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2 hr 37 min

Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams_Show ID 1748 Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams!

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Broadcast media radio show Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams wraps up the weekend following St. Patrick's Day with program content focused on Irish movers and shakers including Eamon O'Cuive, grandson of Eamon De Valera, Past President of Ireland and key activist in the creation of the independent Republic of Ireland and Malachy McCourt who was named "Irishman of the Year" on St. Patrick's Day 2021, also recognized in NYC as "Malachy McCourt Day!" Hour 1: With the news flooded with attention to racism, in general, and racism within the royal establishment of the UK, in particular, Stephanie focuses on travel as a solution to racism, a subject she has addressed for decades as the mechanism to create bonds between people and diverse cultures in keeping with Mark Twain's 1800's comment, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." Then join Stephanie as she chats with Eamon O'Cuiv in Ireland and Malachy Mc Court in New York City: Hour 2: Eamon O'Cuiv, TD Irish Government, Connemara, Galway, Ireland. www.eamonocuiv.ie STEPHANIE ABRAMS rebroadcasts interview with Eamon O'Cuiv in wrap up weekend celebrating St. Patrick's Day 2021. Hour 3:   Guest: Malachy McCourt, Author, Actor, Celebrity Personality, New York City, New York, USA https://patch.com/new-york/parkslope/mayor-declares-malachy-mccourt-day-nyc-irish-author-actor While media travel expert Stephanie Abrams had plans to interview author, actor, raconteur, wit, owner of the first Singles Bar in New York City and key figure in the Pulitzer Prize winning memoir written by his brother, Frank McCourt, featured in the book and film, "Angela's Ashes," Malachy McCourt, for this weekend's St. Patrick's Day wrap up, Malachy regrettably took a fall and broke his leg on the day before St. Patrick's Day 2021. Since surgery was required and planned for, of all day, St. Patrick's Day, not only did this unexpected procedure mandate the cancellation of his new appearance on Travel WITH  Stephanie Abrams but also nullified Malachy's appearance, even by internet, to be present at a ceremony led by NYC's Mayor Di Blasio naming St. Patrick's Day 2021 "Malachy McCourt Day" and honoring Malachy as "Irishman of the Year." Since Malachy McCourt is a dear friend of travel expert Stephanie Abrams and a frequent guest on Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams, Stephanie shares a recent interview with Malachy  recorded while Stephanie and her husband, Mark Abrams, Remote Producer for Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams and Travel TV WITH Stephanie Abrams, were in "Lough Down," Stephanie's description of being in "lockdown" in 2020 in Ireland and Northern Ireland which extended their planned trip from three weeks to to FIVE (5) MONTHS. During that time, Stephanie caught up with Malachy McCourt who lives in NYC. Malachy's interview is rebroadcast here.  Enjoy!

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Travel With Stephanie Abrams

Sundays 2am-5am

Travelers will be fascinated by the destinations visited by Travel Expert, Stephanie Abrams. Recognized as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Travel, Stephanie’s background and experience in the travel industry put her at the heart of inside information on destinations, cruise lines, hotels, airlines, car rental companies and niche market venues such as conference and convention centers, romantic destinations, unique villas and inns, the most charming castles and historic sites offering accommodations for the traveler and meeting centers and amenities for the hi-tech business traveler’s needs. You can count on Stephanie’s lively, fast-paced, information-packed program content to keep listeners up-to-date with travel tips, special deals, and how to make every trip memorable using Stephanie’s philosophy that every journey should result in the traveler feeling better for having traveled, enriched, enlightened, energized, and inspired by by the experience by finding quaint, charming and unique places along the way to refresh the mind and the spirit.

Travel With Stephanie Abrams focuses on keeping both business and leisure travelers up to date on travel trends and news that affect  travelers including tips on great places for groups of all kinds including conferences, meetings and conventions and wonderful places to relax when it’s time to take a breakaway, vacation or incentive trip to boost sales and production for businesses.  Destination explored include those  close-to-home and across the globe.

Visit  travelers411.com  for more information.

International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrants for Russia's Shoigu and Gerasimov

International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrants for Russia's Shoigu and Gerasimov

FILE PHOTO: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia February 27, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

By Stephanie van den Berg

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov on Tuesday for alleged crimes committed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It brought to eight the number of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. They include Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces charges over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The court's move was welcomed by Kyiv, but dismissed as legally meaningless by Moscow.

The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.

Judges had found there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure" between Oct. 10, 2022 and at least March 9, 2023, the ICC said in a press release.

Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly said Ukraine's energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine is also not a member, but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory since November 2013.

Kyiv applauded move to issue arrest warrants.

"Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. "And we do hope to see them behind bars."

Russia's Security Council said the court's action was part of a hybrid war against Moscow.

"This is just shooting the breeze, since the jurisdiction of the ICC does not extend to Russia, and was made as part of the hybrid war of the West against our country," state news agency TASS quoted the council as saying.

Shoigu has been a long-standing friend and ally of Putin and played a key role in the war. He was removed from his post of defence minister last month, and appointed secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council, in the most significant changes Putin has made to his military command since the invasion.

Since the ICC has no police force of its own and relies on member states to make arrests, it is unclear if any of the Russian suspects will ever stand trial.

Russia has a policy of not extraditing its nationals and the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, has no provisions in place that would allow for in absentia trials.

During the timeframe mentioned in the latest warrants Russia is suspected of having carried out strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations all over Ukraine.

According to ICC judges, there were reasonable grounds to believe the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects "and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage", making the attacks war crimes.

More specific details of the charges remain secret to protect witnesses and safeguard investigations, the court said.

CONNECTED CASES

In a statement ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he applied for the warrants in February and case was connected to the warrants issued in March for top Russian commanders Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov, who also face charges over attacks on the power grid.

Khan said that investigations in Ukraine were continuing along multiple, interconnected lines.

One of his top Ukraine investigators, Brenda Hollis, told journalists earlier this month that the ICC's Ukraine investigation is now looking into to crimes committed in detention against prisoners of war and civilians.

The ICC has come under scrutiny in recent months after ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for three senior Hamas officials.

Some of the ICC's vocal allies for its investigations in Ukraine such as Germany, Britain and the United States, have questioned the decision to seek warrants in that case. Most ICC member states, which include all of the European Union countries, have said they respect the independence of the court.

Washington, which is not an ICC member, has dismissed the move as "outrageous" and contests the court's jurisdiction over the Israel-Hamas conflict, but continues to support the ICC's Ukraine investigation.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Stephanie Van den Berg; Editing by Alison Williams and Alex Richardson)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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Gracie Abrams isn’t keeping to herself on her sophomore album, ‘The Secret of Us’

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Gracie Abrams wishes she could say she was born a performer — that as long as she can remember, all she wanted to do was sing for people.

Instead, she wrote songs alone in her bedroom, terrified of showing them to anyone.

“I was singing as quietly as possible so that no one could hear me,” the 24-year-old singer-songwriter says. This sentiment lingers in her early discography, gentle in its instrumentation and whisperpop lean. But her sophomore album, “The Secret of Us,” released Friday, shows little such restraint.

“This album, it’s louder, because I was touring while I was making it,” she said.

Her famous dad’s a fan. So is Phoebe Bridgers. But Gracie Abrams has a voice all her own

L.A. singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, daughter of filmmaker J.J., just released her debut EP, “Minor.”

July 29, 2020

On top of headlining shows for her debut album, “Good Riddance,” the Grammy best new artist nominee last year supported Taylor Swift on the North American leg of her Eras tour — now the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. In those stadiums of 70,000-plus people, Abrams said, emotions were at full volume.

“It’s like a safe space to feel everything very loudly,” she said. “The joy was infectious, and I think that really seeped into this album.”

“The Secret of Us” is a musical sucker punch, setting the moody outpourings of a 20-something woman to spirited guitar strumming and raspy background vocals. Written in large part by Abrams and her longtime friend Audrey Hobert in their shared L.A. apartment, it “embodies all the breathless urgency of spilling your heart out to your closest friend at the end of a whirlwind night,” a press release said.

While her early songwriting is heavily autobiographical, Abrams said she sees “The Secret of Us” as a novel: dramatic, narrative-driven, holding a plurality of experiences.

Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“We totally took seeds of truth and then leaned into the drama of falling in love in your 20s and how physical that feeling is,” Abrams said. They wrote “Risk,” the album’s first single, in August, and in the days that followed, Hobert said she could hardly sleep.

“I’ve just not felt anything like that before in my life,” Hobert said. “Writing together is unlike any drug that exists on the planet.”

If “Risk” was the crack in the dam, then writing the rest of the songs was like catching falling water: “Everything just kind of came in one fluid motion,” Abrams said.

She attributes the speed of the project to her comfort with her collaborators, Hobert and Grammy-winning producer Aaron Dessner, both of whom she considers family.

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“There’s nothing I wouldn’t tell either of them, so it makes it easy to be completely open when writing,” Abrams said.

“With Taylor [Swift] as well, when we were writing our song, it was like, again, nothing you wouldn’t say,” she added.

Swift collaborated with Abrams on “Us,” the fifth track from “The Secret of Us.” With its cinematic percussion and soaring vocals from both artists, the song is a rightful keeper of the titular lyric: “Wonder if you regret the secret of us.” Its references to “sonnets” and “Babylon” are also fitting for Swift, whose own infamous Track 5s often wax poetic.

Like “Good Riddance” — and Swift’s “folklore” studio sessions — “The Secret of Us” was recorded at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in upstate New York. But the latter marks the first time Abrams has taken a hands-on role in production.

“When we were at home writing a lot of the songs on just acoustic guitar, I felt like I could hear the whole finished product in my head,” she said. Dessner, who “has no ego about anything,” was predictably supportive, “which is epic, because I know that’s not always the case, especially from producers as established as he is.”

“At no point did Aaron ever make me feel like I was intruding or not experienced enough. He just encouraged me from the moment I walked in,” Hobert echoed.

During visits to Long Pond, Hobert and Abrams burst in on each other’s solo recording sessions and downed tequila shots between takes while Dessner laughed along, filming the duo’s most amusing moments. When he turned in early, they stayed up dancing to the demos.

“This is a different kind of release,” Abrams said, “because I get to celebrate it with my best friend every moment along the way.”

The two shared the stage Monday for a last-minute, invite-only show at the Echo, “Gracie & Audrey.” The event drew around 300 fans, many of whom sported Abrams’ trademark hair bows.

Popular L.A. club night Funky Sole stops the music at the Echo after 14 years

Organizers of the Echo’s monthly all-vinyl ‘60s soul bash Funky Sole said Thursday that this weekend’s installment would be its final night at the club.

Sept. 25, 2021

On the set list were several tracks from the new album, including “Blowing Smoke,” whose biting line, “If she’s got a pulse she meets your standards now,” drew a handful of gasps. But the gem of the night was the closer that was seven years in the making.

Abrams first posted a 30-second snippet of “Close to You” on Instagram in 2017. The synth-pop track — which some have likened to Lorde’s “Melodrama,” released the same year — quickly became a fan favorite. Since then, Abrams has regularly fielded pleas for a full version.

“I didn’t want to release it for seven years, which is why I didn’t release it for seven years,” she quipped, a grin creeping across her face. “Though, they were right.”

“Close to You” received over 3 million streams in its first day on Spotify, becoming her best-performing single upon release. It’s also her first solo song to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It’s strange to see fans rallying so hard for a song she wrote when she was 16, she said, “but I f— love them for caring.”

Evidently, that love is requited. When presales went live for Abrams’ the Secret of Us tour earlier this month, her Sept. 11 show at the Greek Theatre sold out within an hour, so she added a second night — then, a third.

“I knew that we had Night 2 in our back pocket, but not Night 3,” Abrams said. She was shocked when she saw the Ticketmaster queue, which was nearly four times the amphitheater’s capacity.

They could’ve upgraded the venue, “but I don’t want to skip steps in that way,” she said. Plus, for an artist who grew up in L.A., it doesn’t get more magical than the Greek.

She’d play anywhere, though, on the condition that her fans were there to sing back to her.

“As long as they’ll have me, I’ll do this.”

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Malia Mendez began writing for the Los Angeles Times in 2023. A previous summer intern on the Entertainment and Arts Desk, she graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in journalism. Mendez got her start in journalism at the Stanford Daily, where she worked as managing editor of the newspaper’s Arts & Life section. Her byline can be found in Los Angeles Magazine, the Orange County Register and the Peninsula Press. She is from Irvine.

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Russia's Kremlin parades Western equipment captured from Ukrainian army at exhibition

The exhibition is located at a world war ii memorial venue in western moscow.

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Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot sits down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the president's gratitude to America and the country's progress in its war against Russia.

• An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces in Ukraine opened in Moscow.
• Organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, it showcases over 30 pieces of heavy equipment, including tanks and armored vehicles.
• The exhibition, located at a World War II memorial venue in western Moscow, will be open for a month.

An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine opened Wednesday in the Russian capital.

The exhibit organized by the Russian Defense Ministry features over 30 pieces of Western-made heavy equipment including a U.S.-made M1 Abrams battle tank and a Bradley armored fighting vehicle, a Leopard 2 tank and a Marder armored infantry vehicle from Germany, and a French-made AMX-10RC armored vehicle.

The exhibition, which will remain open for a month at a World War II memorial venue in western Moscow, also displays firearms, military papers and other documents.

RUSSIA THREATENS SEIZURE OF US ASSETS IN RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL CONFISCATION OF CURRENCY RESERVES

Russian authorities have criticized supplies of Western weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, casting them as evidence of NATO's direct involvement in the conflict. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that Western military supplies to Kyiv wouldn’t change the course of the conflict and prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

A municipal worker cleans an area near a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow, on April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The exhibition comes as Russian forces have grabbed more land in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of delays in U.S. military assistance to push back the under-gunned Kyiv forces.

A Russian soldier walks past a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army is seen on display in Moscow on April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has hailed the Moscow exhibition as a "brilliant idea."

"The exhibition of trophy equipment will attract great interest from Moscow residents, guests of our city, and all residents of the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "We should all see the enemy's battered equipment."

Russian military bloggers drew parallels between the show and the exhibits of captured Nazi military equipment the Soviet Union held during and after World War II.

Russian military police soldiers walk past a M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that foreign diplomats based in Moscow should take the opportunity to visit the exhibition to see how "the West destroys peace on the planet."

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"This exhibition will be interesting to all those who still believe in mythical ‘Western values’ or fail to notice an aggression unleashed by NATO against Russia and our people," Zakharova said.

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Kremlin parades Western equipment captured from Ukrainian army at Moscow exhibition

A Russian soldier walks past a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army is seen on display in Moscow. Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A municipal worker walks past a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army is seen on display in Moscow. Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian military police soldiers walk past a M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian soldiers guard an area with armoured military vehicles that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People look at armoured military vehicles that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A municipal worker cleans an area near a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army on display in Moscow, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The Russian military put some of the equipment captured from Ukrainian forces on display in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Visitors look at and take photos of a U.S. made M1A1 Abrams tank, foreground, hit and captured by Russian troops during the fighting in Ukraine which is seen on display in Moscow, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. An exhibition of military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine has opened in the Russian capital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A U.S. made M1A1 Abrams tank, foreground, hit and captured by Russian troops during the fighting in Ukraine is seen on display in Moscow, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. An exhibition of military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine has opened in the Russian capital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Visitors look at and take photos of a a German made Leopard 2A6 tank, hit and captured by Russian troops during the fighting in Ukraine which is seen on display in Moscow, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. An exhibition of military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine has opened in the Russian capital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A U.S. made M1A1 Abrams tank hit and captured by Russian troops during the fighting in Ukraine is seen on display in Moscow, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. An exhibition of military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine has opened in the Russian capital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A German made Leopard 2A6 tank, hit and captured by Russian troops during the fighting in Ukraine which is seen on display in Moscow, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. An exhibition of military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine has opened in the Russian capital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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MOSCOW (AP) — An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine opened Wednesday in the Russian capital.

The exhibit organized by the Russian Defense Ministry features more than 30 pieces of Western-made heavy equipment, including a U.S.-made M1 Abrams battle tank and a Bradley armored fighting vehicle, a Leopard 2 tank and a Marder armored infantry vehicle from Germany, and a French-made AMX-10RC armored vehicle.

The exhibition, which will remain open for a month at a World War II memorial venue in western Moscow, also displays firearms, military papers and other documents.

Russian authorities have criticized supplies of Western weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, casting them as evidence of NATO’s direct involvement in the fighting. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that Western military supplies to Kyiv wouldn’t change the course of the conflict and prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

The exhibition comes as Russian forces have grabbed more land in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of delays in U.S. military assistance to push back the under-gunned Kyiv forces .

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has hailed the Moscow exhibition as a “brilliant idea.”

“The exhibition of trophy equipment will attract great interest from Moscow residents, guests of our city, and all residents of the country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We should all see the enemy’s battered equipment.”

Russian military bloggers drew parallels between the show and the exhibits of captured Nazi military equipment that the Soviet Union held during and after World War II.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that foreign diplomats based in Moscow should take the opportunity to visit the exhibition to see how “the West destroys peace on the planet.”

“This exhibition will be interesting to all those who still believe in mythical ‘Western values’ or fail to notice an aggression unleashed by NATO against Russia and our people,” Zakharova said.