Ariana Grande says songs on her ‘attachment’ of ‘eternal sunshine’ ‘really count’
Katia Temkin/Republic
After mentioning in a red carpet interview that she has an “an attachment of eternal sunshine” that she plans to release at some point, Ariana Grande revealed more details of the project to Variety — including the fact that we’ll have to wait for it.
Speaking to the publication’s Awards Circuit Podcast, Ari says the attachment is essentially a deluxe version with a few new songs. And while it’s “in the can,” she says she’s “still mulling over the timing in my head” as far as a release date is concerned.
“It’s a very special project,” she says. “I’m out there so much right now. I want to let my children miss me for two seconds. I’m excited to surprise them with it at some point.” Referring to the character she portrayed in the video for “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” Ari adds, “It’s not the end of ‘Peaches’ just yet, but she’s going in the closet for a minute.”
“The album is so concise, and I didn’t want to add songs just for the sake of it,” she notes. “The new tracks are short, but they really count.”
And as for that idea she floated in 2024 of doing some kind of tour between Wicked movies — forget it. “I was considering a mini-tour … but I’ve decided to prioritize acting for now,” she says. “Performing will always be a part of my life, but I want to focus on this chapter of storytelling through film.”
The Wicked sequel, Wicked For Good, is due out in November 2025 and will feature a new song that the musical’s composer, Stephen Schwartz, wrote for her character.
She says, “It’s a privilege to sing this song and be the first Glinda to bring it to life.”
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted that his nation’s forces would “undoubtedly” capture more North Korean troops, after sharing purported video of two prisoners of war detained after being wounded in fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region.
“It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” Zelenskyy said in a post to social media, accompanied with brief video interviews with two North Korean soldiers.
The short videos showed the two apparently wounded men giving brief answers to a Ukrainian interviewer via a translator.
One said he was told by commanders that he was being deployed as part of a training exercise, according to the translation. The prisoner said he entered combat on Jan. 3, in an unsuccessful assault with heavy casualties. He hid in a dugout until Jan. 5 when he said he was captured.
Neither man appeared to know they had been taken to Ukraine. One said he wished to return to North Korea, while the other said he hoped to remain in Ukraine.
ABC News could not immediately verify the videos.
U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean officials have estimated that Pyongyang has sent up to 12,000 soldiers to Russia to assist Moscow in retaking parts of Kursk Oblast seized by Ukrainian forces in a surprise August 2023 offensive.
The deployment of troops represented a new level of North Korean support for Russia’s war, Pyongyang having previously supplied Moscow with significant amounts of ammunition and weapons including ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy said Sunday there should be “no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North Korea.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added, “started three years ago with ultimatums to NATO and attempts to rewrite history, but now he cannot manage without military support from Pyongyang.”
Zelenskyy said Kyiv is “ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia.”
“For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available,” he added. “In particular, those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in Korean will be given that opportunity.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the proposal for a prisoner swap when asked by reporters on Monday. “We cannot comment in any way, we do not know what is true there,” Peskov said, as quoted by Russian media.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, meanwhile, said it killed another 17 North Korean soldiers in Kursk, defeating a daylong assault by Pyongyang’s troops.
The SSO said that one North Korean soldier also attempted to “mislead” Ukrainian forces and “blow himself up with them on a grenade.” The North Korean was killed by the blast with no Ukrainians hurt, the SSO reported.
Zelenskyy previously reported that more than 3,000 North Koreans had been killed or wounded fighting in Kursk, while U.S. estimates put the figure at several hundred.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that the country’s spy agency believes that at least 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 injured since being deployed to Russia.
Rep. Lee Seong-kweun, of the ruling People Power Party, told Yonhap that the National Intelligence Service shared the information with lawmakers during a closed-door meeting of the parliamentary intelligence committee.
The NIS attributed the “massive” rate of North Korean casualties to a “lack of understanding of modern warfare,” Yonhap said. That included “useless” attempts to shoot down long-range drones.
The NIS also said the North Korean military has ordered soldiers to kill themselves to avoid capture by Ukrainian forces.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut. The strikes form the backdrop for a fresh diplomatic push by the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
US envoy en route to Lebanon for cease-fire talks, official says
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is on his way to Lebanon for talks on a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, an official familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
Hochstein left from the U.S. for Lebanon on Monday, the official said.
Israel is getting close to being ready to agree to the U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal, which is very similar to the proposal that was floated by the U.S. at the end of September. The U.S. needs to see how Hezbollah feels about this proposal, which is what Hochstein aims to do during his trip, according to the official.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
4 killed in Israeli attack in Beirut: Health ministry
Four people were killed and at least 18 injured in an Israeli attack in Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Monday.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
1 killed, 10 injured in strike on residential building in Israel: Officials
A woman was killed and 10 people injured after a Hezbollah rocket directly hit a residential building in northern Israel, Israeli emergency services said Monday.
Dozens of projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel Monday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said. Not all of the projectiles were intercepted, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US sanctions entity, 3 individuals tied to West Bank violence
The State Department said Monday it is sanctioning three individuals and one entity for allegedly undermining “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”
The department accuses the entity, Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD, of having supported Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was sanctioned by the Biden administration over accusations of attacks and harassment against Palestinians earlier this year.
The three impacted individuals are Itamar Levi, Shabtai Koshlevsky and Zohar Sabah, the State Department said. Itamar Levi, the brother of Yinon Levi, is being designated for his role as the owner of the aforementioned company, while Koshlevsky is accused of holding a leadership position at Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outposts in the West Bank and was sanctioned in August of this year.
Sabah is accused of engaging “in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes” as well as “a pattern of destructiveness targeting the livestock, grazing lands and homes of local Palestinians to disrupt their means of support,” the State Department said in a press release.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Hamas denies that leaders relocated from Qatar to Turkey
Hamas denied reports in Israeli media that its leadership has relocated from Qatar to Turkey amid a breakdown in Doha-supported cease-fire talks earlier this month.
Hamas dismissed the news reports as “rumors” spread by Israeli authorities in a statement posted to its official website.
Qatar told Israel and Hamas earlier this month it could not continue to mediate cease-fire and hostage release talks “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith.”
Doha is under U.S. pressure to expel Hamas leaders. A senior administration official told ABC News earlier this month that the group’s “continued presence in Doha is no longer viable or acceptable.”
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Shannon K. Kingston and Somayeh Malekian
Gaza death toll nears 44,000, health officials say
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that 43,922 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, with nearly 104,000 more injured.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 96 people and wounded at least 60 in Gaza through the weekend, officials said. The dead included 72 people in north Gaza and more than 20 from other areas of the strip.
Most of those killed were displaced women and children sheltering in residential buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, officials said.
Beit Lahiya is at the heart of the Israel Defense Forces’ recent northern offensive, which has been accompanied with sweeping evacuation orders and spiking civilian casualties.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti
Hezbollah positive on US cease-fire proposal, reports say
Hezbollah responded positively to the U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese media reported Monday.
U.S. special envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss the proposal before heading to Israel to speak with leaders there.
The proposal is reportedly based on the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1701 that sought to end the last major cross-border conflict in 2006.
That deal ordered Hezbollah to withdraw all military units and weapons north of the Litani River, which is around 18 miles north of the Israeli border. The resolution also prohibited Israeli ground and air forces from crossing into Lebanese territory.
Israeli leaders have demanded open-ended freedom to act against threats in Lebanon, a stipulation reportedly opposed by Hezbollah and Lebanese leaders.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Khamenei meets with ambassador injured in pager attacks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, as the latter continues his recovery from injuries sustained during Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in September.
Khamenei’s official X account posted a short video of their interaction on Monday, in which Amani told the Iranian leader he lost around half of the vision in his right eye in the attack.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah media relations chief killed in Israeli strike
Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah’s media relations chief, was killed in an Israeli strike Sunday, Hezbollah confirmed.
The strike on central Beirut partially collapsed a building and injured three others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed Afif’s death. In a statement, the IDF said he joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and went on to become a “central and veteran figure in the organization who greatly influenced Hezbollah’s military activity.”
Citing one particular incident, the statement claimed that he had played a key role in the drone attack on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea in October.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Pope calls for investigation to determine whether Israeli attacks on Gaza are ‘genocide’
Pope Francis, in an upcoming book to be released ahead of his 2025 jubilee, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, according to the Vatican.
“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” he wrote in a passage released by the Vatican.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope wrote. “It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Issa Tazhenbayev / AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport close to the Caspian Sea on Wednesday morning, Kazakh authorities said, with up to 40 people feared dead.
The aircraft was was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, the Transport Ministry said in a post to its official Telegram channel. It was rerouted to Aktau in Kazakhstan due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News that the plane was carrying 69 people — 64 passengers and five crew members. The ministry said 29 people survived the crash, with many hospitalized.
Two children were among those hospitalized, the ministry said in a post to its Telegram channel.
Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister told ABC News that some of those taken to hospital are in critical condition.
Kazakh authorities have initiated an investigation into the crash, focusing on reported bird strike, mechanical failure and the decision to reroute the flight due to adverse weather conditions, Kazakh aviation authorities told ABC News.
Among the passengers were 37 Azerbaijani citizens, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia, the Transport Ministry said in a statement, citing “preliminary data.”
Azerbaijan Airlines said in a post to X that the aircraft “made an emergency landing” around 2 miles from Aktau. The aircraft was an Embraer 190 model with flight number J2-8243, it said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Tomek Rolski and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
