Miley Cyrus is ready to talk about what happened when her plane was forced to make an emergency landing after being struck by lightning.
Miley previously revealed she was flying to the capital of Paraguay in March when her plane “was caught in a major unexpected storm.” She added, while sharing video and photo of the lightning strike, “My crew, band, friends and family who were all traveling with me are safe after an emergency landing.”
The Grammy nominee spoke about the terrifying incident on Late Night With Seth Meyersand admitted she thought she was going to die.
“It was really scary. I was in my mom’s lap because I was pretty sure it didn’t matter about the seat belts at this point,” she confessed. “I was scared and it was really very strange because it was unexpected weather.”
The “Midnight Sky” singer recalled how she felt when she “woke up that morning” and realized “something just kinda felt off and not quite right.” But, she powered through and boarded the plane to play at Paraguay’s Asunciónico festival.
“It was completely unexpected,” she said of the sudden storm. “We got struck by lightning, which then we had to do this emergency landing and we were in the middle of South America, and I was actually on my way to a show, which by that point had already been flooded and canceled.”
Her band tried to rally together and still make it to the event, but Miley recalled telling her enthusiastic team, “We’re in the middle of the forest in a broken-down airplane. There’s floods where we’re supposed to be going, the stage is sinking.”
On a lighter note, Miley revealed she communicates with godmother Dolly Parton through fax because, “She’s rarely on the phone.”
Justin Bieber is back at it again with Tim Hortons — pretty much the Canadian equivalent of Dunkin’ — for an all new partnership.
Last year, the “Ghost” singer teamed up with the chain to make his own Timbits, which is their name for doughnut holes, which were called Timbiebs. That partnership was a smash and even sparked some head-scratching headlines when ecstatic customers tried reselling them — plus associated Timbiebs merchandise — for thousands of dollars on eBay.
Now, Justin is taking a swing at Tim Horton’s other pride and joy — their coffee. According to a press release, the Grammy winner is coming out with his own cold brew, called Biebs Brew. Turns out Justin loves his coffee on ice and helped develop his new beverage.
Biebs Brew is made with “100 percent ethically sourced premium Arabica beans and is slowly cold steeped for 16 hours to enhance the bold and smooth flavor,” the release states. That’s not all; Justin also has “a slight sweet tooth,” so the cold brew comes with a limited-edition French vanilla flavoring.
“We couldn’t stop at Timbiebs, we needed a Biebs Brew too. And we are bringing both to Tims next month,” he said in a statement. “Doing a Tim Hortons collab had always been a dream of mine. I grew up on Tim Hortons and it’s always been something close to my heart.”
The cold brew launches June 6 in both the U.S. and Canada. If that wasn’t enough, fans who were burned in being able to score a box of Timbiebs will have a chance to get their hands on them. Also starting June 6, all three Timbieb flavors — Chocolate White Fudge, Sour Cream Chocolate Chip and Birthday Cake Waffle — will be back in store.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department special counsel investigating the origins of the probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election is facing his first major test in federal court this week, with the start of a criminal trial against a Democrat-linked lawyer charged with lying to the FBI.
Prosecutors are seeking to convince a jury that lawyer Michael Sussmann lied in bringing forth a tip to a senior FBI official in September 2016 about potential connections between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s company and a Russian bank, by allegedly telling the official that he was not working on behalf of any client at the time.
According to John Durham, who has been investigating the Russia probe for more than three years and was appointed special counsel by former Attorney General William Barr just before Barr’s resignation in 2020, Sussmann was in fact bringing the info to then-FBI general counsel James Baker as part of Sussmann’s work for Hillary Clinton’s political campaign and a technology company executive who had worked to assemble the data.
This “led the FBI General Counsel to understand that Sussmann was acting as a good citizen merely passing along information, not as a paid advocate or political operative,” Durham’s indictment alleges.
“Many people have strong feelings about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but we are not here because these involve allegations involved either,” Durham prosecutor Deborah Shaw said in opening arguments Tuesday. “We are here because the FBI is our institution. It should not be used as a political tool for anyone.”
The alleged lie by Sussmann had an impact on how the FBI ultimately investigated the allegations, Durham has claimed, which involved data showing a potential communications channel between computer servers for the Trump Organization and the Russian-owned Alfa Bank. The FBI eventually determined the data did not show anything nefarious.
A key piece of evidence Durham’s team has said supports their case was revealed only last month. Prosecutors will point the jury to a text message that Sussmann allegedly sent to Baker the night before they met in which Sussmann wrote, “I’m coming on my own — not on behalf of a client or company — want to help the Bureau.”
While the charge against Sussmann is narrow, through their 27-page indictment and hundreds of pages of court filings in the months since Sussmann was indicted, Durham’s prosecutors have sought to allege a broader potential conspiracy regarding efforts by Clinton’s campaign and other political operatives to spread unverified allegations about possible ties between Trump, his campaign and the Russian government.
“No one should be so privileged to have the ability to walk into the FBI and lie for political ends,” Shaw said Tuesday, adding “whether we hate Donald Trump or like him,” all have to agree lying to FBI is illegal.
Sussmann’s attorneys have disputed he told Baker at the meeting that he was not bringing the information forward on behalf of a specific client, and have argued that there’s no evidence such a statement had a measurable impact on how FBI agents eventually investigated the allegations.
In opening statements Tuesday, Sussmann’s attorney Michael Bosworth said while Sussmann was representing Clinton’s campaign “generally” in the fall of 2016 — and that representation included work on the Alfa Bank data that was brought to him by tech executive Rodney Joffe — his meeting with the FBI was not part of his work for the Clinton campaign.
On the contrary, according to Bosworth, Sussmann sought the meeting to give the bureau a heads up on a story the New York Times was working on about the Alfa Bank data at the time, so it wouldn’t be caught “flat-footed.”
While Durham’s team argues Sussmann was hoping the meeting would later result in an “October surprise” news story about the FBI opening an investigation on potential ties between Trump and Russia — Bosworth said that as a result of the meeting, the FBI was actually able to persuade the Times not to run the story.
In other words, according to Bosworth, Sussmann’s meeting generated the “opposite” result of what the Clinton campaign would have wanted at the time.
Sussmann’s attorneys have previously accused Durham’s prosecutors of trying to promote a “baseless narrative that the Clinton Campaign conspired with others to trick the federal government into investigating ties between President Trump and Russia,” and have successfully sought to limit some of the evidence that Durham’s team had hoped to present in the two-week trial.
Last week, the judge overseeing Sussmann’s case, Christopher Cooper, issued an order that will prevent Durham’s team from bringing forward evidence alleging what they have described as a “joint venture” between Sussmann, representatives for Clinton’s campaign and the technology executive Rodney Joffe to collect and spread opposition research about Trump.
In his ruling, Cooper said he would not oversee “a time-consuming and largely unnecessary mini-trial to determine the existence and scope of an uncharged conspiracy to develop and disseminate the Alfa Bank data.”
The witness lists for both Durham’s prosecutors and Sussmann’s team are extensive, and include an array of current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials, former Clinton campaign operatives and a former New York Times reporter who was in touch with Sussmann around the time he met with the FBI.
In the three years since Durham was initially assigned to look into the origins of the Russia investigation, he has secured only one guilty plea of a former lawyer with the FBI who admitted to doctoring an email that was used to support a surveillance application that targeted a former Trump campaign aide.
Durham’s only other indictment outside of Sussmann was against Igor Danchenko, a lead analyst who contributed to the now-infamous Steele Dossier, who was charged last year with five counts of lying to the FBI about who his sources were for claims in the dossier. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
While he has conducted his investigation largely out of public view the past three years, Durham has notably opted to attend the first days of Sussmann’s trial in person.
Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James of the hit ABC comedy sitcom Abbott Elementary joined Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts and T.J. Holmes Tuesday morning to chat about the show’s upcoming second season. In addition to revealing why they wanted to join the breakout series, the stars say one of the “easy” parts of being on the show is working alongside the special ensemble cast.
“We all just came right together,” Ralph said, speaking of the group of stars, which includes show creator Quinta Brunson and actors Tyler James Williams, Lisa Ann Walter and Chris Perfetti.
“I really think that a lot of that has to do with Quinta,” she said. “Quinta really handpicked each one of us and put this cast together.”
James agrees. She shared her thought that each characters is relatable, even hers — the antagonist school principal, Ava Coleman.
“Everybody’s had that boss, where you get to that level and you’re just like, ‘How did you get this job?’ So it like reaffirms like, ‘Oh, I’m not crazy. These people exist,'” James said.
On how she became apart of the popular series, James says it was the compelling script, as well as the “hilarious” pilot that drew her in. And while she did audition for her role, the comedian joked that she’d “clean up in the background if that’s what needs to happen.”
As for Ralph, the 65-year-old actress — who also vied for the role of Principal Coleman — says she realized how special the show would be during a moment shared with James Williams while taping the pilot episode.
“We both looked at each other and we were like, ‘Whoa, something is really happening here.'”
Ralph described that moment as someone “stirring a pot of magic.”
Photo by Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Ukraine’s military has ended its combat mission in the city of Mariupol and hundreds of Ukrainian fighters are being taken by bus to Russian-controlled territory after nearly three months of heavy fighting in the port city. Russia began its attacks on the city in early March.
The Ukrainians and Russians struck a deal to exchange badly injured soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol for Russian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar told a Ukrainian TV station.
Mariupol’s mayor confirmed that a cease-fire remains in place in the port city.
The Ukrainian military ordered remaining troops who had been sheltering beneath the Azovstal steel factory to focus on efforts to save the lives of their personnel.
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated through a humanitarian corridor, some of whom were injured, according to Ukraine’s defense minister.
Malyar said that 53 wounded soldiers are being transported from Azovstal to Novoazovsk where they will receive immediate medical attention.
“About Azovstal, we hope that we’ll manage to save their lives. There are seriously injured among them. I want to stress that we need our defenders alive. The operation to rescue them was launched by our military. We work on getting them home and this work demands delicacy and time,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address.
Another 211 Ukrainian fighters were accompanied by Russian forces from Azovstal to Olenivka in rebel-held Donetsk, where they will be part of the exchange for Russian prisoners of war.
“As a part of an exchange deal, 50 wounded were evacuated from Azovstal to Novoazovsk. Negotiations are underway for them to be transferred to Zaporozhzhya,” another source told ABC News, confirming the exchange.
Russia’s state-run TASS reported that Russia’s defense ministry confirmed an agreement was reached on Monday to evacuate wounded Ukrainian troops from the plant and transport them to a medical facility in Novoazovsk to “provide them with all the necessary assistance.”
The Russian defense ministry on Tuesday said 265 Ukrainian militants have laid down arms and surrendered, including 51 who are seriously wounded. All those in need of medical assistance were sent for treatment to a hospital in Novoazovsk, Donetsk People’s Republic.
Popular country duo Country Brooks & Dunn announced the news during an event at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday morning.
Each year, the Hall inducts members in three categories. This year, Lewis is the Veteran Era inductee, late singer/songwriter Keith Whitley is the Country Hall’s Modern Era artist, and music executive Joe Galante is being inducted under the Non-Performer rotating category.
The 86-year-old Lewis was on hand to speak at the ceremony, delivering his remarks from a chair and wearing a glittering red sequined blazer. “I’m just overwhelmed that they asked me here today,” he told the room, adding that it was “always great to be recognized” and that his lengthy career has taught him to “be a good person, and treat your people right, treat your fans right.”
Lewis added that it was difficult for him to find the words to describe the honor he felt.
Jerry Lee, who was infamously nicknamed “The Killer,” came to fame during the late 1950s with classic songs like “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On,” “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless” that were hits on both the pop and country charts. He continued to score country hits throughout the 1960s and ’70s and into the early ’80s.
The three inductees will be officially welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a Medallion Ceremony this fall.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Assuming his role as consoler in chief, President Joe Biden traveled to Buffalo, New York, on Tuesday to visit a community in mourning and call out the dangers of white supremacy on the national stage following Saturday’s racially-motivated mass shooting at a supermarket that left 10 Black people dead, three wounded and others fearing for their lives.
Biden wanted to meet with victims’ families to “try to bring some comfort to the community, particularly to those who lost loved ones” and “grieve with them,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
BREAKING: Pres. Biden addresses community of Buffalo.
“Jill and I bring you this message from deep in our nation’s soul: In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail. And white supremacy will not have the last word.”https://t.co/EiAF227UVlpic.twitter.com/dw2AkgqtCn
He and first lady Jill Biden visited the Tops market memorial to pay their respects on Tuesday morning, laying flowers. They then met behind closed doors with the families of victims and first responders at a community center. During an afternoon address, Biden called on Americans to reject white supremacy, calling it a “poison” that’s “running through our body politic.”
“What happened here is simple, straightforward,” Biden said. “Terrorism. Domestic terrorism. Violence inflicted in the service of hate. And the vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people as being inherently inferior to any other group,” he said.
Alluding to the “great replacement theory” conspiracy, an idea espoused by the alleged shooter and echoed in language used by some Republicans and media figures, Biden called on Americans to “reject the lie” and condemned those “who spread the lie for power, for political gain and for profit.”
“We need to say as clearly enforced as we can, that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden said. “Silence is complicity, is complicity. We cannot remain silent.”
The president also named each victim in the attack and their ages, giving details of their everyday lives before they were suddenly gunned down.
“I know tragedy will come again. It cannot be forever overcome. It cannot be fully understood either. But there are certain things we can do,” Biden added.
The president called on Congress to pass legislation to “keep assault weapons off our street” and to do more to “prevent people from being radicalized to violence,” such as addressing what he called “the relentless exploitation of the Internet to recruit and mobilize terrorism.”
“We just need to have the courage to do that, to stand up over the American experiment in which democracy is in danger — like it hasn’t been in my lifetime,” he said. “The American experiment in democracy is in danger at this hour. Hate and fear are being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America.”
Biden has said in the past that he was compelled to run for office, in part, because of how former President Donald Trump responded to white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was the first president to directly address white supremacy in his inaugural speech, calling it “domestic terrorism that we must confront” and released the first-ever national strategy to counter domestic terrorism.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old who was among those killed Saturday, had called on the Biden administration to label the shooting an act of domestic terrorism, which the president did Tuesday.
“We can’t sugarcoat it, we can’t try to explain it away talking about mental illness,” Crump said in a press conference with the victims’ families on Monday. “This was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by a young white supremacist.”
Biden’s first in-person comments on the shooting came while speaking at an event on Sunday to honor law enforcement officers killed on duty, where he described the accused gunman as “armed with weapons of war and a hate-filled soul.” He also said that he has been receiving updates from his team at the White House, which remains in close contact with the Department of Justice, while it investigates the shooting as both a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.
“As they do, we must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America,” Biden said. “Our hearts are heavy once again, but the resolve must never, ever waver.”
During a previously scheduled Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House on Monday, Biden also paid tribute to retired Buffalo Police Department officer Aaron Salter, the security guard at the Tops Friendly Market who was killed after engaging the shooter and “gave his life trying to save others,” Biden said.
“He actually was able to shoot the assailant twice, but he [the assailant] had a bulletproof vest, and he [Slater] lost his life in the process,” Biden added.
On a somber Monday afternoon, Jean-Pierre — taking over for former White House press secretary Jen Psaki — began her first briefing by reading out the names of each victim of the shooting and giving a little description of who they were.
Asked who or what may have influenced the shooter, Jean-Pierre opted, at first, to speak about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, which saw one counterprotester dead, saying Biden “is determined as he was back then, and he is determined today, to make sure that we fight back against those forces of hate and evil and violence.”
When pressed again by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega about elected officials who have expressed views echoing those espoused by the alleged gunman, such as Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Jean-Pierre said the administration would call out those who “spew this type of hate” — but refused to name anyone — and gave few details about what the White House can do to prevent these kinds of views from becoming more widespread.
“What we’re going to continue to do anyone, any one person, right, doesn’t matter who they are, who spews this type of hate, hatred, we’re going to, we’re going to call out we’re going to condemn that,” she said. “I’m not going to speak or call out any individual names. I’m saying that this is something that we need to call out. And so this is what the president has been doing and will continue to do that.”
“I’m not going to get into a back and forth on names and who said what,” Jean-Pierre added. “We’re just saying, if someone does that, if there’s an individual that is espousing hate, xenophobia, you know, has, you know, has just white supremacy type of extremism, we need to call that out. And this president has done that.”
With renewed calls for gun control from the public, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC’s This Week Sunday that Democrats in Congress is “of course trying to do something about gun violence” but noted that efforts to address mass shootings on Capitol Hill have fallen short not in the House but in the Senate, where Republicans have opposed gun control measures, making it impossible for Democrats to advance legislation over the 60-vote threshold in the chamber.
A document obtained by ABC News Monday appears to show how the alleged shooter, Payton Gendron, 18, carefully planned out his attack at least two months before he was arrested at the supermarket on Saturday and charged with first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
Jepayona Delita/Future Publishing via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Several people in England have tested positive for monkeypox, according to the U.K. Health Security Agency.
Officials announced Monday four more cases of the rare disease have been detected, bringing the total to seven.
The most recent infections do not seem to be connected to the first case confirmed May 7 in a person who had recently traveled to Nigeria.
But the most recent four cases had not traveled to a region where monkeypox is endemic, raising the possibility that the virus could be circulating within the U.K.
Additionally, the most recent people to test positive self-identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, leading health authorities to advise people in those groups to watch out for rashes or lesions.
“This is rare and unusual,” Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser for UKHSA, said in a statement. “UKHSA is rapidly investigating the source of these infections because the evidence suggests that there may be transmission of the monkeypox virus in the community, spread by close contact.”
What is monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus.
It was first identified in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in crab-eating macaque monkeys that were being used for research, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first case among humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970, and the illness has since spread to several other nations, mostly in central and western Africa.
How monkeypox is transmitted
Monkeypox can transmit from animals to humans when an infected animal — such as a rodent or a primate — bites or scratches a person.
The CDC said humans can also be infected when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
The disease can also spread from person-to-person via large respiratory droplets in the air, but they cannot travel more than a few feet so two people would need to have prolonged close contact.
What are the symptoms?
The incubation period for monkeypox is between seven and 14 days, and symptoms are generally mild, according to the CDC.
The most common symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.
In more severe cases, patients can develop a rash and lesions that often begin on the face before spreading to the rest of the body.
Most people recover within two to four weeks. Although there have been no cases of death reported in the U.S., monkeypox has led to death in as many as 1 in 10 people in Africa who contract the disease.
Monkeypox detection in the U.S.
Very few cases of monkeypox have been identified among Americans.
According to the CDC, the disease does not naturally occur in the U.S. and infections are usually identified among people who recently traveled to countries where monkeypox is more commonly found.
In 2003, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported among six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa.
All the infections occurred after coming into contact with pet prairie dogs, which in turn became infected “after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana,” the CDC stated.
Since then, just two other cases have been detected in the U.S., both associated with travel.
In July 2021, a case was confirmed in a Texas resident who had recently returned from Nigeria and in November 2021, another case was found in a Maryland resident who had also traveled to Nigeria.
Treatment and prevention of monkeypox
Currently, there are no specific treatments available for monkeypox. Antivirals typically used for smallpox have been shown to be effective in lab studies and in animal trials.
One vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in those aged 18 and older at high risk for monkeypox or smallpox.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Rashid Haddou contributed to this report.
(BALTIMORE) — A fire and explosion at a suburban Baltimore nail salon that injured seven people was deliberately set by an “emotionally distressed” man, authorities said Tuesday. Four police officers and two emergency medical workers were wounded in the incident.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was critically injured in the blast at the Libra Nails & Spa salon in Windsor Mill about 23 miles northwest of Baltimore, according to the Baltimore County Police Department.
Baltimore County Fire Department officials said the suspect is a former employee of the nail salon, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Police officers responded to a workplace disturbance call at the nail salon, in the Security Station Shopping Center, just after 9 p.m. and encountered the suspect who was refusing to leave business, police said in a statement released to ABC News Tuesday morning.
A police spokesperson told reporters Monday night that officers called EMTs to the scene to examine the “emotionally distressed” man. While the officers and EMTs were inside the salon, the suspect suddenly ran to the back of the business, police said.
“The individual refused commands by officers and proceeded to run into the back of the store where he started a fire that produced an explosion,” according to the police statement.
The four police officers and two EMTs were taken to hospitals with minor to non-life-threatening injuries, according to the statement. One officer remained in the hospital Tuesday for further observation, while the other officers and emergency medical workers were treated and released.
The suspect was placed into custody and taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to the statement.
Charges against the suspect are pending further investigation, police said.
A motive also remains under investigation.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Baltimore County Fire Department are assisting the probe.
Fire officials said the blaze and explosion were fueled by flammable chemicals, including acetone and nail polish remover, stored inside the business. The fire quickly engulfed the business and prompted fire officials to declare a hazmat situation.
The fire was brought under control at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Drew Barrymore has found a peaceful balance in life.
Looking back on her younger years, Drew says she lived a “wild, rebellious and fun” youth, and was open about her struggles with addiction, so much so she entered rehab at the age of 13 and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for six months. She was emancipated from her parents a year later.
Despite the troubles she faced, the actress has found a sense of tranquility in life that she knows her younger self couldn’t understand at the time.
“I like trying to tell myself to please react with grace. Be on the high road. Don’t flip out about everything. Find calm, find peace,” she shares with Peopleabout her advice for her past self, adding that she “wouldn’t have listened” to those wise words as a teen.
“Those are things I wish I could’ve told myself when I was a kid, but I would’ve never thought those things were possible, nor did I really want them at that time,” she expresses. “Now I want them.”
The Golden Globe award winner’s talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, has been renewed for season three. It will air on CBS later this year.
