Adele announces first tour in five years for new album ‘25’

Adele announces first tour in five years for new album ‘25’

LONDON

Adele has announced her first tour since 2011, with a string of European dates in support of her record-breaking new album, “25.”

The British singer announced Thursday that she will play venues in Britain and Europe starting Feb. 29 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Adele has previously said she finds touring lonely. But in a video on Facebook, the 27-year-old said she was “relieved to finally tell you I am of course coming on tour and I can’t wait to see all of you there.”

The album sold a record 2.4 million copies in its first four days in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. In Britain, it sold 737,000 copies in its first week.

The first single, “Hello,” is a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

One reason for the astronomical sales may be that Adele declined to make her album available through music-streaming services, forcing listeners to buy it either digitally and at stores.

Jeezy hands out Thanksgiving meals

ATLANTA

Grammy-nominated rapper Jeezy went from handing out meals to performing in front of a sold-out crowd in Atlanta.

Jeezy took the stage at the Tabernacle on Wednesday night hours before he helped handout 200 boxes of food. The meals included turkey or ham, corn green beans, stuffing, rolls and cranberry sauce at Mt. Sanai Baptist Church. He held the event through his Street Dreamz Foundation.

Through Jeezy’s event, many also received a bouquet of flowers and two tickets to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game.

Jeezy performed several hits including “Put On,” ‘’Go Crazy” and every song from his new album “Church in the Streets.” Rapper T.I. made a brief appearance with Jeezy on stage.

T.I. helped Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed hand out 500 turkeys Wednesday at the Adamsville Recreation Center.

Officials: Red-haired students bullied

MELROSE, Mass.

School officials in a Boston suburb say they are outraged by a bullying incident in which a group of middle-school students kicked other students with red hair during a break in classes.

A statement from Melrose Public Schools says the seventh-graders were imitating an episode from the TV cartoon series “South Park” when they sought out redheads last Friday at the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School.

The school’s assistant principal, Jamie Parsons, apologized to the students who had been kicked and spoke to their parents.

The school has reviewed surveillance tapes of the incident and has contacted police about the possibility of “appropriate action” being taken against the children who were involved.

Actor Paul Walker’s father sues Porsche over fatal crash

LOS ANGELES

The estate of Paul Walker has sued Porsche for negligence and wrongful death over the accident that killed the “Fast & Furious” star two years ago.

Walker’s father, who is the executor of his son’s estate, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The lawsuit claims the Porsche Carrera GT that Walker was riding lacked safety features that could have prevented the actor’s death when it crashed in Valencia, California, on Nov. 30, 2013.

The car burst into flames, killing Walker and his friend, Roger Rodas. Rodas’ widow, who has a pending claim against Porsche in federal court, also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the carmaker in state court on Wednesday.

An after-hours message sent to Porsche seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Miss World Canada denied entry to China

HONG KONG

Canada’s outspoken Miss World contestant said she was barred Thursday from entering China to take part in this year’s pageant in the southern island province of Hainan.

Chinese-born Anastasia Lin said she was unable to board her connecting flight from Hong Kong after a Chinese official told her by telephone that she would not be granted a visa on arrival.

Lin is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation practice, which was outlawed by China’s ruling Communist Party in 1999.

“If they start to censor beauty pageants – how pathetic is that?” Lin told The Associated Press in Hong Kong.

Lin, who moved to Canada from China when she was 13, told a U.S. congressional hearing in July that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so their organs could be harvested and sold for transplants. The 25-year-old actress also plays an imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner in an upcoming Canadian movie, “The Bleeding Edge.”

Lin said that after she won the Canadian title, Chinese security agents visited her father who still lives in China in an apparent attempt to intimidate her into silence. Although she hadn’t received an invitation letter from organizers, and therefore was unable to obtain a Chinese visa, she said she decided to travel to China anyway in hopes of obtaining a visa on arrival.

Associated Press