Tyla is ready to take over the world: “There's no way to stop me”

ABC/John Argueta

Tyla‘s goal is to become Africa’s first pop star, and she’s well on her way with a Grammy for Best African Music Performance, her global smash “Water” and her self-titled debut album. Though she had to postpone her planned tour due to an injury, she still has plans for world domination.

In addition to music, Tyla tells Billboard that she’d like to branch out into fashion, beauty and acting. “People are going to see me everywhere,” she says. “So if you don’t like me, I’m sorry.”

Even her injury isn’t going stop her from bringing her music to fans. “I’m really confident in what I’ve created. Now’s a time where I can showcase a performance style where I’m not really dancing as much,” she tells Billboard. “Maybe I strip back a little bit more and I’m just serving vocals.”

“But there’s no way to stop me,” she continues. “I’m always going to find a way.”

Right now, you can see Tyla showing off her dance moves in the spring campaign for GAP.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Masked Speaker: Prank Queen

20 years ago an immature prank went so horribly wrong, that it made the news and today’s Masked Speaker has lived with that regret ever since. We’re the first people she’s ever told about it and you can hear it all in the podcast!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phone Tap: Motel Cheater

One of our listeners asked us to prank his wife who runs the front desk at the motel they own! She hates awkward confrontation so we’re gonna make our personal issues her business in a brand new Phone Tap!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Win Brooke’s Bucks (3/28/24)

Have a knack for trivia? Well, so does Brooke… Try to answer as many questions right as you can in 30 seconds. If you answer more correctly than Brooke, you win 100 bucks! Good luck!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TikTok Click Shock (03/28/24)

There’s a mystery going on in high school’s across the nation right now… but one teacher shared what she finally figured out… Plus, and 8 year-old from the Midwest id going viral for what he did at a reccent tractor show… You’ll see why when you hear the audio of it in a brand new TikTok Click Shock!

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Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger, Amy Schumer and more in trailer to Jerry Seinfeld's 'Unfrosted'

Netflix

Jerry Seinfeld‘s near-obsession with breakfast cereals on Seinfeld was channeled into his directorial debut, Unfrosted, the Netflix film about the birth of the Pop Tart.

The trailer for Unfrosted: The Pop Tart Story, also starring Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Christian Slater, Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger and Bill Burr, among many others, has just popped up online.

Set to David Bowie‘s “Rebel Rebel,” the snippet starts with a dramatic rocket launch countdown from the point of view of a Pop Tart heating up inside a toaster.

The visual syncs with what Jerry previously revealed about the 1963-set project: The story of the pastry’s invention “is told like The Right Stuff.”

“I believe we have split the atom of breakfast,” Jerry’s Kellogg executive Bob Cabana exclaims of the discovery.

There’s a space race of sorts going on between “sworn cereal rivals” Kellogg’s and Post “to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever.”

To help their chances of beating Amy Schumer‘s Post president, Cabana “stacks the deck with ringers,” including Chef Boyardee (Bobby Moynihan) and fitness icon Jack LaLanne (James Marsden).

The race “to reinvent breakfast” goes all the way up to the White House, with Burr playing JFK. “You have to win,” he says, asking for a progress update. McCarthy’s character unveils a “not to scale” sketch of the Pop Tart.

“What are you guys, five years old?” JFK blasts back. “Little John-John draws better than that, and I think there’s something wrong with him.”

Netflix calls the film “a wildly imaginative tale of ambition, betrayal and menacing milkmen — sweetened with artificial ingredients.”

The movie, which also stars Sebastian Maniscalco, Peter Dinklage and Cedric the Entertainer, pops up May 3.

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Prosecutors say Trump team trying to 'rewrite indictment' in bid to dismiss Georgia election case

ftwitty/Getty Images

(ATLANTA) — Attorneys for Donald Trump said that Trump’s comments “calling into question” the election of 2020 were “the height of political speech,” in arguments seeking the dismissal of the former president’s Georgia election interference case Thursday.

Trump’s lawyers were back in a Fulton County courtroom, where they argued that the election interference charges against Trump should be dismissed because his actions related to the 2020 election were “political speech advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ended the hearing without making any rulings on the motions.

“I don’t think there’s any question that statements, comment, speech, expressive conduct that deals with campaigning or elections has always been found to be at the zenith of protected speech,” Trump attorney Sadow argued, saying that even if Trump’s statements were false, they are protected as a valuable contribution to public discourse.

“The only reason it becomes unprotected in the State’s opinion is because they call it false,” Sadow said.

But prosecutor Donald Wakeford fired back, telling the court that the former president’s speech was part of a conspiracy to commit crimes.

“It’s not just that he lied over and over and over again,” Wakeford said. “It is that each of those was employed as part of criminal activity with criminal intentions. “

Arguing that Trump was part of a “criminal organization,” Wakeford said that his speech was not protected by the First Amendment because he was using his words to commit crimes.

“It’s not that the defendant has been hauled into a courtroom because the prosecution doesn’t like what he said,” Wakeford said. “What he is not allowed to do is employ his speech and his expression and his statements as part of a criminal conspiracy, to violate Georgia’s RICO statute, to impersonate public officers to file false documents, and to make false statements to the government.”

Wakeford also argued that Trump’s motion to dismiss was premature and that it failed to form a basis to dismiss the indictment.

“What we have heard here today is an attempt to rewrite the indictment to take out the parts that are inconvenient and only say, ‘Well, it’s all speech … and he was just a guy asking questions,'” Wakeford said. “All of this is an effort to get Your Honor not to look at the basic fact that this speech, this expression, all this activity is employed as part of a pattern of criminal conduct.”

John Floyd, an expert on racketeering laws with the DA’s office, argued that Trump’s election comments could still be part of a criminal conspiracy even if they could be considered free speech.

“It doesn’t matter whether that’s First Amendment conduct or not … this is a RICO conspiracy case,” Floyd said. “It could be First Amendment protected conduct that also shows there’s a conspiracy in operation.”

Attorneys for Trump co-defendant and former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer, meanwhile, asked the court to strike several phrases from the indictment, including “”duly elected and qualified presidential electors,” “lawful electoral votes” and “false Electoral College votes.”

Shafer’s attorney Craig Gillen argued that the so-called fake electors cannot be defined as “public officers.”

“Just because the fact that they were nominated by their party doesn’t make them a public official,” Gillen said. “This particular count is flawed for the very purpose of these electors cannot be under Georgia law, public officers.”

“By law, by federal law, they did not have the authority,” Gillen said.

A prosecutor for the DA’s office argued that “anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government” is a public officer.

“It doesn’t even have to be a real public officer, it doesn’t have to be a state officer,” the prosecutor said. “Anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government is a public officer, and that’s certainly what presidential electors do.”

Gillen also sought to have the team “fake elector” removed from the indictment, saying, “They want to have ingrained in the minds of the community and of jurors a concept that if you are not Democratic elector on December the 14th … then you are a fake elector. That is a pejorative term, not necessary for the charges, and should be stricken.”

“The phrase fake elector does not exist in this indictment,” a prosecutor responded.

The hearing in Fulton County, Georgia, marks the first time that the parties in the case have returned to court since the failed disqualification effort against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Trump and several co-defendants in the case received permission last week to appeal that decision.

Trump himself is not attending the proceedings.

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

Earlier this month, Judge McAfee dismissed six of the counts against Trump and his co-defendants, for soliciting the oath of a public officer, due to a technical fault in the indictment. McAfee ordered Thursday’s hearing to consider three motions from lawyers for Trump and Shafer related to the dismissal of the indictment.

In their motion, Trump’s lawyers argued that the First Amendment protects the former president’s conduct related to the 2020 election, and makes the indictment “categorically invalid.”

“President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American,” Sadow argued in a filing. “The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity.”

“Every charge and overt act alleged against President Trump rests on core acts of political speech and advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment,” the filing said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for financial fraud

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — A judge sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison Thursday for orchestrating what prosecutors have called one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.

He must also forfeit $11 billion that the government can use to compensate victims, Judge Lewis Kaplan said.

“This was a very serious crime,” Kaplan said.

Bankman-Fried, 32, stood with his hands folded in front of him, looking down, as the sentence was imposed.

Bankman-Fried was convicted last November of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, each of which carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

He was accused of using customer deposits on the cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, the company he founded, to cover losses at his hedge fund, pay off loans and buy lavish real estate, among other personal expenses.

Prosecutors had said he deserved between 40 and 50 years in prison because of the “enormous scale of the fraud,” though Kaplan determined that was too excessive.

The judge determined Bankman-Fried’s scheme defrauded FTX customers out of $8 billion and said the sentence was meant to “disable him” from the ability to commit another fraud for a long period of time.

“There is a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future and it’s not a trivial risk. It’s not a trivial risk at all,” Kaplan said.

“Mr. Bankman-Fried knew, for a protracted period, that Alameda was spending large sums of FTX customer funds on risky investments, political contributions, Bahamas real estate and other things in circumstances in which FTX was seriously exposed to downside market deterioration, long calls and other risks,” Kaplan said. “He knew that FTX customer funds were not to be used for those purposes. They were not his to use.”

Bankman-Fried acknowledged some of his own failings but the judge appeared to believe his statements fell short.

“I thought one of his pithier expressions was, ‘I f—– up.’ But never a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes,” Kaplan said.

The judge also doubted the image Bankman-Fried cultivated with government officials.

“He presented himself as the good guy all in favor of the appropriate regulation of the crypto industry. In my judgment, that was an act,” Kaplan said.

Bankman-Fried, of Stanford, California, addressed the court before sentencing, standing at the defense table with his arms folded in front of him, looking down and often mumbling.

He conceded his “mismanagement” caused Alameda, his privately controlled hedge fund, to shut down after its initial success and said he “failed everyone and everything I care about too.”

“I threw all of that away. It haunts me every day,” he said. “I made a series of bad decisions. They weren’t selfish decisions, they weren’t selfless decisions, they were bad decisions.”

Bankman-Fried also acknowledged FTX customers have not been made whole. “The customers, creditors lenders, they haven’t been paid back,” he said. “That has caused a lot of damage.”

Sunil Kavuri, a London-based technology investor at Shomei Group, addressed the court Thursday before sentencing on behalf of 200 victims, he said.

“I suffered every day,” Kavuri said. “This is a continuous lie that we are all made whole [through bankruptcy payments].” He added that he had “money I wanted to spend on a family home taken away.”

Kavuri told the court he knows FTX victims who are suffering from depression and he said victims have taken their own lives.

More than $8 billion of customer money was misappropriated, which “puts this crime in a class of cases that can be counted on one hand,” prosecutors said. Beyond that, Bankman-Fried “victimized tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan immediately rejected Bankman-Fried’s claim Thursday that his fraud was not $8 billion as prosecutors alleged.

“The defendant’s argument hinges on what amounts to an assumption that customers of FTX are going to be made whole in the bankruptcy,” Kaplan said. “The defendant’s assertion that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading; it is logically flawed.”

Bankman-Fried stepped down from his role at FTX in November 2022 amid a rapid collapse that ended with the company — once valued at $32 billion at its peak — declaring bankruptcy.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos said a stiff sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried is warranted because “the defendant could commit crimes again.”

The prosecutor noted that Bankman-Fried did “not swear off doing it again” when he addressed the court.

“A sentence here of at least 40 years is necessary to make sure the defendant cannot do it again,” Roos said.

The prosecutor spoke of victims who lost everything because they trusted Bankman-Fried when he told them, via social media or some other platform, that their money was safe.

“The defendant is not a monster but he is someone who committed gravely serious crimes,” Roos said. “The criminality here is massive in scale, it was pervasive in all aspects of the business. This was not a great business that had a problem at the end. It was pervaded with fraud.”

Prior to Thursday’s sentencing, defense attorneys called the government’s ask for 40 to 50 years in prison “barbaric” and argued Bankman-Fried deserved about six years in prison because of how “deeply, deeply sorry he is for the pain he caused.” They also said the “harm to customers, lenders, and investors is zero.”

On Thursday, defense attorney Mark Mukasey insisted Bankman-Fried possesses compassion, empathy and generosity and “really, he’s an awkward math nerd.”

“He loves video games and veganism,” Mukasey told the court. “He’s compassionate to animals and children. He has a tireless work ethic. He has a completely off-the-charts, mind-blowing intellect.”

While his fraud has been compared to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Mukasey said the 32-year-old is no stone-cold financial assassin.

“That level of depravity is nowhere in this case. I don’t think it’s anywhere in Sam’s heart,” Mukasey said. “Sam is on the opposite end of the culpability scale.”

The lawyer added, “Sam never scurried away with billions of dollars in a Swiss bank account or under his mattress.”

Prosecutors have cast Bankman-Fried differently.

“With all the advantages conferred by a comfortable upbringing, an MIT education, a prestigious start to his career in finance, and a worthy idea for a startup business, Bankman-Fried could have pursued the rewarding, productive, and altruistic life he has sketched out in his sentencing submission. But instead, his life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people’s money,” prosecutors said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Taylor Swift sold more vinyl than any artist in the world last year

Beth Garrabrant

Not only was Taylor Swift the bestselling artist in the world in 2023, she also sold the most vinyl.

That’s according to the IFPI, the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. In February, it declared Taylor the Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2023. Now, it’s revealed three Global Album Charts, detailing top sales overall for 2023, top streaming albums of 2023 and top-selling vinyl of 2023.

Taylor holds the top three places on the vinyl chart, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) at #1, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) at #2 and Midnights at #3. Overall, she has seven albums in the top 20, the others being folklore, Lover, evermore and Red (Taylor’s Version).

Taylor didn’t top the Global Sales album chart, but she’s the only non-K-pop artist to make the top 10. As for streaming, Morgan Wallen‘s One Thing at a Time was #1, followed by SZA‘s SOS and Taylor’s Midnights.

Next year at this time, we may be talking about how Taylor’s The Tortured Poets Department did globally in 2024. It’s coming out April 19.

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Florence Pugh gives fans a sneak peek of Marvel Studios' 'Thunderbolts' movie

Disney/Scott Kirkland

Dune: Part Two star Florence Pugh gave Marvel fans a behind-the-scenes peek of her next MCU movie, the star-studded Thunderbolts, on Instagram.

Dressed as her character, former assassin Yelena Belova, Pugh begins by exiting her studio trailer with a friendly “Hey guys!”

As she walks, she explains she’s been off Insta partly because she was “whisked off to Atlanta to go shoot a movie that I’m really not allowed to talk too much about.”

“But I can show you some things, sneakily, as long as you don’t tell anyone,” she says coyly.

As Pugh walks on the studio lot, she points out random crew members before entering a studio and whispering because shooting is underway. “I can show you a sneak peek of some of the sets,” she says, spinning her camera around to reveal what appears to be an elevator shaft.

As she continues, she says, “Oh, I can show you Jake,” meaning Jake Schreier, the movie’s director.

“What are we allowed to show?” Pugh asks, only for him to reply, “I don’t even think you’re even allowed to be doing this!”

With that, she reveals “Thunderbolts” on the back of a director’s chair.

The movie will see Pugh’s character team up with other MCU vets, including David Harbour as Red Guardian, Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker/U.S. Agent and Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ shadowy Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

“We’re having an amazing time, and I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve made!” she says before signing off with a kiss to camera.

The movie comes out May 2, 2025.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Warby Parker offering free eclipse glasses for total solar eclipse

Via NASA

(NEW YORK) — As North America gears up for the total solar eclipse on April 8, Warby Parker, a New York City-based eyeglass retailer with over 200 stores across the United States and Canada, has announced it will distribute free ISO-certified solar eclipse glasses to ensure safe viewing for spectators.

This celestial event marks the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. Those hoping for a glimpse, however, will need to take precautions to avoid injury.

Starting April 1, individuals can visit any Warby Parker retail location to receive up to two pairs of solar eclipse glasses at no cost, subject to availability, according to the company. These glasses are ISO-certified and meet the stringent safety standards required for direct observation of the celestial phenomenon, according to Warby Parker’s website.

Viewing solar eclipses or the sun directly — whether through a camera lens or the naked eye — without proper protection can lead to serious eye injuries and potentially cause vision loss, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

The American Astronomical Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology have emphasized the critical need for eye protection, cautioning that much like how a magnifying glass can use sunlight to ignite a fire, looking at the sun without proper safeguards can seriously harm our eyes.

The sun’s rays, when focused by the eye’s lens, which normally helps us see clearly, can burn the retina and lead to solar retinopathy, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. This condition may cause persistent vision issues or even irreversible sight loss.

Regular sunglasses do not offer the protection our eyes need during such an event, the American Academy of Ophthalmology states. The gold standard for safety is to use special-purpose solar filters. These are found in eclipse glasses adhering to the ISO 12312-2 standard.

Special viewers like pinhole projectors, which allow people to see the shadow of the eclipse without looking at it directly, can also shield eyes from harmful solar radiation.

More ways to find free glasses

If you do not live near a Warby Parker retail location, the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force spearheaded the Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries project to distribute 5 million solar viewing glasses to 13,000 libraries across the U.S. Availability may vary.

New York state is also offering free I LOVE NY ISO-certified eclipse glasses at Welcome Centers, select Thruway Rest Stops and other statewide locations, with a daily limit of two per person while supplies last.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lorde takes you to the river in latest cover off 'Stop Making Sense' tribute

A24 Music

Lorde has premiered her take on “Take Me to the River” for the upcoming tribute to Talking Heads‘ classic 1984 concert film and live album, Stop Making Sense.

“Take Me to the River” was originally recorded by soul legend Al Green in 1974 and then covered by Talking Heads in 1978. The Talking Heads version became the band’s highest charting single at the time, and a live recording is included on Stop Making Sense.

In a statement, Lorde shares that she wanted her “Take Me to the River” cover to reflect when her mom first showed her a Talking Heads video on YouTube when she was 12 years old.

“It’s my interpretation of that pixelated spiritual experience,” Lorde says. “We did it fast, I didn’t let myself tidy it up too much, it had to feel young and imperfect, the peeling posters, the jaw of acne.”

You can listen to Lorde’s “Take Me to the River” now via digital outlets.

The Stop Making Sense tribute also includes Paramore‘s cover of “Burning Down the House” as well as contributions from The National, Miley Cyrus, girl in red and The Linda Lindas.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Congo displacement reaches 'devastating level' as violence escalates, aid groups warn

GUILLEM SARTORIO/Getty Images

(LONDON) — Almost a million people have been forced to flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the start of the year following an upsurge in violence in the east of the Central African nation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, has announced.

Humanitarian agencies are raising alarm at the “humanitarian and medical toll of the violence,” saying the situation has reached a “devastating level” as thousands of weapon-wounded civilians pour in to hospitals in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and surrounding areas.

In a dramatic resurgence of violence, the March 23 Movement armed rebel group has been expanding its territory and advancing towards Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, forcing thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire to flee as fighting intensifies between M23, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and various other armed groups.

Xavier Collard de Macquerh, head of programs at the International Committee of the Red Cross, told ABC News that the situation is dire and “we are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.”

“People are experiencing loss in a repetitive manner, displaced several times in a row,” he said.

Collard de Macquerh says moving frontlines are triggering a wave of displacement, hospitals in Goma supported by the ICRC receiving more and more wounded civilians. “We are receiving more and more weapon-wounded and seeing a sharp increase in those wounded by shrapnel, explosives, which is a major concern.”

Collard de Macquerh told ABC News many civilians are also fleeing north to hard-to-access areas for humanitarian organizations due to security.

“People are in need of access to basics such as food, water, hygiene and access to health,” he told ABC News over the phone from Kinshasa, calling on armed actors to take all possible precautions to protect civilians caught in the crossfire.

According to the World Food Programme, around a quarter of the Central African nation’s population is facing “crisis levels of hunger or worse,” with many living in poor conditions with no access to food, education or health services. It’s a conflict-driven hunger crisis, WFP said in a statement last week.

Almost 300,000 people have arrived in Goma and its surroundings since “violent clashes” enveloped the town of Sake in Masisi territory in February, UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said at a press briefing in Geneva. The mass displacement has caused spontaneous and official displacement to “swell” as civilians desperately seek refuge from “indiscriminate bombing and other human rights abuses.”

The DRC now stands as the second-largest displacement crisis globally, second only to Sudan, the U.N. said, with over 7.1 million people internally displaced, including 800,000 in the last three months.

“Close to 10 million people are on the move,” said Saltmarsh. “Poverty and hunger affect a quarter of the population or 25.4 million people. The spread of cholera and other infectious diseases pose significant threats to the populations health.”

International Childrens charity Save the Children said the violence has also closed over 500 schools in the North Kivu region, creating chaos for children and “putting them at risk of being recruited by armed forces.” There have been at least two cases of teachers being kidnapped.

The U.S. has called on warring parties to turn to the Luanda Process.

“There is no military-only solution to the crisis in eastern DRC,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said in a briefing to the U.N. Security Council. “The United States strongly supports the efforts led by regional actors to resume the Nairobi and Luanda processes, which offer the most viable paths toward resolving this 30-year conflict.”

“The United States calls on the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC to make the decision to pursue peace – for the sake of their people, the region, and the world,” the ambassador said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.