The Killers and Phoebe Bridgers performed their duet “Runaway Horses” live for the first time Thursday at the Czech Republic’s Colours of Ostrava festival.
Footage of the onstage collaboration, which was posted to The Killers’ TikTok, shows frontman Brandon Flowers singing along with Bridgers amid heavy rainfall, adding even more emotional weight to the song.
“Runaway Horses” appears on The Killers’ latest album, Pressure Machine, which was released last August.
The Killers are currently on tour in Europe and will launch a North American tour in August They’re also planning to release a new single called “Boy,” which they debuted live earlier this month.
(DAR ES SAALAM, Tanzania) — Health officials are investigating a deadly outbreak of a mystery disease in southern Tanzania that has infected over a dozen people and killed at least three of them.
Tanzania’s chief medical officer, Dr. Aifelo Sichalwe, urged the public to “remain calm” as he gave a briefing Wednesday from the capital, Dodoma. So far, a total of 13 cases of the unknown illness have been reported in Mbekenyera village in the East African nation’s Lindi region, with patients exhibiting symptoms similar to Ebola or Marburg virus diseases — fever, headache, fatigue and bleeding, especially from the nose, according to Sichalwe.
However, Sichalwe said preliminary results from laboratory testing has ruled out the Ebola and Marburg viruses in these cases, and that the patients had also tested negative for COVID-19.
The first case was recorded at Mbekenyera Health Center on July 5 and within three days, the hospital had received a second case, according to Sichalwe.
While three of the 13 patients have since succumbed to the strange disease, two who were isolated at Mbekenyera Health Center have recovered and returned home. Five patients remain in isolation, Sichalwe said.
The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has dispatched a team of experts to Lindi region to investigate the outbreak and take measures to prevent further spread of the unknown illness, such as conducting contact tracing, identifying people with similar symptoms and isolating them. Anyone who has had contact with confirmed or suspected cases are being monitored for 21 days, according to Sichalwe, who advised anyone experiencing similar symptoms to seek medical attention immediately.
The Tanzanian health ministry did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment or additional information.
Dr. Fiona Braka, team lead for emergency responses at the World Health Organization’s regional office for Africa, confirmed that “WHO teams in Tanzania are working closely with” teams from the Tanzanian health ministry (MoH) “to investigate the disease further and are monitoring the situation closely.”
“The Tanzania MoH released a statement on Wednesday indicating that they have done an initial assessment and all investigations so far are negative for Ebola and Marburg,” Braka told ABC News in a statement Friday. “WHO and MoH teams are working on getting further testing done to rule out other diseases, including conducting sequencing of the samples. Currently, there is no new information on the cause of this illness.”
On Thursday, the WHO warned that Africa is facing a growing risk of outbreaks caused by zoonotic pathogens that originate in non-human animals and then switch species and infect humans. There has been a 63% increase in the number of zoonotic outbreaks in the region in the decade from 2012 to 2022, compared with 2001 to 2011, according to a new analysis by the United Nation’s global health arm.
The analysis found that between 2001 and 2022, there were 1,843 substantiated public health events recorded in the WHO African region, of which 30% were zoonotic disease outbreaks. While these numbers have increased over the last two decades, the WHO noted, there was a particular spike in 2019 and 2020 when zoonotic pathogens represented around 50% of public health events. Ebola virus disease and other viral hemorrhagic fevers constitute nearly 70% of these outbreaks, while dengue fever, anthrax, plague, monkeypox and a range of other diseases make up the remaining 30%, according to the analysis.
“Infections originating in animals and then jumping to humans have been happening for centuries, but the risk of mass infections and deaths had been relatively limited in Africa. Poor transport infrastructure acted as a natural barrier,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Thursday. “However, with improved transportation in Africa, there is an increased threat of zoonotic pathogens traveling to large urban centers. We must act now to contain zoonotic diseases before they can cause widespread infections and stop Africa from becoming a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases.”
The WHO warned that there can be a devastating number of cases and deaths when zoonotic disease arrive in cities, as several West African countries saw with the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak — the largest and deadliest on record.
“We need all hands on deck to prevent and control zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, monkeypox and even other coronaviruses,” Moeti added. “Zoonotic diseases are caused by spillover events from animals to humans. Only when we break down the walls between disciplines can we tackle all aspects of the response.”
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats will vote Friday on two measures to restore abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The action comes as Democrats ramp up their political messaging on abortion ahead of the November midterm elections, hoping the issue will drive voters to the ballot box to preserve the party’s majorities in Congress.
“It’s outrageous that 50 years later, women must again fight for our most basic rights against an extremist court and Republican Party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday in a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps ahead of the vote.
“Democrats are honoring the basic truth: women’s most intimate health decisions are her own,” Pelosi added.
One bill, titled the Women’s Health Protection Act, would establish a statutory right for health care providers to provide, and patients to receive, abortion services. It would also prohibit states from imposing restrictions on abortion care.
The lower chamber passed this bill in September 2021, but it failed to move forward in the Senate.
Any abortion-related legislation will likely meet a similar fate in the upper chamber, where Democrats need 10 Republican votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
“We must ensure that the American people remember in November, because with two more Democratic senators, we will be able to eliminate the filibuster when it comes to a woman’s right to choose and to make reproductive freedom the law of the land,” Pelosi said Friday.
The second bill to be voted on by the House on Friday, known as the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, addresses recent efforts by state legislatures to punish Americans traveling for reproductive health care. The bill would would ensure no person acting under state law could prevent, restrict, or otherwise retaliate against a person traveling across state lines for lawful abortion services.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill that would have both legally shielded the people who travel across states lines to receive an abortion and the providers who care for those patients.
At least 13 states have ceased nearly all abortion services after the high court’s June 24 decision ending Roe, and several Republican-controlled states are already considering legislation to bar women from seeking services out-of-state.
“Are we going to allow these lawmakers to hold American citizens hostage in their own states, forcing them to give birth?” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a floor speech on Thursday. “Does that sound like the America that we know? No it doesn’t, and we need to draw the line here and now.”
Just last week, hundreds of abortion rights activists protested outside the White House calling on President Joe Biden to do more to ensure abortion rights. Biden signed an executive order on July 8 aimed at protecting access, but said it’s ultimately up to Congress to codify Roe.
Biden’s message to the demonstrators was to “keep protesting.”
“Keep making your point. It’s critically important,” he said.
The Queen of Da Souf, Latto, dropped her latest song “P***y” on Friday, and its message to misogynists is loud and clear.
The powerful new track takes aim at any and all men who have a say in women’s sexuality and their reproductive system. In response to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, the song arrives at a time when women all over the country are losing their rights to make choices about their reproductive health.
Sampling Betty Wright‘s 1968 single “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do,” Latto raps in the first verse, “Girls, you can do what the guys do, and still be a lady.”
She continues, “N***a, who you is to clock p***y? Could barely pop p***y / N****s kiss and tell that s**t is not p***y.”
“‘Bout demand my respect, watch him pay me it’s crazy / Y’all sexualize lesbians but y’all entertain me,” and says “I ain’t your property, b***h, get mad and call me a b***h,” raps Latto.
Another notable line in the song reads, “My ovaries ain’t for you to bully, y’all the reason we make music teachin’ b*****s how to use it.”
Upon sharing a teaser of the new track, Latto responded to fans who said she’s using the moment to profit off of women’s rights violations.
“using serious issues to promote your song is wild…,” one user said, to which Latto tweeted back, “Orrrr I took my frustrations to the booth like a RAPPER & using my platform to spread awareness.”
“Y’all complain about female rap lacking substance but then say I’m ‘capitalizing’ when I speak on s**t help me understand???,” Latto said.
“P***y” follows the raps star’s Best New Artist win at the 2022 BET Awards.
What happens when you mix Broadway with Olivia Rodrigo? You get Michael Bublé‘s cover of “Drivers License.”
The Grammy winner covered Olivia’s debut single for BBC on Friday and was backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra for his inspiring rendition. With his smooth vocals and an entire orchestra complete with strings, horns, wind instruments and drums, Michael transforms the heartbreak anthem into a full-blown ballad fit for the Great White Way.
The “Sway” singer did modify a few lyrics, such as saying the object of his affection was hanging around “that blonde guy” that is “so much smarter than me” — instead of “that blonde girl” that is “so much older than me.”
In addition, Michael infused his own emotions when delivering his cover, which further amplified Olivia’s broken-hearted lyrics — especially during the song’s iconic bridge.
“Olivia is such a talented singer and songwriter. Her song was stuck in my head on repeat. So when I had the chance to do a cover live at the @BBC, I knew it had to be #driverslicense,” Michael expressed on Instagram when first announcing his cover.
The Canadian crooner is currently on his Higher Tour. Tickets are on sale now on his official website.
Just two days after officially announcing her next album, Subject to Change, Kelsea Ballerini is off to the races — er, the rodeo — with a new song.
“Love is a Cowboy” is a tender ballad about the wild ride that is falling in love, comparing the euphoric freedom and the potential of getting hurt to a ride with a free-wheeling cowboy.
“Makes your heart feel like wild horses that you chase / Trying to catch it’s like trying to tame the Wild, Wild West / And when I’m with him, it’s like ropin’ the wind / Love is a cowboy,” Kelsea sings in the chorus.
As she was teasing her new album, Kelsea promised a return to more traditional country sounds; She makes good on that promise in her latest song, which features ample Western imagery, vivid lyrical storytelling and even a fiddle line.
In its subject matter, “Love is a Cowboy” has some common ground with “Heartfirst,” Kelsea’s lead single off Subject to Change. Both songs embrace love with both arms while also acknowledging the fact that falling in love means letting go of control.
Subject to Change is due out September 23. It’s available for pre-order now.
(JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia) — Continuing his first visit to the Middle East as president, Joe Biden shared a fist bump Friday with Saudi Arabia’s de-facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, ahead of their highly-anticipated meeting despite criticism around the Saudi Arabia stop.
Biden is meeting, separately, with the prince’s father, King Salman, the White House said.
The president stepped off Air Force One and onto a lavendar carpet in Jeddah shortly after 11 a.m. ET, descending the steps and greeted immediately by two individuals. He fist bumped the first greeter and shook hands with others. The president then walked towards the Beast, stopping to greet a few other officials lined up for his arrival, accompanied by national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan declined to say earlier this week if the public would see the president and the crown prince shake hands, and Biden has repeatedly declined to say whether he will bring up the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi with him — despite immense pressure to snub the leader over alleged human rights atrocities, particularly since a U.S. intelligence report found Mohammad bin Salman directly approved the murder operation at a Saudi embassy in Turkey in 2018.
As a presidential candidate, Biden vowed to make oil-rich Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state over Khashoggi’s murder, but the rapprochement to U.S. and Saudi Arabia relations comes at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed as the West has attempted to boycott Russian oil, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and as Biden faces calls to balance security interests with human rights concerns.
Biden has defended his trip to the oil-rich nation, writing in an op-ed for The Washington Post published ahead of his visit that “my aim was to reorient — but not rupture — relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years.”
“As president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure,” he wrote. “We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world.”
But Sullivan on Friday ahead of the meeting downplayed any chance of an agreement from Saudi Arabia to increase oil production as a result of Biden’s meetings in the kingdom.
“I don’t think you should expect a particular announcement here bilaterally,” he told reporters on AF1. “We will discuss energy security at this meeting,” he said broadly, when asked if the public should expect an agreement.
Since taking office, Biden has spoken twice with King Salman, the crown prince’s father, who officially rules the country, but had dispatched Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to serve as his administration’s point of contact with the crown prince, in what was widely perceived as a snub to the powerful Saudi leader.
On Saturday, Biden plans to attend a summit of Arab leaders in Jeddah, a meeting that the crown prince will also attend, though it’s not yet clear how the two leaders will interact or engage there.
Biden noted in his op-ed he would be the first U.S. president to fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, describing it as a “small symbol” of the deepening ties between Israel and the Arab world.
(AKRON, Ohio) — Jayland Walker, the 25-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by police in Akron, Ohio, had 46 gunshot wounds on his body, according to an autopsy report conducted by the Summit Co. Medical Examiner’s Office.
“The autopsy determined that Jayland had 46 gunshot wound entrances or graze injuries,” chief medical examiner Lisa Kohler said at a Friday press conference. She later added, “The photographic record shows more than 46 labeled wounds because there are exit wounds, bullets beneath the skin and abrasions that were numbered for the purpose of identifying specific injuries.”
Walker also had injuries to his face, heart, both lungs, liver, spleen, left kidney, intestines, pelvis, iliac artery and several bones in his legs, according to Kohler
His manner of death has been ruled homicide and the toxicology report showed no use of drugs nor alcohol by Walker at the time of the incident.
“The family is devastated by the findings of the report and still await a public apology from the police department,” the Walker family’s legal team said in a statement to ABC News.
Walker was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police on June 27 after a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. He was running away when eight officers opened fire on him, body camera footage released by the city showed.
Officials said they attempted to pull Walker over for a traffic violation and an equipment violation with his car. He allegedly refused to stop, which set off a chase that ended in his death.
Officials said a flash of light seen in body camera footage appeared to be the muzzle flash of a gun coming from the driver’s side of Walker’s car.
In a second body camera video, officers are heard radioing that a shot was being fired from Walker’s car. The footage shows an officer following Walker’s Buick off Route 8 and continuing the pursuit on side streets.
At one point, Walker slowed down and jumped out of the passenger side door before it came to a full stop, according to the footage. As Walker ran away from police, several officers simultaneously fired several bullets, fatally shooting him.
A gun was later recovered inside the car, but Walker was unarmed when he was shot.
The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave and have not been named.
The incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The United Nations has joined, offering help via a task force designed to address racial injustice and inequity in law enforcement.
The national civil rights group NAACP has called upon the Department of Justice to investigate Walker’s death.
“We are urging you and your Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder of Jayland Walker, and – if what we all saw with our own eyes is true – federally charge the officers responsible for his gruesome assassination,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
Walker’s funeral was held just days before the autopsy report, where he was described by family and friends as “kind” and “gentle.”
Yungblud, Royal & the Serpent and Dead Sara are among the guests featured on Demi Lovato‘s upcoming new album, Holy F***.
The record finds the pop star going in more of a rock-influenced, guitar-driven direction, as heard in the previously released singles “Skin of My Teeth” and “Substance.”
Yungblud is featured on the album’s opening track, “Freak,” while Royal and Dead Sara guest on songs titled “Eat Me” and “Help Me,” respectively.
Holy F*** is due out August 19.
Royal and Dead Sara are also opening select dates on Lovato’s upcoming U.S. tour, kicking off in September.
Are you ready for new Lizzo? Her fourth studio album, Special, is finally here, and it’s making major waves across social media.
“Special is here,” the Grammy winner raved on Instagram while sharing a silly outtake from her album cover shoot.
Fans are hailing Special as a much-needed ray of sunshine because of its positive messaging and funk-like elements. A notable track is Lizzo’s retro-sounding love song “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready),” which takes fans into her mind when she began falling in love with her current boyfriend, Myke Wright. The song explores Lizzo’s self-doubt as she questions whether she is ready for a relationship.
“You found me, I was fed up with the fantasy/ What you wanna do? Think I’m ready/ Think you like that, think you like that/ When I clap back like that, let me know,” she chants in the dance track.
Lizzo further explores her romantic journey in the song “Coldplay,” which features Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The sweet song is about all the little moments that make her feel loved.
Lizzo slows things down in her vulnerable track ”Naked,” which is about her finding and enjoying intimacy with her partner. “I’m naked/ Love how you look at me naked/ Come make this body feel sacred/ I’m a big girl, can you take it?” she sensually croons in the soulful track.
Special is also packed with feel-good songs that encourage listeners to feel good about themselves. “The Sign” is the Grammy winner’s pandemic track about how she bounced back from a heartbreak and is feeling more confident than ever. “I keep on writin’ these songs/ ‘Cause he keep on doin’ me wrong/ And my girls keep singin’ along/ I guess that I’m not alone,” she sings.
Special is now available across all major platforms.
