Two Bruno Mars concerts at MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas — part of Bruno’s ongoing residency in Sin City — have been called off for this Friday and Saturday due to “unforeseen circumstances,” reports theLas Vegas Review-Journal.
No reason was given for the scrapped shows; when the Review-Journal asked if the reason was COVID-related, a hotel spokesperson declined to give the paper any additional information.
Those dates have been rescheduled to August 27-28. Previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates, or fans can receive refunds through August 13. However, fans who purchased the Luxury VIP Experience “A Trip to Mars” must call to make other arrangements. Those packages, which include premium seats, hotel accommodations, special merchandise, food and beverage credits and other amenities, ranged in price from $2500 to $6529 — and they were all sold out.
Bruno has two shows scheduled for July 30-31 as well, but a source tells the paper that they’re now “up in the air.”
(NEW YORK) — The chief of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee addressed concerns of rising COVID-19 cases during a press conference on Tuesday and did not rule out the possibility of a last-minute cancellation of the games.
“We can’t predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases. I think that is all I can say at this juncture,” said Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto, in a response translated from Japanese.
Muto said the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee will continue to monitor cases and make decisions based on the current situation at hand.
“We agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again. At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises,” Muto said.
As of Tuesday, Tokyo Olympic organizers said 71 people accredited to the games, including athletes in the Olympic Village, have tested positive for the virus just days ahead of the opening ceremonies set for Friday.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said last week there is “zero” risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese citizens or other residents of the village, according to the Associated Press.
Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto recognized the public’s general concern over hosting the games during the Tuesday press conference.
“The problems [with the Olympics] have given rise to many people feeling discontent and anxiety about the Tokyo Games,” Hashimoto said in Japanese.
Hashimoto said “safety is paramount” and promised to give the general public of Japan a “sense of security” throughout the games.
At the beginning of the month, Japan announced a state of emergency due to large outbreaks in the greater Tokyo area, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Tuesday, the country reported 2,477 new cases.
One of the highlights of Marvel Studios’ most recent release, Black Widow, was David Harbour‘s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian. The Stranger Things veteran steals scenes as the former Soviet Union’s now-past his prime answer to Captain America, and the actor can’t get enough of the character.
In fact, Harbour said at a recent press conference that he’d love to see the two super soldiers duke it out in a throwback project set years ago.
“I do think that the classic Cold War thing is a really fun and funny dynamic between these two guys and the fact that they basically came up as nuclear warheads, like in an arms race together.” Harbour added, “I think it’s just a really great concept that could be explored further.”
Alexei isn’t only full of super soldier serum and vodka — he’s pretty full of himself, as well, which makes him less than reliable about his glory days as Mother Russia’s great protector. This tickled the man playing him. “[H]e has all these stories about his life and about what went on. And [it’s] questionable whether or not they’re real,” Harbour says. “And I like the explanation of like, what is real and what isn’t real, and how hard he had to construct these realities for himself and how durable those realities are.”
Black Widow is now in theaters and streaming via Disney+ Premiere Access.
(NEW YORK) — A government agency is urging vacation rental companies to require owners to disable at-home elevators or make safety modifications following the death of a child in North Carolina earlier this month.
In a letter to Airbnb, Vrbo and others, The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said residential elevators “can pose a deadly but unforeseen hazard to children.”
“Small children can be crushed to death in a deadly gap that may exist between the doors,” the letter said.
CPSC said if the gap between the exterior door and inner door is too deep, a child can become entrapped between the two, resulting in serious injury and even death.
“Children, some as young as two and as old as 12, have been crushed to death in this gap, suffering multiple skull fractures, fractured vertebrae and traumatic asphyxia,” the letter said. “Other children have suffered horrific and lifelong injuries.”
The letter comes after a 7-year-old Ohio boy was killed in an elevator accident at a rental home in the Outer Banks.
CPSC said the gaps can be made safer by placing space guards on the exterior doors or by using electronic monitoring devices that deactivate elevators when a child is detected in the gap.
“These fixes are relatively inexpensive and can save lives,” the letter said.
The agency said companies should notify rentals about the potential hazard as well as require all hosts to lock outer access doors or disable at-home elevators until the hazardous gaps are remedied.
CPSC said the companies should also require elevator inspections at any listed homes in the future.
“By working together, we can stop these agonizing deaths and prevent further harm to children and families,” the letter said.
Neither Airbnb nor Vrbo immediately responded to request for comment.
Summer Walker took to Instagram Monday to share a preview of new music from her forthcoming album.
“Comment [with a broken-heart emoji] if you ready to smoke, cry & sing lol,” Walker captioned a video of herself playing a track in the studio.
Fans in the comments shared dozens of broken-heart emojis and commentary about the song, in which Walker sings about being hurt from a relationship that didn’t work.
“I’m freaking ready,” wrote one fan, while another said, “I’m ready, girl, even though I’m still rocking hard with the last album. I’m ready. Please keep the energy.”
Meanwhile, others are hoping the singer plans to follow up her 2019 debut album, Over It, and her 2020 EP,Life On Earth, with her sophomore album.
“So basically, we getting an album? Is that what you, saying,” asked one fan, while another said, “Release the album. We want the damn album.”
Many believe the song touches on Walker’s relationship with her daughter’s father, London On Da Track. Despite welcoming their daughter in late March, the two recently called it quits on their relationship.
“That music gone hit with or without a [man]. I love it,” one fan wrote, while another said, “Let me go ahead and pre-order my tears!”
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden welcomed the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House Tuesday, praising the team for helping the country get through the pandemic with some sense of normalcy, and trading some zingers with MVP quarterback Tom Brady.
As the event got underway, Biden gave a special shoutout to Chris Godwin, a wide receiver on the team and Delaware native.
“You know, born in Pennsylvania, raised in Delaware right come from, that’s a heckuva combination man,” Biden said.
He then took good-natured aim at Brady and coach Bruce Arians.
“You know, a lot has been made about the fact that we have the oldest coach ever to win a Super Bowl and the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl. Well, I’ll tell you right now, you won’t hear any jokes about that from me. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop. That’s how I look at it,” Biden, who at 78 is the nation’s oldest serving president, joked.
He thanked the players for giving Americans something to positive to root for amid hard times.
“And I hope you all know just how important it was for, after such a tough year for the nation. In the middle of a long, dark winter, every Sunday, people were able to sit down and watch you play. You created memories that helped folks make it through and believe that we could get back to normal again. And you did it as a team, trailblazer, including the first team with two women, full-time coaching positions,” Biden said.
He praised the team for helping with the vaccination effort at their Florida stadium, but also called out players who haven’t yet gotten their shot.
“Your stadium also became a lifeline for families in Tampa Bay this spring, administering nearly 200,000 vaccine shots. And y’all who don’t have a shot, man, get one, OK?” Biden said, drawing an “amen” from someone on stage.
Brady, who walked in to the event with Biden amid some questions about whether he would show up, then cracked some jokes of his own, with the president standing nearby.
“It didn’t look right there at one point. We were seven and five struggling a little bit, as the president alluded to, but we found our rhythm, we got on a roll, not a lot of people, you know, think that we could have won. And in fact, I think, about 40% of the people still don’t think we won,” said Brady, who has avoided questions about whether he ever supported Donald Trump.
“I understand that,” Biden said, smiling.
Brady, who noted he was a bit older than many of his teammates, also had a zinger about the former president’s preferred nickname for Biden.
“We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me ‘Sleepy Tom.’ Why would they do that to me?” Brady said, as the crowd laughed.
A new compilation from the NOW That’s What I Call Music! folks focusing specifically on classic songs from the 1980s will be released on August 6.
NOW That’s What I Call a Decade 1980s is an 18-track collection that will be available everywhere on CD and digital formats, and as a vinyl LP sold exclusively via Walmart.com and at Walmart stores.
The album features classic rock hits including Foreigner‘s “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Journey‘s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” John Mellencamp‘s “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60’s Rock),” The Clash‘s “Rock the Casbah,” and Billy Idol‘s “Rebel Yell.”
The compilation also features hits from George Michael, Eurythmics, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Survivor, Rick Springfield, Wang Chung, A-ha, INXS, The Bangles, Hall & Oates and Toto.
NOW That’s What I Call a Decade 1980s can be pre-ordered now.
Here’s the complete track list:
George Michael — “Monkey” (7″ Edit Remastered)
Eurythmics — “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (Remastered)
Simple Minds — “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (12″ Version)
John Mellencamp — “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60’s Rock)”
The Clash — “Rock the Casbah” (Bob Clearmountain Mix)
Duran Duran — “Rio”
Tears for Fears — “Shout”
Survivor — “Eye of the Tiger”
Rick Springfield — “Jessie’s Girl”
Wang Chung — “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”
A-ha — “Take On Me”
Billy Idol — “Rebel Yell”
INXS — “Need You Tonight”
The Bangles — “Walk Like an Egyptian”
Daryl Hall & John Oates — “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”
Toto — “Africa”
Foreigner — “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Journey — “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”
A new compilation from the NOW That’s What I Call Music! folks focusing specifically on classic songs from the 1980s will be released on August 6.
NOW That’s What I Call a Decade 1980s is an 18-track collection that will be available everywhere on CD and digital formats, and as a vinyl LP sold exclusively via Walmart.com and at Walmart stores.
The album features classic rock hits including Journey‘s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” Daryl Hall & John Oates‘ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” John Mellencamp‘s “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60’s Rock),” Foreigner‘s “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Billy Idol‘s “Rebel Yell” and Toto‘s “Africa.”
The compilation also features hits from Tears for Fears, George Michael, Eurythmics, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Survivor, Rick Springfield, Wang Chung, A-ha, INXS, The Clash and The Bangles.
NOW That’s What I Call a Decade 1980s can be pre-ordered now.
Here’s the complete track list:
George Michael — “Monkey” (7″ Edit Remastered)
Eurythmics — “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (Remastered)
Simple Minds — “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (12″ Version)
John Mellencamp — “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60’s Rock)”
The Clash — “Rock the Casbah” (Bob Clearmountain Mix)
Duran Duran — “Rio”
Tears for Fears — “Shout”
Survivor — “Eye of the Tiger”
Rick Springfield — “Jessie’s Girl”
Wang Chung — “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”
A-ha — “Take On Me”
Billy Idol — “Rebel Yell”
INXS — “Need You Tonight”
The Bangles — “Walk Like an Egyptian”
Daryl Hall & John Oates — “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”
Toto — “Africa”
Foreigner — “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Journey — “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. intelligence community has launched a new panel of experts that brings together senior officers and outside medical and scientific experts to investigate the “anomalous health incidents” affecting dozens of U.S. personnel around the world, an intelligence official told ABC News.
The U.S. government still has not reached a conclusion into the cause of the incidents, sometimes known as “Havana syndrome” after the first cluster of cases was reported at the U.S. embassy in Cuba.
But more reported cases are now being investigated at the embassy in Austria’s capital, Vienna, according to the State Department, whose spokesperson said Monday that it is “vigorously investigating reports of possible unexplained health incidents” among U.S. personnel there.
Austria is just the latest country where incidents have now been reported. The National Security Council is overseeing a government-wide review “to ascertain whether there may be previously unreported incidents that fit a broader pattern,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, and “whether they constitute an attack of some kind by a foreign actor.”
Beyond that review, the intelligence community also established the new panel of experts earlier this month — bringing together senior officers from the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and outside scientific and medical experts — to explore the multiple hypotheses into what is causing the “health incidents,” an intelligence official told ABC News.
It’s the latest federal government review into an issue that has vexed officials since 2016 when the first cases were reported in Cuba, underscoring how little U.S. officials still know about it.
The new panel will build off of the findings of a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine last December, according to the official, which concluded that “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases, especially in individuals with the distinct early symptoms.”
Dozens of U.S. officials have been diagnosed with injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, after reporting strange experiences like high-pitched sounds or feelings of pressure or vibration, or debilitating symptoms including headaches, nausea, cognitive deficits, and trouble with seeing, hearing, or balancing.
Before Austria, the U.S. government had acknowledged, in public or in declassified documents, reported cases in Cuba, China, Uzbekistan, Russia, and the United States, although the White House has said “the vast majority” of cases have been reported overseas.
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee warned in May that the “pattern of attacking our fellow citizens serving our government appears to be increasing.”
“In coordination with our interagency partners, we are vigorously investigating reports of possible unexplained health incidents among the U.S. embassy community there” in Vienna, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.
The agency has declined to provide more details, including the number of affected personnel. But according to The New Yorker magazine, which first reported on the Vienna cluster, it totals around two dozen U.S. diplomats, intelligence officers and other government officials — now second only to Havana.
A CIA spokesperson told ABC News that director Bill Burns “is personally engaged with personnel affected by anomalous health incidents and is highly committed to their care and to determining the cause of these incidents” but declined to provide more details.
Both the CIA and the State Department have elevated their internal task forces investigating reported incidents among their personnel, while the State Department has its own team of medical experts that responds to reported incidents around the world.
Matt Damon reunites with his childhood pal and fellow Good Will Hunting Oscar winner Ben Affleck in the upcoming medieval drama The Last Duel.
The pair starred in, produced, and co-wrote the 20th Century Studios’ movie with Academy Award nominee Nicole Holofcener for legendary Oscar winning filmmaker Ridley Scott.
In the film, which is based on real events, Damon plays a respected warrior called Jean de Carrouges, who faces off against Adam Driver‘s Jacques Le Gris, who is accused of assaulting de Carrouges’ wife.
“[S]he refuses to stay silent,” the studio says of Emmy winner Jodie Comer‘s Marguerite. Her publicly accusing her attacker is, “an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy,” and “the ensuing trial by combat, a grueling duel to the death, places the fate of all three in God’s hands.”
The film is based on Eric Jager‘s book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France.
Scott, who previously worked with Damon on The Martian, called it an “added bonus” to work with him and Affleck as screenwriters. Scott predicted Comer’s performance as Marguerite “will make her one of the great actresses of her generation.”
The Last Duel will be released nationwide on October 15.
20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
