The second season of the Amazon Originals podcast Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums debuted today with an episode focusing on The Beatles‘ final studio effort, Let It Be.
The Let It Be episode features new interviews with surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who share recollections about the making of the album, including the band’s historic final concert on the roof of Apple headquarters in London.
They also address the common perception that the album sessions were fraught with conflicts between the band members that foreshadowed The Beatles’ 1970 breakup.
Also appearing in the podcast are Giles Martin, late Beatles producer George Martin‘s son; Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield; and filmmaker Peter Jackson, director of Get Back: The Beatles, the upcoming Disney+ docuseries focusing on the Let It Be sessions.
In a preview clip from the podcast, McCartney recalls how his song “Two of Us” was inspired by a car ride he took with his future first wife Linda.
“I’ve got a very vivid memory of driving out of London in my Aston Martin with Linda, just the two of us,” Paul says in the segment. “And she was always keen on getting lost, whereas most of us guys, you know, driving, particularly driving a loved one…a new girlfriend in my case, you’re nervous about getting lost…But she would always just say, ‘Yeah, well, so let’s get lost.'”
McCartney continues, “[W]e came to a place where there’s a little parking spot in a field. And then there was a woods. I had my guitar…and just started writing that song. You know, it came very easily, ’cause it was commenting on what we were doing.”
The Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast is available exclusively at Amazon Music and Wondery+.
(WASHINGTON) — White House officials insisted Tuesday that President Joe Biden does not consider China’s President Xi Jinping a “friend” after Xi, speaking through an interpreter in a virtual meeting with Biden Monday night, referred to his American counterpart as “my old friend.”
“Thank you,” Biden responded at the time.
Asked what Xi was getting at — and if Xi was trying to undermine the U.S. — White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates didn’t answer directly, but reiterated that Biden doesn’t see Xi as an “old friend.”
“I’m not going to speak for President Xi,” Bates told a reporter on Air Force One as Biden headed to New Hampshire.
“But like you just mentioned,” Bates continued, “you’ve heard explicitly from the president himself, that he has a longstanding relationship with President Xi. They’ve spent a great deal of time together. They are able to have candid discussions, be direct with each other, which helps them be productive. But he does not consider President Xi an old friend.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said the same ahead of the leaders’ meeting when asked how Biden views the relationship.
“He still does not consider him an ‘old friend,’ so that remains consistent,” she said.
“President Xi is somebody he has spent time with, he’s had face-to-face conversations with. And because of that, the president feels that he’s able to have candid discussions with President Xi,” she added.
Biden on Tuesday in New Hampshire called it a “good meeting” with “a lot to follow up on.”
“We set up four groups, and we’re gonna get our folks together on a whole range of issues. I’ll have more to report for you in the next two weeks,” he told reporters.
Biden has often spoken of his long-term relationship with Xi and the time they spent together in person when they were both served as vice presidents.
But this June, Biden made clear he didn’t think of Xi as an “old friend,” saying in response to a question at a news conference in Geneva: “Let’s get something straight. We know each other well; we’re not old friends. It’s just pure business.”
Experts have tried to interpret Xi’s use of the phrase — whether it was genuine goodwill or meant to gain control of the narrative over Biden.
Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, told Reuters Xi’s use of the phrase is a show of genuine goodwill, while Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, told the news outlet “an ‘old friend’ doesn’t necessarily mean he is still a real friend.”
The two world leaders spoke for about three and a half hours via videoconference on Monday evening, amid continued tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade issues, climate change and human rights and in the wake of China recently upping its military pressure on Taiwan.
In a readout of the call, the Chinese government blamed the Tsai government for increased tensions between the U.S. and China for Taiwan’s attempt to “rely on the United States for independence” with Xi likening independence talk to “playing with fire” — in an apparent warning to both nations.
Xi said that Beijing is patient over reunification with Taiwan but independence is a red line they will take “decisive measures” on.
Biden, asked Tuesday in New Hampshire if the leaders made “progress on Taiwan,” said they had.
“Yes,” Biden answered. “We have made very clear, we support the Taiwan Act, and that’s it. It’s independent, makes its own decisions.”
The fact that he called Taiwan “independent” was certain to upset China and Biden spoke a second time to reporters traveling with him in New Hampshire to clarify his earlier comments.
“We’re not going to change our policy at all,” he said, referring to U.S. policy on Taiwan.
Asked about his remark about “independence,” he replied: “No, no, I said that they have to decide – they, Taiwan, not us,” adding, “And we are not encouraging independence. We’re encouraging that they do exactly what the Taiwan Act requires. That’s what we’re doing. Let them make up their mind. Period.”
Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement after the Biden-Xi meeting, saying it “insists that China has no say in the fate of Taiwan.”
While the meeting did not establish any specific new guardrails over Taiwan, the White House said the meeting itself was intended to allow the two leaders discussing ways to manage competition between one another and characterized the conversations as “respectful and straightforward and open.”
“The sense of US-China relationship having up and downs is the old model of how to think about the relationship between the US and China. We sort of think of this as a steady state,” a readout from the White House said. “The President has been quite clear that he will engage in that stiff competition.”
Xi, on the call, compared China and the U.S. to two giant ships sailing in the sea that must stabilize to move forward together and prevent a collision, according to a readout of the meeting from the Chinese government.
Psaki said Friday that Biden may have the chance to talk more about the phone call on Thursday when he hosts leaders of Canada and Mexico for a North American summit at the White House.
Monday’s meeting marked the third time the two leaders will have spoken since Biden took office.
(WASHINGTON) — The House plans to vote Wednesday on a resolution that both censures Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and removes him from his committee assignments, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News.
Gosar last week tweeted an edited Japanese anime cartoon showing him stabbing President Joe Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. He later deleted the tweet.
On Tuesday, sources confirmed to ABC News that Gosar apologized for the tweet behind closed doors during a GOP conference meeting. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said he had also spoken privately with Gosar about the tweet, but it appears he did not take further action against him.
Gosar said his video was an attempt by his staff to reach a younger audience and was not meant to condone violence. He has not publicly apologized.
“I have never in 40 years seen such a vile, hateful, outrageous, dangerous, and inciting to violence against a colleague, ever,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said to reporters during a press call Tuesday.
“The fact that they would not take some action themselves or make some comments themselves, which I have not seen, is a testament that perhaps they are rationalizing, as they rationalize other items of criminal behavior, this particular action,” Hoyer said of Republicans.
The resolution would boot Gosar from the Oversight and Reform Committee, which he serves on alongside Ocasio-Cortez. It would also remove him from the Committee on Natural Resources.
Late Monday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters it was up to McCarthy to rein in and reprimand his conference members — but Democrats, outraged over Gosar’s behavior, insisted on a floor vote.
On Tuesday, Pelosi deemed the resolution as an appropriate measure.
“Why go after [Gosar]? Because he made threats, suggestions about harming a member of Congress…We cannot have members joking about murdering each other as well as threatening the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.
A censure resolution requires a simple majority of lawmakers present and voting. If it is approved, Gosar could be forced to stand in the center of the House chamber as the resolution condemning his actions is read aloud.
On Tuesday evening, Gosar tweeted out a meme that says, “God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers.”
Twenty-three members of Congress have been censured for misconduct, according to a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report.
Former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., was the last member of Congress to be censured — in December 2010 — accused of nearly a dozen ethics violations.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
Just in time for Christmas, ABBA has announced their first-ever holiday single. The Swedish superstars will officially release the song “Little Things” on December 3.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday to share the track’s official artwork, the band teased, “Christmas is around the corner — Take a look at the cover art for ABBA’s Christmas song ‘Little Things’ being released December 3d on CD. Maybe something for the Christmas stocking?”
The gentle song centers on the joy parents feel waking up on Christmas morning and imagining what it’ll be like to watch their children open presents under the tree.
“Little Things” is featured on ABBA’s new album, Voyage, which is their first in 40 years. The track is available for pre-order now.
Yes, Quentin Tarantino directed and co-wrote Pulp Fiction, but no, he doesn’t own it — at least that’s according to the studio Miramax, which is suing him for those Pulp Fiction NFTs he recently announced.
Miramax was the one-time Oscar-magnet studio owned by Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob. Since Harvey Weinstein’s incarceration on sex charges, however, the studio has severed ties with the disgraced producer.
The Hollywood Reporter says the suit claims Tarantino didn’t get permission to launch his non-fungible tokens based on the hit Oscar-winning crime classic; as previously reported, the NFTs were to contain never-before-seen secrets and other goodies from the film.
The trade quotes Miramax’s suit as saying it was filed “in order to enforce, preserve, and protect its contractual and intellectual property rights relating to one of Miramax’s most iconic and valuable film properties.”
Furthermore, it states, “Left unchecked, Tarantino’s conduct could mislead others…into believing they have the rights to pursue similar deals or offerings, when in fact Miramax holds the rights needed to develop, market, and sell NFTs relating to its deep film library.”
However, Tarantino’s lawyers countered, saying the NFTs fall into special rights he had enumerated in his contract. The trade notes the situation might be legally murky, seeing as NFTs didn’t exist back when Tarantino made the 1994 film.
Ahead of the release of her new album 30, Adele sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for an in-depth chat. The full interview is out tomorrow, Wednesday, but you can watch the trailer now.
In the trailer, Adele and Zane are seen enjoying cocktails while she explains that one of her motivations for making 30 was to explain to her son Angelo why she made the decision to divorce his dad, knowing it would uproot his life.
Adele tells Zane that she played one of her new songs, “My Little Love,” for a friend whose mom died when he was 15. “He burst into tears,” she notes. “He was like, ‘I never thought about who my mum was, other than being my mum.'”
“And that, for me is why I was trying to do the album,” she continues. “…To show Angelo, like, his happiness is my happiness, but, ‘I also have a lot of other things going on that went on before we were born, that have been going on since you were born and will go on when you leave me, when you fly the nest.'”
“It was just…I could have really done with a record like that for me to really forgive my parents for a lot of the things,” she adds. Adele’s parents split when she was two.
The full interview debuts November 17 at 1 p.m. ET only on Apple Music.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 765,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-FDA may issue guidance on boosters for adults as soon as this week
-Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
-21 states see at least 10% jump in daily cases
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 16, 4:40 pm
DC to lift indoor mask mandate on Monday, masks still required in White House
Washington, D.C., will lift its indoor mask mandate on Monday.
“Instead of following a blanket mandate, residents, visitors, and workers will be advised to follow risk-based guidance from DC Health that accounts for current health metrics and a person’s vaccination status,” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said in a statement
Private businesses can still require masks.
Masks will still be required in places including public transportation, schools, child care facilities and nursing homes.
The White House will still require masks indoors, a White House spokesman said, because D.C. has a “substantial” level of community transmission, according to the CDC.
“The White House follows CDC guidance which recommends masking in areas of high or substantial transmission,” the spokesman, Kevin Munoz, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson, Ben Gittleson
Nov 16, 4:33 pm
American Academy of Pediatrics updates guidance for testing in kids
The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its testing guidance for children, aligning its recommendations with the CDC’s for fully vaccinated individuals.
AAP now recommends that fully vaccinated people, who were in close contact with someone with COVID-19, should be tested five to seven days after the exposure. It is recommended that individuals who are not fully vaccinated be tested immediately after they learn of exposure. If they test negative, they should be tested again five to seven days after their last exposure, or immediately after symptoms develop.
The CDC already recommended that vaccinated people get tested five to seven days after exposure.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Sony Salzman
Nov 16, 4:20 pm
FDA may issue guidance on boosters for adults as soon as this week
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet on Friday to discuss expanding booster eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine.
A government official confirmed to ABC News that the FDA may issue guidance on Pfizer and Moderna boosters for adults as soon as this week.
According to federal guidelines, boosters are currently available for: adults who received the Johnson & Johnson shot at least two months ago; Moderna/Pfizer recipients who are 65 and older and six months out from their second dose; and adult Moderna/Pfizer recipients who are six months out from the second dose and at higher risk because of a comorbidity, living or work environment.
But booster eligibility has already been expanded in some states this week, including New York and Arkansas.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss
Nov 16, 2:10 pm
Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
Pfizer has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its COVID-19 pill, the company announced in a press release Tuesday.
Both Merck and Pfizer are working on pills that appear very effective at keeping patients out of the hospital, according to the companies.
The Merck medication could be FDA authorized, recommended and available by the end of the year. The FDA’s advisory committee is slated to discuss the Merck application on Nov. 30.
Authorization for Pfizer is not expected until early next year.
(KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis.) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers made a plea for peace as protesters gathered outside the Kenosha County Courthouse while awaiting a verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial.
After hearing two weeks of testimony and closing arguments, the Kenosha County Circuit Court jury started deliberating Tuesday in the closely watched trial.
Amid the wait for a verdict, Evers called for people to assemble “safely and peacefully” in Kenosha.
“Kenoshans are strong, resilient, and have worked hard to heal and rebuild together over the past year,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Any efforts to sow division and hinder that healing are unwelcome in Kenosha and Wisconsin. Regardless of the outcome in this case, I urge peace in Kenosha and across our state.”
Ahead of the verdict, Evers had previously authorized about 500 National Guard troops to be on standby to support public safety efforts if needed.
Local authorities said they “recognize the anxiety” surrounding the trial, but are not issuing a curfew or road closures at this time.
“Our departments have worked together and made coordinated efforts over the last year to improve response capabilities to large scale events. We have also strengthened our existing relationships with State and Federal resources,” the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and Kenosha Police Department said in a joint statement Tuesday. “At this time, we have no reason to facilitate road closures, enact curfews or ask our communities to modify their daily routines.”
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
The charges stem from the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and a shooting that left 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz wounded during riots that erupted in Kenosha last year over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Those gathering outside the courthouse have included members of Blake’s family and Black Lives Matter activists, calling for justice for the three men shot, as well as Rittenhouse supporters — among them Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson and Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment investigation of former President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday he will run for New York attorney general.
His announcement came in a two-minute video in which he cast himself as a public servant with a deep commitment to civil rights and equal justice.
Goldman told ABC News he decided to run because “democracy is under attack” and hoped to use the “broad authority” of the New York Attorney General’s Office to fight back.
“It started with Trump and now continues with Trumpism,” Goldman said. “There is a swath of the country that no longer believes in free and fair elections.”
Goldman joins what is expected to be a crowded and diverse field now that the current occupant, Letitia James, has announced a run for governor. Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout and state Sen. Shelley Mayer have announced their candidacies. State Sen. Mike Gianaris, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz are also said to be considering runs.
If elected, Goldman pledged to use the power of the office to uphold voting rights, reproductive rights and to fight the effects of climate change. While there is not always a legal avenue for the state attorney general in those pursuits, Goldman told ABC News “there is a pulpit and perch of a national relevance” and “vast authority within the attorney general’s office in upholding one standard of law.”
Recent occupants of the office, including the incumbent James and her predecessors Andrew Cuomo and Elliot Spitzer, used it as a springboard. Goldman spoke of no such ambitions.
“I’m doing this because I want to be the people’s lawyer,” he said. His decision to run became firm after Cuomo resigned as governor and James was rumored to be exploring a run for the office.
Goldman said he would work to make voters understand his “lifelong calling” as a champion of civil rights and criminal justice reform
Goldman, 45, is married with five children and lives in Manhattan. He was a history major at Yale and earned a law degree at Stanford before two judicial clerkships and a 10-year stint at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted organized crime and securities fraud. Then there was the 2019 role that made him a familiar face on television: lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment.
“Impeachment is the highest profile and most well-known moment of my career in public service but it demonstrates I’m unafraid, aggressive and will fight for what I believe is right,” Goldman said.
(NEW YORK) — Amazon will pay a $500,000 settlement related to California’s “right-to-know” labor law after state regulators alleged the retail giant failed to adequately notify warehouse workers and local health agencies of COVID-19 case numbers.
“As our nation continues to battle the pandemic, it is absolutely critical that businesses do their part to protect workers now — and especially during this holiday season,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “That’s why California law requires employers to notify workers of potential workplace exposures and to report outbreaks to local health agencies.”
Bonta said the judgement, which remains subject to court approval, will help ensure Amazon meets the state’s requirement for workers.
“Bottom line: Californians have a right to know about potential exposures to the coronavirus to protect themselves, their families, and their communities,” Bonta added. “This judgment sends a clear message that businesses must comply with this important law. It helps protect us all.”
California’s so-called “right-to-know” law, AB 685, requires that employers notify workers of COVID-19 cases at their worksites, provide employees with information on coronavirus-related benefits and protections, share their disinfection and safety plans and report COVID-19 cases to local health agencies.
The settlement requires Amazon to update COVID-19 notification policies and take further specific actions to help workers, according to Bonta’s office. It also requires Amazon to notify its tens of thousands of warehouse workers in California of new COVID-19 cases in their workplace and pay $500,000 toward enforcement of California’s consumer protection laws.
Barbara Agrait, an Amazon spokesperson, told ABC News the settlement is solely related to a technicality specific to California state law involving employee coronavirus-related notifications. She said no problems were identified with Amazon’s protocols for notifying employees who might have been in close contact with an affected individual.
“We’re glad to have this resolved and to see that the AG found no substantive issues with the safety measures in our buildings,” Agrait said in a statement. “We’ve worked hard from the beginning of the pandemic to keep our employees safe and deliver for our customers — incurring more than $15 billion in costs to date — and we’ll keep doing that in months and years ahead.”
She added that Amazon remains focused on being transparent with local health authorities. Moreover, Agrait said Amazon supports worker vaccinations and the company has hosted more than 1,800 free on-site vaccination events at Amazon facilities across the U.S.
Last October, Amazon released an analysis of data on all 1,372,000 Amazon and Whole Foods Market frontline employees across the U.S. employed from March 1 to Sept. 19, 2020. The company said that 19,816 employees had tested positive or been presumed positive for COVID-19 during that time.
