Things are about to get Heavy for Mitchell Tenpenny.
The hit singer has announced that his third studio album, This Is Heavy, will be released on September 16. He teased the announcement with an Instagram video with a graphic of a UFO beaming a light down to Earth as the phrase “are y’all f****** ready for album #2” scrolls across the screen.
The album will feature 20 tracks, including his current hit, “Truth About You,” which is climbing up the top 10 on country radio, as well as the unreleased “Always Something With You.” The full track list will be unveiled on Friday.
After “Truth” went viral on TikTok last summer, Mitchell featured it on his 2021 EP, Midtown Diaries, and released it as an official single.
“I hope the fans are as excited as I am that this music will be out soon. I spent an enormous amount of time writing during the pandemic and sharing bits and pieces of what I was working on along the way. The fans really showed up for me by giving me feedback on what they were liking,” Mitchell said in a statement. “Their direction helped shape this album and stretched me as a songwriter and artist.”
Heavy follows the release of the Nashville native’s 2018 sophomore album, Telling All My Secrets, which featured “Drunk Me,” his debut, chart-topping single that has now been certified Platinum. Additionally, Mitchell has amassed 1.3 billion career streams thus far.
(WASHINGTON) — One of two men charged with impersonating federal law enforcement officers and allegedly duping U.S. Secret Service agents pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy, among other charges including illegally recording sexual videos of women without consent.
Authorities say Arian Taherzadeh used a fake persona as a federal law enforcement officer to get close with real members of the Secret Service, including at least one assigned to the White House, and defraud multiple Washington, D.C., apartment buildings out of more than $800,000 in rent and fees.
Taherzadeh and his alleged associate Haider Ali had multiple firearms and a variety of equipment they kept in one of the penthouse apartments. Ali, a co-defendant in the case, had maintained his innocence since the two were arrested last April and pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him.
In addition to living rent-free with his associates, Taherzadeh provided two Secret Service employees with their own luxury apartments for about a year using his fake persona.
“The Secret Service adheres to the highest levels of professional standards and conduct and will remain in active coordination with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security,” the Secret Service said in a statement at the time.
Posing as a federal official, Taherzadeh gained access to security camera video from the apartment complexes and set up a surveillance system of his own. He installed cameras outside and inside his apartment, using them “to record women engaged in sexual activity,” according to the guilty plea.
A 9mm Glock handgun with large capacity magazine, an unlicensed long gun and several electronic devices including more than two dozen hard drives, a computer server and surveillance equipment were among the evidence seized by authorities.
Tactical gear often used by law enforcement, clothing with police logos and a finger printing kit were also found in the apartment.
(NEW YORK) — From oat lattes to plant-based protein drinks, a new recall has had a sweeping impact on more than 50 nutrition drink products distributed across the country.
Lyons Magnus LLC has voluntarily recalled 53 of its nutritional and beverage products due to the potential for microbial contamination, including from the organism Cronobacter sakazakii, according to a recent company announcement.
Impacted brands included popular items like the plant-based Oatly Barista Edition oat milk, Premier Protein drinks, prepackaged Stumptown coffee cartons and more.
The company announced the recall — which was also posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website — on July 28.
It confirmed that “the list of recalled products does not include products intended for infants (i.e. under the age of one).”
According to the recall announcement, the preliminary root cause analysis showed that the products were not up to “commercial sterility specifications.”
“Anyone who has a recalled product in his or her possession should dispose of it immediately or return it to the place of purchase for a refund,” the company wrote. “Consumers in all time zones with questions may contact the Lyons Recall Support Center 24/7 at 1-800-627-0557, or visit its website at www.lyonsmagnus.com.”
According to the company, the recall was “conducted in cooperation with” the FDA.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Cronobacter infection is rare but can cause “several kinds of infections, and symptoms vary with the patient’s age and what part of the body is infected.”
“Cronobacter infections are often reported among infants who have been fed powdered infant formula,” the CDC website states. “In some cases, Cronobacter has been found in powdered infant formula that was likely contaminated in the factory. In other cases, Cronobacter likely contaminated the powdered infant formula after it was opened at home or elsewhere.”
Cronobacter infections are diagnosed by a laboratory culture, according to the CDC.
At the time of publication, no illnesses or complaints related to the recalled products had been reported.
Will Muse be the first band to chart with an NFT album?
According to the U.K.’s Official Charts Company, a non-fungible token version of Muse’s upcoming record Will of the People will be eligible for the Official Albums Chart upon its release later this month.
The NFT, which was created in collaboration with the platform Serenade, is described as a “digital pressing” of the album. Part of what makes it chart eligible, as opposed to past NFT albums, is that the Will of the People “digital pressing” is a standalone release, instead of, as the Official Charts Company describes it, “being part of a wider release ‘bundle.'”
“To date, while previous albums have been made available bundled with an NFT … no release has yet charted with the album itself being in NFT format,” the Official Charts Company reports.
Will of the People, then, could become the first NFT album to achieve that feat.
Artists including Kings of Leon and Linkin Park‘s Mike Shinoda have previously released NFTs alongside their music. One of the KoL NFTs became the first to be played in space as part of the Inspiration4 mission in 2021.
Meanwhile, you can still listen to Will of the People via non-NFT formats, including digital, CD and vinyl, when it drops August 26.
The delegation headed by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives in Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, Aug. 2, 2022. – ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week is a significant moment in her long career of advocating for democracy and human rights in Asia while pressuring China and its government in Beijing.
Second in line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi is the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s 1997 visit to the island.
The Biden administration, which appeared to have unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade Pelosi from visiting Taiwan on her trip to Asia, — although it wouldn’t confirm or deny whether it tried to so — has warned that Beijing could retaliate economically or militarily to her visit.
“If the speaker does decide to visit and China tries to create some kind of crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday. “We are looking for them, in the event she decides to visit, to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward.”
The visit has infuriated China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, and has claimed sovereignty over the island. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson vowed that China would “take resolute and vigorous countermeasures” in response to Pelosi’s visit.
“Everything is stormy,” Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, told ABC News. “And from China’s perspective, they see this as yet another example of how the U.S. will not stop pushing Taiwan to think and act for itself, which is exactly what they don’t want.”
While the Biden administration has maintained the longstanding ‘One China’ policy and does not recognize Taiwanese independence — the standoff over Pelosi’s visit is also due to her reputation as a China critic and hawk, experts told ABC News.
“The Chinese just see her as rabidly anti-China, and believe that no good can come out of her,” Bonnie Glaser, the director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told ABC News.
As she landed, Pelosi and others in the congressional delegation traveling with her put out a statement saying, “Our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy.”
The statement continued, “Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy,guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”
Tiananmen Square and protecting Chinese students
Pelosi seized on human rights in China quickly after winning her first full term in Congress — a liberal who often found common cause with conservatives on human rights issues and China after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and violent crackdowns against protests in 1989.
Representing one of the largest Asian-American communities in the country, she was the chief sponsor of legislation that would allow thousands of Chinese students to remain in the United States after their visas expired and avoid potential persecution if they returned to China.
Despite her relatively junior status in the House, she helped propel the legislation through Congress, prompting a showdown President George H. W. Bush, who vetoed the legislation.
“First the Chinese authorities gave us a massacre, and then they gave us a masquerade,” Pelosi said at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in 1990.
Pelosi wrangled Democratic and Republican votes to override Bush’s veto — embarrassing Bush, who once served as a top U.S. representative to China.
While the veto override effort fell several votes short in the Senate, the Washington Post reported, the administration eventually issued an executive order that accomplished Pelosi’s goals of protecting the Chinese students in the United States.
Later, on an official visit to China in 1991, Pelosi and two congressmen were briefly detained by Chinese police, after unfurling a small banner in protest to commemorate pro-democracy protesters killed near Tiananmen Square.
“We’ve been told now for two days [in private meetings with Chinese officials] that there is no prohibition on freedom of speech in China,” Pelosi said, according to the Baltimore Sun. “This does not conform to what we were told.”
The international incident cemented Pelosi’s position as a chief China critic. She “has been a strong advocate of human rights for a very long time,” Glaser told ABC News.
Pelosi ruffled feathers on a subsequent trip to China: In 2009, she hand-delivered a letter to Hu Jintao, China’s president at the time, calling for the release of political prisoners.
Challenging China’s trade status and taking on her own party
In the 1990s, Pelosi repeatedly clashed with leaders of her own party over the United States’ improving economic relationship with China and its ascension to the World Trade Organization.
She criticized and challenged President Bill Clinton’s efforts to improve trade relations between the two countries, arguing against normalizing trade relations and decoupling the economic relationship from concerns about Beijing’s human rights record and the transfer of technology to countries hostile to the United States.
“I am disappointed that President Clinton has chosen to continue a failed policy,” she said in a statement when normal relations were extended in 1997. “Since he delinked trade from human rights three years ago, the human rights situation in China and Tibet has deteriorated, the U.S. trade deficit with China has soared, and China’s authoritarian government has continued its sale of nuclear, chemical, missile and biological weapons technology to dangerous countries, including Iran.’
Years later, her positions even led to one of her rare breaks with President Obama and his administration.
According to Newsweek, Pelosi in 2009 helped scuttle the confirmation chances of Obama’s initial pick to lead the National Intelligence Council, over comments he had made about the Tiananmen Square massacre.
(She did not deny her position when later asked about the episode by the Huffington Post.)
“It’s a cheap shot for both Americans or Chinese to accuse her of sort of doing this as some sort of provocation when her commitment to the region and activists has been consistent and unwavering,” said Samuel Chu, the founder and President of the Campaign for Hong Kong, whose father, a prominent/veteran pro-democracy activist, met with Pelosi in Hong Kong on one of her early visits to the region.
Olympic boycotts over Tibet and Chinese forced labor
Pelosi called for the U.S. to impose diplomatic boycotts of the summer and winter Olympics hosted by China in Beijing in 2008 and 2022, respectively.
In 2008, she called for President Bush and other world leaders to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics to show support for Tibetans pushing for independence from China, and condemned the International Olympic Committee for awarding the games to China given its human rights record.
“If freedom-loving people don’t speak out against China’s oppression of people in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out against any oppressed people,” Pelosi said on a visit to India and the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile.
“I don’t think China should have gotten the Olympic Games to begin with,” Pelosi told ABC’s Good Morning America in 2008. “I had a resolution in the Congress which was very popular, and bipartisan support on it. But they did get them with the promise that they would open up more and have better respect for human rights and freedom of expression. They have not honored that.”
Years later, when China prepared to host the Winter Olympics, Pelosi repeated her calls for a diplomatic boycott – this time over China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
“We cannot proceed as if nothing is wrong about the Olympics going to China,” she said at a congressional hearing.
China’s Foreign Ministry blasted Pelosi’s statements and said she was “full of lies and disinformation” in calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games.
Around the same time, she worked across party lines with Republicans to pass legislation to sanction China for selling goods to America made with Uyghur Muslim forced labor — which President Biden later signed into law.
“None of that would have been possible without her leadership,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told ABC News. “She’s unrelenting.”
(TAIPEI, Taiwan) — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday despite repeated warnings not to from mainland China, which claims the island democracy as its own territory.
Pelosi and members of a congressional delegation landed at Taipei Songshan Airport in the Taiwanese capital at just after 10:40 p.m. local time as part of her tour of Asia. She visited Singapore on Monday and Malaysia on Tuesday. Her office previously said she would also travel to South Korea and Japan but didn’t mention a stop in Taiwan, until after her plane touched down under the cover of darkness Tuesday night.
“Our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy,” Pelosi and the delegation said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Our visit is part of our broader trip to the Indo-Pacific — including Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan — focused on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance. Our discussions with Taiwan leadership will focus on reaffirming our support for our partner and on promoting our shared interests, including advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region. America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
“Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan — and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances,” they added. “The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”
Just minutes after Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan was confirmed, China’s largest state-run news agency, Xinhua, announced that live-fire military drills would be held in the airspace and waters surrounding and close to Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday.
Beijing considers any official contact with Taiwan a recognition of its democratically elected government, which the mainland’s ruling Communist Party asserts has no right to conduct foreign relations.
Pelosi is the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in a quarter century. Her arrival came on the heels of fiery reactions from Chinese officials amid reports that she was planning such a trip.
Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a press briefing on Monday that Beijing “will take firm and strong measures” if Pelosi were to visit Taiwan.
“We want to once again make it clear to the US side that the Chinese side is fully prepared for any eventuality and that the People’s Liberation Army of China will never sit idly by, and we will make resolute response and take strong countermeasures to uphold China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zhao said. “We have on many occasions stated our grave concern and solemn position that we firmly oppose Speaker Pelosi’s attempted visit to Taiwan region, and will take firm and strong measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“The One China principle is what underpins peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he added. “It is the United States that has constantly distorted and hollowed out the One China policy and made irresponsible remarks on the Taiwan question, creating tension across the Strait. The U.S. side lately has begun to stress the need to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country. We hope that the U.S. side should first act as it speaks on the Taiwan question and must not play the double-standard game.”
Under the so-called “One China principle”, Beijing regards Taiwan as their territory, a renegade province to be reunified — by force if necessary — with the mainland. The U.S. has a “One China Policy” recognizing the people of Mainland China and Taiwan being part of “One China,” that Beijing is China’s sole legal government and does not support an independent Taiwan, but considers the matter “unsettled.” Washington is also militarily supportive of the self-governing island and maintains extensive commercial and unofficial ties.
Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949, following a civil war between the Nationalist Party’s forces and those of the Communist Party. As the communists took control of the mainland, the nationalists retreated to the island of Taiwan where they established their new capital.
Both sides agree that they are one country but disagree on which is the national leader. Although they have no formal relations, the island’s economy remains reliant on trade with the mainland.
The U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. The Taiwan Relations Act, which went into force that same year, requires Washington to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Hua Chunying, a senior spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, appeared to dial down the rhetoric on Tuesday before Pelosi’s arrival was officially announced, telling reporters that Beijing and Washington “have maintained close communication.”
“China has repeatedly and unmistakably expressed to the U.S. side our strong opposition to Speaker Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan,” Hua said. “And we hope that two U.S. officials will be very clear about the importance and sensitivity of this issue and how dangerous this issue could be.”
While the Chinese foreign ministry has not yet summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in protest, Hua noted: “I think when appropriate, we will be in touch with the U.S. ambassador.”
Unlike Zhao, she would not comment on any military response to Pelosi’s visit and deferred the question to a spokesperson for the ruling party’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told a press briefing on Monday that Beijing is seemingly laying the groundwork to carry out “military provocations” in response to Pelosi’s possible visit to Taiwan.
“China appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further steps in the coming days and perhaps over longer time horizons,” Kirby said.
Kirby told reporters that the “potential steps” China may take in response “could include military provocations, such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, operations that break historical norms such as a large-scale air entry into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone” or “air or naval activities that crossed the median line; military exercises that could be highly publicized.” He said the last time Beijing fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait was in 1996.
There could also be measures taken “in the diplomatic and economic space,” Kirby said, “like Beijing’s public assertions last month that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway.”
When asked what planning was “being done in advance to ensure there won’t be any dangerous fallout if she does indeed go to Taiwan,” Kirby told reporters he could “assure” that Pelosi would be able to “travel safely and securely.”
“The speaker makes her own decisions,” he added. “And what we did was provide her context, analysis, facts, information, so that she could make the best decision possible for every stop, for every overseas travel.”
Kirby cast the escalating tensions as fueled by China, which the U.S. was “not threatening.” He said a potential visit from Pelosi would have precedent and would not “change the status quo” regarding China and Taiwan.
In 1997, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan after meeting with then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing.
But Hua told reporters Tuesday that there would be no “excuse” for a visit by Pelosi.
“The wrong actions of individual U.S. politicians in the past should not set a precedent, much less an excuse for the US to make mistakes on the Taiwan issue,” she said.
Killer Mike and 2 Chainz are speaking out about a proposed ordinance they believe may negatively affect minority-owned nightlife businesses in Atlanta. According to Billboard, the rappers appeared at a city council meeting Monday, where they griped about the proposed legislation, introduced to city officials as a way to reduce crime in the area. The bill, per WGCL, would allow the closure of any establishment deemed a “nuisance” after two or more violent conduct reports.
“I’m very blessed and I also like to be a blessing to others, and that’s what my businesses have allowed me to do,” said 2 Chainz, who addressed the crowd using his birth name, Tauheed Epps. He owns two businesses –Escobar and Escobar Seafood — in the city. “They need to retract some of the things they have on the ordinance,” he said. “And I think crime is up everywhere, not just in Atlanta.”
2 Chainz then passed the mic to Killer Mike, who questioned the city’s support for local businesses. Mike previously expressed his dissent for the bill in a May 10 meeting and noted that not much has been done since then. He said that nightlife was inevitable in a city with rapid development and argued that people should be allowed to choose among a group of clubs that include minority-owned businesses.
Mike highlighted that politicians “oblige” rappers/business owners when asking for donations to their campaigns and noted that the bill would “wipe out opportunity” for these businesses if passed.
City leaders have delayed a vote on the nuisance ordinance to further review the matter and will cast their votes in two weeks.
Katy Perry‘s daughter, Daisy Dove,turns 2 on August 26. Ahead of the milestone birthday, the “Roar” hitmaker previewed what her little one has been up to.
Katy, who shares Daisy with fiancé Orlando Bloom, says her daughter is already walking in her parents’ shoes. “She’s a ham,” the American Idol judge told People. “She likes to dress up. She’s not very shy.”
As for the kind of performer Daisy could become one day, Katy thinks she could be a dancer. “She loves ballet,” the singer said. “She goes to tutu school and she loves it. It’s all very adorable.”
Katy also reflected on how her life changed since she welcomed Daisy in 2020, saying she is “just so blessed” she’s a mom. The experience has also been eye-opening, with Katy adding, “You just never thought there was that capacity for love.”
“It was just such an interesting thing having a child during COVID because everything paused besides that,” she expressed. “I love the experience I’m having with my daughter now.”
Naturally, fans are curious if the singer wants more kids, to which she teased to People in a separate interview, “We’ll see!”
Katy explained she’s “a planner” and is open to the idea of growing her family “hopefully in the future.”
The singer also praised her fiancé for helping her find balance as a mom and a singer because they share turns being the “#1 parent.”
“We do this funny thing where I go and visit him for a month while he’s making a movie and then when he’s not making a movie, he kind of takes charge on being #1 parent,” she dished. “Then I go and do all my business stuff, so we really are just tapping each other in and out.”
Jake Owen has the #1 song in country music this week, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.
Jake scored his 10th #1 hit with “Best Thing Since Backroads,” the lead single from his forthcoming album. “Having the #1 song in America is unbelievable,” Jake says in a celebratory video filmed on his Nashville property, thanking the songwriters, his team, his fans and his family.
“I’ve been seeing you sing this song all summer. We’ve been kicking our show off with it. You are the best thing since back roads, you’ve given me this life,” he told the fans.
Having 10 #1 singles also brought to mind the first time he topped the charts with “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” in 2011.
“I have 10 #1 songs; I can’t even wrap my head around that. It took me seven years to get my first #1 song, ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night,’ and to think all these summers later we’re thankfully still cranking them out,” he said, also lending praise to his peers in the genre. “You guys make country music what it is and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Among his peers who shared congratulatory messages in the comments are Cole Swindell, Dustin Lynch and Parmalee.
Jake will resume his Up There Down Here Tour later this month.
When the Artemis I mission blasts off to the moon on August 29, there will be a movie star on board.
Specifically, it’s Shaun the Sheep.
A stuffed version of the beloved character from Oscar-winning Wallace and Grommit creators Aardman Animation will be representing the European Space Agency (ESA) on the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft with an ESA European Service Module.
Other than the star, Artemis 1 will be an unmanned mission: Orion will remotely blast off from Earth, perform a lunar flyby and return to our planet.
“This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA,” notes ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration Dr. David Parker. “We’re woolly very happy that he’s been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it’s a giant leap for lambkind.”
“With a keen passion for exploring, Shaun took flight on the special Airbus ‘Zero G’ A310 aircraft during one of its parabolic flights that recreates the ‘weightless’ conditions similar to those experienced in space,” the ESA noted in its announcement. “Under the supervision of an ESA team, this flight prepared Shaun for his role as a space traveller in his [2019] film ‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.“
