U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande has paid a surprise visit to young fans who were injured in a suicide attack on a concert she gave in Manchester last month, posing with them for selfies and signing t-shirts.

Grande returned to Britain on Friday to lead an all-star benefit concert on Sunday and quickly headed for a hospital in the northern English city where many of the injured are being treated.

The Manchester Evening News newspaper said she brought presents and chatted with young fans, including 10-year-old Jaden Farrell-Mann, who suffered fractures to both legs and shrapnel wounds and has undergone two operations.

“Jaden was just sat there watching TV and she walked in. She was absolutely amazed! It was a complete surprise,” her mother, Sharon, told the newspaper. “She’d met Prince William earlier today and then Ariana walked in.”

Adam Harrison told the BBC his daughter Lily “felt like a rock star” after meeting her idol late on Friday and was “chomping at the bit” to attend the concert.

The “One Love Manchester” concert will also feature Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Take That and the Black Eyed Peas.

It will take place at the Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

Fans who attended Grande’s show that was targeted by the bomber are being offered free tickets to the concert which will be broadcast on British television. Proceeds from tickets sold will go to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund set up to aid grieving families and victims of the attack.

The attack by suicide bomber Salman Abedi on May 22 killed 22 people and wounded 116. Eleven people are in police custody as part of the police investigation into the attack.

 
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National parks traveler Mikah Meyer left Texas and headed to southern New Mexico, just in time to celebrate a milestone; he’s exactly one-third of the way through his 3-year journey to visit all 417 sites within the U.S. National Park Service.

He didn’t realize what spectacular beauty awaited him at his first two sites.

Geological wonders

While in Texas, Mikah had explored the natural beauty among the mountains and canyons of the Chihuahuan Desert, but he soon discovered other natural gems, this time hidden beneath the desert in southeastern New Mexico: the 119 limestone caves in Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

They were formed millions of years ago, when sulfuric acid dissolved the limestone along fractures and folds in the rock, leaving behind caves of all sizes.

Land of enchantment

As he explored one of the largest, Mikah said it was like looking up at the sky. “And in this case the sky that you’re looking at is full of stalactites. It’s basically this incredibly filled cave with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, in crazy designs.”

Stalactites hang like icicles from the roof of a cave. They are made up of calcium salts and other minerals deposited by water seeping from cracks in the roof. Stalagmites form in the same way, rising up from water that drips to the floor of a cave. The two often meet and fuse into a single column, creating a picturesque form.

WATCH: White Sands, Mystical Caves Mesmerize Parks Traveler

“I have a picture of one that looks like Jabba the Hutt; it looks like a Star Wars character with nasty teeth,” Mikah said. “There is other one that looks like a bunch of spider webs hanging from the ceiling and others that look like chandeliers.”

Outside of the cave, Mikah noticed a huge flock of birds flying around. Come evening, the skies fill with thousands of bats — specifically, Brazilian (or Mexican) free-tailed bats. The 9-centimeter long creatures are among the most abundant North American mammals and reported to be the fastest flyer in the animal kingdom.

Experiencing the wonders of the cave helped Mikah understand why New Mexico’s nickname is the Land of Enchantment. “It’s one of the most otherworldly places I’ve been to on this entire journey so far,” he said.

Desert snow?

Heading north from the ethereal world of the caves, Mikah found himself in another surreal place… driving on a road covered with something that looked like snow…

“Growing up in Nebraska, this is what it looks like after a really heavy snow,” he noted.  

Except he wasn’t in Nebraska… he was in the middle of a desert. And what he was driving on, wasn’t snow.

It was white sand. Lots and lots of white gypsum sand, covering 712 square kilometers of desert, the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live there.

“The reason this white sand exists is partially because there used to be a lake,” Mikah explained. As the ancient lake dried up, it left behind the sand. “And because the sand is in between two mountain ranges, that’s what’s helped allow it to stay there,” he added. “So it’s a very, very unique opportunity to see a different ecosystem.”

Ocean of sand

Mikah had fun exploring those dunes, running up and down the glistening white sand in the white hot sun. At one point, he even swapped his sneakers for a snow saucer, using it to sled down the dune as he would have on a snowy hill.

Mikah also enjoyed a hike on the Alkali Flat Trail, a strenuous, 8 kilometer round trip. Despite its name, the trail isn’t flat, the National Park Service warns. Mikah hiked up and down dunes the entire way, with no shady refuge from the sun.

“When you’re in the main part of the park where you’re driving around, the sands have some bushes and green trees in them, so it’s not just like this pure field of sand,” Mikah said. “But when you go on the Flats Trail it really becomes nothing but basically an ocean of white sand.”  

“White Sands was a really big place for me because it was my 139th park site which marked exactly one third of the way through this journey,” Mikah said. He stamped his National Park Service “Passport” with a cancellation stamp to commemorate the milestone.

He ended his day at the site with a fitting tribute.

“I made it a goal to get there for sunset because I’d heard the sunsets there were magical, and I’m proud to say I made it… it was really just another otherworldly place.”

That may be one of the reasons the site is one of Mikah’s top four favorite parks so far.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park and White Sands National Monument are just two of 15 national park sites in New Mexico. Mikah, invites you to learn more about his journey through those enchanted lands by visiting him on his website, Facebook and Instagram.
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National parks traveler Mikah Meyer recently celebrated a milestone. He’s exactly one-third of the way through his three-year journey to visit all 417 sites within the U.S. National Park Service. He spent it exploring white sand dunes and mystical caves at two of New Mexico’s many national park sites. He shared highlights of his visits with VOA’s JulieTaboh.
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One year ago today, Muhammad Ali — arguably the greatest and most unforgettable athlete of the 20th century — lost his decades-long fight with Parkinson’s disease, dying at age 74.

‘I am the greatest’

Originally named Cassius Clay, Ali was in Kentucky during an era of harsh segregation, and confronted its indignities from the start, carrying himself with confidence and pride despite the racist world around him.

He learned to box at the age of 12, motivated by the theft of his red Schwinn bike, which left the skinny youth humiliated — and determined.

‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’

From the start, Clay — who would later change his name to Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam — was driven, creating a punishing gym routine that he rarely deviated from.

He was a natural.

 

The young athlete possessed unmatched speed, agility and physical power. His signature was a kind of mental strength or attitude that he used to outwit his opponents.

Outside the ring, Ali was witty, charismatic, even vain (of his opponents, he would often say ‘He isn’t as pretty as me!”), and often spoke like hyped up poet:

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see. Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t. 

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.

Although he had already made a name for himself, his big moment came in 1964, when he stepped into the ring for his first title fight against then heavyweight champ Sonny Liston. Ali taunted the champion mercilessly, once appearing unexpectedly at his home to goad him into the ring.

Ali instantly became a worldwide star after knocking out Liston in just six rounds. 

​Despite his brash charm, originality in the ring and stunning physical prowess, not everyone took to Ali.  Many publicly expressed their hatred.

By joining Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam and adopting a Muslim name, he alienated many Americans who were not ready to accept a black Muslim boxing star. 

“He threatened a sense of the racial order; he was, in his refusal to conform to any type, as destabilizing to many Americans. … He was, for many years, a radical figure for many Americans,”  wrote David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker Magazine and author of the 1998 biography “Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero.” ​

By 1967, Ali had won 29 title fights in six and a half years, an extraordinary record. But an unexpected turn of events was to keep the champ out of the ring for the next three years. 

Vietnam

When he refused to be inducted into the armed forces during the Vietnam War, the state boxing commission suspended him, stripping him of his title.  

Ali would not fight the Vietcong in Vietnam.

That move endeared him to many, African-Americans in particular, who watched as the heavyweight champion of the world courageously gave up his hard-won heavyweight boxing title in exchange for principles.

Ali returned to the ring in 1970, after a federal court upheld his petition for a state license.

He would triumph over and over again in the years to come: reclaiming his title in 1974 in a fight with Joe Frazier; the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” in what was then the country of Zaire, where he won a masterful fight against George Foreman; losing his title and winning it back; and, finally, losing it for the last time in 1980 to Larry Holmes.

He retired a year later. By then, the early effects of Parkinson’s disease on Ali’s body were clearly evident in his slurred speech.

As he grew increasingly more ill, he was rarely seen in public, living out the rest of his life quietly with his family in Kentucky and Arizona.

 
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The private studio of glass artist Dale Chihuly reflects his long obsession with collecting. Sheets of stamps cover one table; pocket knives are marshaled on another. Carnival-prize figurines from the first half of the 20th century line shelves that reach the ceiling.

 

Amid the ordered clutter, some items hint at more than Chihuly’s eclectic tastes: a long row of Ernest Hemingway titles in one bookcase, and in another an entire wall devoted to Vincent van Gogh — homages to creative geniuses racked by depression.

 

Chihuly, too, has struggled with his mental health, by turns fragile and luminous like the art he makes. Now 75 and still in the thrall of a decades-long career, he discussed his bipolar disorder in detail for the first time publicly in an interview with The Associated Press. He and his wife, Leslie Chihuly, said they don’t want to omit from his legacy a large part of who he is.

 

“It’s a pretty remarkable moment to be able to have this conversation,” she said. “We really want to open our lives a little bit and share something more personal. … Dale’s a great example of somebody who can have a successful marriage and a successful family life and successful career — and suffer from a really debilitating, chronic disease. That might be helpful for other people.”

 

Chihuly, who began working with glass in the 1960s, is a pioneer of the glass art movement. Known for styles that include vibrant seashell-like shapes, baskets, chandeliers and ambitious installations in botanical gardens and museums, he has said that pushing the material to new forms, creating objects never before seen, fascinates him.

Even in the past year he has found a new way of working with glass — painting with glass enamel on glass panes, stacking the panes together and back-lighting them to give them a visual depth. He calls it “Glass on Glass,” and it’s featured for the first time in the new Chihuly Sanctuary at the Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and at an indoor-outdoor exhibit opening June 3 at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

 

But the flip side of that creativity has sometimes been dark. He began suffering from depression in his 20s, he said, and those spells began to alternate with manic periods beginning in his late 40s.

 

“I’m usually either up or down,” Chihuly said. “I don’t have neutral very much. When I’m up I’m usually working on several projects. A lot of times it’s about a six-month period. When I’m down, I kind of go in hibernation.”

 

He still works but doesn’t feel as good about it. His wife noted that if he only went into the studio when he was up, he “wouldn’t have had a career.”

 

Asked what his down periods are like, Chihuly took a long pause. “Just pretty tough,” he said. “I’m lucky that I like movies. If I don’t feel good, I’ll put on a movie.”

 

Leslie Chihuly, who runs his studio, is more loquacious about the difficulties his condition has posed in their 25-year relationship.

 

They’ve tried to manage it as a family with various types of counseling, medication and a 1-to-10 scale system that allows him to communicate how he’s feeling when he doesn’t want to talk about it, she said.

 

Chihuly gave up drinking 15 years ago, and it’s been more than a decade since he was “life-threateningly depressed,” she said, though he’s never been suicidal.

 

“Dale has an impeccable memory about certain things, but there have been certain periods of time when he’s been hypomanic, as we call it, or depressed, and I’ll be the keeper for our family and our business around those difficult times,” she said.

 

She met him in 1992 after a mutual friend set them up. He was in a near-manic period, talking about an idea for bringing glassblowers from around the world to Venice, Italy, to display their art in the city’s canals. He had no plan and no funding, but she was eager to help him realize his vision — one that would eventually be depicted in the public television documentary “Chihuly Over Venice.”

 

Six months later, they traveled to an exhibit opening at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

 

“It was like the lights went out,” she said, choking back a sob. “All of a sudden the guy who was interested in everything … that guy wasn’t there.”

 

Dale Chihuly remained quiet as his wife described that moment. A tear fell from beneath the recognizable eyepatch he has worn since he lost sight in his left eye in a 1976 car crash.

 

Though the mood swings were new to Leslie Chihuly at the time, they were familiar to the other artists Chihuly worked with. Joey Kirkpatrick met him in 1979, when she attended Pilchuck Glass School, which Chihuly founded in the woods north of Seattle in 1971. It was a small summer workshop; the students constructed their own shelter. She and her partner, Flora Mace, spent many hours watching movies with him during his down periods.

 

“What amazed me about it is his persistence at picking the thing, his creative life, that would pull him along or keep him going through those times,” she said. “When he was up, he could call you up at Pilchuck on a Sunday night and say, ‘Meet me at the airport at 10 tomorrow, we’ve got a flight to Pittsburgh to go to some demonstration.’ It was always exciting. When he was down, there wasn’t that. It was quieter.”

 

Chihuly said the message he’d have for others struggling with the condition would be to “see a good shrink” and to “try to live with it, to know that when they’re really depressed, it’s going to change, before too long. And to take advantage when they do feel up to get as much done as they can.”
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Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am said in a recent interview that Fergie is no longer in the group, but later said the songstress “will always be a Pea.”

 

Will.i.am’s interview with Ahlan! magazine caused a frenzy online Thursday with the suggestion that Fergie was no longer a member of the pop group. A day later, will.i.am said in a statement: “Fergie is family and will always be a Pea. She is focused on her solo album which we fully support.”

 

In the interview, will.i.am said that “nobody is replacing Fergie” and that the Black Eyed Peas are working on a new project. He said former Pussycat Doll leader Nicole Scherzinger would be featured on the project but didn’t say how much involvement she would have (Scherzinger was offered a spot in the Peas before Fergie.)

 

Representatives for the Black Eyed Peas and Fergie didn’t immediately reply to emails seeking clarity about Fergie’s role in the group.

 

The Black Eyed Peas released its debut in 1998 as an eclectic hip-hop trio with will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo. Fergie first appeared on the group’s third album, 2003’s “Elephunk,” helping them achieve mainstream success. The group went on to win Grammy Awards, sell millions of albums and top the pop charts with hits from “Where Is the Love” to “Boom Boom Pow.”

 

Fergie also had major success with her 2006 solo debut, which was heavily produced by will.i.am. She announced last week that she left Universal Music Group, the longtime label behind her and the Black Eyed Peas, to launch her own record label called Dutchess Music through BMG.

 

She plans to release her sophomore album, “Double Dutchess,” this year.
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We’re interfacing with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending June 3, 2017.

After several weeks of big moves, the chart falls asleep: absolutely nothing changes.

Number 5: Kendrick Lamar “Humble”

Kendrick Lamar treads water in fifth place with his former chart-topper “Humble.” Kendrick kicks off his North American tour on July 12…and fans can get ready with a new batch of tour merchandise.

The TDE company has released new T-shirts, hoodies, and hats, all saying “be humble” and “sit down.” All gear is available now for pre-order and will ship by June 16.

 

 

Number 4:  Ed Sheeran ” Shape Of You”

Ed Sheeran hangs onto fourth place with another former chart-topper “Shape Of You.” Ed has denied reports he’s engaged to his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn.

It’s all Russell Crowe’s fault: the actor mistakenly referred to Cherry as Ed’s “fiancee” during a recent Facebook Live chat. Ed set us all straight Tuesday on Australian radio: they’re not engaged.

Number 3:  DJ Khaled Featuring Jusin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne “I’m The One”

DJ Khaled remains wed to third place on “I’m The One,” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne.

They’re among the stars appearing on Khaled’s upcoming Grateful album, and now we have two more to anticipate. Last week, DJ Khaled went on Los Angeles radio station Power 106 to announce that Rihanna and Nas will also appear on the album. We don’t, however, know the release date – Khaled just says we’ll get it soon.

Number 2: Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like”

Bruno Mars continues to hold the runner-up slot with “That’s What I Like” – every one of our top five songs has spent at least one week at number one.

Seven years ago this month, Bruno first topped the Hot 100 chart. He was the featured artist in B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ On You.” Since then, Bruno has visited the top slot six more times…but B.o.B. has yet to make a return appearance.

Number 1: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Despacito”

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee post a second week atop the Hot 100 with “Despacito” featuring Justin Bieber.

Sunday, June 4, Justin will participate in Ariana Grande’s return concert in Manchester, England. The massive show will also feature Katy Perry, Pharrell, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay and other top acts. All proceeds will benefit the victims and families affected by the May 22 suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena, that followed a performance by Ariana.
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American Comedian Kathy Griffin responded to mounting criticism against her after she published a photo of herself holding what resembled the severed head of U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing “a bunch of old white guys” of trying to silence her.

During a news conference Friday, a teary-eyed Griffin accused the president and his allies, whom she referred to as “nut jobs,” of launching a campaign to get her fired from her jobs, simply because she is a woman.

“This wouldn’t be happening to a guy. This is a female thing,” Griffin said, when asked if she thought a male comic would be treated the same way.

The entertainer lost a television appearance on CNN and had five performance dates on her tour cancelled following the release of the photo showing her holding a reproduction of a bloody head that looked like Trump.

When asked about her loss of work Friday, Griffin called it “hurtful” that so many entities had chosen to distance themselves from her. Her attorney, Lisa Bloom, said Griffin had been a victim of “censorship.”

Trump, on Wednesday, reacted to Griffin’s photo on Twitter, calling it disturbing – particularly to his children.

First Lady Melania Trump, in a rare move, also issued a statement Wednesday, questioning “the mental health” of a person who would take such a photo.

“As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing,” she said.

Griffin initially apologized for the photo after it received widespread criticism across the political spectrum, saying she had “moved the line” and then “crossed it.”

She changed her tone Friday, though, calling Trump a “fool” and accusing him of attacking her in an effort to distract from other issues currently facing his administration.

“They have mobilized their armies or their bots, or whatever they do,” she said. “I don’t think I will have a career after this. I’m going to be honest, he broke me. He broke me.”

Griffin said she “put about five minutes of thought into this” before posing for the photo and her intention was to cause a controversy.

“I said: ‘let’s get in trouble. Let’s give them something to talk about,’” she said.

Further, she called releasing the photo: “The right thing to do.”

Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney hired by Griffin, confirmed Friday that Griffin is the subject of a U.S. Secret Service investigation for her role in the photo, but said “there really wasn’t a threat” and called the photo “a bad joke.”

“We’re going to fully cooperate with the Secret Service in their investigation,” he said.
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