Taylor Swift broke records at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, as she is known to do.

The pop powerhouse received the inaugural Artist Director Honors on Sunday night, becoming the most-awarded artist in VMA history.

After being removed from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour, Grammy Award winner Macklemore will soon return to the live stage. The rapper has announced "Free Palestine," a series of performances with all proceeds to benefit Palestinian aid organizations.

The run will begin with three dates next month in Europe. It kicks off at Dublin's 3Arena on Oct. 26, followed by Paris' Accor Arena on Oct. 29 and London's OVO Arena Wembley on Oct. 30.

Taylor Swift is back in action. Did you miss her?

On Wednesday, less than one day after announcing a new song, "Patient Zero" — her first since her starry wedding this summer — Swift has revealed "The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore," an extended version of her 2025 album with four new tracks: The aforementioned single "Patient Zero" as well as "Cleveland!," "Pink Clouding" and "Babylon."

A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's ban of three news outlets from the White House grounds, ordering early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.

The ruling hands the outlets at least a temporary reprieve in what has been an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

For the Palestinian relief nonprofits behind a $1 million pledge from rapper Macklemore, the Grammy winner's latest contributions offer more than just money.

Macklemore committed to donate his net earnings from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour after he was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. The goal, he wrote in a Wednesday post on social media, was to "bring the conversation back to where it belongs" — the Palestinian people — after a 48-hour period that saw four supporting acts quit in solidarity and confusion over who held responsibility for the decision.

Syrian singer Assala Nasri has made a triumphant return to Damascus with a sold-out concert following 15 years of exile due to her opposition to ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of fans welcomed the 57-year-old, known mononymously as Assala, at a venue in the Syrian capital where she bowed and opened the show with songs hailing the Syrian people.

Ireland will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest for a second year over Israel's participation, the country's national broadcaster said Thursday.

RTÉ said it will not send an act to the 2027 competition in Bulgaria and will not broadcast the show because of the "appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk."

Buckingham Palace has forcefully denied a claim by the brother of the late Princess Diana that King Charles III said she would soon be forgotten after her death.

In a new book, Charles Spencer recounts the traumatic days after Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36. He alleges that he argued with the then-Prince Charles, Diana's estranged husband, over palace plans for Prince William and Prince Harry to walk behind her coffin during the funeral procession.

Ed Sheeran's tour of North and South America has been roiled by the decision this week to drop Macklemore as an opener because of the rapper's onstage pro-Palestinian comments. Since then, all of Sheeran's other supporting acts have dropped out, including a group that plays with Sheeran during part of the show.

Sheeran, who is scheduled to perform Saturday in Philadelphia, said the decision to cut Macklemore from the Loop Tour was the promoter's, not his own. The "Thrift Shop" rapper exclaimed "Free Palestine" during the Sept. 5 date in New Jersey.

Ed Sheeran's tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.

Hours after Sheeran posted on social media about Macklemore's ouster and attributed the decision to the tour's promoters, Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas posted on Instagram that they were leaving the tour.