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Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Singer Bruce Springsteen releases surprise EP, including scathing Trump criticism
The EP, titled Land Of Hope And Dreams, features recordings of four songs performed live by Bruce Springsteen in Manchester on May 14. PHOTO: AFP Washington - American rock star Bruce Springsteen released a surprise EP on May 21, with the six-track album including scathing criticism of US President Donald Trump that prompted an online diatribe from the Republican billionaire last week. The EP, titled Land Of Hope And Dreams – the name of his ongoing tour – features recordings of four songs performed live in Manchester, England on May 14. Two tracks feature Springsteen, 75, describing his disappointment with Mr Trump's 'corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration', although he does not name the president directly. The comments had prompted the right-wing populist to label Springsteen an 'obnoxious jerk' last week, and on May 21, Mr Trump posted a video edited to make it seem like he had hit the New Jersey rocker with a golf drive. On May 19, Mr Trump had gone further than mere rhetoric, calling for a 'major investigation' into Springsteen, genre-smashing music icon Beyonce and other celebrities. He alleged – without evidence and in the face of denials by those involved – that the celebrities had been paid millions of dollars to endorse Ms Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the 2024 presidential election. The collection of tracks released on May 21 featured Springsteen's full comments as he introduced the songs Land Of Hope And Dreams and My City In Ruins. 'In my home, the America I love, the America I have written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,' he said, addressing the Manchester crowd. 'Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.' In the second introduction track, he decried 'some very weird, strange and dangerous s*** going on out there right now'. 'In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent,' he said, while also taking aim at the 'sadistic pleasure' some were taking in launching crackdowns on migrants, the poor and workers. Springsteen then launched into a spirited rendition of My City In Ruins, ending with a rousing repetition of the words: 'Come on, rise up.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Gulf News
21-04-2025
- Science
- Gulf News
NASA's oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday
It was Don Pettit's 4th spaceflight, with over 18 months spent in orbit during his career Last updated: AFP Washington: Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday. But NASA's oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit's milestone birthday. "Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan," Russia's space agency Roscosmos said. Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission. It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career. The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier. NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop. The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent. Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was "doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth," NASA said in a statement. He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency's Johnson Space Center in Texas. The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said. The trio's seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
