Remember the Free iTunes Song of the Week? In the days before streaming, Apple would make one song a week available as a free download, and often, they became hits. Fifteen years ago today, the iTunes Free Song of the Week was a song that never hit number one but still ended up launching an award-winning career: “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles.
Ironically, Sara wrote the song after becoming frustrated with her record label, who kept on telling her they needed her to write a commercial hit. Speaking to Glamour, Sara said, “I felt invisible and unimportant and manipulated and all the things.”
“This song was my little stubborn ‘f**k you’…but [it] ended up opening all these doors for me,” she noted.
“Love Song” didn’t enter the Billboard Hot 100 until several months later, but after Sara and the song appeared in an ad for the music streaming service Rhapsody, it shot up the charts, eventually peaking at number four and spending 19 weeks in the top 10.
“Love Song” also earned Sara her first Grammy nominations, for Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, on its way to selling four million copies.
While “Love Song” remains Sara’s biggest hit, it set her up for a career that’s taken some unexpected turns. In addition to being nominated for multiple Grammys — with one win — she’s also been nominated for Emmy awards for both acting and writing music for TV, not to mention multiple Tony Awards, including several for the Broadway musical she co-wrote and occasionally starred in: Waitress.
Today, Sara is starring in the second season of her Peacock comedy, Girls5Eva, for which she occasionally writes music, and is also appearing on Broadway in a revival of the musical Into the Woods.
The “Video Games” artist’s dreamy vocals turn the track into a song that would definitely feel at home on any of her records as she sings lyrics including, “Whatever happened to the girl I knew/In the wasteland come up short and end up on the news.”
You can listen to the cover now via digital outlets.
The original “Buddy’s Rendezvous” appears on Father John Misty’s new album, Chloë and the Next 20th Century, which was released in April.
Del Rey, meanwhile, has been working on new music to follow her two 2021 albums, Chemtrails Over the Country Club and Blue Banisters. In a recent interview with W Magazine, Del Rey described the upcoming material as “angry” and “very conversational.”
(NEW YORK) — The pain at the pump is getting worse and has motorists asking, is there any relief in sight?
The average nationwide price of a gallon of gas surpassed an all-time high of $5 last week, according to GasBuddy. In California, the state with the highest average gas price, drivers are paying an eye-popping $6.43 per gallon, AAA data showed.
The price surge owes to the fundamental economic principle of supply and demand, experts told ABC News. Summer travel has sent Americans to the pump at a time when the global market is experiencing a shortage of crude oil supply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which pushed millions of barrels of oil off the market.
And the current crisis exacerbates a supply crunch that has endured from a pandemic-induced production slowdown that hasn’t caught up with the renewed surge in demand, the experts said.
The sky-high prices with no relief in sight have set off sharp disagreement among public officials over what should be done in response. Republican members of Congress have faulted President Joe Biden for the price increases, citing what they’ve described as his “war on American energy.” At the same time, Biden has blamed the price surge on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, repeatedly calling it “Putin’s price hike.”
Government policy cannot meaningfully relieve the price increases in the short term, besides an additional release of oil from the strategic reserve or a gas tax holiday, each of which would likely reduce just a fraction of the cost, experts told ABC News. But steps taken now could help foster decreases over the long term and insulate the market from future disruptions, they added.
“There are not the overnight kind of solutions,” said Stewart Glickman, an energy analyst for CFRA Research. “In the longer term, they might make a difference.”
Here are some potential policy solutions to the gas price crisis and whether the experts think they would work.
Releasing more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
In March, the U.S. announced a commitment to release about 1 million barrels per day from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, over the ensuing six months — a move that aimed to alleviate some of the supply shortage and blunt price increases. The decision came alongside similar announcements from some U.S. allies.
The release of oil from the U.S. SPR is offering slight relief for the rise in the price of gasoline, some experts told ABC News. “The price of oil would be even higher without those stockpiles being used,” said Pavel Molchanov, a senior energy analyst at Raymond James.
If the U.S. decided to release even more oil from its reserves, the move could marginally slow the rise in gas prices even further, the experts said. But the Biden administration should think twice about expanding its release of reserve oil because it could drain the 700 million-barrel stockpile, enough to release 1 million barrels per day for nearly two years, Molchanov said.
“We need to be responsible about it,” Molchanov said. “We cannot use all of those stockpiles in one fell swoop.”
Encouraging domestic oil production
On Wednesday, Biden sent a letter to major oil refinery companies calling on them to take “immediate actions” to increase output. The letter accused the companies of taking advantage of the market environment to reap profits while Americans struggle to afford gas, and it mentioned the possibility of Biden invoking the Defense Production Act, which requires companies to produce goods deemed necessary for national security.
Glickman, the energy analyst at CFRA, said the move from Biden is unlikely to increase supply and lower gas prices, since the domestic industry is already operating at as high as 96% capacity. The refineries cannot add capacity in a short period of time, Glickman added.
Biden is “missing the point a little,” Glickman said. “These are industrial systems that move like battleships, not dinghies.”
U.S. oil refinery capacity stands 1 million barrels per day lower than pre-pandemic levels because several refineries have been closed or converted since early 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA. Refinery inputs for the second and third quarter of this year will average 16.7 million barrels per day, the agency said.
One approach to incentivizing an increase in U.S. production includes a potential tax on oil company profits. But such a move wouldn’t remove the impediments to greater oil production capacity, Glickman said.
“Whether you do something like taxing the industry or not, it isn’t going to change how much capacity you bring back,” he said.
Some Republican members of Congress have criticized Biden for drilling permit restrictions and the shuttering of the Keystone XL Pipeline last year. But oil production in the U.S. last year was nearly identical to that seen over the final year of the Trump administration, in 2020, and greater than the amount produced in 2017 or 2018, according to data from the EIA.
U.S. oil production increased throughout the years of the Trump administration until a sharp, pandemic-induced drop that began in 2020, according to EIA data.
Loosening restrictions on oil drilling would yield long-term gains in oil supply, said James Coleman, an energy policy expert at the conservative-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute.
“If you were to reform those, it would take a while to have an impact on oil and gas markets,” Coleman said. “On the other hand, if you’re in a hole, maybe the first step is to stop digging.”
Overall, increased U.S. oil production would help reduce gas prices over the next five or 10 years, and protect the industry from future supply shocks, the experts said. However, some experts noted that the sector’s reluctance to aggressively expand production owes to fiscal discipline imposed by shareholders as well as the continued rise of renewable energy. “We know the energy transition is coming at some point,” said Glickman, the CFRA analyst.
Gas tax holiday
A handful of states — led by both Democratic and Republican governors — have suspended their gas taxes as a means of delivering some financial relief for drivers. But the moves only reduce costs by a fraction of the price. In New York State, for instance, Gov. Kathy Hochul this month suspended a roughly 16-cent-per gallon tax. With the average price of a gallon of gas in New York standing at $5, according to AAA, the tax relief amounts to a 3.2% cost reduction.
The federal government could move forward and suspend its gas tax, which amounts to 18.4 cents per gallon. But such a move would also reduce the cost of a $5 gallon of gas by less than 5%. Still, consumers would likely prefer some relief to no relief.
But suspending the gas tax would take away a key policy tool for discouraging the use of gasoline for other purposes, and it would remove a funding source targeted specifically for infrastructure, Adam Hersh, senior economist at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News.
“The gas tax plays a role in disincentivizing the use of gasoline for other energy sources and transportation methods, as well as being tied to funding sources for infrastructure investment,” he said.
(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 has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 16, 12:40 pm
‘Ukraine belongs to the European family’
In the first visit of EU leaders to the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis made clear their message of support and solidarity.
Scholz said, “My colleagues and I came here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family.”
Macron added, “All four of us support [Ukraine’s] immediate EU candidacy.”
The leaders discussed the possibility of further sanctions against Russia as well as how to rebuild Ukraine after the war.
Earlier in the day, the EU leaders toured Irpin, a town northeast of Kyiv, which was hit by heavy Russian artillery early in the war.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Ibtissem Guenfoud
Jun 15, 6:22 pm
Alabama lawmakers say they’re helping locate 2 former US service members missing in Ukraine
Two U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday they have been asked by the families of two former U.S. service members who volunteered to assist the Ukrainian forces for their help in locating them.
Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell said in a statement her office is helping a family locate Alexander Drueke, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“Earlier this week, the mother of Alexander Drueke, a Tuscaloosa Army Veteran who volunteered to assist the Ukrainian Army in combating Russia, reached out to my office after losing contact with her son. According to his family, they have not heard from Drueke in several days,” she said in a statement.
She said her office has been in contact with the State Department, the FBI and other members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation.
Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt said his office is helping in the search for Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity, Alabama, after his family reached out to the congressman’s office this week.
“According to Huynh’s family, they have not been in contact with him since June 8, 2022, when he was in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine,” he said in a statement.
Aderholt said his office has reached out to the State Department and FBI to “get any information possible.”
Huynh, a former Marine, spoke to Huntsville, Alabama, ABC affiliate WAAY in April about his decision to help defend Ukraine.
“I’ve made peace with the decision. I know there’s a potential of me dying. I’m willing to give my life for what I believe is right,” he told the station.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he “can’t confirm the reports” of two Americans captured in Ukraine.
“We’ll do the best we can to monitor this and see what we can learn about it,” he said. “Obviously, if it’s true, we’ll do everything we can to get them safely back home.”
The State Department also is aware of the “unconfirmed” reports, a spokesperson said.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities,” the spokesperson said. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
The State Department has warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Ukraine during the war and that Russian security officials could be “singling out” U.S. citizens.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Stein, Ben Gittleson and Shannon Crawford
Jun 15, 4:20 pm
100 Ukrainian military deaths per day in line with US estimates: Milley
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said Ukrainian officials’ estimate of 100 Ukrainian military deaths per day is “in the ballpark” with U.S. estimates.
Milley would not disclose exactly how many more artillery pieces the Russians have than the Ukrainians, saying that was classified, but he confirmed that they do outnumber the Ukrainians.
Milley noted that while the Russians are using large numbers of artillery to target civilian and urban areas, Ukrainians are using “much better artillery techniques” on the battlefield. Milley explained how the mortars, howitzers and HIMARS systems will give the Ukrainians a more effective combined layered system to strike at the Russians from short, medium and long distances.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jun 15, 4:07 pm
More Ukraine aid to come on ‘fairly routine basis’: Kirby
John Kirby, joining Wednesday’s White House press briefing in his new role as National Security Council coordinator, said the $1 billion in military aid announced Wednesday is the first to come from the $40 billion aid package that was passed by Congress in May.
Looking ahead, Kirby said, “you will see additional packages” coming on a “fairly routine basis.”
“We want to meter it out so that we’re in lockstep with the Ukrainians and where they are on the battlefield and what they need in real time,” he said.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Jun 15, 1:08 pm
Biden announces additional $1B in military, $225M in humanitarian assistance
President Joe Biden has announced $1 billion more in U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
Biden said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Wednesday morning and that the aid will include “additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems.”
Biden also announced $225 million in humanitarian assistance “to help people inside Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items,” according to a statement.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Jun 15, 6:49 am
Biden promises to free blocked Ukrainian grain
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States is working with European allies to remove blocked Ukrainian grain by rail.
Speaking at the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention, Biden said 20 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukraine and need to be exported to reduce global food prices.
As the grain cannot be exported via the Black Sea due to the constant threat of Russian attacks and explosions, the U.S. and its partners are planning to build granaries on the Ukrainian border, Biden said.
The railways present an alternative to Ukrainian coastal waters of the Azov and Black seas that are in need of demining. The area of their contamination with explosives can be up to 19,000 square kilometers, Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Alyona Matveeva said on Tuesday.
The full demining of Ukraine can take from five to 10 years with the help of international experts, Matveeva added. To date, about 80% of explosive devices have been removed and neutralized in the Kyiv region, she said.
Jun 15, 6:31 am
Russia turns to outdated missiles
As Russia’s stock of modern high-precision missiles depletes, its invading forces are turning to obsolete Soviet models to strike targets in Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“Recently, there has been a tendency for Russia to save high-precision, expensive missiles. And now the enemy is increasingly using Soviet types of missiles,” Ignat said.
Some of these missiles are extremely powerful, the spokesman added, and their destructive parts can weigh up to 900 kilograms.
“Their main drawback is that they do not always fly at their intended target and very often destroy civilian objects with human casualties,” Ignat said.
According to Ignat, Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile forces have shot down more than 500 enemy air targets since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. These include Russian cruise missiles, UAVs, planes and helicopters.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, weighed in on the question of Russian missiles on Tuesday when he said that Europe is partly to blame for financing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Addressing a climate conference in Vienna via a livestream, Schwarzenegger said the about 1,300 missiles Russia fired into Ukrainian cities during the first two months of the war cost 7.7 billion euros.
“Now that’s a lot. But during the same time, Europe sent to Russia 44 billion euros for fuel,” the former governor told attendees of the Austrian World Summit. “We have blood on our hands, because we are financing the war. We have to stop lying to ourselves.”
On the other end of the frontline, Ukraine is also grappling with a pressing lack of weapons. The Ukrainian forces received only 10% of the weapons “we said we needed,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told local media on Tuesday.
“Now matter how much effort Ukraine makes, we will not be able to win the war without the help of the West,” Malyar added.
The deputy minister said Ukrainian fighters can afford to spend only about 6,000 shells a day, while the Russians use about 10 times more. The limited number of available weapons and ammunition is crippling Ukraine’s ability to launch a counteroffensive at the front, military expert Oleh Zhdanov said, according to local outlets.
Speaking at an online press conference for Danish media on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his plea for Western weapons that he said are vital for the liberation of occupied territories.
The speed of de-occupation “depends on the supply of weapons to Ukraine, and any delays in this matter threaten stagnation on the front,” Zelenskyy said.
Jun 14, 1:20 pm
Russian, Belarusian tennis players can compete at US Open under neutral flag
Russian and Belarusian tennis players, who are banned from Wimbledon, will be allowed to compete in this year’s U.S. Open, but only under a neutral flag, the U.S. Tennis Association said.
The USTA said it “previously condemned, and continues to condemn, the unprovoked and unjust invasion of Ukraine by Russia.”
Russian player Daniil Medvedev, the current No. 1 player in the world, won last year’s U.S. Open.
Jun 14, 6:37 am
Ukraine pleads for heavy weapons ahead of NATO meeting
The only way to end the war in Ukraine, either on the battlefield or behind the negotiation table, is a parity of weapons, Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said on Monday.
“Being straightforward — to end the war we need heavy weapons parity,” Podoliak said on Twitter.
According to the presidential adviser, Ukraine’s military wish list includes 1,000 howitzers, 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones.
“Negotiations are possible from a strong position, which requires parity of weapons,” Podoliak said. “There is simply no other way.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed Podoliak’s plea for weapons on Monday in a tweet that recounted Ukraine’s recent military triumphs achieved with limited resources.
“Ukraine has proven it can punch well above its weight and win important battles against all odds,” Kuleba said, pointing at victories in the battles of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv. “Imagine what Ukraine can do with sufficient tools,” the Foreign Minister added. Kuleba urged Ukraine’s partners “to set a clear goal of Ukrainian victory and speed up deliveries of heavy weapons.”
Podoliak said a meeting of NATO defense ministers will be held in Brussels on June 15.
“We are waiting for a decision” on the weapons, Podoliak said.
The group, known as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, will convene a meeting for the third time in a bid “to ensure that we’re providing Ukraine what Ukraine needs right now,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said at a press briefing in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.
Austin, who will be in attendance in Brussels, said that Ukraine needs support “in order to defend against Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked assault.” The secretary of Defense noted that looking ahead, Ukraine will require help “to build and sustain robust defenses so that it will be able to defend itself in the coming months and years.”
In his Monday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to tell people in the occupied territories “that the Ukrainian army will definitely come.”
“Tell them about Ukraine. Tell them the truth. Say that there will be liberation,” the president said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials played down threats of possible food shortages in the country due to the ongoing conflict. While Ukraine lost 25% of its sown area as a result of Russia’ full-scale invasion, the country’s food security was “in no way” threatened, Taras Vysotsky, the first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy, said at a press briefing for Ukrainian media on Monday.
“Despite the loss of 25% of sown areas, the structure of crops this year as a whole is more than sufficient to ensure consumption, which in turn also decreased due to mass displacement and external migration,” Vysotsky said.
The deputy minister added that Ukraine has “already imported about 70% of essential fertilizers, 60% of plant protection products and about a third of the required amount of fuel” before the war erupted in late February. According to Vysotsky, current sowing volumes are enough to ensure domestic consumption and even exports.
Jun 13, 9:26 am
Bodies of tortured men exhumed in Bucha
Another mass grave has been dug up in Bucha, uncovering the bodies of seven men who authorities believe were tortured and killed during the bloody occupation of the city in March.
Police told ABC News their hands were tied with ropes behind their backs and they were shot in the knees and head.
“They were killed in a cruel way,” police spokesperson Iryna Pryanyshnykova said. “These were civilian victims. The people here were killed by Russian soldiers and later they were just put into a grave to try to hide this war crime.”
It’s not clear why the men were killed, Pryanyshnykova said.
She said experts will analyze DNA to identify the victims.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jun 13, 6:24 am
Zelenskyy: Ukraine fighting for ‘every meter’ of Severodonetsk
Russian forces have pushed the Armed Forces of Ukraine out of the center of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
“They are pressing in Severodonetsk, where very fierce fighting is going on — literally for every meter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Sunday evening.
Russian forces now control about 70% of the city, as intense shelling makes mass evacuation and the transportation of goods impossible, Sergiy Haidai, another Ukrainian official, said.
Around 500 people, including 40 children, are sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant, Haidai said.
While the Ukrainians try to organize their evacuation, authorities of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic have given an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in the city.
“They have two options: either follow the example of their colleagues and give up, or die. They have no other option,” said Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People’s Militia Department of the DPR.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd and Tanya Stukalova
Jun 12, 5:33 pm
Zelenskyy sends virtual message to Sean Penn’s CORE benefit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the annual Hollywood fundraiser for actor Sean Penn’s nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) Saturday night with a powerful video message urging people to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“All of you have heard about the horrors that Ukraine is going through. Tens of thousands of explosions and shots, hundreds of thousands wounded and killed, millions who have lost their homes,” Zelenskyy said in his virtual speech. “All of this is not a logline for a horror film. All of this is our reality.”
Zelenskyy’s video message included footage showing missiles striking homes and apartment complexes in Ukraine, civilians dead in the streets of Ukrainian cities and children playing in parks amid the backdrop of bombed buildings.
Among those attending the CORE fundraiser, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angles, were Penn and CORE co-founder Ann Lee, former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, singer John Legend, and actors Patrick Stewart and Sharon Stone.
The group said the event raised more than $2.5 million for CORE’s disaster relief and preparedness work, including its urgent humanitarian response in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy noted that Penn traveled to Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion and witnessed the atrocities firsthand. He thanked Penn and his group for the continued support for Ukraine.
“We have been resisting it for 107 days in a row,” Zelenskyy said of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. “We can stop it together. Support Ukraine, because Ukraine is fighting for the whole world, for democracy, for freedom, for life.”
Jun 12, 4:17 pm
Russia’s firepower superiority 10 times that of Ukraine’s in Luhansk: Military chief
Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said Sunday that he told his American counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russian firepower superiority in the Luhansk region is far greater than that of Ukrainian forces.
Zaluzhny said that during a briefing he told Milley that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the north of the Luhansk region, where they are using artillery “en masse” and their firepower superiority is 10 times that of Ukraine’s.
“Despite everything, we keep holding our positions,” Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny also said Russia has deployed up to seven battalion tactical groups in Severdonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region. He said Russian shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has resumed.
Russian forces destroyed a second bridge leading into Severodonetsk and are now targeting a third bridge in an effort to completely cut off the city, Luhansk region Gov. Sergiy Haidai said Sunday. Ukraine’s army still controls around one third of the city, he said.
Haidai said that Ukrainian forces are still holding onto the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where around 500 civilians are taking shelter.
If Severodonetsk falls, Lysychansk will be the only city in the Luhansk region that remains under Ukraine’s control.
Zaluzhny said that as of Sunday, the front line of the war stretched 1,522 miles and that active combat was taking place on at least 686 miles of the front line.
Zaluzhny said that during his briefing with Milley, he reiterated Ukraine’s urgent request for more 155 mm caliber artillery systems.
Jun 12, 12:48 pm
Russian cruise missile attack confirmed in western Ukraine
Russia claims a cruise missile strike destroyed a large warehouse in western Ukraine storing weapons supplied to the Ukrainians by the United States and European allies.
While police in the Ternopil region of Ukraine, where at least one cruise missile hit, told ABC News that no weapons were destroyed, the region’s governor said part of a military facility was damaged.
Ternopil’s governor Volodymyr Trush posted a video showing widespread damage from what he said were four Russian missiles launched Saturday from the Black Sea. Trush said 22 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old child, in the missile strikes.
In addition to the military facility, Trush said four five-story residential apartment buildings were damaged. One of the missiles hit a gas pipeline, he said.
Russia’s defense ministry said Kalibr high presicion sea-based, long-range missiles struck near Chortkiv in the Ternopil province and destroyed a large warehouse full of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied by the United States and European countries.
Ryan Reynolds chose a cute way to wish his buddy Hugh Jackman well following news The Music Man lead had contracted COVID-19 a second time.
The Deadpool star posted to Instagram a montage of the pair together — and he didn’t shy away from using clips of their many internet jabs at each other to boot.
“Feel better,” Ryan captioned the clip.
For his part, Jackman is keeping busy during his downtime.
On Instagram, he posted an outtake of a video of him and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, dressed to the nines. Unlike his sharp tux and tails, Jackman’s delivery was anything but smooth as he flubs his line to the camera and blows a raspberry.
“Things to do when you have covid. Again,” he posted. “Clean out your iPhone photos and videos.”
As reported, the Tony winner will be missing his Music Man performances while he recovers and will return to Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre on Wednesday, June 22.
(WASHINGTON) — The Jan. 6 committee is holding its third public hearing of the month Thursday with the focus on the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The committee says it will detail efforts from then-President Donald Trump and his allies before and on Jan. 6 to get Pence to reject electoral votes Congress was certifying — as part of what it says was a plot to overturn the presidential election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Jun 16, 10:29 am
Thursday to focus on Trump pressuring Pence
The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol will convene its third public hearing of the month at 1 p.m. with members set to focus on how former President Donald Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence with “relentless effort” to intervene to help overturn the 2020 election.
“President Trump had no factual basis for what he was doing and he had been told it was illegal,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney said in a video teasing Thursday’s hearing. “Despite this, President Trump plotted with a lawyer named John Eastman and others to overturn the outcome of the election on Jan. 6.”
A key component of evidence is never-before-seen photos of Pence and his family taken by an official White House photographer on Jan. 6 itself. In one — obtained by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl ahead of the hearing — second lady Karen Pence is seen hurriedly closing the curtains of the vice president’s ceremonial office at the Capitol, apparently fearful the mob outside could see where they were.
Last week, at the prime-time kickoff to this round of hearings, Cheney teased testimony to come around Trump’s awareness of rioters’ “hang Mike Pence” chants. Quoting from witness testimony, Cheney said Trump suggested as the attack was underway: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.”
Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson has filed for divorce from Christina Evangeline, two months after reports they had separated, a source close to the couple tells Us Weekly.
Thompson, 43, filed for divorce from the 33-year-old model last month, the insider tells the entertainment magazine.
Kenan and Christina, who tied the knot in 2011, have agreed to split custody of their two daughters — Georgia, 7, and Gianna, 4 — according to the source, who adds the two are “still close as co-parents and they plan on spending holidays together and celebrate their daughters’ birthdays as a family.”
Thompson and Evangeline separated back in November 2020, before “officially” filing for divorce in May, a source told Us back in April. “They remain close as co-parents and have remained very close throughout the separation,” the insider continued, revealing that the estranged couple had separated 18 months earlier. “[They] are completely amicable. There’s nothing juicy about why they split.”
The source said the split was a “mutual decision” between the two, explaining that Kenan and Christina “really just grew apart and wanted different things.”
The insider insisted Kenan’s “very active in his daughters’ lives. He’s an amazing father, especially given his schedule and obligations.”
“The kids spend majority of the time with their mom but he always makes sure to see them,” the source continued.
Ozzy Osbourne has confirmed he’s back home after undergoing surgery earlier this week.
In a statement posted to his Twitter, the metal legend writes, “I am now home from the hospital recuperating comfortably.”
“I am definitely feeling the love and support from all my fans and send everyone a big thank you for their thoughts, prayers and well wishes during my recovery,” he adds.
Ozzy’s statement comes after Page Six reported that he’d been discharged from the hospital on Tuesday alongside photos of him leaving the Los Angeles facility in a wheelchair. The tabloid also said that Ozzy was able to get up from the wheelchair and enter his car “under his own power with guidance from a hospital attendant.”
The surgery, which Ozzy’s wife Sharon described as a “major operation,” took place on Monday. During an episode of her U.K. talk show The Talk last week, Sharon said that the procedure was “really gonna determine the rest of [Ozzy’s] life.”
In a statement posted on Tuesday, Sharon said Ozzy was “doing well” and “on the road to recovery.”
Ozzy, 73, told Classic Rock magazine in an interview published in May that he was “waiting on some more surgery” on his neck. Ozzy suffered a fall in 2019, which aggravated injuries he sustained in a 2003 ATV accident.
The first wave of performers heading to this year’s BET Awards has been announced, and among the star-studded list are Latto, Roddy Ricch, Lizzo, Chance the Rapper and Babyface.
Billboardreports this year’s ceremony will take place on June 26 in Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. Also heading to the BET Awards are Jack Harlow, Fireboy DML, Maverick City Music, Ella Mai, Joey Bada$$, Chlöe, Doechii, Givēon, Muni Long and Kirk Franklin.
Roddy is pulling a hat trick this year, marking his third time in a row performing at the ceremony, and Franklin is taking the stage for a second consecutive time. It’s expected he’ll team with Maverick City Music for his performance.
Chlöe is currently the only announced performer who is up for three or more awards. A second round of performers is expected to be announced in the coming days.
The BET Awards 2022 air at 8 p.m. ET on the BET channel. Doja Cat leads the pack of musical nominees with six nods, while Drake and Ari Lennox are tied in second with four nominations. Taraji P. Henson will return as host for a second year, and Sean “Diddy” Combs will collect the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
It’s wedding season, and for the country stars who are already happily married, that means it’s wedding anniversary season.
While fame and fortune can be notoriously tough on a marriage, there are some contemporary country hitmakers who’ve been partnered up with their spouses for a surprisingly long time. For example, Walker Hayes and his wife, Laney, celebrated their 18th anniversary over the weekend, while Josh Turner and his wife, Jennifer — who also co-stars in his “Your Man” music video — celebrated year 19 this week.
But to figure out which country stars have the longest track record for wedded bliss, you’ve got to look to a slightly older generation. George Strait is no slouch: He celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Norma,last December.
Loretta Lynn and her husband, Doolittle,just might hold the record: They tied the knot in January 1948 when Loretta was just a teenager, meaning that they would be married for over seven decades today. But Doolittle died in 1996, months after their 48th wedding anniversary.
One of the country stars whose marriage is still going strong is Dolly Parton: She and her husband, Carl Dean,tied the knot on May 30, 1966, meaning they just celebrated their 56th anniversary. Carl famously likes to stay out of the spotlight, but he’s the muse for many of Dolly’s songs, and their long marriage is proof positive that opposite personalities can make for a relationship that stands the test of time.
