Immediately following recent reports about Travis Scott‘s music comeback, the rapper’s return to the festival stage was officially announced on Wednesday.
Scott will hit the road this fall as a headliner for the multi-nation Primavera Festival in South America. The tour will make stops in Brazil, Argentina and Chile in November and will also feature pop artists Charli XCX and Lorde and alt rock legend Björk.
The upcoming concert series will be Scott’s first festival performance since his last major headlining gig, Astroworld, in November of last year. During the wildly popular 2021 music fest, which drew upwards of 50,000 fans, Travis Scott performed while the crowd surged toward the stage, resulting in ten deaths and hundreds of injuries.
As a result of the tragedy, Scott was hit with lawsuits from more than 100 victims and the rapper was removed from upcoming performances, including his scheduled appearance at the 2022 Coachella Music & Arts festival. While the “Antidote” rapper didn’t hit the main stage at Coachella this year, he did reportedly attend a private after-party, where he performed five of his songs.
Scott offers to pay for funeral costs of the Astroworld victims and also launched Project Heal, a series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts.
In advance of Coachella earlier this month, billboards for Scott’s long-awaited album, Utopia, appeared in California. The boards could signify that the rapper’s fourth studio project is on the way soon.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 27, 3:38 pm
Blinken says US could reopen Kyiv embassy in ‘next few weeks’
While U.S. diplomats began returning to Lviv for day trips on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he hopes to move toward reopening the U.S Embassy in Kyiv in the “next few weeks.”
Blinken appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for his second of three days of testimony about the Biden administration’s budget request.
Blinken said the administration will put forward a request for supplemental funding in the “next couple days” after President Joe Biden exhausted the funding in his presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons and other military aid immediately to Ukraine.
That “robust” assistance request will include funding for aid to Ukraine and other U.S. partners and allies and for a functioning U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 27, 1:29 pm
Microsoft releases detailed report of Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine
Microsoft has released a detailed report of what it says are “destructive” Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine, which the company says seem “strongly correlated and sometimes directly timed with its kinetic military operations.”
“For example, a Russian actor launched cyberattacks against a major broadcasting company on March 1st, the same day the Russian military announced its intention to destroy Ukrainian ‘disinformation’ targets and directed a missile strike against a TV tower in Kyiv,” Microsoft said. “On March 13th, during the third week of the invasion, a separate Russian actor stole data from a nuclear safety organization weeks after Russian military units began capturing nuclear power plants sparking concerns about radiation exposure and catastrophic accidents. “
Microsoft said it has observed nearly 40 attacks “targeting hundreds of systems.”
The company said “32% of destructive attacks directly targeted Ukrainian government organizations” while “more than 40% of destructive attacks were aimed at organizations in critical infrastructure sectors that could have negative second-order effects on the Ukrainian government, military, economy and people.”
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Apr 27, 12:34 pm
Biden to visit facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles
President Joe Biden will visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama on Tuesday where Javelin anti-tank missiles are being manufactured for Ukrainian troops, the White House said.
The U.S. has committed over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems for Ukrainians, according to the Pentagon.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 26, 6:58 pm
War in Ukraine dealt a ‘major shock’ to commodities markets: World Bank
The World Bank issued a report on Tuesday that said the war in Ukraine dealt a major shock to commodity markets and altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions, said in a statement.
The report said energy prices are expected to rise more than 50% in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024.
Wheat prices are forecast to increase more than 40%, putting pressure on developing economies that rely on wheat imports, especially from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Bank.
Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% in 2022 before easing in 2023, according to the report.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021, the report said. Oil prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, which is above the five-year average of $60 a barrel, the World Bank said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 26, 6:29 pm
Russia’s Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Poland
Polish natural gas company PGNiG announced Tuesday they received a notice from Gazprom that deliveries will be suspended starting Wednesday, April 27.
Poland has refused to pay for gas in rubles and PGNiG says they are prepared to procure gas supplies from alternate sources; storage is currently at 80%.
“Not a problem,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Gazprom sent a similar notice to Bulgaria’s natural gas company Bulgargaz, according to a statement from the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Morawiecki urged other EU countries, particularly Germany, to stop relying on Russian energy before Russia itself decides to cut them off, or sets economy-crippling prices.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Conor Finnegan and Tomek Rolski
Apr 26, 6:00 pm
Sen. Rand Paul confronts Secretary Blinken over war in Ukraine
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had a heated back and forth with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Capitol Hill over the war in Ukraine.
Paul pushed Blinken on support for Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO and what he called “the reasons” for the Russian invasion.
“I’m saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union since 1920s,” he said.
“That does not give Russia the right to attack them,” Blinken said, explaining that the Kremlin’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO were adequately weighed and attempts at diplomacy were made.
“It is abundantly clear, in President Putin’s own words, that this was never about Ukraine, being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign independent country that it must be reassumed into Russia in one form or another,” Blinken said.
Paul interjected during Blinken’s answer, denying he was making the argument that Russia’s actions were justified. The senator then asked Blinken about talks between Russia and Ukraine and the potential outcomes.
“Would the U.S. would President Biden be open to accepting Ukraine as an unaligned neutral nation?” Paul asked.
“We’re not going to be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians. These are decisions for them to make,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Connor Finnegan
Apr 26, 5:06 pm
US diplomats briefly return to Ukraine, but embassy remains closed
The United States returned diplomats to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion with a team making a day trip across the border from Poland to meet Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday.
“The deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price called the move a “first step” toward eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. And as we’ve said, we’re accelerating preparations to resume Embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price said. “We are constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view toward resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 4:46 pm
Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine
Germany plans to supply Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, the German Minister of Defense announced Tuesday on Twitter.
“We made our decisions in coordination with our allies,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said earlier Tuesday during a news conference at a meeting of NATO countries hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base. “That is, once it was clear others will deliver certain systems, we support them in that. We deliver as well. That is our way — Germany is not doing it alone. And if Ukraine now urgently needs such air defense systems, then we are also prepared to support them.”
Lambrecht said Tuesday’s gathering of NATO countries to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms was a “starting point.”
“The best security strategy for Ukraine is well-trained and equipped armed forces,” Lambrecht said, “Germany has been providing a very high level of support in a variety of ways since the war began.”
The move from Germany comes just days after Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told ABC News that she was disappointed in Germany for seemingly dragging its feet on sending heavy artillery, including tanks, to Ukraine and said it appeared German leaders are attempting to placate Putin.
“They don’t understand. There is no way to pacify Putin,” Vereshchuk said. “It would be a huge problem for NATO if Russia has dominance over the Black Sea.”
Apr 26, 3:51 pm
Blinken says Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv
Speaking publicly about his visit to Ukraine for the first time since returning home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv.”
Blinken, who visited Ukraine over the weekend with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, emphasized the need for additional aid to help Ukrainians weather the ongoing war as it enters its next phase.
“As we took the train across the border and rode westward into Ukraine, we saw mile after mile of Ukrainian countryside, territory that just a couple of months ago, the Russian government thought that it could seize in a matter of weeks. Today — firmly Ukraine’s,” Blinken told the committee.
Blinken said that while in Kyiv, he saw the signs of “a vibrant city coming back to life” with people eating outside, sitting on benches and strolling the streets.
“For all the suffering that they’ve endured, for all the carnage that Russia’s brutal invasion continues to inflict, Ukraine was and will continue to be a free and independent country,” he said.
Blinken said the United States has played a vital part in helping Ukrainian forces mount an effective resistance against Russia.
“I have to tell you, I felt some pride in what the United States has done to support the Ukrainian government and its people and an even firmer conviction that we must not let up,” Blinken said. “Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine has underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy.”
He added, “We have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are strategic opportunities, as well as address risks presented by Russia’s overreach as countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, their relationships.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 2:28 pm
UN chief presses Putin on urgent need for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine
Prior to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine that are “truly safe.”
Guterres later raised the issue with Putin during a face-to-face meeting, stressing the urgent need for the creation of safe and effective humanitarian corridors in the war-ravaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where he said thousands of civilians remain trapped, according to the Russian state-run TASS news service. Guterres also proposed the creation of a humanitarian contact group.
“We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance,” Guterres said prior to meeting with Putin. “To that end, I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group, bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the U.N. to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessation of hostilities and to guarantee they are actually effective.”
Guterres made his statement following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
While meeting with Guterres, Putin said the U.N. chief has been misled and insisted that humanitarian corridors in Mariupol are functioning, according to TASS.
“You say that Russia’s humanitarian corridors are not operating. Mr. Secretary-General, you have been misled: these corridors are operating,” Putin said, according to TASS.
Putin told Guterres that up to 140,000 people had fled Mariupol with the assistance of Russia.
“And they can go anywhere. Some want to go to Russia; some want to go to Ukraine. Anywhere! We do not keep them, we provide all kinds of help and support,” Putin said, according to TASS.
However, Putin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by the U.N.
Apr 26, 1:29 pm
UN General Assembly unanimously adopts new rule on veto powers
The U.N. General Assembly — where all 193 countries have a vote — has unanimously adopted a resolution that creates a new accountability mechanism.
Now, whenever a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council uses its veto power to block a resolution, it will automatically trigger a debate in the General Assembly within 10 days.
The move was made primarily in response to Russia’s veto power, which the country has used repeatedly to sink resolutions about its own aggression. It has paralyzed the ability of the Security Council, the United Nation’s most powerful body, to check Russia.
The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, while the ten other seats rotate and are won by election.
The United States and Liechtenstein co-sponsored the resolution, with the tiny European country tweeting, “Together we have made sure today that a veto is no longer the last word on issues of peace and security.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 12:19 pm
US to meet with NATO allies monthly as Defense Secretary Austin conveys urgency in Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said meetings like the one on Tuesday with more than 40 NATO allies and other partner nations will now occur monthly.
“To ensure that we continue to build on our progress, we’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” Austin said during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I’m proud to announce that today’s gathering will become a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defense,” he said.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms, Austin said.
“The contact group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come,” Austin said. “The monthly meetings may be in person, virtual, or mixed.”
Austin, who visited Ukraine on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised Tuesday’s meeting with NATO allies, saying, “We’re all coming away with a transparent and shared understanding of a challenge that Ukrainians face.”
Austin conveyed a sense of urgency for the international community to help the Ukrainians.
“I applaud all of the countries that have risen, and are rising, to this moment,” he said. “But we don’t have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So, we’ve got to move at the speed of war.”
Austin thanked Germany for hosting Tuesday’s meeting and for offering to send Ukraine 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft systems. He also thanked the United Kingdom for its announcement Monday that it would provide Ukraine additional anti-aircraft capabilities.
“We held an important session today with long-term support for Ukraine’s defenses, including what that will take from our defense industrial bases,” Austin said. “That means dealing with the tremendous demand that we’re facing for munitions and weapons platforms, and giving our staunch support to Ukraine while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners.”
-ABC News’ Matt Syler
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
Yalonda M. James/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The World Health Organization and UNICEF are warning of a “perfect storm” of circumstances fueling the potential for large-scale measles outbreaks, underscoring worrying signs of increased risk as infections around the globe this year are far above what they were this time last year.
In the first two months of 2022, reported measles cases worldwide increased by nearly 80%, compared to the same timeframe in 2021, the organizations said in a joint news release, adding that conditions are “ripe” for serious outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness.
“Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines and the diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases,” the organizations said, adding that the risk for large outbreaks “has increased as communities relax social distancing practices and other preventive measures for COVID-19 implemented during the height of the pandemic.”
Almost 17,338 cases of the highly contagious disease were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of 2021.
Brewing humanitarian crises have inflamed the issue.
“With millions of people being displaced due to conflicts and crises, including in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan, disruptions in routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination services, lack of clean water and sanitation, and overcrowding increase the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks,” the organizations said.
“The agencies are concerned that outbreaks of measles could also forewarn outbreaks of other diseases that do not spread as rapidly,” WHO and UNICEF said, noting that besides its direct effect on the body, which can be lethal, the measles virus also weakens the immune system and makes a child more vulnerable to other infectious diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea for months after the measles infection — among those who survive.
This is not the first time global health agencies have warned of lagging pediatric immunizations being an issue of urgent address.
In an April meeting, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts noted that disruptions to routine immunization programs puts “millions of children at risk of disease outbreaks,” and “large and disruptive outbreaks of measles have occurred in at least 19 countries during the past 12 months.”
And in the U.S., as ABC has reported, vaccination coverage for kindergarteners fell below the nationwide target during the 2020-2021 school year, according to CDC data, raising concerns about vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, mumps and whooping cough.
Experts worry pandemic disruptions could inadvertently lead to a growing number of vaccine-preventable illnesses among children.
In 2020, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019, the WHO and UNICEF said Wednesday.
As of April 1, 57 vaccine-preventable disease campaigns in 43 countries that were scheduled to take place since the start of the pandemic are still postponed, impacting 203 million people, most of whom are children, the agencies said. Nineteen of those postponed are measles campaigns, putting 73 million children at risk of measles due to missed vaccinations.
In Ukraine, the measles catch-up campaign of 2019 “was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter due to the war,” the WHO and UNICEF said. “Routine and catch-up campaigns are needed wherever access is possible to help make sure there are not repeated outbreaks as in 2017-2019, when there were over 115,000 cases of measles and 41 deaths in the country — this was the highest incidence in Europe.”
As of this April, the agencies said there have been 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. Most of the measles cases were reported in Africa and the East Mediterranean region.
Countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
The figures are likely higher, as the pandemic has disrupted surveillance systems globally, with potential underreporting, the agencies said.
The agencies cited insufficient measles vaccine coverage as the primary reason for the outbreaks “wherever they occur.”
“Measles is more than a dangerous and potentially deadly disease. It is also an early indication that there are gaps in our global immunization coverage, gaps vulnerable children cannot afford,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “It is encouraging that people in many communities are beginning to feel protected enough from COVID-19 to return to more social activities. But doing so in places where children are not receiving routine vaccination creates the perfect storm for the spread of a disease like measles.”
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
Metallica has announced Rye the Lightning, the latest spirit from the band’s signature Blackened Whiskey brand.
Named after the 1984 ‘Tallica album Ride the Lightning, Rye the Lightning is a 90-proof Kentucky straight rye whiskey with “notes of dried fig, hay, pinewood, pear, and rum cake on the nose, and on the palate, clover honey, mint, corn husk, sugar cane, walnut, and cinnamon.”
As with previous Blackened Whiskeys, Rye the Lightning was made using “Black Noise,” a method that involves playing Metallica songs during the distilling process. Apparently, the low-frequency sound waves of the band’s music helps “shape the flavor” of the whiskey.
Fittingly, the playlist used in crafting Rye the Lightning features Metallica’s reverse-order performance of Ride the Lightning at the 2012 Orion Music + More festival.
“Orion Music + More was an awesome experiment and experience,” recalls bassist Robert Trujillo. “The vibe from the crowd was electrifying, and it’s really cool that we get to capture that energy in this release.”
Adds Trujillo, “We’ve used a few live songs in our playlists before, but never a full live playlist. So to be able to incorporate our fans in the Blackened journey and have them be a part of the whiskey-making process is really unique.”
Coheed and Cambria‘s upcoming album, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, has been delayed.
The record, which was originally scheduled to drop May 27, will now arrive June 24 due to ongoing vinyl production issues.
“We did everything we could to make the May date happen, but it’s beyond our control and we are excited you’ll have vinyl and the beautiful box set available on release date,” Coheed says. “We couldn’t be prouder of this new album, and we hope you will feel it was worth the wait.”
As a consolation, Coheed plans to debut another new Vaxis II song ahead of its rescheduled release. They’ve also shared an acoustic version of the song “The Liars Club,” which you can listen to now via digital outlets.
Vaxis II also includes the lead single “Shoulders” and the song “Rise, Naianasha (Cut the Cord).”
Coheed will launch a U.S. tour in support of Vaxis II in July.
Foreigner‘s recent eight-show Las Vegas residency at The Venetian Theatre raised more than $100,000 for the American Red Cross’ Ukrainian relief efforts as part a partnership with the charitable organization.
The veteran rockers donated $5,000 from each Las Vegas concert to the American Red Cross’ Ukrainian relief initiative, and also gifted hand-signed guitars to the more than 70 fans at the shows who donated at least $1,000 to on-site American Red Cross reps.
The Red Cross is providing potentially lifesaving humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in need both in their own country and to those who have fled to neighboring countries during the current Russian military invasion. International crisis responders have been deployed by the organization to Poland, Moldova, Hungary and Romania to provide relief.
To date, more than three million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, and its estimated that 18 million will need humanitarian aid. Visit RedCross.org for more info.
Next up for Foreigner will be a tour of Ireland, the U.K. and mainland Europe that runs from a May 10 show in Dublin through a June 18 performance in Dessel, Belgium. The band will then launch a new series of U.S. concerts that begins in late June and is plotted out until late September. Those shows include headlining gigs and concerts supporting Kid Rock on his Bad Reputation tour. Visit ForeignerOnline.com for a full list of the band’s tour dates.
At the CinemaCon confab in Las Vegas Wednesday, it was Disney’s time to shine. The studio is reportedly showing off some 70 minutes of footage from its forthcoming slate, unspooling some 20 minutes of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness alone.
Disney is home to properties like Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, and the former studio’s head. Kevin Feige. took the stage first. Whetting fans’ appetites, Feige noted that after the event, he’s off to a creative retreat where he and his team will chart out the next ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to Fandango’s Erik Davis, who was in attendance, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was also sneak-peeked for the crowd at the theater owners expo.
It’s anticipated that Avatar 2 will also be teased during the presentation, as will Lightyear from Disney/Pixar, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to think attendees will get their first peek at Lucasfilm’s upcoming fifth Indiana Jones film.
The critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series Pachinko wraps up this week. Based on the best-selling book, it tells the story of four generations of a Korean family who moves to Japan and lives through war, peace, and 80 years of joy and struggle.
Showrunner Soo Hugh tells ABC Audio that despite the theme, it’s a global show.
“I want the biggest audience for this show because I think it’s a story that’s worth telling,” she explains. “And hopefully one day, I truly hope that we can get rid of those terms, that we can get rid of terms like domestic, international, that we will just have one global marketplace, stories that speak to everyone and connect us together.”
“These are just basic human emotions that we’re investigating,” Hugh adds. “You know, a mother’s hopes and dreams, loss, homesickness. No one people own those feelings.”
The project was personal for Hugh, who shares, “You grow up with stories of how hard the war was, how hard the post war years are. But…I think no child wants to hear how difficult things are for his or her family, right? And it’s only through age and through experience that you understand just how hard it is to live. And I think that kind of empathy as you age just makes you understand these stories better.”
Hugh notes the series — set in South Korea, Japan, and the United States — wasn’t easy to make because of the “scope…ambitions, multiple countries, long shoots, long post process [and] very complicated structure, ” but it was definitely worth the struggle.
“And also, I talk about tears of being genuinely moved so many times by the actor’s performances, by the music, by so many things,” she continues.
(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans on Wednesday rallied behind Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he defended himself over audio recordings surfaced of him blaming former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 riot and suggesting that some GOP lawmakers were inciting violence and should be kicked off social media platforms.
In the first closed-door GOP meeting since the New York Times released recordings of a Jan. 10, 2021, leadership call in which McCarthy was sharply critical of Trump and some hard-right members of Congress, the California Republican argued that he was speaking hypothetically and walking through various “scenarios” following the attack on the Capitol as Congress met to certify the 2020 election results.
“He said that, you know, they were speculating on different scenarios,” Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told ABC News. “He said they were laying out different things of what could be, and he said he never accused anyone of anything.”
“I think the majority of the conference understood,” one GOP member told ABC News, adding that McCarthy claimed the tapes were “taken out of context by the New York Times.“
McCarthy received a standing ovation and a round of applause after his remarks, multiple lawmakers told ABC News.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told ABC News, adding that Republicans wouldn’t “let leaked audio tapes sent to the press pose a part we’ve got bigger things to do. We’re all on the same page.”
Still, his explanation did little to satisfy some of McCarthy’s persistent critics, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Asked if he had confidence in McCarthy after the meeting, Gaetz replied, “No more or less than usual.”
Gaetz criticized Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in the meeting over comments made on the recording obtained by the New York Times. The Louisiana Republican suggested Gaetz’s comments attacking Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in television appearances after the Capitol riot were “potentially illegal.”
The discussion quickly turned “heated” between Gaetz and Scalise after Gaetz confronted him about the comments, sources told ABC News. Gaetz directly asked Scalise to explain his rationale for calling Gaetz’ comments “potentially illegal,” the sources said.
At one point, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., even chimed in and demanded Scalise apologize to Gaetz. An apology was not offered, according to a source familiar with the exchange.
McCarthy was also critical of Gaetz on the recording, and discussed Greene as well as GOP Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Mo Brooks of Alabama.
Of Trump, McCarthy said, “I’ve had it with this guy,” and told other GOP leaders on the recorded call that “what he did is unacceptable.”
He also suggested he would tell Trump “it would be my recommendation you should resign,” and that some Republicans who made inflammatory comments on and around the Capitol riot should be taken off Twitter.
“Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” he said, according to the audio.
McCarthy initially denied the New York Times reporting, calling it “false.” After the reporters published the audio recordings of the comments, McCarthy told GOP lawmakers that he had spoken with former President Trump and that he still supported McCarthy.
McCarthy later told Fox News he never told Trump to resign.
“He basically said we need to keep on track and keep pushing forward with what we’re doing,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, said after the meeting. “This is a distraction by the left trying to drive a wedge in a very unified Republican Party.”
“Kevin McCarthy is a great leader and he will be a great speaker,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga.
While few Republicans publicly criticized McCarthy after the meeting, others suggested they still needed to digest the episode and McCarthy’s actions.
“I think I’m going to talk to him in private,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “I’m glad he talked about what was said.”
Sam Hunt and Tim McGraw are leading the bill of a brand-new festival this fall, according to Billboard.
The event, called the GoldenSky Country Music Festival, will take place October 15-16 in Sacramento’s Discovery Park. Other country acts joining the lineup include Brothers Osborne, Midland, Carly Pearce, Parmalee, Michael Ray, Lindsay Ell, Brian Kelley — solo artist and one half of the now-defunct Florida Georgia Line — and Diamond Rio.
Sacramento’s local culture will be on full display, with an area of food options and souvenirs on offer, plus a beer festival component featuring over 100 regional craft beers, ciders and seltzers. Admission to the beer fest is free with purchase of entry to see the music, until May 6. After that, beer fest admission can be tacked on to a festival pass for an extra cost.
Festival-goers can also avail themselves of the Loud Lounge, which is geared towards the cannabis community, or catch NCAA and NFL games at the Fieldhouse sports bar. GoldenSky also features the River City Saloon and Dance Hall, which will provide daily line-dancing and partner two-stepping, plus lessons in both styles.
