to hit over 1 billion views. The song is also RIAA-certified Diamond, meaning it sold over 10 million copies.
Gang of Youths has canceled the band’s upcoming North American tour dates set to kick off in September.
In a lengthy statement posted to the Australian group’s Twitter, frontman David Le’aupepe writes that the cancellation is due to “some ongoing health issues.”
“In the words of Warren Zevon, my s***’s f***ed up,” Le’aupepe shares. “I need to take som time off to address these concerns before we pick back up again.”
“I’m so sorry to everybody who is disappointed by this,” he continues. “A lot of the inner s*** I feel has a lot to do with letting people down and I’m feeling that more than ever at this point.”
Gang of Youths had been touring the U.S. earlier this year in support of their new album, angel in realtime., which was released in February. The next run of dates was scheduled to begin in September.
“Basically, and without bulls***ting you, I’m also absolutely f***en knackered and not feeling great, and need some time to be a normal bloke again,” Le’aupepe writes. “I want to keep doing this job as long as humanely possible. However, for that to be the case, I need to unf*** my s*** and get my body, voice and mind in better working order.”
Gang of Youths is currently scheduled to return to the road for a European tour starting in October.
Stevie Nicks is among the guest artists who have contributed to Cracker Island, the just-announced upcoming eighth studio album by Gorillaz, the virtual alternative rock band led by Blur frontman Damon Albarn.
Cracker Island, which will be the cartoon group’s first new studio effort since 2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, will be released on February 24, 2023.
Nicks is featured on a song called “Oil.” Other guests contributors on the record include Beck, Tame Impala and newly crowned MTV VMA Artist of the Year Bad Bunny.
The album’s title track, which features acclaimed bassist Thundercat, debuted in June. Another new song from Cracker Island, “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and rapper Bootie Brown, has just been released as an advance digital track, while a companion music video has premiered on YouTube.
Various versions of Cracker Island can be preordered now at Gorillaz.com.
Gorillaz will launch a North American headlining tour on September 11 in Vancouver, Canada.
(LONDON) — Inspectors from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency are heading to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine that has been shelled in the ongoing fight between Russian and Ukrainian forces, threatening a nuclear catastrophe in the region.
According to the IAEA, experts plan to “assess the physical damage to the ZNPP’s facilities, determine whether the main and back-up safety and security systems were functional and evaluate the staff’s working conditions, in addition to performing urgent safeguards activities on the site.”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe.
“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a Twitter post this week.
Grossi, who is leading the mission, has long sought access to the nuclear power plant.
Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of shelling at or near the site in recent weeks, fueling fears that the fighting could cause a nuclear disaster. The nuclear power plant has been occupied by Russian forces while still being operated by Ukrainian engineers since early May, according to the IAEA.
The nuclear power plant completely lost power on Thursday due to damage from nearby shelling, according to the IAEA. Two of the six reactors at the plant are currently operating from a single remaining power line.
A secure off-site power supply from the electric grid and back-up power supply systems have kept the nuclear power plant running since the shut-off on Aug. 25, the IAEA said.
A lack of power poses a risk to the operation of the plant’s cooling systems, which are needed for the nuclear reactor and spent fuel ponds in the facility, Scott Roecker, nuclear materials security vice president at Nuclear Threat Initiative, told ABC News last week.
“And if there’s not active cooling of both of those facilities, it could lead to a reactor meltdown and a significant release of radiation,” Roecker said.
Amid the threat, officials in the region began distributing iodine tablets, which help block the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland in a nuclear accident, to nearby residents, the Associated Press reported.
On Aug. 28, Ukrainian officials informed the IAEA of renewed shelling in recent days at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but said all safety systems remained operational and there had been no increase in radiation levels, according to Grossi. Continued shelling raises the risk for a potential nuclear accident, experts say.
Shelling over the weekend hit two so-called “special buildings,” both located about 300 feet from a reactor. According to the IAEA, those buildings house facilities including water treatment plants, equipment repair shops or waste management facilities.
Grossi and his team arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday and are expected to visit the nuclear power plant on Thursday for the first time. He told reporters during a press briefing that the IAEA mission aims to establish a permanent presence at the plant and that the initial phase would take days.
When asked if it was possible to demilitarize the site, Grossi told reporters that was “a matter of political will” and that his mission is to preserve Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. He admitted it was “not a risk-free mission” and underlined that his team would be operating in Ukrainian sovereign territory but in cooperation with Russian forces.
Asked if he thought Russian troops would give his team full access, Grossi told reporters the IAEA was on a “technical mission” and that he was confident his team could work “on both sides.”
The IAEA said it seeks to bring clarity to the crisis with the mission, helping to address contradictory information about the status of the facility, its operation and the damage sustained.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative to the international organizations in Vienna, said on Wednesday that Russia welcomes the idea that IAEA experts could stay at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a permanent basis.
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River. Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation.
(NEW YORK) — The main pump at the main water treatment facility in Jackson, Mississippi, shut down due to flooding that worsened longstanding issues, leaving up to 180,000 people without access to running water in their homes.
A state of emergency was declared on Tuesday by Gov. Tate Reeves and it was announced public schools would shift their classes online.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba spoke with “ABC News Prime” about the roots of this water crisis, which have been unfolding over multiple years, how the city plans to recover with a focus on equity and sustainability, and how people tuning in can help.
PRIME: Joining me now is the mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Lumumba. Mayor, first off, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us during such a challenging time for you.
LUMUMBA: Thank you for having me, and thank you for lifting up the challenges that my community is suffering from.
PRIME: Of course. So now that a state of emergency has been declared, what is your first order of business here with these funds to help your community?
LUMUMBA: Well, first, let me reiterate that we were excited and we welcomed this support with open arms. We feel like we’ve been going it alone for the better part of two years, lifting up the fact that these are challenges that first and foremost are beyond partisan. These are human rights challenges.
And so we’ve been saying that it’s not a matter of if our systems would fail, but when our systems fail, and we’ve seen it far too frequently. So we’ve talked with the State Department of Health and MEMA, who have assured us that they’re going to have boots on the ground to help supplement our staffing needs and the critical repairs. They have committed to approximately 50% of the cost of the repairs in a shorter time frame to get to those contracts, due to the fact that it’s under an emergency condition.
PRIME: And so, mayor, spell it out for us. How did we get here? How do we get to this point?
LUMUMBA: Yeah. 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. We’ve had hotter summers, colder winters and more precipitation each year. And it’s taking a toll on our infrastructure. And so we need the support to not only create sustainability and equity in our system, but to also weatherize our system.
PRIME: A major overhaul, certainly. And mayor, water has been a crisis in your city for some time now. In fact, in November of last year, our congressional correspondent Rachel Scott went to Jackson and reported on an elementary there that had no water. The kids had to use porta potties. They also had no water at home. You were interviewed at that time, and this is a sentiment that you’ve already reiterated this evening: that it’s not a matter of if these systems will fail, but rather when these systems will fail. And unfortunately, what we’re seeing right now, you were right. But previous to this, how high up have you taken your concerns? And do you feel that anyone was receptive to the gravity of the situation?
LUMUMBA: Well, first and foremost, I believe that the moment in which you’re recounting, I believe that the administrator of the EPA was with me and he was looking at the concerns of our water distribution system, touring the school, and was scheduled for that tour, only right before he came, for the school to have to redirect its students to another location due to the persistent water challenges. This is something that we don’t only suffer from citywide.
But more precisely, inequitably, we suffer in the southern portion of our city most disproportionately. And so it’s something that, we not only need to create sustainability but equity, realizing that some of the most impoverished parts of our city are feeling the brunt of this challenge more consistently and worse off than the rest of our city. And so this is something that, you know, I believe we have to continue to ring the alarm around, something that we have to continue to call on all levels that have responsibility.
PRIME: And make sure those dollars go where they need to go. And you’ve said Jackson in some ways is a poster child for a community that suffers from environmental justice issues. So tell us a little bit more about what you mean by that.
LUMUMBA: Well, you know, just as we review the EPA’s Justice40 initiative, when it talks about income disparities and the diversity of communities that it had in mind, Jackson is the primary example of a community that fits and checks all of the boxes of those initiatives. When we talk about the fact that we’ve had great disparity in the funding of the resources in Jackson compared to other portions of our state over generations, I think that it is time that we represent a new model, that we represent a new day, and we demonstrate from the city level to the state level. And beyond that, we’re all on board trying to make certain that residents, that people, that human beings don’t have to deal with the challenge of not having the basic resource of water.
PRIME: Right. And water really is a statewide issue there. What is your message to other mayors who could be facing similar challenges here?
LUMUMBA: Well, I would say that, you know, as we have dealt with these persistent challenges, we know just how dehumanizing this can be. We know how humiliating it can be. And so, you know, as we push forward for a better Jackson, a better state, a better nation, we need to push for dignity, economy which reflects the sustainable development goals, that give people dignity, that reveals a better quality of life for them each and every day.
PRIME: Sure. And I know right now we don’t have a timeline for when this will be fixed. So how can people around the country that might be watching right now? How can they help?
LUMUMBA: Well, I would encourage them to reach out to the city. They can do so through our website www.jacksonms.gov, through our Constituent Services division, if they look to provide water donations, if they can help just lift up to those in leadership that support.
PRIME: Okay. Certainly a little highlight there. Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, thank you so much for joining us.
(WASHINGTON) — After three weeks of accusations from former President Donald Trump and his allies that the Justice Department and FBI overreached in their unprecedented August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ responded Tuesday with a late-night filing that laid bare the fruitless negotiations that preceded the raid — and provided ample evidence that in their own legal filing, Trump’s attorneys had left out key details and made multiple unfounded or false claims about the circumstances surrounding the DOJ’s efforts to retrieve classified documents.
Tuesday’s DOJ filing was not just a line-by-line rebuttal of the claims made by Trump and his lawyers that they were fully cooperative all along with department’s efforts to retrieve the records, but it put on full display the extent of the evidence collected so far by investigators in their probe of whether concealment of the documents amounts to obstruction of justice.
Included in the filing were paper exhibits showing the full subpoena sent to Trump’s lawyers, the sworn statement by a Trump lawyer earlier this summer stating they’d handed over all relevant documents, and a high-resolution photo of a pile of documents that was subsequently collected from Trump’s personal office with Top Secret markings.
The filing came in response to Trump’s request that a judge appoint a special master to intervene in investigators’ ongoing review of the items seized from Mar-a-Lago — but some legal experts tell ABC News that Trump’s team may have hurt their own cause.
“One of the greatest self-inflicted wounds is the Trump legal team’s decision, presumably with strong input from their client, deciding to lace their motion for a special master with several falsehoods,” said Ryan Goodman, a professor of law at New York University and former special counsel to the Department of Defense. “Their approach gave the Justice Department a strong reason to publicly set the record straight and issue statements about facts that would otherwise have remained secret due to an ongoing criminal investigation.”
“The Justice Department is usually loath to discuss matters that are under investigation,” Goodman added. “It is rare for the public to get this much visibility into the evidence that is being developed in an ongoing investigation.”
Indeed, Attorney General Merrick Garland has repeatedly said his department will only speak on criminal-related matters through its filings and pleadings in court. Prosecutors, in fact, said in a footnote of the filing that on Monday they had received authorization from D.C. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell to disclose evidence from their ongoing grand jury investigation, including the full copy of a May 11 subpoena that demanded Trump’s team hand over all remaining documents with classifications markings to the government.
Experts said that demonstrates the extent to which officials were willing to go in order to present the fullest version of facts to Judge Aileen Cannon, who will hear arguments Thursday from the government and Trump’s attorneys on the request for a special master.
“I don’t think this was like a calculated effort of, ‘Oh, wow, we have an opportunity here to push back hard and try to debunk all of what Trump has said,'” said Mary McCord, a former top official in DOJ’s National Security Division. “I think it was, you know, we have to respond, we have a court order to respond. The court is obviously going to consider this motion. We’re going to have a hearing and the motion we’re responding to set forth a factual background that is inaccurate, at least according to the government.”
Among other things, the DOJ’s filing directly contradicts the Trump legal team’s account of an in-person visit to Mar-a-Lago on June 3 by a group of FBI agents led by Jay Bratt, the chief of DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
While Trump’s attorneys said that Bratt was permitted to inspect a storage room containing boxes of items from Trump’s time in the White House, Bratt said in the filing that Trump’s attorneys “explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes” to confirm no documents with classified markings remained.
At the end of that visit, the Justice Department said Trump’s attorney provided a sworn statement in response to the subpoena, confirming that all relevant materials had been handed over. The name of the lawyer who signed the statement is redacted, but it was said to have been signed by Trump attorney Christina Bobb, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Neither of the filings from Trump’s legal team requesting the special master made any mention of that statement.
In addition, the DOJ rebutted arguments that Trump’s advisers have been making publicly, including Trump’s claim that he declassified the documents before leaving the White House. The filing said that during negotiations, Trump and his representatives never made any mention of the documents being declassified or subject to executive privilege. In fact, the filing said the documents the DOJ retrieved in June were stored inside a Redweld envelope that was “double-wrapped in tape” — suggesting that the attorney handing them over believed them to be highly sensitive.
The government says that after its June visit, the FBI uncovered “multiple sources of evidence” showing classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago, and that such documents would also be found outside of the storage room.
“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the filing states. “This included evidence indicating that boxes formerly in the Storage Room were not returned prior to counsel’s review.”
While the latest filing did not spell out specifics about that evidence, it was that pattern of facts, in addition to other evidence of probable cause developed in the investigation, that the DOJ says led it to make the unprecedented decision to move forward in seeking a search warrant of the former president’s residence.
According to the Justice Department, investigators during the August 8 search found more than one hundred documents bearing classification markings ranging from Confidential to Top Secret, as well as “additional sensitive compartments that signify very limited distribution.”
“In some instances, even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents,” the department said, noting the search “cast serious doubt” on the claims from Trump’s legal team that “there had been ‘a diligent search’ for records responsive to the grand jury subpoena.”
“That the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter,” the filing states.
(WASHINGTON) — “They know that I was working with the coalition forces,” Abdul, a former interpreter for the U.S. Marines said about the Taliban when ABC News spoke with him in June 2021. “If they take over Kabul, they will come, they will behead us, they will kill us. I know that I will be killed by the Taliban,” he told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz.
Just two months later, the United States-backed Afghan government collapsed, and the Taliban swept through Kabul, taking over the country. Chaos ensued as thousands of Afghans rushed to the Kabul airport to flee, 13 U.S. service members, along with 170 Afghans were killed in a terrorist bombing, and a U.S. transport plane departed with Afghans clinging to its wheels.
“Those days were worst days in all [our] life — in all Afghanistan,” Abdul told ABC News this August. “There was no life, there was no future.”
“We lost almost — our everything, our dreams, our planning, what we wanted to do for our future,” Lima, his wife, added. ABC News is not using their full names to ensure their safety.
Having worked with the U.S., Abdul was immediately in danger. The Taliban came knocking on his door, he said, and he and his wife decided the only way they would see a future with their three young daughters — Susan, Hosai, and Uswa – was to escape.
“That was horrible when we were coming to [the] airport,” Hosai, 10, added as she said she remembered the gunfire and the harrowing journey to safety. “That was very horrible.”
The family made it to the Kabul airport. And with the help of Abdul’s American friends, in addition to ABC News, his family was able to make it out. First to Qatar, then to New Jersey, and finally to Northern Virginia, where his family is rebuilding their lives from scratch.
But Abdul and his family are the lucky ones — they’re the ones who got out, and have resettled successfully. Some 3.5 million Afghans are still displaced within Afghanistan, according to a United Nations Refugee Agency report from December. And while over 100,000 Afghans were airlifted out by the United States that August, many Afghans who have resettled in the United States are struggling.
Many Afghans have found their arrival riddled with red tape – from having difficulty receiving a Social Security number to finding affordable housing to remaining in constant limbo over their immigration status. Many Afghans came to the United States under so-called humanitarian parole, which lasts two years, and they now need to apply for asylum. But a Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University report found that asylum status is denied in 70% of cases.
Abdul and his family are the lucky ones. After attending a job fair, Abdul got hired by the Hilton Hotels chain to become a safety and security manager. He says he loves his job.
“I love the environment of my job especially,” Abdul said. “And I am sure I will get more opportunities because this is a land of opportunities.”
Abdul and his family have slowly been able to make their new home feel like the one they had to escape, decorating their living room floor with a bright red Afghan rug and having piping hot tea always ready to serve any guests.
Abdul’s three daughters have started the new school year — entering 8th grade, 5th grade, and 2nd grade.
“When we came here, it was like — [at] first, I didn’t feel like it was home, but after a month I [felt] like in my — I’m in my home,” Susan, 13, said. “So, it feels so good. I’m comfortable here. We are happy to be here in the United States.”
“Yeah,” Uswa, 6, added. “And I — and I feel safe here because there are no Taliban here.”
Abdul and Lima recognize that they are the lucky ones, especially since women in Afghanistan have lost many freedoms since the Taliban took over. They know escaping is the right decision.
“This is the place that they will have a great future,” Abdul said of his three girls. “And I’m happy. Everybody’s happy here right now. These five people are very happy and enjoying life in America.”
The trailblazing film and television career of the late John Singleton will be celebrated at his alma mater, the University of Southern California.
The USC School of Cinematic Arts announced Tuesday that it is hosting “John Singleton: A Celebration,” a yearlong tribute to the filmmaker, who passed away in April 2019 at age 51.
The events will include a special screening series of his most notable films, featuring conversations with cast and crew members. Screenings will take place on the USC Campus, and are free and open to the public, with RSVP required on the USC School of Cinematic Arts website.
Singleton made history with his 1991 debut film, Boyz N the Hood. At age 24, he became the youngest person, and the first African American, to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Singleton was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
A screening of Boyz N the Hood will kick off the tribute on Friday, September 9. Director Robert Townsend will moderate a conversation with selected stars from the film.
The cast included Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett, Regina King and Laurence Fishburne.
The next movie in the series will be Poetic Justice on September 21, followed by Higher Learning on October 12, Rosewood on November 9 and Shaft starring Samuel L. Jackson on November 30.
The celebration will continue into 2023 on January 25 with Baby Boy, 2 Fast 2 Furious in February and concludes with Four Brothers on March 22.
Last year, Duncan Laurence‘s “Arcade” became the first Eurovision song in 25 years to dent the Billboard Hot 100. Now, the Dutch singer/songwriter has returned with a new single, “Electric Life,” and a video that marks his directorial debut.
The video shows Duncan performing the Elton John and Queen-inspired ballad while a sea of disembodied hands reach out to touch his face, interact with him and, ultimately, lift him up. Duncan says that the song is “about the people who unfortunately aren’t here on Earth anymore but are still a very much a big part of my life,” adding, “The hands in the video symbolize these people.”
“It has been such a dream come true and an amazing experience to direct my own video,” says Duncan. He notes, “I wanted to find a symbolic, hopeful and positive way of performing this song and I think it turned out beautifully. I’m super happy and really proud.”
Duncan says he wants people to “find comfort” when they listen to the new song, adding, “I want them to think of that one person that they really miss and celebrate them.”
“Electric Life” is the first track to be released from recording sessions Duncan has been doing with his fiancé, songwriter Jordan Garfield.
(LANSING, Mich.) — The Michigan Board of Canvassers is deadlocked on a bid to add an abortion question on enshrining abortion rights in the state’s constitution to the November ballot.
Sponsors of the ballot initiative have indicated they would file a lawsuit and ask the courts to order the measure be added to the ballot.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.
