Both Billie Eilish and Harry Styles suffered fan emergencies at their weekend concerts, while The Kid LAROI created a wholesome moment for his audience.
Starting with Billie, she was playing at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday when she noticed people in the crowd were fainting because of the heat. BBC reports Billie stopped her show to ask, “Are you all okay? People were fainting and getting pulled out. It’s hot, I know.”
The “Bad Guy” singer, who had security hand out water to concertgoers because of the temperatures, stopped the show after a fan complained they were being “squished” by the crowd, so Billie ordered to the audience, “Take a step back, give everybody some space. If someone looks a little woozy, just tell someone… Don’t try to save feelings.”
There was a major scare at Harry’s concert in Glasgow on Saturday. The Independentreports a fan fell from the third-tier Club Deck balcony at Ibrox Stadium. Police told the newspaper, “There were no suspicious circumstances and the man was seen to by medical staff.”
The man’s condition is unknown, but the paper reports several witnesses saw him speaking with security after the incident. It’s unknown if Harry was alerted of the fall during his show.
Scary stuff aside, The Kid LAROI turned heads because of the special guests he brought on stage during his tour in Melbourne, Australia — The Wiggles. Fan-takenvideos of the event shows the “Stay” singer invited the original Wiggles Anthony Field, Jeff Fatt and Greg Page on the stage, where they all performed “Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car” and “Fruit Salad.”
(NEW YORK) — Global stocks tumbled and the S&P 500 opened in bear market territory Monday as fears over inflation rattle investors around the world.
On Friday, investors were disappointed to learn that inflation is moving in the wrong direction. U.S. consumer prices surged 8.6% year-over-year in May, to a fresh 40-year high, led by higher prices for energy, food and housing. For the first time in history, a gallon of regular gas now costs $5 on average nationwide, according to AAA, and experts predict gas prices could average $6 a gallon by August.
“Any talk that we are at peak inflation has to be tabled at least until prices stop rising,” said David Nelson, chief strategist at Belpointe Asset Management.
The worse-than-expected inflation report has investors raising their bets on more aggressive interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve, possibly as soon as the central bank’s policy-setting meeting this week.
According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there is now about a 25% chance that the Fed will raise short-term interest rates by three-quarters of a point at the end of Wednesday’s policy meeting as the Fed ratchets up its fight against high inflation.
The likelihood of a half point rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting has now jumped to 50%, up from 25% before Friday’s inflation report.
“The debate continues over whether the Fed can slow inflation using its many monetary policy tools without pushing the economy into a recession,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, told ABC News. “Raising rates by three-quarters or even one percentage point on Wednesday would send a strong message that this Fed is willing to do what needs to be done to get inflation moving in the right direction.”
Inflation fears have sparked a broad-based selloff on Wall Street that has spread beyond stocks to the bond market and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, traded below $24,000, down nearly 14% in just 24 hours.
Despite this year’s rapid stock market selloff, strategists at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs said the market does not fully reflect the risks facing the economy.
“The Equity Risk Premium does not reflect the risks to growth, which are increasing due to margin pressure and weaker demand as the consumer decides to hunker down,” Morgan Stanley strategists, led by Michael Wilson, wrote in a note on Monday.
If the S&P 500 closes Monday’s trading session with a decline of more than 1.3%, the index would be in a bear market, defined as a 20% drop from a recent high. The technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 slipped into a bear market in March.
Chris Lane’s son, Dutton, turned 1 year old earlier this month, but he’s a quick study when it comes to music. The singer says Dutton is already getting the hang of following in his dad’s footsteps.
“At home, I do play guitar a lot,” Chris tells ET during a behind-the-scenes video following the making of his music video for his new duet with Lauren Alaina, “Dancin’ in the Moonlight.”
“And all we have to do is say, ‘Dutton, can you sing?’” the singer continues. “And obviously he’s not making words, but he starts using his voice, and it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Chris’ son gets plenty of chances to see what his country star dad does at work, too. In fact, Lauren revealed to ET that baby Dutton was in the recording studio with them when she came in to record her part on “Dancin’ in the Moonlight.”
“I got to meet him. He’s the cutest little thing,” the singer adds.
Maybe a Lane family band is in the offing: Chris and his wife, also named Lauren, recently announced that they’re expecting their second child in October.
In addition to her Las Vegas residency, PLAY, her work on American Idol and — oh yeah — her music career, Katy Perry is also the CEO of Katy Perry Collections, her footwear line. But unlike some artists who go into fashion as an afterthought, Katy says she’s been dreaming of shoes since before she was famous — and can trace the inspiration for Katy Perry Collections to one particular pair.
In the new cover story for Footwear News, Katy says, “When I got to LA, I went to this club every Thursday night called Star Shoes. In the window, there were all of these gorgeous shoes from the ’40s and memorabilia-type shoes.” When she hit that club, she would wear a thrift-store find: a pair of dalmatian-print flats with bendable ears, whiskers and a tongue that flopped over the toe.
“I would wear these shoes everywhere around LA, and the amount of people who would stop me was by the hundreds,” Katy recalls. “That is what solidified the dream of having my own shoe company.”
Katy, who recently purchased the shoe brand outright from her former partners, says her goal for the brand is to “bring it back to its true soul, which has a little bit more personality, a little more kitsch.”
Speaking of kitsch, Katy’s famous for her over-the-top fashions, dressing like a chandelier at the 2019 Met Gala and as a cheeseburger for the after-party. Designer Tom Fordtook a shot at her ahead of this year’s Gala, but Katy made headlines in a demure black-and-white Oscar de la Renta gown.
“I think it was a step in the right direction and it kept people guessing,” she says. “It’s about keeping people on the edge of their seats and surprising them.”
Roddy Ricch was released Sunday afternoon after being arrested on gun charges while on his way to perform at the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City.
According to police, the rapper, whose birth name is Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., was arriving at Citi Field, where the music festival is held, around 6:40 p.m., when a private security firm working the event noticed a firearm located inside his vehicle. Police recovered a loaded firearm with nine rounds of ammunition from the vehicle, as well as a large-capacity magazine.
Ricch, along with two men who were also inside the vehicle, were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device and unlawful possession of that weapon.
The 23-year-old rapper was released Sunday afternoon, TMZ reports.
In a tease of an interview airing Tuesday and Wednesday morning on NBC’s Today, Amber Heard tells Savannah Guthrie that Johnny Depp‘s defamation verdict against her wasn’t “fair.”
The actress blamed social media for turning the tide against her, despite the fact the jury was instructed not to use it, where they would have seen the viral popularity of hashtags like #JusticeForJohnny and, well, #AmberTurd.
A Virginia jury agreed with the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s legal team that there was “clear and convincing evidence” Heard had defamed him in a Washington Post op-ed in which she obliquely accused him of domestic and sexual abuse, without naming him.
“Even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t tell me — look me in the eye and tell me … that you think that this has been fair,” said Hurd.
For their part, Depp’s attorneys, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez, told Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos last week that social media “played no role” in jury’s verdict, which resulted in Depp being awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
“This was a decision made by the jury on the evidence presented by both sides, and…it was overwhelmingly in Mr. Depp’s favor,” Chew maintained.
Depp was awarded a total of $10.35 million due to Virginia state law capping punitive damages at $350,000. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for statements made by Depp’s former attorney, but was awarded no punitive damages.
Heard said she “actually understand[s],” the jury’s decision, saying of Depp, “He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee holds another public hearing Monday — this time focused on the “big lie” pushed by former President Donald Trump and his allies — that the committee says fueled those who attacked the Capitol.
The main witness scheduled was Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, but the committee said Monday morning the hearing would be postponed due to a family emergency.
This is how the hearing is unfolding:
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Jun 13, 9:48 am
Hearing to focus on Trump pushing ‘big lie’
In previewing Monday’s hearing, which will be guided in part by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., House select committee aides said members would focus on how Trump and his campaign pushed the ‘big lie’ to millions of supporters after the election, despite knowing he lost.
The questioning of live witnesses, along with clips of interviews the committee videotaped with other key witnesses, will show how Trump was told he had lost the election and lacked evidence of widespread voter fraud but continued to claim the election was stolen from him, aides told reporters on Sunday night.
The committee hearing will show “how litigation to challenge elections usually works,” and argue that Trump had an “obligation” to “abide by the rule of law” when his dozens of lawsuits failed in courts across the country, they said.
Jun 13, 9:40 am
Live witnesses slated for Monday
Trump’s former campaign manager Bill Stepien will no longer testify live on Monday, citing a family emergency, but the committee will still hear from several live witnesses.
Chris Stirewalt, the former Fox News political editor who was fired after defending the network’s early projection that Trump had lost Arizona on election night, is scheduled to testify this morning.
A second panel of witnesses includes Al Schmidt, a former Republican city commissioner in Philadelphia who repeatedly debunked claims of fraud in the state; veteran GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsburg, and Byung “BJay” Pak, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Pak previously told Senate investigators he resigned in January 2021 after learning Trump sought to fire him over not doing more to amplify his false claims of widespread election fraud in Georgia.
Jun 13, 9:21 am
Hearing delayed
The House select committee has delayed its 10 a.m. start time Monday, citing a family emergency for witness Bill Stepien, former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, who will no longer testify.
“Due to a family emergency, Mr. William Stepien is unable to testify before the Select Committee this morning. His counsel will appear and make a statement on the record,” the committee said in a statement. “The hearing will convene approximately 30 to 45 minutes after the previously announced 10:00am start time.”
Stepien had been subpoenaed to testify on Monday.
The committee said his counsel will appear and make a statement on the record.
Sony is marking 60 years of the Spider-Man comic book character and 20 years of Spidey films with a “fan cut” of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The new version, titled Spider-Man: No Way Home — The More Fun Stuff Version, containing added and extended scenes, hits theaters in the U.S. and Canada September 2. Other countries will be added soon, according to a post on the film’s official Twitter page.
The post features a snippet of the film’s three Spider-Men, Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield, all getting a kick out of introducing themselves as Ol’ Web Head, and is capped with their recreation of the famous “pointing Spidey” meme, along with the legend, “Who’s going?”
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, August 9 with screenings starting Friday, September 2. Domestically, Spider-Man: No Way Home, starring Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Foxx, and Alfred Molina, is the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, and the sixth-highest-grossing title worldwide, with over $1.8 billion to date.
Halsey brought the ’80s to New York City when they took over the Governors Ballstage over the weekend. The Grammy nominee decided to include Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” in their set, which drove the crowd wild.
Bush’s 1985 hit is enjoying a renaissance after Netflix’s Stranger Things featured it in its newest season, which has sparked countless memes, TikTok videos and more. The song is shooting up the Billboard Hot 100 and exploded in popularity across major streaming services. Now it’s also being covered by some of today’s top artists.
Fans captured video of Halsey’s weekend set, and the “Without Me” singer shared it onto their Twitter. Not only that, Halsey revealed just how much they love the nearly 40-year-old hit.
“Truly wish I wrote this song more than anything in the world,” Halsey wrote. “I’m soooo happy it’s having this resurgence. I knew immediately I wanted to do this.”
Some fans are also urging Halsey to officially release a cover of the song.
Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1985. Thanks to Stranger Things, the song has re-entered the music charts and now rests at number eight, becoming just the eighth song in Billboard Hot 100 history to make it into the top 10 upon a return to the chart.
(NEW YORK) — Some of the most important water sources in the Western U.S. are drying up as a decades-long megadrought continues to intensify and temperatures steadily rise as a result of climate change.
And as the commodity becomes more precious, residents could soon see an uptick in their water bills, experts tell ABC News.
Water levels have gotten so low in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, that human remains have been discovered among the receding waters. The Colorado River, a major freshwater source for more 40 million people in seven southwestern U.S. states and parts of northern Mexico, has lost 20% of its water levels over the past 22 years, making it the most endangered river in the country.
As global temperatures continue to rise, causing the drought conditions in the West to persist, ensuring an ample supply of water to sustain communities will continue to be a challenge, experts say. Temperatures are currently at the hottest the planet has experienced in the past 2,000 years, according to NASA.
The first step in conserving water is for water utility companies to implement drought plans in stages, the first being asking for voluntary restraint by residents, Ed Osann, director of national water use efficiency for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, told ABC News.
Calls for cutbacks on household water usage are getting louder. Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom implored the state’s largest water suppliers to combat drought and better engage their customers to ensure all Californians are doing their part to save water. Beginning June 1, Los Angeles residents were limited to two-days-per-week outdoor watering schedules.
On Thursday, the city of San Diego implemented new water-saving restrictions, which include prohibiting irrigation during and within 48 hours of a rain event and prohibiting the washing of vehicles at residences, although washing is still permitted at commercial car washes.
The conservation actions are part of Level 2 of the water shortage contingency plan that all urban water suppliers must implement, following Newsom’s announcement on May 23. But, the repeated warnings in recent months do not seem to be resonating. In coastal Southern California, water use had increased by more than 25% in April, according to data released last week by the California State Water Resources Control Board, the Los Angeles Times reported.
If those calls for conservation continue to go unheeded, utility companies could have no choice by to raise the rates of water, Newsha Ajami, hydrologist and director of urban water policy for Stanford University’s Water in the West initiative, told ABC News.
Water prices have been rising steadily for the past 20 years, Osann said.
But, water is still “underpriced and undervalued,” Ajami said, adding that the increase in cost could prove to be the most effective deterrent for using an excess of water. With more than 85% of the West experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, officials can not continue to hope for such conditions to dissipate, year after year, she said.
Ajami described the current water sector as “antiquated in many ways,” because the business models, many implemented in the 1900s, were created “during a different time, under a different reality.” A time when there was not only a lot more water, but when decision-makers had a “very limiting understanding” of the consequences of the laws and infrastructures they were creating, Ajami said.
“We build all these dams and infrastructure, assuming the hydroclimatic conditions would withhold, right?” Ajami said. But the water authorities of the past did not foresee droughts that continued for decades on end, she added.
This is why before water utility companies begin to raise rates, they need to “figure out how we create a business model that is sustainable in this day and age,” Ajami said.
“Because if we don’t do that, by raising rates and not having the right business model in place, we can actually leave some people behind,” she said.
Raising water rates is especially controversial for low-income communities, who may not be able to afford the most water-efficient appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, Pablo Ortiz, climate and waters scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News. Rate increases, and whether there are programs available to help those who cannot afford their bills, will vary among utility companies, the experts said.
Another concern for researchers, as water supplies in reservoirs are depleted, is that municipalities may return to groundwater to fulfill their water needs, Ortiz said.
“Groundwater is often used as a buffer when there is not enough available surface water,” Ortiz said, adding that California’s century-long relationship with extracting groundwater has left well levels at the lowest they have ever seen.
However, raising prices is more than a deterrent, but a way for utilities to maintain a cashflow throughout a period where there is an intentional decline in use, Osann said.
That way, utilities can ensure operations during a time when revenue is down, he added.
“That helps manage water during the drought; it helps maintain the fiscal soundness of the utility system, and it protects the customers against getting a ‘gotcha rate’ increase after a drought is over,” Osann said.
