Strap in, ’cause DVEIGHT is about to detonate a sonic nuke straight outta the AUZ! The Aussie bass specialist just dropped ‘BLOODCLOT’ on Sounds of Mayhem, and it’s gonna make your ears bleed… in the best way possible. Six tracks of pure, unadulterated MAYHEM featuring a who’s who of Oz’s filthiest bass artists: Dassim, CHIBS, Manly, Nexu5, VANM, and Knoir. It’s like the Avengers of Aussie dubstep assembled to blow out your speakers and shake your rib cage. From Brisbane to Sydney, Newcastle to the wild West, ‘BLOODCLOT’ is a bass-fueled road trip across the sunburnt country. You’ll bang through the introspective wasteland of “Livid,” then get your face melted by “Astel” – a track so gnarly it’ll make Elden Ring bosses piss their pants. But wait, there’s more! “Arvo Dub” captures that quintessential Aussie vibe – imagine sipping VB while wrestling a kangaroo, all set to a soundtrack that’ll make your neighbors call the cops. DVEIGHT, the mad scientist behind this bass-astrophe, has crafted an EP that’s part love letter to Australian dubstep, part thermonuclear device. It’s proof that when Aussies aren’t fighting off deadly creatures, they’re proving that they are the true apex predators.
Brad Pitt‘s taking a big step with his girlfriend Ines de Ramon in Italy … stepping out with her in the most official way a celeb can — with a red carpet under their feet!
The dynamic duo hit the Venice Film Festival red carpet Sunday night before the showing of Brad’s new movie “Wolfs” — which he stars in alongside longtime pal George Clooney.
Brad looked cool in an all-black suit while Ines offset his look with an elegant white dress and some impressive earrings … unsurprising for the vice president of a jewelry brand.
Brad and Ines hung out with George and Amal Clooney on the red carpet too … sharing lots of laughs before they all sat down to watch the hit flick.
It’s a big step for the couple who have been dating for a while now, but haven’t taken the ceremonious celeb step. The two were first spotted together back in 2022 at a Bonoconcert.
Brad and Ines have since spent considerable time together — and certainly looked like a couple — but, posing together on the red carpet’s about as official as a celeb couple can get.
Worth noting, Angelina Jolie‘s been in Venice recently too … attending the film festival for her own movie, “Maria.” She was there on Friday — so, no chance the exes ran into each other here.
Of course, the two are still working through their nasty split … figuring out the financials behind the vineyard they purchased together and still working on custody issues with their kids — so, it’s no wonder organizers tried to alleviate any awkwardness at the festival.
Anyhoo … looks like Brad’s more focused on his current relationship anyway — which is now “red carpet” serious!
“Our community has long loved Bitmoji Stories as a way to stay connected with fun, comic-strip style stories. Now, we’re bringing brand-new episodes to Snapchatters featuring our 3D Bitmoji avatar for even more personalized content starring you and your friends.”
Bitstrips became a viral trend on Facebook back in 2013, when, at one stage, it was the second most downloaded app in the world. Snapchat has maintained the Bitstrips trend with Bitmoji Stories, but it’s now making a renewed push on the option.
So now you can see your digital doppelganger in new story frames in the app.
Snapchat also recently added lyric stickers to facilitate singalongs with Snaps.
It seems that Snap may be taking more of an interest in music features, as Instagram is also, with the pending removal of TikTok from the U.S. market potentially leaving a gap for music-based engagement.
Which is also evident in the new features for Snapchat+ subscribers, who are getting the option to set a custom ringtone for friends:
“Snapchat+ subscribers can now pick out their very own ringtone for each of their friends or group chats. With custom ringtones, you can tell who’s giving you a call without even looking at your phone!”
This is possibly the most retro new feature I’ve seen in some time.
Back in the early 2000’s, selling ringtones was a serious business, with many people paying to customize their phone alerts in the style of the latest pop hits. And now, Snap’s bringing it back, which could be a fun option for Snap’s paying subscribers.
Snapchat+ subscribers are also getting the option to rewatch Snap that they’ve sent:
“Soon, Snapchat+ subscribers can replay their own Snap for up to 5 minutes after sending.”
These are some fun updates, which, as noted, aim to reawaken some trends of yesteryear, in new form. And if they catch on, they could help to spark more attention and engagement for the app, and more subscribers for its paid offering.
You can check out Snap’s full August feature update overview here.
When Donald Trump launched his first presidential campaign nearly a decade ago, there was a deluge of concerns about his foreign financial entanglements. And rightfully so. Given the financial overlap between Trump, his family, his company, and a constellation of kleptocratic regimes, especially Russia, Trump presented an unprecedented opportunity for foreign regimes to directly access the White House and tilt American policy in the process.
Now, with Trump running for the presidency once more, those concerns have hardly disappeared. If anything, foreign governments — including brand-new regimes that weren’t involved in Trump’s first whirlwind in the White House — have only spied new opportunities to burrow into his pockets and into a second administration.
Many of these networks are already known, if forgotten. Trump’s financial links with regimes in places like China, Kazakhstan, or Indonesia were already reported in detail during his presidency. Even after Trump left the Oval Office, the revelations about his subterranean financial links as president with foreign regimes continued spilling out; it was only this year, for instance, that congressional investigators revealed that the first two years of Trump’s presidency included countries as far afield as Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, and many more patronizing Trump businesses. Any of these details on their own would be exceptional — can you imagine how much any other presidential candidate’s secret Chinese bank account would dominate a news cycle? — but they’ve been subsumed in the broader morass of Trump’s scandals. They’ve become, to an almost shocking degree, normalized.
Look at Saudi Arabia. Years after Saudi tyrant Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordered the grisly killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi government has used an entire fleet of PR professionals and consultancy firms to launder its image, transforming the regime from a bastion of backwardness into one of progress and reform. (Saudi Arabia under MBS “almost feels like a start-up,” WeWork founder Adam Neumann purred last year at a Saudi-sponsored conference.) And part of that influence campaign has directly targeted — and directly used — Trump. Just last month, the New York Times revealed that the Trump Organization had inked a brand-new deal in the country, centered on Trump branding a new high-rise in Jeddah. The branding deal mirrors similar arrangements Trump has signed with foreign partners elsewhere, lending his name to developments in Azerbaijan and Panama. It’s unclear how much the new Saudi deal is worth, but as the Times noted, “Saudi Arabia has become one of the few reliable sources of growth for the Trump family’s business operations.”
Yet the deepening links between Trump and Riyadh don’t revolve only around a single, luxe new high-rise. Time and again in recent years, Saudi and its proxies have bankrolled Trump and his inner circle — and even expanded the network of authoritarian allies succoring Trump. For instance, a Saudi construction company recently helped Trump sign a separate deal in the dictatorship in Oman, where migrant laborers are currently building out yet another luxury building, including a hotel and golf course. We know a few more details on this new arrangement, such as the fact that the Trump Organization has already banked at least $5 million from the deal. As the organization itself revealed, the total compound will have a “combined value of $200 million” — and will, naturally, “represent an unprecedented level of luxury,” which is why sales agents are “targeting superrich buyers from around the world, including from Russia, Iran and India,” per the Times.
Again, any one of these deals would be a breathtaking breach of previous norms for a president. But the new links between Saudi and Trump go even deeper, stretching into Saudi Arabia’s latest foray into foreign investments: golf. Throwing billions of dollars into professional golf — all as a way of transforming Riyadh into a destination of global sports — Saudi backed the recent creation of LIV Golf, the rising competitor to PGA Golf. One of the kingdom’s key partners in the new league? Trump, naturally. In early 2024, Riyadh tapped Trump to host LIV Golf tournaments at his own courses — making it “another major source of new revenue for the Trump family.”
Indeed, calling all of these Saudi arrangements a major inflow for the Trump brood is an understatement. In one of the most sordid — or swampiest — arrangements seen since Trump departed the White House, Trump’s underqualified, underexperienced son-in-law, Jared Kushner, managed to land a $2 billion investment from the Saudis for his brand-new investment firm. Even Saudi officials were at first spooked by the deal, shying away from Kushner’s initial proposal. But as the Intercept reported, after officials recommended against the investment, MBS himself stepped in to approve the deal, keen to sink Saudi Arabia’s financial claws into Trump’s family that much further.
If anything, it’s Kushner who’s taken the lead on threading nascent links between the world of Trump and new strongmen suitors. In addition to his Saudi lucre, Kushner has recently been gallivanting around the Balkans, where he signed a new agreement earlier this year with the authoritarian regime in Serbia to land a luxury-hotel lease. The arrangement builds on years of Trump World cozying up with Serbia’s budding autocrat, Aleksandar Vucic; not only did Trump welcome lobbyists for Bosnia’s pro-Serbian separatists into his administration, but Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, has become tight with Vucic, with the Serbian leader recently awarding Grenell with what the latter referred to as Serbia’s “highest honor.”
These are just the deals that we know about; given the financial opacity of everything from the American real-estate industry to things like the investment funds Kushner oversees — areas that Biden’s Treasury Department is specifically targeting for increased transparency, thankfully — it’s entirely possible that there’s a world of additional investments, purchases, and arrangements that we still don’t know about and that we’ll only learn about in years to come. This is, of course, an issue that is far broader than Trump or his inner circle — but given that Trump is a coin flip from the presidency, his sudden proximity to power is that much more reason a whole range of long-overdue counter-kleptocracy reforms must finally be passed by Congress.
If you need any more proof, just look at what we learned earlier this month. A bombshell exposé in the Washington Post revealed that the military dictatorship in Egypt may have secretly funneled some $10 million into Trump’s flagging 2016 campaign, without the American public having any idea. The Post’s details had all the makings for a scandal of historic proportions: The Egyptian security services suddenly pulling $10 million in cash from an Egyptian bank; classified intel indicating that Egypt’s ruling despot wanted to funnel $10 million to Trump; Trump himself announcing a surprise injection of $10 million into his campaign, tapping what he claimed was his own money. There was so much smoke you could choke on it. (All of this came alongside Egypt’s successful campaign to flip Senator Bob Menendez into its own foreign agent, a case you can read about in my new book, Foreign Agents.)
And yet, after Trump became president, his administration eventually dropped the investigation into the Egypt-to-Trump pipeline wholesale — and Americans never learned where that Egyptian money may have ended up, or what effect that might have had on Trump’s policies. Americans are still, to this day, in the dark about the links between Trump and Egypt. That’s just one investigation, and one financial link, among dozens and dozens more, some of which we still know next to nothing about. But if past is precedent, that may simply be a taste of what’s to come — and what is at stake, for both dictators and democracy alike.
Hannah Cockroft has called for financial parity between Olympic and Paralympic champions following her latest historic triumph.
Wheelchair racer Cockroft delivered Great Britain’s maiden athletics gold of Paris 2024 by cruising to glory in the women’s T34 100m final at Stade de France.
The 32-year-old’s straightforward success – on a day which brought a remarkable 12 golds for the British team – was the eighth Paralympic title of her glittering career to maintain the unbeaten run she launched at London 2012.
Cockroft is set to defend her 800m crown on Saturday before next month marrying fellow ParalympicsGB athlete Nathan Maguire in her hometown of Halifax.
She admitted seeing Olympic counterparts collect lucrative incentives from World Athletics for similar achievements to hers was “frustrating” – and added the £38,000 bonus received by Olympic champions would cover the cost of her upcoming wedding.
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Sky Sports News’ Miriam Walker-Khan details 10 things you may not have known about the Paralympic Games
“I’m really lucky, this Games I have some incredible sponsors behind me who are giving me medal bonuses, it’s the first time ever that I’ll have sponsor medal bonuses, so it’s a massive step forward,” she said.
“It’s not thousands but it’s money. But yeah, it’s tough seeing the Olympic guys get the money from World Athletics and then we can’t replicate, it’s frustrating.
“That would really pay for my wedding quite well.
“Ultimately, I do this because I love it. We want parity and that’s what we push for every time.”
World Athletics chairman Sebastian Coe announced in April that Olympic gold medallists in track and field events in Paris would receive 50,000 US dollars (just over £38,000) in prize money.
Cockroft continued her domination of Paralympic competition by powering over the line in 16.8 seconds, comfortably ahead of compatriot Kare Adenegan, who claimed silver in 17.99 secs.
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The 16-time world champion moved within three golds of Britain’s greatest wheelchair racer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.
“We’re incredibly lucky, we’re the only country in the world that get equal support from the National Lottery and from UK Sport and from our governing body,” she continued.
“So we definitely can’t sidestep that. A lot of countries tell us how lucky we are to have that, but you know, a little bit extra would be nice.”
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With the Paralympics taking place in Paris, Sky Sports News’ Geraint Hughes provides a brief history of the Games
With tens of thousands of fans cheering athletes on in Saint-Denis, Cockroft felt the track vibrating before producing another devastating display.
She hailed the occasion as the closest thing she has experienced to her Paralympic debut on her home soil 12 years ago.
“Listen to that noise, that’s what we do it for, that support, it’s just amazing. I still can’t wipe that smile off my face,” she said, following low spectator turnout at Rio 2016 and a behind-closed-doors affair in Tokyo.
“My wheels were vibrating from the noise and that’s what we’ve worked for.
“For 12 years, that’s what we wanted and I knew Paris could do it and I’m just so glad that they did.
“It took me back 12 years because the last time I felt like that was at London 2012.”
Image: Great Britain’s Sabrina Fortune celebrates winning gold and setting a new world record in the Women’s Shot Put – F20 Final at the Stade de France
Shot putter Sabrina Fortune later grabbed Britain’s first gold in field events by breaking her own world record in the final of the women’s F20 event.
The 27-year-old Welsh athlete produced a throw of 15.12 metres – 0.29m further than she managed six weeks ago in Birmingham.
Speaking of the world record, Fortune said: “I still can’t believe it, especially on the first throw. Just a simple throw and then I hit the world record and I just wanted to jump up and down and celebrate right then.
“It’s something I’m so proud I’ve been able to do and it’s just amazing.”
Scottish wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn took silver in the women’s T53 800m in a time of one minute and 42.96 seconds.
Cockroft’s fiance Maguire, 27, was second fastest in qualifying for the men’s T54 400m but finished fourth in the final.
NYC Concerts Shows October star Trevor Noah, John Oliver & Seth Meyers, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, P!NK, Vampire Weekend, Billie Eilish, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow and more.
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Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, Josh Groban, Lorde, Mötley Crüe with Def Leppard, Poison, Joan Jett , Coldplay, Governors Ball Music Festival, Electric Zoo Festival and more being announced daily. Plus, see Billy Joel continue his monthly residency @ MSG and Jerry Seinfeld (most months) @ The Beacon.
Billy Joel at MSG
Billy has announced the end of his monthly residency at MSG after 10 years of sold out shows! His last performance (though the man does love an encore:) will be July 25, 2024. Billy Joel at MSG has happened every single month, making us New Yorkers the luckiest people on earth for decades! Billy LOVES to perform for his home fans and he never disappoints.
Our insider guides to Barclays Center, Madison Square Garden, Met Life Stadium, Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theatre and lots of smaller, more intimate venues. Get discount ticket insider tips, hotels and dining information.
Concert Schedule and Tickets
See upcoming shows, concerts and special events at NYC’s best Live Music Venues:
Note: All of our ticket partners are legitimate, official, recommended ticket sellers and guaranteed to sell you official NYC Concert tickets.
NYC 2024 Concerts Shows by Month
Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, Josh Groban, Lorde, Mötley Crüe with Def Leppard, Poison, Joan Jett , Coldplay, Governors Ball Music Festival, Electric Zoo Festival and more being announced daily. Plus, see Billy Joel continue his monthly residency @ MSG and Jerry Seinfeld (most months) @ The Beacon.
Billy Joel at MSG
Billy has announced the end of his monthly residency at MSG after 10 years of sold out shows! His last performance (though the man does love an encore:) will be July 25, 2024. Billy Joel at MSG has happened every single month, making us New Yorkers the luckiest people on earth for decades! Billy LOVES to perform for his home fans and he never disappoints.
Our insider guides to Barclays Center, Madison Square Garden, Met Life Stadium, Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theatre and lots of smaller, more intimate venues. Get discount ticket insider tips, hotels and dining information.
Concert Schedule and Tickets
See upcoming shows, concerts and special events at NYC’s best Live Music Venues: