Anthony Albanese among several politicians to declare free Taylor Swift tickets

The PM was captured on video at Sydney Eras concert with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, apparently on balcony of corporate box

Anthony Albanese accepted free tickets to Taylor Swift’s sold-out Sydney concert last month, one of several federal politicians who were gifted passes to the hotly anticipated Eras tour.

The prime minister declared “I’m a Swiftie” when the American pop star swept through Australia in February. He has now declared receiving tickets to her performance, disclosing “tickets to Taylor Swift concert in Sydney from Universal Music Group” under the “travel and hospitality” heading on his parliamentary register of interests.

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Taylor Swift: Singapore prime minister defends deal to secure exclusive access to Eras tour

Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong confirmed an ‘arrangement’ for Singapore to be the only stop on Swift’s south-east Asia Eras tour

Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has defended an incentive provided to Taylor Swift by his government, to make the country the only stop in south-east Asia on her world tour, saying it was not a hostile act towards its neighbours.

“[Our] agencies negotiated an arrangement with her to come to Singapore and perform and to make Singapore her only stop in south-east Asia,” Lee told a press conference in Melbourne, where he is attending a regional summit.

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Taylor Swift is related to Emily Dickinson, genealogy company reveals

Ancestry.com says singer and poet are sixth cousins, three times removed, both descended from a 17th-century English immigrant

Taylor Swift is related to poet Emily Dickinson, according to Ancestry.com, who shared the news in an exclusive report with NBC’s Today.

On Monday, the genealogy company divulged that “Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th-century English immigrant (Swift’s ninth great-grandfather and Dickinson’s sixth great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut)”.

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Brit awards 2024 – full list of winners

The winners of every category at the 2024 Brits, updated as the ceremony progresses

Brit awards 2024: women dominate as Raye scores record-smashing six wins
Brit awards 2024: as it happened

Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Little Simz – No Thank You
Raye – My 21st Century Blues – WINNER!
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

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Australia news live: NSW police officer charged with murder after disappearance of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

Former celebrity blogger expected to face court. Follow updates live

What will happen if there’s a storm during today’s Taylor Swift concert?

With a thunderstorm forecast at Sydney Olympic Park this evening, many are asking what this means for the Eras tour?

The show will play, rain or shine. The only exception would be severe weather, which could impact the safety of artists and patrons. Such a decision would be made by NSW Police, the event promoters and Venues NSW staff.

Please follow venue screens and staff instructions in these circumstances.

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Taylor Swift Sydney Eras concert: superstar wows 81,000 crowd after huge storm delays the start

Thunderstorm prompts a short evacuation and axing of support act Sabrina Carpenter, but Swifties still treated to three-hour show from their idol

Taylor Swift fans were briefly evacuated from the floor and lower bowl of Accor Stadium in Sydney after a huge storm with nearby lightning strikes hit the area less than an hour before the show was to begin on Friday evening.

Accor Stadium posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the start time had been delayed, and asked fans in the venue to stay undercover until “further notice”.

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Singapore sought exclusivity deal over Taylor Swift concerts in south-east Asia, Thai PM alleges

Srettha Thavisin claims promoter told him Singaporean government offered ‘subsidies’ of $2m-$3m a show

Thailand’s prime minister has claimed that Singapore sought a deal with Taylor Swift to prevent her from playing elsewhere in south-east Asia on her Eras tour.

Srettha Thavisin said the concert promoter AEG had informed him that the Singaporean government offered subsidies of US $2m-$3m (£1.6m-£24m) a show as part of an exclusivity agreement.

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Australia news live: Taylor Swift shows to go ahead at Sydney Olympic Park after no asbestos found – as it happened

NSW environment watchdog gives venue green light after tests; agency says schools at Marsden Park and Orchard Hill found to have mulch containing bonded asbestos. This blog is now closed

Asked about the Barnaby Joyce incident and “issues of alcohol in Parliament House”, Chandler-Mather says the public is right to expect “a high standard for politicians”, even though they “don’t always deliver”.

Look, personally, in general I don’t think drug testing and alcohol testing in any workplace is necessarily a good idea. People are justifiably upset at the standard politicians hold themselves to.

When we talk about immigrants, we’re talking about the nurses and teachers, construction workers. Secondly, we saw during Covid net migration reached near zero and house prices continue to … go up. Property is treated as a massive speculative asset that drives up the price of housing.

I want to be clear, we have enough homes for people to live in. We have enough construction materials to build the homes for the new people coming to this country. We don’t have the political will to take on a housing system and property developers who restrict supply to make money for themselves and treat housing as a huge speculative asset.

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Taylor Swift concerts will go ahead in Sydney despite asbestos testing at Olympic Park precinct

Environment minister says authorities are testing mulch in the area but any issues would be resolved before pop star’s sold-out shows at Accor Stadium

The New South Wales environment minister has sought to assure Taylor Swift fans that the pop star’s Sydney concerts will go ahead next weekend, amid an asbestos scare at the precinct where she is due to perform.

On Friday, the day after a special taskforce was launched to aid investigations into sites where mulch containing asbestos may be present, authorities have conducted testing at a location at Sydney Olympic Park, where Swift is set to perform to about 300,000 fans over four days of concerts as part of her Australian tour.

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Taylor Swift Eras tour Melbourne concert: relive the pop star’s biggest ever show – as it happened

This blog is closed. The once-in-a-lifetime show has finally come to Australia. For the millions who couldn’t get tickets, might a slightly chaotic blog be the next best thing? The night 1 setlist (spoilers), all the surprise songs, the atmosphere of 96,000 people at the MCG – if you missed it you can read it all again! Start at the beginning.

Taylor Swift sing-along on board Qantas flight to Melbourne

The Taylor Swift hype reached new heights earlier today.

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‘I can’t believe it’: diehard Taylor Swift fan gifted Eras ticket at pub trivia night in Victoria

Quiz organisers were taken by 15-year-old Emily’s enthusiasm and when she didn’t win they decided to reward her anyway

Andrew Caldwell was the same age as his daughter is now when he saw his favourite band. He was 15, it was 1989, and Metallica was touring Australia for the first time.

His daughter Emily’s tastes are a bit different. She’s a diehard Swiftie and Caldwell spent countless hours trying to secure a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour for Emily so she could have the same formative experience seeing her favourite band at 15.

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Super Bowl 2024: Chiefs fight back to beat 49ers 25-22 in overtime for repeat Super Bowl title – as it happened

Email from Mark Moran:

Hi Hunter,

I’m going to go against your writers on this one and predict that the Niners squeak this one by a field goal. I think a stellar performance from Christian McCaffrey, the quality of the ever-underrated Brandon Aiyuk and the versatile Deebo Samuel, and a relatively efficient and error-free display from Brock Purdy should be enough; it’s difficult to bet against Mahomes and Reid, though.

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The tight end the right turned against: why Travis Kelce is the man for Taylor Swift

Like the singer, the Chiefs football player is at the top of his field, while his support of BLM and vaccines align with her progressive politics

Travis Kelce’s star power has long been known to sports fans. But the rest of the world has caught up since the start of his relationship with the pop icon Taylor Swift.

And this pairing actually makes perfect sense – so much so that the Guardian has broken down a couple of big reasons why.

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AI firm considers banning creation of political images for 2024 elections

Midjourney’s CEO David Holz says company close to ‘hammering’ images of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and others ‘for next 12 months’

The groundbreaking artificial intelligence image-generating company Midjourney is considering banning people from using its software to make political images of Joe Biden and Donald Trump as part of an effort to avoid being used to distract from or misinform about the 2024 US presidential election.

“I don’t know how much I care about political speech for the next year for our platform,” Midjourney’s CEO, David Holz, said last week, adding that the company is close to “hammering” – or banning – political images, including those of the leading presidential candidates, “for the next 12 months”.

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Baker’s version: UK woman creates lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Super Bowl

Cake depicts Swift wearing a sweatshirt of the Kansas City Chiefs – her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team

A baker who has created a lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Sunday’s Super Bowl said it was the “perfect opportunity” to finally get around to making it.

The cake sculpture by Lara Mason, from Walsall in the West Midlands, has racked up more than 3m views on TikTok.

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Taylor Swift threatens legal action against student tracking her private jet

Some Swifties decry the cease-and-desist to Jack Sweeney, who measures public figures’ carbon footprints online, as unnecessary

Attorneys for pop star Taylor Swift are threatening legal action against a college student who is tracking Swift’s jet use via social media, with some Swifties - members of Swift’s fanbase – decrying the legal action as unnecessary.

Swift’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student who runs several social media accounts tracking the private jet use of Swift and other public figures, the Washington Post first reported this week.

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You need to calm down: Taylor Swift can fly from Tokyo to Super Bowl in time, says Japan embassy

Singer should be able to see boyfriend Travis Kelce in person despite 17-hour time change and 12-hour flight, embassy says

Japan’s embassy in Washington has assured an angsty public that Taylor Swift should make it to the Super Bowl in time to see her boyfriend Travis Kelce play in the big game – as long as her post-concert flight from Tokyo leaves on time.

The embassy’s Friday statement answered a question weighing on the minds of the pop star’s multitude of fans, who wondered if it was even logistically possible for her to be in position to cheer on Kelce in person as he seeks a third NFL championship with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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New York Times faces backlash for essay speculating on Taylor Swift’s sexuality

A 5,000-word opinion piece has been branded as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘invasive’ for suggesting the singer was sending coded queer messages in her music

The New York Times is under fire for publishing a piece speculating on Taylor Swift’s sexuality.

In a 5,000-word opinion piece titled Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do, editor Anna Marks listed references to the LGBTQ+ community overt or perceived in Swift’s music and theorized that the singer was sending coded messages that she was secretly a member of the community.

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Taylor Swift fan died of heat exhaustion at Rio concert, forensics report finds

Ana Clara Benevides, 23, died hours after the singer’s 17 November show – a day when temperatures hit 40C

Heat exhaustion caused the death of a Brazilian fan who attended a Taylor Swift concert in November, according to a forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Ana Clara Benevides, 23, passed out during Swift’s second song at the show in Rio de Janeiro on 17 November and died hours later at a local hospital. Temperatures in the city that day were at about 40C (105F).

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