LOS ANGELES - Fans of Justin Bieber pleaded on Tuesday for his upcoming British tour dates to be canceled, underscoring the potential repercussions to music acts with a young fan base from the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Canadian heartthrob Bieber, 23, is due to play an open air concert at London's Hyde Park in July. But fans flooded social media saying his appearance should be axed for the safety both of fans and the singer himself.
"Cancel Justin's concert in the UK, please! We want him to be safe, please," a person using the handle marhrukhh wrote on the Instagram account of Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun.
Braun also manages Grande, also 23, a former Nickelodeon star whose huge female fan base, many of them tweens, were out in force for her concert in Manchester on Monday night when a suicide bombing killed 22 people and injured dozens.
The "Problem" singer flew to Florida on Tuesday to spend time with her family, the Daily Mail website reported. Representatives at Grande's record company did not return calls on whether the remainder of her world tour, with stops in London and Europe, would go ahead.
Leanne Murray, 20, who lives in Ireland, has tickets to see Bieber play in Dublin next month. But she said that after Monday's bombing she is contemplating selling them.
"I just don't want what I would hope to be a great night to end in something like last night," Murray, who paid 180 Euros ($200) each for two tickets told Reuters.
"It's frightening to think that it could have been any of us and it really shows that you never know what's around the corner," Murray added.
Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to Reuters on the status of his upcoming performances.
Touring has been one of the top sources of income for musicians in recent years. The top 10 worldwide tour acts grossed a combined $1.67 billion in 2016, according to music industry publication Pollstar, with Bruce Springsteen bringing in $268.3 million alone.
Pop acts like Taylor Swift, Bieber, One Direction and Grande are also among the top earners. Grande grossed more than $25 million from touring between April 2016-April 2017, according to Pollstar figures, while Bieber grossed $163 million in 2016.
Robin Wolff, from Agoura Hills, California, said she has accompanied her 15-year-old daughter Brooke to Miley Cyrus and One Direction concerts. Her daughter has only more recently attended a couple of concerts without parental supervision.
Asked if she has concerns for her children attending concerts in the wake of the Manchester attack, Wolff said, "Absolutely."
"It's scary. Especially if you're not there for them, that's even scarier. Me going with them, I'm OK with that," she said.
Joe Reinartz, news editor at Pollstar, said that although he believes security is already strong at music venues and will no doubt be stepped up, parents would likely be more cautious.
"In the short term, there are going to be concerns for any large gathering where there will be young people, and that doesn't necessarily mean a Justin Bieber show. It means a high school football game, or an event at a fair ground," Reinartz said.
Jim Donio, president of the Music Business Association, said he would be surprised to see musicians cancelling tours because of the attack at the Grande concert.
But he said fans will be more aware and prepared. "Will parents make more informed decisions? Yes, that's possible, so there can be some impact there."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
British police said they arrested a 23-year old man in connection with a suicide bomb attack in Manchester which killed 22 people and injured dozens at a British concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande.
"With regards to last night's incident at the Manchester Arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester," Greater Manchester Police said on Twitter on Tuesday.
A suicide bomber killed at least 22 people and wounded 59 at a packed concert hall in the English city of Manchester in what Prime Minister Theresa May called a sickening act targeting children and young people.
May said police believed they knew the identity of the bomber and police then said a 23-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the attack carried out late on Monday evening as people began leaving a concert given by Ariana Grande, a U.S. singer who attracts a large number of young and teenage fans.
"All acts of terrorism are cowardly...but this attack stands out for its appalling sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives," May said outside her Downing Street office in London.
"The attempt to divide us met countless acts of kindness that brought people closer together."
The northern English city remained on high alert. A Reuters witnesses said they heard a "big bang" at Manchester's Arndale shopping mall and saw people running from the building. Police said they were dealing with an incident inside. The shopping centre reopened soon afterward, a Reuters witness said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more police had been ordered onto the streets of the British capital.
Monday's attack was the deadliest in Britain since four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London's transport system in 2005. But it will have reverberations far beyond British shores.
Attacks in cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St Petersburg, Berlin and London have shocked Europeans already anxious over security challenges from mass immigration and pockets of domestic Islamist radicalism. The Islamic State militant group has called for attacks as retaliation for Western involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Witnesses related the horror of the Manchester blast, which unleashed a stampede just as the concert ended at what is Europe's largest indoor arena, full to a capacity of 21,000.
"We ran and people were screaming around us and pushing on the stairs to go outside and people were falling down, girls were crying, and we saw these women being treated by paramedics having open wounds on their legs ... it was just chaos," said Sebastian Diaz, 19. "It was literally just a minute after it ended, the lights came on and the bomb went off."
U.S. President Donald Trump described the attack as the work of "evil losers". German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it "will only strengthen our resolve to...work with our British friends against those who plan and carry out such inhumane deeds."
A source with knowledge of the situation said the bomber's explosives were packed with metal and bolts. At least 19 of those wounded were in a critical condition, the source said.
A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. Dozens of parents frantically searched for their children, posting photos and pleading for information on social media.
"We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming," concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.
"It was a huge explosion - you could feel it in your chest."
Singer Ariana Grande, 23, said on Twitter: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."
May, who faces an election in two-and-a-half weeks, said her thoughts were with the victims and their families. She and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, agreed to suspend campaigning ahead of the June 8 vote.
SUICIDE BOMBER?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but U.S. officials drew parallels to the coordinated attacks in November 2015 by Islamist militants on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris that killed 130 people.
"It clearly bears the hallmark of Daesh (Islamic State)," said former French intelligence agent Claude Moniquet, now a Brussels-based security consultant, "because Ariana Grande is a young singer who attracts a very young audience, teenagers.
"So very clearly the aim was to do as much harm as possible, to shock British society as much as possible."
Islamic State supporters took to social media to celebrate the blast and some encouraged similar attacks elsewhere.
Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe", meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.
British counter-terrorism police have said they are making on average an arrest every day in connection with suspected terrorism.
In March, a British-born convert to Islam ploughed a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing to death a police officer who was on the grounds of parliament. The man was shot dead at the scene.
In 2015, Pakistani student Abid Naseer was convicted in a U.S. court of conspiring with al Qaeda to blow up the Arndale shopping center in the center of Manchester in April 2009.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas, Editing by Paul Sandle)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA – American singer Ariana Grande apologized to her fans after an explosion marred her concert in Manchester, England on Monday night (Tuesday morning in Manila).
In a post on Twitter, Grande wrote: “Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words.”
At least 19 people were killed and 50 others wounded in what Greater Manchester Police described as a "terrorist incident."
Immediately after the blast, a spokesman for Grande, 23, said the singer was "okay."
Grande’s concert was held at the Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, is a popular concert and sporting venue. it has a capacity for 21,000 people, according to its website.
Britain is now on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.
– with reports from Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN News, and Reuters
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANCHESTER - At least 22 people, including some children, were killed and 59 wounded when a suicide bomber struck as thousands of fans streamed out of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande in the English city of Manchester on Monday.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the incident was being treated as a terrorist attack, making it the deadliest militant assault in Britain since four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London's transport system in July 2005.
Police said the attacker died after detonating explosives shortly after 10:33 pm (5:35 a.m. in Manila) at Manchester Arena, which has the capacity to hold 21,000 people. Children were among the dead, police said.
"We believe, at this stage, the attack last night was conducted by one man," Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters. "The priority is to establish whether he was acting alone or as part of a network.
"The attacker... died at the arena. We believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated causing this atrocity."
A witness who attended the concert said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush by thousands of people trying to escape the building.
A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. Dozens of parents frantically searched for their children, posting photos and pleading for information on social media.
"We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming," concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.
"It was a huge explosion - you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out."
Ariana Grande, 23, later said on Twitter: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."
May, who faces an election in two-and-a-half weeks, said her thoughts were with the victims and their families. She and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, agreed to suspend campaigning ahead of the June 8 election.
"We are working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack," May said in a statement. "All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected."
May is due to hold a crisis response meeting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences over the blast to Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Chinese state media reported.
The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs meanwhile said it was seeking confirmation on the condition of Filipinos in England.
SUICIDE BOMBER?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but US officials drew parallels to the coordinated attacks in November 2015 by Islamist militants on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris, which claimed about 130 lives.
Islamic State supporters took to social media to celebrate the blast and some encouraged similar attacks elsewhere.
Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe", meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.
British counter-terrorism police have said they are making on average an arrest every day in connection with suspected terrorism.
In March, a British-born convert to Islam ploughed a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing to death a police officer who was on the grounds of parliament. The man was shot dead at the scene.
In 2015, Pakistani student Abid Naseer was convicted in a US court of conspiring with al Qaeda to blow up the Arndale shopping centre in the centre of Manchester in April 2009.
PARENTS' ANGUISH
Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and is a popular concert and sporting venue.
Desperate parents and friends used social media to search for loved ones who attended Monday's concert while the wounded were being treated at six hospitals across Manchester.
"Everyone pls share this, my little sister Emma was at the Ari concert tonight in #Manchester and she isn't answering her phone, pls help me," said one message posted alongside a picture of a blonde girl with flowers in her hair.
Paula Robinson, 48, from West Dalton about 40 miles east of Manchester, said she was at the train station next to the arena with her husband when she felt the explosion and saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from arena.
"We ran out," Robinson told Reuters. "It was literally seconds after the explosion. I got the teens to run with me."
Robinson took dozens of teenage girls to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel and tweeted out her phone number to worried parents, telling them to meet her there. She said her phone had not stopped ringing since her tweet.
"Parents were frantic running about trying to get to their children," she said. "There were lots of lots children at Holiday Inn."
(Additional Reporting by Alistair Smout, Kate Holton and David Milliken in LONDON, Mark Hosenball in LOS ANGELES, John Walcott in WASHINGTON, D.C., Leela de Kretser in NEW YORK, Mostafa Hashem in CAIRO, and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Nick Tattersall; Editing by Paul Tait and John Stonestreet)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
