Nation/Ticketmaster Ruled a Monopoly – What You Need to Know – April 16, 2026

[0:05] This is what you need to know now. [0:08] Fly with this blockade, we will use force. [0:10] Tense standoff, U.S. Navy ships stopping vessels from leaving Iran. [0:15] Powerful storms in the Midwest, flooding roads, baseball fans at a Milwaukee Brewers game stranded. [0:21] Concert giant Live Nation deemed an illegal monopoly. [0:24] What the jury's verdict could mean for fans. [0:27] The late actor Val Kilmer appears in a new movie, but it's all AI. [0:31] Don't fear the dead, don't fear me. [0:34] And why the founder of Santacon is finding himself on the federal prosecutor's naughty list. [0:40] We have much more what you need to know now. [0:43] I'm James Ongman from ABC News. It's Thursday, April 16th, and this is what you need to know. [0:48] We'll show you why Spirit Airlines may be about to fold, [0:52] and why scientists say sperm whales communicate in a language that sounds like Chinese. [0:57] But first, the big story. [0:59] The White House says it feels good about the prospect of a deal to end the war with Iran, [1:04] but no date has been set for further talks. [1:06] A delegation from Pakistan, which mediated the last round, has now arrived in Tehran. [1:10] The stock market is riding high on the administration's projected optimism. [1:14] The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closed at record highs. [1:18] Thousands more U.S. forces are set to arrive in the region soon. [1:21] The U.S. is trying to pressure Tehran into accepting its terms and says its blockade of all Iranian ports is working, [1:28] cutting off vital revenue from its oil supply. [1:31] A U.S. guided missile destroyer gave this dramatic warning to an Iranian-flagged cargo ship. [1:36] If we comply with this blockade, we will use force. [1:39] All of the United States Navy is ready to force compliance. [1:42] This as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reportedly looking into a series of what it's calling suspicious, [1:48] well-timed trades pertaining to the war. [1:51] That's according to a Bloomberg report that says billions of dollars in oil and stocks futures [1:55] were traded just before President Trump shared major news, including the announcement of the ceasefire. [2:02] Overnight, President Trump posted that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak directly today. [2:07] Israel says the call will happen, although a Lebanese official has told the BBC they have no knowledge of any such contact. [2:13] Secretary of State Marco Rubio led ambassadorial-level talks between the two countries this week in D.C. [2:18] That's the first time that's happened since 1993. [2:21] But the president may be trying to force a deal in Lebanon given Iran has made an end to Israel's war with Hezbollah, [2:27] a condition of any wider peace deal. [2:29] The president posted, quote, trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. [2:33] It's been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. [2:38] On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Israel's bombings in Lebanon as a, quote, [2:43] illegal aggression and indiscriminate bombing campaign. [2:46] Last week, a bombing killed as many as 350 people. [2:49] Lebanese officials say at least a third were civilians. [2:52] Israel says they're going after Hezbollah targets. [2:55] Over 2,000 people have now been killed and a million residents displaced in the last seven weeks. [3:01] President Trump has posted a new AI-generated image after angering Christians by depicting himself as a Christ-like figure. [3:07] This one shows the depiction of Jesus embracing Trump. [3:11] And he added a message, the radical left lunatics might not like this, but I think it's quite nice. [3:16] The pope is right now traveling through Africa. [3:18] And while not mentioning President Trump, he urged government officials to serve as bridges, never as sources of division. [3:25] Rachel has more. [3:26] Well, James, many lawmakers, including some Republicans, are not happy about what the president and the vice president have been saying about the pope. [3:34] And this comes after the latest comments by the vice president saying that the pope needs to be careful when talking about matters of theology. [3:41] The pope has spoken out during the war on Iran criticizing President Trump's rhetoric about destroying a civilization. [3:48] Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019. [3:51] He says that he takes issue with that. [3:53] Over on Capitol Hill, the top Republican in the Senate, John Thune, also has a message for the administration saying, [3:58] focus on the pocketbook issues and, quote, let the church be the church. [4:02] A wave of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine has killed at least 16 people overnight and injured 90 more. [4:09] A 12-year-old boy was among four killed in Kyiv. [4:12] A 16-story residential building was brought down in the Capitol. [4:15] Over the border, Russia says two children aged 5 and 14 were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack. [4:20] Peace talks have stalled since President Trump shifted his focus to Iran. [4:24] In a groundbreaking decision, a jury has ruled that concert giant Live Nation and Ticketmaster [4:29] are an illegal monopoly that overcharge customers. [4:32] The company says it will appeal. Aaron Koturski breaks it down. [4:35] James, you'll remember the debacle that was getting tickets to Taylor Swift's Eris tour for a time. [4:43] And a jury here in New York decided that's because Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, [4:49] controls too many concert venues, and controls the sales for too many seats at too many places. [4:56] And the jury decided that Live Nation operates as a monopoly and it will now be punished. [5:01] A judge is going to determine whether that's with hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for overcharging consumers [5:07] or whether Live Nation should be made to sell Ticketmaster. [5:11] But to the nearly three dozen states who sued Live Nation, [5:15] the real hope is concert tickets will now get a little bit cheaper for everybody [5:19] and may be easier to come by too. [5:21] That severe weather is now in a third day battering the plains and Midwest. [5:26] Heavy rain last night flooded several roads in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [5:29] The high-water stranded baseball fans leaving the Brewers game. [5:32] Many needed to be rescued from their cars. [5:35] And there was destruction in Clinton, Missouri from a reported tornado. [5:38] It's about 75 miles southeast of Kansas City. [5:41] Schools there will be closed today because of damage to several buildings. [5:44] Trees and power lines came down, but there were no reported injuries. [5:48] President Trump is once again threatening to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. [5:52] He said Powell will be terminated if he doesn't step down once his term as chief ends next month. [5:57] Powell recently said he would continue serving as Fed Chair if his successor [6:01] isn't confirmed by May 15th. [6:03] It's unclear if President Trump has the legal authority to fire him. [6:08] The popular gaming platform Roblox has agreed to a $12 million settlement [6:12] with the state of Nevada over online safety for young users. [6:15] The gaming platform will also add enhanced protections for minors, [6:19] like age verification and restrictions on nighttime notifications. [6:23] Nevada's Attorney General says the settlement will lead to a safer online environment. [6:27] No communications involving minors will be encrypted. [6:33] We believe that encryption is a problem for youth and users of these platforms [6:38] because predation takes place in the encryption. [6:41] And the FAA is investigating what they say is a serious breach of pilot protocol [6:46] over an air traffic control frequency. [6:48] Regulations prohibit non-essential conversations below 10,000 feet. [6:52] But last weekend this happened at Reagan National Airport outside Washington D.C. [6:56] where you'll remember 67 people were killed in a mid-air crash. [7:00] The pilots were heard making cat noises. [7:02] Guys, you need to be professionals. [7:10] And we have much more what you need to know. [7:12] Now to take three, the stories that you'll be talking about today. [7:26] Number three, Val Kilmer, who died of throat cancer in 2025, [7:29] will posthumously appear as a priest in the new film As Deep as the Grave. [7:34] The director of the film says the performance was created using artificial intelligence. [7:38] The production team used archival footage of Kilmer to generate more than an hour of screen time for his character. [7:43] Kilmer was attached to the project before he died but was too sick to shoot his scenes. [7:48] His children approved the use of their father's likeness. [7:51] Number two, a new study has found sperm whale clicks are among the closest parallels to human communication anywhere in the animal world. [7:58] Researchers found the vocalizations are far more sophisticated than previously thought. [8:02] Unlike the melodic songs of humpback whales, the sperm whale uses recognizable rules to communicate. [8:08] They even have identified two vowel categories which have striking tonal similarities to Mandarin Chinese and Slovenian. [8:16] And number one, federal prosecutors say SantaCon's founder may have landed himself on the naughty list. [8:22] Prosecutors say Stefan Pildes sold hundreds of thousands of dollars that should have gone to charity. [8:27] SantaCon has raised nearly three million dollars since the tradition began. [8:31] Thousands have taken over cities around the world each year. [8:35] Prosecutors say Pildes misappropriated ticket sales using the money for lakefront home renovations, concert tickets and vacations. [8:42] He's pleaded not guilty. [8:44] New today, Spirit Airlines could liquidate in the coming days. [8:48] That's according to a report from Bloomberg. [8:50] Rising fuel prices are spiking speculation as the airline works through its second bankruptcy. [8:55] Aviation experts note when airlines liquidate they immediately cease operations without notice, stranding passengers. [9:01] In a statement to ABC, Spirit said, we don't comment on market rumors and speculation. [9:06] And before you go, we'll leave you with these moving images of a music teacher in Tehran returning to his bombed-out school. [9:13] Hamadizeh Afarideh played a traditional Persian song sitting in the rubble. [9:18] He told ABC, I want the last sound coming out of my school to be music and not bombs. [9:27] And that's what you need to know for breaking news and live updates throughout the day. [9:30] Check out ABC News streaming on Disney+.