1/50 10 April 2018 Syrian onlookers gather around rescue teams clearing the rubble at the site of an explosion of unknown origin which wrecked a multi-storey building the previous night in the war-battered country's northwestern city of Idlib. The cause of the explosion in the jihadist-held city, which killed more than a ten people and wounded 80, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, was not immediately clear. AFP/Getty
2/50 9 April 2018 Protesters try to block French gendarmes during an evacuation operation in the zoned ZAD (Deferred Development Zone) in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, near Nantes, France. Reuters
3/50 8 April 2018 Competitors cross the start line at the annual Pyongyang Marathon. AFP/Getty
4/50 7 April 2018 The body of journalist Yasser Murtaja, 31, is carried during his funeral in Gaza city. He was shot by Israeli troops while reporting on Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border. Reuters
5/50 6 April 2018 Supporters of the former South African president Jacob Zuma rally prior to his appearance in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court on corruption charges in Durban. Zuma, 75, arrived to face corruption charges linked to a multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal. The graft case against him was postponed until June 8 after a brief 15-minute hearing. AFP/Getty
6/50 5 April 2018 Palestinian protesters run during clashes with Israeli troops at Israel-Gaza border. Reuters
7/50 4 April 2018 Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia pose before their meeting in Ankara. Reuters
8/50 3 April 2018 South African school children pause next to a portrait of the late South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, at her house in Soweto. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to Winnie, who died on April 2, saying that Nelson Mandela's former wife was a "voice of defiance" against white-minority rule. AFP/Getty
9/50 2 April 2018 Jewish priests and civilians take part in the Cohanim prayer during the Passover holiday at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. AFP/Getty
10/50 1 April 2018 Pope Francis greets the crowd at St Peter's square after the Easter Sunday Mass in the Vatican. Christians around the world are marking the Holy Week, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, leading up to his resurrection on Easter. AFP/Getty
11/50 31 March 2018 Mourners hold back a relative of Palestinian Hamdan Abu Amshah, who was killed along the Israel border with Gaza, during his funeral in Beit Hanoun town. Reuters
12/50 30 March 2018 Israeli soldiers shot tear gas grenades towards the Palestinian tent city protest commemorating Land Day. The day marks the killing of six Arab Israelis during 1976 demonstrations against Israeli confiscations of Arab land. AFP/Getty
13/50 29 March 2018 An emotional Steve Smith is comforted by his father Peter as he fronts the media at Sydney International Airport. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were flown back to Australia following investigations into alleged ball tampering in South Africa. Getty
14/50 28 March 2018 French gendarmes escort the coffin of the late Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame transported by car during a funeral procession leaving the Pantheon as part of a national tribute in Paris. The French President will lead a national commemoration to hostage-swap policeman Arnaud Beltrame killed in jihadist attack. AFP/Getty
15/50 27 March 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a memorial made for the victims of a fire in a multi-story shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. Officials say that the fire escapes were blocked and a PA system was turned off during the fire that killed over 50 people. Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
16/50 26 March 2018 At least 64 shoppers have been killed in fire at a shopping centre in Russia. A further 16 people were still missing after flames broke out at the four-storey Winter Cherry mall in the city of Kemerovo in Siberia, according to Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov. The fire was extinguished in the morning after burning through the night. Parts of the building were still smouldering and the floors of the cinema hall had caved in in places, another emergency official said. Russian Emergencies Ministry via Reuters
17/50 25 March 2018 Syrian civilians gathering for their evacuation from the town of Arbin in the Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, following a deal with the regime. The deal is expected to see some 7,000 people bussed from Arbin and Zamalka towns and the district of Jobar to a rebel-dominated part of northern Syria. AFP/Getty
18/50 24 March 2018 Students attend the ‘March For Our Lives’ in Washington. In the wake of the Florida attack, there has been a widespread effort to ban assault rifle. Getty
19/50 23 March 2018 Police at the scene of a hostage situation in a supermarket in Trebes. An armed man took hostages in a supermarket in southern France, killing three and injuring about a dozen others, police said. A French minister confirmed the gunman had been shot dead by police. Reuters
20/50 22 March 2018 A boy rows his boat in the polluted waters of the Brahmaputra river on World Water Day in Guwahati, India. Reuters
21/50 21 March 2018 Kosovo's opposition lawmakers release a teargas canister inside the country's parliament in before a vote for an agreement to ratify or not a border demarcation deal signed in 2015 with Montenegro. AFP/Getty
22/50 20 March 2018 People carrying luggage leave the Russian Embassy in London and board a van bearing diplomatic plates. Dozens of people including adults with children arrived at the Russian embassy in the morning and then left carrying luggage in vehicles bearing diplomatic registration plates. Britain last week announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats over the spy poisoning row, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow. AFP/Getty
23/50 19 March 2018 The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft is mounted on the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan AFP/Getty
24/50 18 March 2018 President Vladimir Putin walks out of a voting booth at a polling station during Russia's presidential election in Moscow. AFP/Getty
25/50 17 March 2018 People take part in a pensioners protest to demand decent pensions in Barcelona. Thousands of people across the country took part in mass demonstrations called by main Spanish workers unions demanding rises of state pensions in accordance with the consumer price index AFP/Getty
26/50 16 March 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Almazov National Medical Research Centre in Saint Petersburg. AFP/Getty
27/50 15 March 2018 Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council in Moscow. Reuters
28/50 14 March 2018 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is sworn in by the President of the German lower house during the government's swearing-in ceremony at the Bundestag in Berlin. Merkel, head of the Christian Democratic Party CDU, starts her fourth term as German chancellor, capping months of political uncertainty as she bartered with her rivals of the SPD to help govern Europe's top economy in a "grand coalition". AFP/Getty
29/50 13 March 2018 Nepali students of University of Dhaka light candles in memory of the victims of the US-Bangla aircraft crash in Nepal, Bangladesh. Reuters
30/50 12 March 2018 Rescuers work to save passengers from a plane crash at Kathmandu airport in Nepal. AP
31/50 11 March 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron pose for photographs as they visit the Taj Mahal. AFP/Getty
32/50 10 March 2018 France’s far-right party Front National (FN) president Marine Le Pen applauds former US President advisor Steve Bannon after his speech during the Front National party annual congress, in Lille, northern France. AFP/Getty
33/50 9 March 2018 A television screen showing pictures of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at a railway station in Seoul. AFP
34/50 8 March 2018 Protesters form triangles with their hands during a demonstration for women’s rights in Bilbao, Spain. Reuters
35/50 7 March 2018 A labourer works on a salt pan in the outskirts of the Nagaur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan ahead of International Women’s day. AFP/Getty
36/50 6 March 2018 Sri Lanka's army soldiers and police personnel stand near a vandalised building in Digana, a suburb of Kandy. Extremists Buddhist mobs swept through the town on Monday, burning at least 11 Muslim owned shops and homes. Sri Lanka's president declared a state of emergency Tuesday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in the central hill town could spread. AP
37/50 5 March 2018 Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The NPC has over 3,000 delegates and is the world's largest parliament or legislative assembly though its function is largely as a formal seal of approval for the policies fixed by the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. The NPC runs alongside the annual plenary meetings of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), together known as 'Lianghui' or 'Two Meetings'. EPA
38/50 4 March 2018 Female protestor stands up with the words 'Berlusconi Sei Scaduto' written on her body, translating as 'Berlusconi, you’ve expired', as Silvio Berlusconi stands during voting of the political and regional elections in Milan, Italy. Rex
39/50 3 March 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a rally to support his bid in the upcoming presidential election at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Reuters
40/50 2 March 2018 A light turns red outside of Germany's Krupp Mannesmann steel factory. German officials and industry groups warned U.S. President Donald Trump that he risks sparking a trade war with his closest allies if he goes ahead with plans to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. AP
41/50 1 March 2018 People dance during Holi festival celebrations in Kathmandu, Nepal. EPA
42/50 28 February 2018 Indian fans watch as the funeral procession of the late Bollywood actress Sridevi Kapoor passes through Mumbai. AFP/Getty
43/50 27 February 2018 Candles are left in tribute to murdered Slovakian investigative reporter Jan Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee Martina, 27, at Slovak National Uprising Square in Bratislava. A leading Slovak newspaper says organised crime may have been involved in the shooting death that shocked Slovakia. The bodies of Kuciak and Kusnirova were found Sunday evening in their house in the town of Velka Maca, east of the capital. AP
44/50 26 February 2018 Colosseum during a heavy snowfall in Rome, Italy. REUTERS/Alberto Lingria
45/50 25 February 2018 Family members of victims of the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan by a North Korean attack hold up defaced portraits of Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, during a rally against his visit near the Unification bridge in Paju, South Korea. A North Korean high-level delegation led by Kim arrived to attend the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The signs read: " Let's punish Kim Young Chol." Getty
46/50 24 February 2018 Ivanka Trump (C) cheers while sat between former Olympic US bobsledders Shauna Rohbock (L) and Valerie Fleming (R) as the United States beat Sweden in their Men's Gold Medal Curling match at the Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, South Korea. Ivanka Trump is on a four-day visit to South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Getty
47/50 23 February 2018 David Allen Turpin (C), who along with Louise Anna Turpin is accused of abusing and holding 13 of their children captive, appears in court with attorneys David Macher (L) and Alison Lowe in court in Riverside, California. According to Riverside County Sheriffs, David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin held 13 malnourished children ranging in age from 2 to 29 captive in their Perris, California home. Deputies were alerted after a 17-year-old daughter escaped by jumping through a window shortly before dawn, carrying a de-activated mobile phone from which she was able to call 911 for help. Responding deputies described conditions in the home as foul-smelling with some kids chained to a bed and suffering injuries as a result. Adult children appeared at first to be minors because of their malnourished state. The Turpins were arrested on charges of torture and child endangerment. Getty
48/50 22 February 2018 The Elephanta Island, home to the famous Elephanta Caves, finally gets electricity after a wait of 70 years. Seventy years after Independence, a 7.5-km long undersea cable has finally brought electricity to the world-famous Gharapuri Isle, which houses the UNESCO World Heritage site Elephanta Caves, about 10-km from Mumbai, India. Getty
49/50 21 February 2018 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pays his respects at the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar. Trudeau and his family are on a week-long official trip to India. Getty
Lindsey Buckingham’s latest departure from Fleetwood Mac certainly upheld the group’s longstanding penchant for drama.
No sooner had Variety confirmed that he’d left the band than word came, literally minutes later, that they’d already replaced him — with longtime Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. The confirmation sealed several days of speculation after Billy Burnette — one of two guitarists hired to replace Buckingham last time he left the band 31 years ago — wrote in a hastily deleted tweet on April 4: “Breaking news: Lindsey Buckingham is out but I’m not in. A little pissed off but I’ll get over it.”
While sources told both Variety and Rolling Stone that Buckingham was fired, a source close to the situation says it’s a matter of semantics that requires some backstory.
Even by the quintet’s standards — and Fleetwood Mac is a group in which every member got divorced (legally or otherwise), four of them from each other, at the height of their popularity in the 1970s — the past few months have been dramatic. Last summer, the group coheadlined with the Eagles the “Classic West” and “Classic East” festivals in Los Angeles and New York, respectively. The dates landed smack in the middle of a tour by Buckingham and Mac keyboardist/singer Christine McVie — who were supporting a new album they’d made together after reports that Mac singer Stevie Nicks no longer wanted to make albums with the band.
Related Fleetwood Mac to Tour With Neil Finn, Mike Campbell as Lindsey Buckingham's Replacements (EXCLUSIVE) Lindsey Buckingham Fired by Fleetwood Mac
Asked by the Los Angeles Times about the nostalgic nature of the “Classic” concerts, Buckingham said, “It doesn’t necessarily speak of the aspiration to present anything in the way that Fleetwood Mac would want to present it on its own terms. I was going to put it less diplomatically, but I stopped myself,” he said.
“Do the undiplomatic version,” McVie said. “What were you going to say?”
“I was going to say, ‘Just close your eyes and take the money,'” Buckingham answered.
In January, the band was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year with a concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall during Grammy Week. Former President Bill Clinton inducted the group (pictured above) and a number of acts covered their songs, including Miley Cyrus, Keith Urban, Lorde, Alison Krauss, Imagine Dragons, Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band, Jared Leto and Harry Styles, who not only introduced the band but joined them for “The Chain.” The group then played a short set to close out the night — which apparently was Buckingham’s last performance with them for the time being.
Regardless of his comments, Buckingham was enthusiastic onstage during last summer’s concerts and at the MusiCares event.
So was he fired or did he quit? Or, as is often the case with relationships that stretch back nearly 50 years, was it both and neither?
A source close to the situation tells Variety that although the group was on a high note after the MusiCares event, and had announced last spring that it planned to tour this year, Buckingham was reluctant because he wanted to focus on solo material. The other four bandmembers — Nicks, McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood — were eager and ready to tour, and after failing to obtain a commitment from Buckingham, told him they were proceeding with plans to tour without him. Suggestions that the group make an announcement along those lines were not acted upon.
Does that mean he was fired, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as being “dismissed from a job”? Well, yes and no.
The parting is at least outwardly amicable, with the group wishing Buckingham “all the best” in its announcement. Yet a Fleetwood Mac tour is not a financial proposition to be considered lightly. The group’s 2014-2015 tour, which sprawled over 13 months and 120 dates, grossed nearly $200 million, according to Pollstar. And while that represented the classic lineup’s first tour together since 1997, the two-day Classic East and West shows, which saw the group headlining with the Eagles, grossed $16 million and $17 million respectively, according to Pollstar.
Clearly, given the speed of today’s announcement and the fact that Burnette announced five days ago that he was not part of the latest incarnation of the band, today’s news has been in the works for several weeks at least.
And it all adds another chapter to a five-decade-long dance that, after drugs, divorce, disillusion and lots of other dramatic words beginning with “d,” continues to unfold.
(CNN) Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham are cutting ties.
A representative for the band confirmed to CNN on Monday that Buckingham and the band have parted ways and that he will not be going on tour with them in the fall.
"Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour," a statement read. "The band wishes Lindsey all the best."
The representative would not provide any further details as to what led to his departure. A source close to the band told CNN that the split was "over musical differences regarding the tour." A representative for Buckingham referred questions to the band.
Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, the same year as the band's longtime lead singer, Stevie Nicks. Buckingham, who has since served as the lead guitarist for the band, wrote some of the band's most well-known songs including "Go Your Own Way," which was the lead single off the band's highly successful 1977 album, Rumours.
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Now this is Peak Mac. Could this happen to any other band? Fleetwood Mac, the crew that loves breakup drama more than any other six or seven bands combined, topped their own standards on Monday, with the announcement that they'd fired Lindsey Buckingham. This split is more than one of the year's strangest headlines – it's a new dysfunctional chapter for the fivesome who wrote the book on packing up and shacking up. This is the most quintessential Fleetwood Mac move they've ever made. Any band can explode a time or three, but only these guys could break up continuously for 40 years, putting each other through untold agonies and then always coming back together for more punishment. The Mac is dead; long live the Mac.
Related Broken Chain: A History of Fleetwood Mac Firings and Departures Lindsey Buckingham's firing is just the latest in a decades-long game of musical chairs for the Hall of Fame band
If these were any other rock stars, you'd suspect them of staging a split so they can squeeze in one more tearful reunion tour before they hit their eighties – Coachella 2023, here they come. But if there's anything we know for sure about Fleetwood Mac, it's that they have no ability to control the torture they inflict on each other (or on us). They are the band destiny has doomed to suffer for our sins, acting out every couple's messiest secrets in public, reliving every stage of the pain cycle in a ritual repetition, like five Siddharthas of heartbreak. "Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice"? They should be so lucky. Only these five gypsies could keep getting hit with the same lightning bolt over and over, electroshocking each other into eternity.
In the band's most recent appearance on January 26th, to accept the award for MusiCares Person of the Year at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Lindsey Buckingham admitted they thrived on the conflict. "It was much of the attraction and much of the fuel for our material," he told the crowd, "Not very far below that level of dysfunction is what really exists and what we are feeling even more now in our career, which is love. This has always been a group of chemistry." They undermined each other's speeches – Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie all mocked Stevie Nicks as she spoke – before playing a set of five classic breakup songs, ending with (what else?) "Go Your Own Way." You couldn't have scripted a better final scene.
As for all that "love" Lindsey mentioned, well, this is a band of players, and they only love you when they're playing. Barely two months after the MusiCares ceremony, Fleetwood Mac dropped the bombshell that they're hitting the road with two replacement guitarists: Mike Campbell, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn from Crowded House. "We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family," the statement said. "Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour." As Mick Fleetwood elaborated to Rolling Stone, "We know we have something new, yet it's got the unmistakable Mac sound."
Self-sabotage is a key part of the Mac mythos, so this twist is just kind of perfect. As a great woman once sang, rulers make bad lovers, and the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup is four rulers battling for an extra inch or two of control, always threatening to flounce. And as they've documented in their songs, they've shared epic badness as lovers. Even John McVie, who has never shown any visible aspiration to rule anything besides his bass and the occasional ballcap, is tangled in the breakup history. Imagine playing that funk bass line on "You Make Loving Fun" – then imagine you're playing it for a song your ex-wife wrote about her new guy, who is the band's lighting director. During the making of Rumours, Mick Fleetwood called Stevie Nicks into the studio parking lot to tell her they were cutting "Silver Springs" from the album, for no reason except everybody else was mad at how good it was.
That's a key reason why we gravitate to the Mac. Ever since Rumours, this group has symbolized the idea of a broken community forced to keep living and working together, reliving their worst memories. As John once said, "About the only people in the band who haven't had an affair are me and Lindsey." Even at their poppiest, the songs are full of pain, which is why they remain so alive, whether it's Harry Styles covering "The Chain" or Lorde doing "Silver Springs." That mystique will remain even if Harry replaces Lindsey. Or if Lorde replaces Stevie. Or if Selena and Justin replace both of them. Hell, maybe all five band members can get replaced by Fifth Harmony, so Camila Cabello can sing "Never Going Back Again" until they eject her offstage with a cannon, like they did to her body double at the VMAs. But these five Mac lifers will never be able to escape each other. They are cursed to keep picking up the pieces and going home.
Even before Stevie and Lindsey joined in 1974, the band had a long history of changes. (Original leader Peter Green was a guitar god with his own moody beauty in "Underway," "Jumping at Shadows" and "Man of the World," until he sadly disintegrated.) But there was always something especially combustible about the Buckingham/Nicks chemistry – in Stevie's words, "the five original cast members" – as they poured their trauma into Rumours, Tusk and Mirage. When Lindsey quit on the eve of their 1987 tour, they replaced him with little-known sidemen Billy Burnette and Rick Zito. (This line-up actually released a couple of albums, strange as it seems.) He returned for the 1997 reunion The Dance, the album that defined the Mac legend as we know it today, an album that's older now than Rumours was at the time.
It was only four years ago that Christine McVie rejoined, bringing the classic lineup back together. Just last year, she and Buckingham released their surprise duet, Buckingham McVie, featuring four fifths of the Mac – it would have been their big reunion album, except Stevie bowed out to do a solo tour. It had a theme song for their On With the Show tour, two years after it ended. Typical for this crew. As Lindsey recalled to Rolling Stone in 1984, around the time of his brilliant and demented solo album Go Insane, "I can remember during Rumours, saying to Mick, 'Well, things don't seem to be going exactly the way I would like them to go.' And he said, 'Well, maybe you don't want to be in a group.'" (Mick Fleetwood, unlikely voice of reason.) In the same interview, Lindsey claims his bandmates, none of whom he's seen in two years, are plotting to replace him with another guitarist – Pete Townshend. Too bad they didn't call Pete this time.
Lindsey has always been a mystery man – with his eccentric obsessions and solitary work habits, he's been in the odd position of an underrated weirdo cult genius who happens to lead one of the world's biggest bands. His songs on Tusk – "Not That Funny," "What Makes You Think You're the One," the peerless "I Know I'm Not Wrong" – are the core of the Lindsey mystique, homemade solo space-case guitar sketches. Not far off from the music Alex Chilton or Mark E. Smith or the Swell Maps were making at the time, or the music Pavement and Sebadoh made a decade later. (It can barely be overstated how bizarre it is that "Tusk" was a Top Ten single. I mean, cocaine was popular in the 1970s, but not that popular.) Lindsey seems like the exact opposite personality type to be in any band – least of all this one. It's an ironic fate for the guy who wrote "Never Going Back Again" – a song about a man trapped in a cyclical on-and-off affair, vowing that he'll finally move on this time, until that finger-picking guitar lick loops back around and he's right where he started. Been down one time, been down two times, keeping going back up and down in perpetuity.
In a way, the quintessential Lindsey moment is his "yeeeaaah" at the end of Christine's "Say You Love Me," while the band is chanting the final "falling, falling, falling." What the hell is that "yeeeaaah" doing there? It's a solo Lindsey cameo that's wildly out of place in this song, which isn't by him, or even about him. Yet his acerbic voice adds the dash of salt that makes the song complete. Everybody's songs get improved by Lindsey butting in – the best example would be his sneer in the chorus of another Christine song, "Little Lies." ("Tell me, tell me, tell me liiiies!") He sounds exasperated and pissed, even though he's neither the liar nor the lied-to. But without the authentic spite he adds, "Little Lies" would be a fraction as powerful as it is.
Lindsey and Stevie talked to Rolling Stone's Andy Greene in 2012, in an astounding he-said she-said interview that reads like couples therapy. "Lindsey and I will always be dramatic," Stevie confesses, maybe unnecessarily. Lindsey adds, "We're a group of people who, you could make the argument, don't belong in the same band together. It's the synergy of that that makes it work. It also sort of makes us the anti-Eagles in terms of never, ever being on the same page." Yes, you could make the argument these people don't belong in the same band – but in a way, Fleetwood Mac's music is that argument, which is why they resonate on a level the Eagles never could. Their meltdowns are a crucial part of their artistic statement. Lindsey and the band are permanently mismatched, yet permanently linked. And that's why their latest break-up is just another reason we hear ourselves in their story and their music. May they keep breaking up forever.
