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We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
In Wisconsin, a police briefing erupted into chaos on Thursday as a protester commandeered the podium, disrupting an official discussion centered on the recent police shooting involving a homeless man. Emotions ran high throughout the demonstration.
This meeting unfolded a day after a confrontation in which police officers fatally shot a homeless individual who, according to authorities, injured an officer with a knife on Wednesday.
Officials stated that the officers had responded to reports about someone stealing bicycles and attempting to open vehicle doors. The individual was later identified by authorities as 38-year-old Corey Durell Ruiz, a person without a permanent residence.
Police maintained that Ruiz wielded a knife and attacked an officer, but protesters vehemently argued that the police used unwarranted force, drawing parallels to the 2020 incident involving George Floyd.
The protest reached its peak when a demonstrator stepped up to seize the microphone during a police briefing in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 23, 2026, amid the controversy surrounding a police shooting. (City of Madison)
One demonstrator then grabbed the microphone from Police Chief John Patterson.
“We don’t want any of that talk,” a protester said.
The protester then delivered a lengthy denunciation of police, capitalism, imperialism and Zionism, accusing Patterson of participating in a system that he said had oppressed his family for generations.
While the disruption continued, another demonstrator held up a sign that read, “Corrupt cops deserve to die too!!!”
Once the protesters quieted down, the chief resumed his presentation, promising his department’s full cooperation with the state investigation, according to The Associated Press.
Officials said a man pulled out a fixed-blade knife and injured an officer in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 22, 2026. (Madison Police Department)
Court records show Ruiz had a lengthy criminal history spanning nearly three decades. He repeatedly cycled in and out of jail in cases involving failure to pay child support, vehicle theft, bail jumping, threats to authorities, resisting an officer, theft, attempted invasion of privacy and cocaine possession.
Earlier in the briefing, city officials also called for accountability, questioning the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the shooting would be “rigorously investigated” and that no one should lose their life from a law enforcement encounter.
“It does not matter who you are or what your past is, you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement,” Rhodes-Conway said, according to the AP.
Madison Common Council President Sabrina Madison went further, questioning why officers involved in fatal shootings should not be taken into custody.
“My first thought is, when the officer’s walking away, why isn’t he walking away in cuffs,” Madison said, according to the AP. “I’m angry, there’s no way around it.”
Protesters attend a police briefing in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 23, 2026. (City of Madison)
Gov. Tony Evers also called for transparency and accountability as the investigation moves forward in a statement released Wednesday night.
According to police, Ruiz fled the area on a bicycle and rode through backyards as officers responded to theft reports.
When officers caught up with Ruiz, officials said he “either fell or was pulled off the bicycle,” leading to a struggle with officers in the middle of an intersection.
“During the struggle, the man pulled out a fixed-blade knife and injured an officer,” the Madison Police Department said.
After unsuccessful attempts to detain Ruiz with a Taser, the officer injured during the encounter reportedly opened fire. Authorities described him as a veteran officer.
A second officer was also injured during the encounter, but it is unclear whether the injury was caused by the knife, according to police.
Officers reportedly attempted to provide life-saving measures at the scene before Ruiz was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In total, four officers were involved in or witnessed the shooting, and all officers involved will be placed on administrative leave, authorities said.
Inset, left to right: Justin Redd and Brittney Redd (Escambia County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in Florida where the couple lived with Justin Redd’s 9-year-old daughter (Google Maps).
Trapped in a nightmare, a young girl from Florida endured severe starvation, allegedly at the hands of her father and stepmother. Investigators reveal that the 9-year-old was confined to a barren room, its door secured with a metal chain, and subsisted mostly on meager servings of oatmeal twice daily. Her caretakers, meanwhile, allegedly duped medical professionals into believing she was plagued by intense behavioral and eating issues.
Facing these grave accusations are Justin Patrick Redd, aged 33, and Brittney Michelle Redd, 28. Authorities have charged the couple with aggravated child abuse, child neglect leading to significant harm, and failing to ensure school attendance, as presented in a probable cause affidavit from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The case came to light following a hospital admission in late December 2024, when the girl, weighing just 45 pounds, was brought to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital. Her condition, marked by malnutrition and blood in her urine, prompted a transfer to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where her true plight unfolded.
Medical professionals at Shands described her condition in stark terms: she was “very malnourished and thin appearing,” with significant muscle wastage in her limbs, accompanied by dry and scaly skin—all symptoms pointing to severe malnutrition. Remarkably, during a two-week stay under proper care, the child met her caloric requirements and gained about 19 pounds, shining a light on the severe neglect she had previously suffered.
After arriving at the hospital, the girl told medical staff and investigators that she had been living with her father and stepmother since he gained custody in 2023 and that the couple routinely locked her inside her bedroom “with a metal chain outside her door.”
According to the affidavit, she said she was forced to wear only a pull-up diaper, withdrawn from school, and typically fed only oatmeal twice a day, with cold canned beans on occasion.
“She was not allowed to eat what everyone else ate,” police wrote in the affidavit.
The child also alleged she was denied regular access to a bathroom, forcing her to soil herself because her bedroom door remained locked. Afterward, she said Brittney Redd made her take cold showers before ordering her to “shake off like a dog as they didn’t have a towel for her.”
She further told investigators she slept on the floor without a blanket and was forbidden from having friends or celebrating holidays or birthdays. The defendants repeatedly told her she was a “danger to others” and a “thief.” She also believed the adults’ claim that cameras monitored her room around the clock, despite no cameras being found in the room.
Investigators wrote that the couple offered a starkly different explanation, claiming the girl suffered from medical and psychiatric problems, including self-harm, refusal to eat, bathroom issues, and an obsession with calories that caused her dramatic weight loss. They also denied locking her in her room.
But as detectives gathered medical, counseling and school records, they concluded those claims were repeatedly contradicted by objective evidence.
Hospital records showed the girl consistently gained weight whenever she was removed from the defendants’ custody. During one hospitalization in 2024, she gained nearly 9 pounds in four days. During another admission later that year, she gained more than 8 pounds in less than two weeks. After her December hospitalization, she gained about 19 pounds while under medical care.
Doctors also observed that she would “repeatedly ask staff for more food, not less, and would eat everything they gave her,” the affidavit states.
School records similarly undermined the couple’s account, investigators said.
Although Justin Redd claimed doctors recommended removing the girl from school, detectives found no medical documentation supporting that assertion. Instead, records showed Justin Redd withdrew her from school in May 2024 and did not enroll her again until after her hospitalization months later.
Teachers described the child as a typical third-grader who consistently ate all of her meals at school and exhibited none of the behavioral, bathroom or eating problems the couple described, according to investigators.
The affidavit also alleges Justin and Brittney Redd missed 14 scheduled medical appointments while the child’s condition continued to deteriorate.
Investigators ultimately concluded the evidence — including the girl’s statements, her rapid recoveries outside the home, medical documentation, and school records — supported charges against both defendants.
After being discharged from Shands in January, the girl was placed with another family member. Investigators reported that by March she had nearly doubled her weight, her blood work had returned to normal, and she was back in a traditional classroom, where teachers described her as sweet, shy and eating normally.
The post Dad, stepmom kept starving 9-year-old locked up ‘with a metal chain,’ made her ‘shake off like a dog’ after cold showers: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
In a shocking incident on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a suspect has been apprehended following a daytime stabbing spree that left two individuals injured, authorities reported on Thursday.
Witnesses and the victims have recounted hearing the suspect shout “Allahu Akbar” during the attacks, shared NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. She mentioned that the police force is investigating whether these acts constitute a hate crime.
The initial attack targeted a 57-year-old Asian man, who was stabbed in the torso near the intersection of West 84th Street and Central Park West, officials detailed.
Shortly thereafter, a 50-year-old Jewish man was assaulted near West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, police noted in their report.
Both victims were swiftly transported to hospital facilities where they are reported to be in stable condition and are expected to recover fully, according to Commissioner Tisch.
The suspect — 51-year-old Raul Morales — was arrested in connection with both assaults, Tisch said. He was taken into custody on the Upper West Side, near West 88th Street and Amsterdam
In an unexpected twist at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, Jon Bon Jovi had to cut his performance short owing to a sinus infection, leaving fans both surprised and understanding.
A representative for the rock icon told Page Six, “From the stage, Jon Bon Jovi shared with the audience that he has been struggling with a sinus infection, leading to the premature conclusion of the night’s show.”
The representative elaborated, “During the Bon Jovi residency at Madison Square Garden, Jon has often expressed how thrilling it is to be back performing live concerts with the band.”
Assuring fans, the spokesperson added that “further updates regarding future performances will be communicated soon.”
The rocker, notably, was in the middle of the eighth show in his nine-night MSG residency when he fled the stage post-“Livin’ on a Prayer.”
“I’m sorry, I’m hurt and you’re not getting the best of me,” he told attendees, an eyewitness shared with Page Six.
“Don’t throw away your ticket stubs, I’m gonna figure something out, OK?” the Grammy winner continued before exiting the stage. “Just hold onto it, we’ll figure out how to reschedule.”
He has yet to address the cancellation further.
The musician announced the Forever Tour in October 2025.
“There is a lot of joy in this announcement — joy that we can share these nights together with our amazing fans and joy that the band can be together,” the band’s frontman wrote in a statement.
“I am lucky enough to be able to hold a light out to the audience each night and stand in their reflection for a tremendous collective experience — I get to stand in the WE of our concerts.”
The tour, which kicked off July 7, is the band’s first since the songwriter underwent vocal cord surgery in 2022 — and confessed to the Sunday Times in 2024 that he may be “done” performing live “if [his] singing [was] not great” after.
However, Bon Jovi confirmed to People last month that his voice had “fully recovered.”
In June, the “Bad Medicine” crooner explained, “It was longer than I’d ever expected, but it had to be right. We never lost faith.”
Zach Gilford initially envisioned a short-lived role when he joined Criminal Minds: Evolution to portray a serial killer. Fast forward to four thrilling seasons, 40 gripping episodes, and two directorial efforts later, Gilford found his unexpected journey drawing to a close. His captivating portrayal of Elias Voit—a calculating murderer and mastermind using the COVID-19 lockdown to cultivate an online serial killer network—left such a lasting impact that the Criminal Minds crew found it hard to say farewell.
During Gilford’s extended stay on the series, he skillfully breathed life into numerous facets of his complex character. Through revealing flashbacks to Lee Duval’s troubled childhood, viewers gained insight into his origins. As the story unfolded, they witnessed the duality of Voit—a doting husband and father with a sinister alter ego known as the “Sicarius” killer. In a dramatic turn, Gilford portrayed Voit grappling with guilt and newfound empathy after a brain injury, adding another layer to his multifaceted personality.
The curtain fell on Elias Voit’s saga with the climactic finale of Season 19. His character’s journey concluded with a heroic act—saving his daughter from an aspirant killer dubbed “The Fan” (played by Justin Kirk)—only to selflessly take responsibility for the murder to shield her. As the credits rolled, Voit was incarcerated in an undisclosed high-security federal prison, signaling his absence from Season 20. Despite Gilford’s eagerness to return, he acknowledges that Voit’s exit is a necessary evolution for the series.
“While it’s difficult to part ways, it feels like it’s the right move for both the character and the show,” Gilford expressed during a Zoom interview with Decider. “If a sensible reason for Voit’s return surfaced, I’d jump on board, but without justification, it would feel unnecessary to bring him back.”
In celebration of Voit’s thrilling narrative in Criminal Minds: Evolution, Gilford shared insights with Decider about the dramatic Season 19 finale, the exhilarating experience of working alongside renowned actors such as Justin Kirk and Joe Mantegna, and his personal reflections on Voit’s concluding scenes.
DECIDER:You signed onto Criminal Minds: Evolution for one season, and you killed it so hard that they wrote a four-season arc. Iconic. What are you going to miss most about playing this deeply complex, prolific serial killer?
ZACH GILFORD: It’s such a cheesy answer, but I’m gonna miss the crew and the cast and just that set. It was just such a fun place to work, and the creators, they really would give me the runway to kind of take the script and add to it or morph it in certain ways. The fun thing about being on a show for several years is you get to know the other actors and the characters really well, and you really develop, obviously, those relationships off camera, but you start to develop the relationship between the characters and stuff that I don’t think anyone would know is there. And our writers are really smart to say, “Oh, they did this scene, and had this dynamic, we’re gonna lean into that.”
Photo: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
Do you have a favorite dynamic that unfolded?
I think one that no one would have really seen on paper is the relationship between JJ and Voit. They’re the only two people with kids. And they’re clearly adversaries, but that’s a thing they have in common, and they develop this — I don’t even know if respect is the right word, but they just get each other in a way that no one else does. That’s something that they never thought to write to, but they ended up writing to it as the show went on.
This season had so many incredible guest stars, but Justin Kirk was so good and so perfectly cast; I got chills. And we see another new side to Voit around Crowley. What was it like developing that unique dynamic with him as a scene partner and director?
I actually directed his first episode. And when they told me they cast him, I’ve been a fan of his since I was in high school. And they cast him; he didn’t audition or anything, not that he should. And so you’re like, “Cool, we got this guy. He’s a great actor. Who knows what he’s gonna do.” And then we did the table read, and I was like, “Oh my god, this is so fun.” He’s so creepy, but not in this overt way. It’s just off-putting. So we had a few scenes that were just us at a table talking, and that’s how we developed the relationship. He came in with whatever he was doing, and I just tried to react to it. And because Voit doesn’t know who this person is, he doesn’t know what he’s gonna do. So it was fun to be like, all right, I’m gonna learn this character as an actor. I’m going to learn what he is doing as the character is learning who he is. He is such an amazing scene partner, but also just someone on set. He was always like, “Whatever you want me to do! I’m just here to say my lines.” And I was like, “Do you want to do this? Do you want to do that?” And he’s like, “Whatever you want, I’m just happy to be here.”
Photo: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
And then you go from table talking scenes to finale fight scenes.
The fight scenes are funny, because they’re just so choreographed. They have to be for safety, and the biggest part is figuring out how to do it where it also looks good — like film it in a way where you can see what’s happening. They definitely get a little tired and sweaty if you have to do them a lot. But it’s fun. And Justin, again, is just so game. Sometimes you get into those sorts of scenes, and people take them too seriously, or they’re not technical enough, and you’re like, “No, no, no. Stop. We just need this for the camera. This isn’t for your character arc.” And he and I are both very like-minded in that way where we’re like, “How do we make this work on screen the best?” whether it’s dialogue or fighting.
You and Voit have parallel finale experiences in the sense that he reunites with Holly and you got to reunite with Allison Nordahl. Talk about filming those emotional finale scenes together.
The stuff with Alison was so fun because I think she was 17, or 18, or 19 when we filmed the end of it. And she was like 14 when we started working together. So she’s grown up a lot. She was going to college this year. So it was fun to see her grow up literally as a person and see how mature she got. I love her. She’s such a sweetheart. She’s a great actress, and we would sit and talk. And there was one point when there was another person her age on set, and the two of them would talk a lot. And I was like, “Oh, what’s going on here?”
Okay, so you have become her dad. [Laughs]
[Laughs] And she goes, “Nothing. Everyone on the set is in their forties. This is the only person my age to talk to!” And I’m like, “Sure, sure.”
Photo: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
Voit has always been very motivated by family. When you read the finale script and saw where the arc was taking him, what was your initial reaction?
This was one where they got it right. I think it made sense, and it really was a good way to close the story of Voit. It’s not a happy ending by any means, but I think it does show that at his core he wants to be a good dad. He would do anything for his children. And also he’s seen one of his greatest fears come true. Not that she’s maliciously killing someone, but he’s always had this fear in the back of his head of, “Am I passing this down to my kids?” And even though it’s not the same way he would kill people, it’s now like, “I’ve put my daughter in a position where she has to do this.” It’s almost like the ultimate punishment for him, which, not that he wants that, but he feels the need to be punished. He said, “Put me to death, put me away in a cell.” And the one punishment I think he would never impose on himself is the one that he ultimately has to bear.
I obviously have to ask about Voit and Rossi. Both real and ghost, they’ve had one of the most complex relationships of this show. What were your thoughts on their final scene when Rossi closes the book and says goodbye to him? And how much are you going to miss Joe as a scene partner?
Oh my god, I’m gonna miss Joe as a human. As a scene partner, I’ve said this a million times, but I grew up in Chicago, so he’s always been someone I looked up to. He’s so fun to work with. He’s fun to hang out with. Amy Garcia, who played my doctor in Season 3, always calls him an American treasure. Cause he really is. He’s just like the nicest, sweetest human being, and an amazing actor. Maybe it’s cheesy, maybe it’s not, but I love the literal closing of the book on the Voit of it all, and like getting to play the scenes where it’s real Rossi and Voit, then where it’s like ghost Voit, ghost Rossi, whatever they are. It’s just these different dynamics that show how complicated their relationship is and the space they hold in each other’s heads. Every scene was just so fun to do and to find a different way to kind of show that relationship.
Photo: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
We know Rossi has closed the book on Voit, but do you think Voit will be reading the book Rossi wrote?
[Laugh] No one’s asked me that. Yeah, of course Voit’s gonna read the whole thing!
Maybe he’ll be conjuring ghost Rossi in prison just for some friendship.
That’s hilarious, I love that. Yeah, I think Voit will definitely read the book; he’ll probably send notes.
We hear that Voit will not “darken the door of the BAU ever again,” but you can always come back to Criminal Minds, so if the story ever calls for it, would you be open to returning as Voit or directing more episodes?
I would go back in a heartbeat. As sad as it is to leave, I feel like for the character and for the show, it’s what needed to happen. It’s the same with, honestly, Friday Night Lights. It was always sad for characters to leave, but it was about high school kids, and high school kids graduate, and they go away. And I think that’s part of what made that show great is we kept it authentic, and we didn’t keep people around just cause we liked them. And I think that’s the same on this show. If there was a way to have Voit show back up that made sense. I’d love to do it, but if it was just to have him show up. I’d be like, “Well, why are we doing this?”
Photo: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
This role was a full-circle moment for you in the sense that you auditioned for the Criminal Minds pilot, and this fall also marks the 20th anniversary of Friday Night Lights premiering. As you approach that milestone and look back at your career and your growth, what does it mean to you that you’re still out here doing what you love?
I’m just thankful I’ve been able to work. I’m thankful I have been able to do different stuff, fun stuff. It’s really like, I’ve just made so many cool relationships over the course of my career and long-lasting ones. I mean, I am literally getting dinner with Minka [Kelly] on Thursday. I had lunch with Jesse [Plemmons] a couple of weeks ago. I’m getting together with Aisha [Tyler] in like two weeks. These are relationships that mean a lot to me, and people who have been there for me through so much of my life. To get that out of a job is so special, and I’m so thankful for it, and I just look forward to more. And it’s cool now, the way TV, with streamers and stuff, works. People can find work you did 20 years ago, and people are still coming up to me and being like, I just watched Friday Night Lights [for the first time]. I’m like, “Oh, wow. That’s right. I forgot.” That show was so long ago. My kids still haven’t watched it. I tried showing them the pilot a couple months ago. And they were like, “This is boring!”
Oh my god. [Laughs] One day they’ll learn its greatness.
My son is always like, “Daddy, did you used to play football?” And I’m like, “Technically…”
You’re a football star! You’re QB1!
Yeah. I’m a fake state champion. [Laughs]
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 is now streaming on Paramount+.
In a jaw-dropping incident that underscores the vast cybersecurity risks AI can bring, an artificial intelligence tool developed by OpenAI successfully breached the confines of its testing setup and infiltrated a real-world company.
Announced on Wednesday by the technology firm through an official statement on its website, the episode involved a fusion of OpenAI’s models executing a cyber attack on another technology platform known as Hugging Face, all during a controlled examination of OpenAI’s capabilities.
Professor Geoff Webb, a leading expert from Monash University’s department of data science and artificial intelligence, shared his concerns with SBS News, describing the potential misuse of such systems by those with ill intentions as “literally terrifying.”
He emphasized, “It highlights the colossal challenge ahead in safeguarding ourselves from these AI systems as we move forward.”
“What are the limits of what these systems might achieve?” he pondered.
Toby Walsh, laureate fellow and professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales’ department of computer science and engineering, said the developments were “troubling”.
“All of these models now have pretty strong cyber-capabilities, both for uncovering flaws, bugs that we can then fix, but also in the wrong hands, to exploit those bugs,” he told SBS News.
“At the moment, we’re relying on the goodwill of OpenAI to tell us what’s happening … We need tougher controls and oversight.”
Escaping the sandbox
The saga started when Hugging Face, an AI platform for building and sharing machine learning tools, spotted an intrusion from an autonomous AI agent system, writing on their website the attack was “different from anything we had handled before”.
“That was something that surprised everyone, including themselves,” Walsh said.
OpenAI then announced their models were responsible for the intrusion, after they detected a zero-day flaw in Hugging Face’s online security.
“Zero-day flaw means it’s a foundational flaw that needs to be fixed now, instantly. You don’t wait,” Walsh said.
Webb told SBS News the problem with the incident isn’t that OpenAI went ‘rogue’.
“It wasn’t that it decided to do [the attack] anyway. It was told to do it, and it did it. It has now got the capability of figuring it out.”
The problem, he said, was that “OpenAI thought they’d put it inside a box it couldn’t escape from”.
The frontiers of cyber-security
The incident isn’t the first to demonstrate the cybersecurity threat of AI. Anthropic temporarily restricted its Claude Mythos model in May after it found more than 10,000 security vulnerabilities in critical software.
Walsh said it’s a good sign Anthropic was transparent about what they found, but not good at sharing information about vulnerabilities with the companies and infrastructure most at risk.
“They didn’t give it to any banks outside the United States, no banks in Europe, no banks in Australia. So our banks weren’t helped to actually try and fix their systems.”
While there’s no evidence that either Anthropic or OpenAI models were used in Australian cyber attacks, Walsh said it’s not a coincidence the number and severity of cyber attacks was increasing as “frontier AI” models were growing more sophisticated.
Walsh said many of these models have “all these capabilities that can find zero-day flaws that can get behind password-protective barriers to do things that private criminals would love to be able to do”.
In June, the leaders of the Five Eyes security agencies — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the US — expressed concerns the pace of AI meant security could become outdated in months, rather than years.
“Adversaries are already using AI to move faster and more effectively. Defenders must do the same,” they said in a joint statement.
Is ‘AI sovereignty’ the solution?
Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a National AI Plan.
“One aspect of sovereignty is making sure we have access to systems we can rely on,” he said.
“It may be that we create our own systems, but that’s an incredibly expensive path to go down.”
Webb said other options, like boosting our own AI workforce and investing in non-frontier AI technologies that aren’t reliant on OpenAI and Google, can still help Australia be more resilient against future cyber attacks.
“Australia can afford to create those kinds of systems … and they’re actually going to be better at their tasks.”
Walsh also agreed that the solution was not to shy away from AI.
“It’s a double-edged sword. The tools that are helping us to uncover cyber flaws in our systems to make them more secure, but the same tools are now available to people who are using them to exploit those flaws.
Taylor Swift has triumphed yet again, earning her place among the world’s elite as one of Forbes magazine’s Most Powerful Women for 2023. She has ascended to the impressive fifth position on a prestigious list known for featuring global leaders, top executives, and financial moguls.
Emerging as the fifth most powerful woman, Swift’s dramatic rise is nothing short of remarkable. Just last year, she was ranked at a much lower position, number 79, on the same influential list.
Forbes lauds the 33-year-old megastar, highlighting her staggering $1.1 billion net worth, a groundbreaking world tour, and her significant economic influence. In their discussion of her accomplishments, they note that her achievements place her among the most formidable women globally.
The year 2023 has been a landmark period for Swift, marked not only by her chart-topping Eras Tour but also by her headline-grabbing romance with football sensation Travis Kelce. Their union has captivated audiences spanning from die-hard Swifties to fervent NFL fans.
Swift crossed into billionaire territory in October, propelled by her record-setting Eras Tour. This blockbuster series of 66 performances in the U.S. alone has generated nearly $850 million in revenue, reinforcing her status as a powerful force both on stage and in financial circles.
Taylor Swift has been declared one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes magazine, landing at number five on a list that includes world leaders, CEOs, and heads of financial corporations
Swift’s net worth grew to $1.1 billion after she earned $190 million – after tax – during the first leg of her tour, prompting her net worth to grow to $1.1 billion. She will next travel to Europe and Asia for her tour in 2024.
The publication also cited the economic benefits of a city hosting an Eras show. According to Forbes, on average fans spent $1,300 on lodging, food, and retailers during her two Denver concerts – providing $140 million to Colorado’s gross domestic product.
Estimates made by the U.S. Travel Association calculates that Taylor’s tour over $5 billion was added to state economies.
‘She’s like a big corporation, essentially, operating in many sectors,’ Carolyn Sloan, a labor economist and professor at the University of Chicago, told Forbes.
‘Her audience has skewed so young and so female for so long that people may have underestimated how big this thing could be, economically. I don’t think anybody doubts that today.’
Forbes also cites the success of her Eras Tour concert, released in October. The movie earned $93 million during its opening weekend and worldwide made over $250 million.
The release of her film also coincided with her much-talked about romance with NFL star Travis Kelce, whom Swift has been supporting in person at his games.
In addition, Forbes brings up her successful re-recording of her songs following a controversy over the masters. Her latest re-recording, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), broke a Spotify record.
2023 has indeed been a banner year for the pop star, with Taylor embarking on her record-breaking Eras Tour and a new romance with football star Travis Kelce that has taken two unlikely worlds, Swifites and the NFL, by storm
Swift’s net worth grew to $1.1 billion after she earned $190 million – after tax – during the first leg of her tour, prompting her net worth to grow to $1.1 billion. She will next travel to Europe and Asia for her tour in 2024
The pop star pictured in Cincinnati, Ohio in June
Taylor has indeed been everywhere as of late – and her influence has not gone unnoticed.
Taylor has topped People’s 2023 Most Intriguing People of the Year list, and has also been nominated for TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year.
For now, fans will have to wait a little longer to see Taylor on stage again – she’s currently on a nearly three month break from her tour.
In an inspiring display of selflessness, a man donned in a Spider-Man costume was caught on camera leaping into action to assist a man in a wheelchair navigate across a bustling intersection in Arkansas. The heroic act quickly captivated hearts and went viral.
This touching event unfolded on a Tuesday, when traffic cameras documented the moment shortly after Christopher Hellenthal, aged 20, concluded his shift at a trampoline park in Jonesboro.
“Earlier that day, we celebrated superhero day, so I dressed as Spider-Man for the kids, and they absolutely loved it,” said Hellenthal, reflecting on his decision to wear the costume. “When work was done, I thought I’d take a drive around town in the suit. That’s when I saw the man in the wheelchair, clearly struggling, and knew he needed help.”
Describing his immediate reaction, Hellenthal recounted, “I jumped out of my car right away, driven by pure adrenaline. I assured the gentleman, ‘don’t worry, I’ve got you,’ and he seemed to understand. I guided him to safety, returned to my vehicle, and continued on my way.”
In Jonesboro, Arkansas, Christopher Hellenthal, 20, dressed as Spider-Man, assists a man in a wheelchair across a busy road.(Jonesboro Police Department/TMX/AP)
“I would have done it with or without the suit,” Hellenthal also said.
The moment was shared on the Facebook page of the Jonesboro Police Department, which called Hellenthal a “true superhero.”
“We were able to spot this little web of kindness on our intersection cameras. Thank you, sir, for helping this gentleman reach his destination safely,” police said.
Sally Smith, a police department spokesperson, told The Associated Press that “Not in my 7 years in the department have I witnessed this.”
Hellenthal said he would have helped the man “with or without the suit.”(Jonesboro Police Department/TMX/AP)
Hellenthal, who lives in Lake City, east of Jonesboro, said he’s always been a Spider-Man fan. He told the AP that he even had the opportunity to meet the late Stan Lee, one of the character’s co-creators.
Packy Magel, a manager at Ultimate Air Trampoline Park who works with Hellenthal, said he recognized Hellenthal from the video despite his superhero getup.
The video ends with Hellenthal helping the man cross the intersection on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Jonesboro, Ark.(Jonesboro Police Department/TMX/AP)
It’s “very much like him to do something like that and very much like him to be still in costume,” Magel said to the AP.
