Mike Coppola/Getty Images for CNN. A WarnerMedia Company. All Rights Reserved
April 20 marked the fourth anniversary of Avicii’s death, and Aloe Blacc, the vocalist on the Swedish DJ’s hit “Wake Me Up,” marked the occasion by posting a video that shows him singing the song in three different languages.
“Avicii’s music touched the world. Writing the lyrics and recording the vocals on WAKE ME UP was a transformative experience for me,” writes Aloe in the comments. “Everywhere I’ve been, no matter the country, music lovers and fans sing the lyrics with me in English.”
He goes on to write, “In honor of Avicii and with the help of Metaphysic.ai and Respeecher.com, I present a very special international version of WAKE ME UP in multiple languages.” In the video, Aloe sings the song in Mandarin, Spanish and English.
According to Billboard, Metaphysic.ai is a content company, and Respeecher uses AI to make one person speak in the voice of another specific person, so it appears as though Aloe had some technological help in appearing to sing both languages flawlessly.
“Wake Me Up” peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 26 weeks.
Fellow superstar DJ David Guetta also paid tribute to Avicii on Wednesday, posting a video of the late star, born Tim Bergling, being goofy. He wrote, “4 years already. We all miss you very much @Avicii.”
After struggling with mental health issues and physical health challenges for several years, Bergling died by suicide in Oman in 2018.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Architects have premiered a new single called “When We Were Young.”
The track is an original, not a cover of The Killers, and while we’re slightly disappointed we don’t get to hear vocalist Sam Carter sing the “He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus” line, we still get a riff-heavy, anthemic tune.
You can listen to Architects’ “When We Were Young” now via digital outlets.
“When We Were Young” follows Architects’ 2021 album For Those That Wish to Exist, which spawned the singles “Animals” and “Dead Butterflies.”
Architects will launch a U.S. headlining tour in support of For Those That Wish to Exist in September.
(DURBAN, South Africa) — Communities in Durban, South Africa, are still sifting through debris, trying to salvage the little they can save after devastating floods killed almost 450 people and destroyed millions of dollars in infrastructure.
The weekend weather forecast is predicting more rain in Durban, adding a sense of urgency to the cleanup operations.
ABC News visited several sites where landslides swept through homes, taking everything in its path.
Torrential rains last week — the worst in recorded history — triggered record floods and mudslides, killing 448 people and injuring hundreds more.
At least 40,00 people have been left homeless after the KwaZulu-Natal province received the equivalent of four months of rain in 24 hours, prompting the government to put the country back into a national state of disaster — only a few weeks after suspending a two year COVID-19 related state of national disaster.
“These are the worst floods we’ve ever seen. In over 24 hours, there was 300 to 400 mm of rain,” Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said at a news conference on Tuesday, crediting climate change as a catalyst for the extreme weather. At the high end of the range, that would equal about 15 inches of rainfall.
While the government has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, South Africans have also opened their hearts, with donations and help streaming in from across the country.
Elton John‘s fourth studio album, Madman Across the Water, released in late 1971, is getting the 50th anniversary reissue treatment.
You can choose from a three CD/1 Blue-ray Super Deluxe Box Set, a four-LP, colored vinyl package, or a two-CD package, which are now available for pre-order. The release date is June 10.
Madman Across the Water features the classics “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon,” as well as the fan-favorite title track and “Indian Sunset,” which was later sampled on the Eminem-produced Tupac Shakur track “Ghetto Gospel.” That song topped the British charts for three weeks in 2005.
Madman Across the Water also was Elton’s first album to feature the full lineup of his Elton John Band, and features Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman playing organ on three songs.
The package includes a previously unheard piano demo of “Tiny Dancer,” which will be available to stream later Thursday, though a teaser is out now.
Among the goodies on the Super Deluxe version are demos, rarities, single edits, a live radio recording, two British TV performances, a 104-page book, photos, artwork, interviews and memorabilia.
Here’s the track listing for the Madman Across the Water Super Deluxe version:
CD 1
“Tiny Dancer” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Levon” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Razor Face” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Madman Across the Water” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Indian Sunset” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Holiday Inn” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Rotten Peaches” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“All the Nasties” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Goodbye” (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
“Indian Sunset” (Live Radio Broadcast)
“Madman Across the Water” (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
“Rock Me When He’s Gone”
“Levon” (Mono Single Version)
“Razor Face” (Extended Version)
CD 2
“Madman Across the Water” (1970 Piano Demo)
“Tiny Dancer” (Piano Demo)
“Levon” (Piano Demo)
“Razor Face” (Piano Demo)
“Madman Across the Water” (1971 Piano Demo)
“Indian Sunset” (Piano Demo)
“Holiday Inn” (Piano Demo)
“Rotten Peaches” (Piano Demo)
“All the Nasties” (Piano Demo)
“Goodbye” (Piano Demo)
“Rock Me When He’s Gone” (Piano Demo)
“Rock Me When He’s Gone” (Full Version)
CD 3
“Tiny Dancer” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Rotten Peaches” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Razor Face” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Holiday Inn” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Indian Sunset” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Levon” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Madman Across the Water” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
“Goodbye” (BBC Sounds for Saturday)
Taped November 11, 1971 / transmitted April 29, 1972
Blu-ray Audio
Greg Penny 5.1 mix of Madman Across the Water (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
Greg Penny 5.1 mix of Madman Across the Water
Audio-Visual Sounds for Saturday (Taped November 11, 1971 / transmitted April 29, 1972) Old Grey Whistle Test (Transmitted on December 7, 1971)
(SAINT-DENIS, France) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, his far-right rival in the presidential elections, faced off in a highly anticipated televised debate Wednesday, clashing on topics from the cost of living to Le Pen’s softer stance on Russia.
Macron and Le Pen took the top two spots in the preliminary round of voting earlier this month, just as they did in 2017. The debate of that year proved disastrous for Le Pen, who struggled under questioning. That year Macron ultimately won a sweeping victory in 2017, winning 66% of the vote.
During the two-and-a-half hour long debate on Wednesday, Le Pen’s performance under pressure was much improved. Even so, Le Pen faced a string of attacks from Macron regarding her stance on Russia. Macron criticized Le Pen’s stance on the Russian annexation of Crimea, which she previously spoke out in favor of and which led her to being banned from entering Ukraine in 2017.
“Why did you do it?” he said. “And I say this with great gravity tonight. Because for our country, this is bad news, because you depend on the Russian power and you depend on Mr. Putin.”
Macron described Russia as Le Pen’s “banker” because of a loan her party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank. Le Pen said Macron’s allegations were false.
Le Pen has sought to soften her National Rally party’s image and ease voters’ concerns about a far-right president. Macron, meanwhile, has been a notably absent figure on the campaign trail.
Le Pen described herself as the “common sense” candidate during Wednesday night’s debate.
“I truly want to make purchasing power the priority of my next five-year term, if the French have confidence in me,” she said. Macron, known for his strong grasp of policy detail, but also a tendency to patronize, attempted to dismantle Le Pen’s claims that if elected she would immediately develop France’s nuclear power production and boost wages by 10%.
The pair also clashed on France’s relationship with the EU and Le Pen’s hard-line stance on immigration, with Macron saying she would ban the right of Muslim women to wear headscarfs in public.
Overall, however, there appeared to be no losers in Wednesday night’s debate, with neither side landing a knockout blow ahead of the final round of voting this weekend.
Polling in France has shown an upswing in Le Pen’s popularity and decline in Macron’s, though the French president — who has been accused of arrogance by pundits and voters in the past — retains a narrow lead in most reported opinion polls.
The war in Ukraine has dominated the headlines this campaign cycle, and Le Pen has faced criticism in France for a softer approach to Russia and past support for President Vladimir Putin. While she has said she is in favor of the broad package of sanctions announced by the French government, she has publicly opposed restrictions on oil and gas imports from Russia, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France that has become a critical issue in the campaign.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with French television channel BFMTV ahead of the debate on Wednesday, went as far as to urge Le Pen to reconsider her position on Russia.
“If the candidate were to understand that she was wrong, our relationship could change,” Zelenskyy said. While ensuring not “to have the right to influence” the French electoral campaign, Zelenskyy recognized that “obviously, I have relations with Emmanuel Macron and I would not want to lose them.”
Ultimately the final outcome of the election may well be decided by matters closer to home, however, with Macron’s team touting his experience in power at a time of stability, while Le Pen’s campaign has targeted the incumbent for, they say, being out of touch with ordinary people.
The far-right candidate focused her campaign on purchasing power, a topic expected to be one of the main factors in deciding the outcome of the election. Le Pen’s project, however, still centers on the fight against immigration. The National Rally candidate has presented several flagship proposals, including a bill to drastically limit immigration, the abolition of the right of soil, and restricting the routes for people to claim asylum in France.
“Fear is the only argument that the current president has to try and stay in power at all cost,” Le Pen said in a clip posted by her campaign Tuesday.
Much will depend on which candidate the supporters of far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon turn to in the final round. Mélenchon secured 22% of the first round of voting in third place, and while he publicly told his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, her populist vision may prove more enticing to a base dissatisfied with Macron, a centrist with a background in the financial sector.
The debate was the first and only time voters will have a chance to see the candidates face off ahead of the final round of voting on April 24.
ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
For the millions of fans that made Black Panther a billion-dollar blockbuster, now you’ll have a chance to eat like the people of the movie’s fictional nation of Wakanda.
The Official Wakanda Cookbook by Malawian-American chef Nyanyika Banda has over 70 delicious recipes inspired by the box office hit, and its forthcoming sequel.
And while it would have been an easy lift to go kitchy, with, say, “Vibranium Veggies,” or “T’Challa’s Churros,” Banda didn’t, and took the assignment very seriously.
The veteran of number of acclaimed kitchens across the country, including WD-50 and Saveur magazine’s test kitchen, was influenced by her studies of and writing on African food, and the book is filled with authentic entries including entrées, street food, and a range of recipes that appeal to every palate and skill level.
Some of the recipes include beef samosas, and dishes like Baked Sweet Potato and Kale Eggs, along with Marvel-canon descriptions as to where you could find them in the technically advanced nation, if it were real.
For example, according to the book, its Basbousa cakes recipe you can try are made by Kylee and Ayla, two sisters who own a bakery in the fictional city of Birnin Azzaria. Its “Village Curried Chicken” is usually prepared for Wakandan council meetings, according to Banda’s book.
The Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, is set for a November 11 debut in theaters.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an additional $800 million package in military assistance to Ukraine — as well as a ban on all Russian-affiliated ships from U.S. ports — as Russian forces launch a long-expected, large-scale campaign to seize the country’s east.
“We’re in a critical window now of time where — they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said from the White House Roosevelt Room, adding the U.S. and allies will continue to provide Ukraine with “equipment they need — their forces need — to defend their nation.”
Biden said the new aid package will include “heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers, and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with those howitzers,” as well as tactical drones.
It follows another of similar size, which Biden announced last week, but focuses more on artillery and ammunition, U.S. officials told ABC News earlier this week.
Biden said the U.S. has sent “equipment that is responsive to Ukraine’s needs and tailored to support the intensified fighting in the Donbas region, which is a different war than in other places because both topographically, it’s different — it’s flat, it’s not in the mountains — and it requires different kinds of weapons to be more effective.”
“Every American taxpayer, every member of our armed forces can be proud of the fact that our country’s generosity — and the skill and service of our military — helped arm and repel Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to beat back Putin’s savagery that tried to seize Ukraine’s capital and wipe out Ukraine’s government,” Biden added.
With this latest package, the U.S. is on track to having announced about $3 billion in military aid since the start started in late February. In particular, this is the eighth tranche of U.S. assistance from the Pentagon’s existing stockpile, using what’s known as presidential drawdown authority to expedite delivery.
As more than 5 million have fled Ukraine since the war began, Biden also announced a new program dubbed “Unite for Ukraine” to fast-track Ukrainian refugees coming to the U.S.
“This new humanitarian parole program will complement the existing legal pathways available to Ukrainians, including immigrant visas and refugees processing” and “provide an expedient channel for secure legal migration from Europe to the United States for Ukrainians, who have a U.S. sponsor such as a family or an NGO,” Biden said.
Beginning April 25, the administration says U.S.-based individuals and entities can apply to the Department of Homeland Security to sponsor Ukrainian citizens. Those who apply to sponsor Ukrainians will be required to declare their financial support and pass a background check, according to administration officials, and there is no limit on how many Ukrainians a person or entity can sponsor.
“This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and will ensure the United States honors its commitment to go to the people of Ukraine and need not go through our southern border,” Biden added.
“That means no ship, no ship that sails on the Russian flag or that is owned or operated by Russian interest would be allowed to dock on the united States port or access our shores. None,” he said.
After meeting with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal ahead of his remarks, Biden again called on Congress to provide more funding for weapons and ammunition because existing money is “almost exhausted,” he said, even with an additional $500 million in economic aid to Ukraine’s government the Treasury Department also announced Thursday, separate from the latest $800 million military package.
Russia offered another ultimatum Wednesday to allow Ukrainian fighters to leave a steel plant in Mariupol — but those fighters, for days, have refused to surrender. Finally seizing the strategic port city after weeks of besiegement and bombardment would help give Russian forces a land bridge between Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014, and the eastern provinces known as the Donbas, where Russian-led separatists have battled the Ukrainian government since 2014, too.
The Donbas is expected to be Russia’s focus now, but the U.S. remains concerned that Russian forces will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship Western military aid into the country, a defense official told ABC News.
While they have not done so yet, cutting off those supply routes will help the Kremlin isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, the official added.
The U.S. believes Russians will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship in Western military aid in order to isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, a defense official told ABC News.
“Right now, we know from our discussions with the Ukrainians that they are getting this material,” a defense official said Tuesday. “It’s getting into the hands of their fighters.”
The U.S. and other Western countries have now provided Ukraine with close to 70,000 anti-tank weapons, including several varieties of shoulder-fired missiles. The number of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that the U.S. and other countries have sent to Ukraine is nearing 30,000.
Those missiles have been used by Ukrainian forces to great effect, but as the battle shifts from Ukraine’s major cities and suburbs to the more flat eastern provinces, Kyiv’s troops will need more artillery and ammunition instead.
Four flights carrying military aid from the $800 million drawdown package Biden announced last week arrived in Ukraine over the last 24 hours, some of them carrying U.S. howitzers and 155mm ammunition for them, a senior defense official said Wednesday, adding more equipment will arrive over the next 24 hours.
ABC News asked the official why the U.S. decided to send U.S. artillery to the Ukrainians.
“We’re mindful of the importance of artillery in the fight that they’re in right now and in the fighting in the days to come because of the terrain, and because of what we think they’re going to be up against with Russian forces,” the official responded. Another reason was “the fact that it wouldn’t require an onerous amount of training for the Ukrainians to know how to use them” and the ability to ship them quickly, according to the official.
After Biden called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide” for the first time last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that the same horrors witnessed in Bucha — “death, destruction, atrocities” — may take place in the eastern city of Mariupol “at some point,” even as Russian forces seem already poised to fully capture the strategic city.
“We can only anticipate that when this tide also at some point recedes from Mariupol, we’re going to see far worse — if that’s possible to imagine,” Blinken said. “So the conditions there, the situation there as a result of this Russian aggression are truly horrific.”
(NOTE CONTENT) Of all the explosive revelations made Wednesday when Johnny Depp testified in his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard, one trended thanks to two cheeky hashtags: #MePoo and #AmberTurd.
Depp alleges that after one of his many fights instigated by Heard, this one after her 30th birthday party in 2016, she or one of her friends left a gross gift: Someone intentionally pooped in his bed.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star had left one of the homes he shared with his now-ex after the row, and she and her pals were bound for the Coachella. With her out of the picture, Depp testified, he planned to return to the home to gather items that were important to him, including mementos of his friendships with Marlon Brando and Hunter S. Thompson.
However, he was warned against returning, and the excremental evidence was shown to him in a cellphone photo taken by a security guard.
“My initial response to that was…I laughed,” Depp said in court. “It was so bizarre and so grotesque that I could only laugh. So I did not go down there that day.”
Of course, those photos were entered into evidence yesterday for all to see. In fact, Depp was cross-examined about them, with lawyers for Heard doubting the poop’s provenance, positing that his two dogs, Pistol and Boo, could have made the apparently large deposit.
“They’re teacup Yorkies,” Depp countered. “They weigh about four pounds each…It was not the dogs.”
Depp alleged in detail Wednesday that he suffered physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Heard, who herself has previously alleged Depp abused her during their tumultuous relationship.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday was set to announce an additional $800 million package of military assistance to Ukraine as Russian forces launch a long-expected, large-scale campaign to seize the country’s east.
The aid package follows another of similar size, which Biden announced last week, but focuses more on artillery and ammunition, U.S. officials told ABC News.
With this latest package, the U.S. is on track to having announced about $3 billion in military aid since the start started in late February. In particular, this is the eighth tranche of U.S. assistance from the Pentagon’s existing stockpile, using what’s known as presidential drawdown authority to expedite delivery.
Russia offered another ultimatum Wednesday to allow Ukrainian fighters to leave a steel plant in Mariupol — but those fighters, for days, have refused to surrender. Finally seizing the strategic port city after weeks of besiegement and bombardment would help give Russian forces a land bridge between Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014, and the eastern provinces known as the Donbas, where Russian-led separatists have battled the Ukrainian government since 2014, too.
The Donbas is expected to be Russia’s focus now, but the U.S. remains concerned that Russian forces will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship Western military aid into the country, a defense official told ABC News.
While they have not done so yet, cutting off those supply routes will help the Kremlin isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, the official added.
The U.S. believes Russians will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship in Western military aid in order to isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, a defense official told ABC News.
“Right now, we know from our discussions with the Ukrainians that they are getting this material,” a defense official said Tuesday. “It’s getting into the hands of their fighters.”
The U.S. and other Western countries have now provided Ukraine with close to 70,000 anti-tank weapons, including several varieties of shoulder-fired missiles. The number of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that the U.S. and other countries have sent to Ukraine is nearing 30,000.
Those missiles have been used by Ukrainian forces to great effect, but as the battle shifts from Ukraine’s major cities and suburbs to the more flat eastern provinces, Kyiv’s troops will need more artillery and ammunition instead.
Four flights carrying military aid from the $800 million drawdown package Biden announced last week arrived in Ukraine over the last 24 hours, some of them carrying U.S. howitzers and 155mm ammunition for them, a senior defense official said Wednesday, adding more equipment will arrive over the next 24 hours.
ABC News asked the official why the U.S. decided to send U.S. artillery to the Ukrainians.
“We’re mindful of the importance of artillery in the fight that they’re in right now and in the fighting in the days to come because of the terrain, and because of what we think they’re going to be up against with Russian forces,” the official responded.
Another reason was “the fact that it wouldn’t require an onerous amount of training for the Ukrainians to know how to use them” and the ability to ship them quickly, according to the official.
More than five million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the United Nations.
After Biden called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide” for the first time last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that the same horrors witnessed in Bucha — “death, destruction, atrocities” — may take place in the eastern city of Mariupol “at some point,” even as Russian forces seem already poised to fully capture the strategic city.
“We can only anticipate that when this tide also at some point recedes from Mariupol, we’re going to see far worse — if that’s possible to imagine,” Blinken said. “So the conditions there, the situation there as a result of this Russian aggression are truly horrific.”
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Three months after her arrival, the name of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra‘s daughter has been revealed.
In January, the couple welcomed their first child via surrogate, but didn’t reveal its name or sex. Now, following TMZ’s initial report Wednesday, People magazine has confirmed that her name is Malti Marie Chopra Jonas. TMZ also reported that according to the birth certificate, Malti arrived January 15 at a San Diego hospital.
Malti is a common female Indian name.
Nick and Priyanka have been married for three years. In January, a source told People that the couple were “truly eager to be parents,” adding, “They are beyond excited. Nick and Priyanka have wanted a baby for some time.” Another source dished, “Now is their time, and they could not be more ready to raise a child.”
