Taylor Swift has won seven gongs at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), equalling Beyonce in a career total of 30 and matching her as most-awarded musician in VMAs history.
Swift, who used her platform to urge Americans to vote in the upcoming presidential elections, picked up prizes including video of the year for Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, artist of the year and best collaboration.
While Swift overtook Beyonce as the most decorated solo artist in VMAhistory, the Single Ladies singer has previously picked up gongs for being in girl group Destiny’s Child, and her collaborations with husband Jay-Z as The Carters.
Beyonce did not win any new awards at this year’s VMAs and was notably shut out of the Country Music Association Awards earlier this week.
Upon receiving her award for video of the year, Swift thanked her boyfriend, NFL player Travis Kelce, for his support, saying: “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic.”
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1:08
‘Taylor Swift is America’
She also encouraged her fans who are over 18 to register to vote in the upcoming US election, although she avoided directly mentioning her endorsement of vice president Kamala Harris.
On Tuesday, after a presidential debate between Ms Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump, Swift endorsed the Democratic candidate on Instagram, writing: “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
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Swift jokingly signed off her endorsement “childless cat lady” – a move which was followed by Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks shortly after.
Image: Katy Perry won the VMA lifetime achievement award. Pic: AP
Elsewhere, Katy Perry also made VMA history, becoming the first singer to win the Vanguard award – the VMA’s lifetime achievement award – having previously won video of the year and also present the ceremony in previous years.
The stakes were high for the I Kissed A Girl singer after her comeback album – 143 – was panned by fans and critics alike, with the first two singles from the collection sinking without trace.
Image: Katy Perry performs a medley of her songs. Pic: AP
Perry performed a medley of her biggest songs, including Roar, Teenage Dream and Firework, with her stage show including a risqué performance with rapper Doechii, during which the pair wrapped their legs around each other and lay on the stage.
Accepting her award, which was presented to her by her husband British actor Orlando Boom, Perry said: “There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decade-long accidents.”
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Bloom and Perry shared an on-stage kiss after the singer accepted the award, with Perry thanking him “for keeping me grounded”.
She also paid tribute to their four-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove, saying: “Lastly, for my Daisy, the only flowers I’ll ever need.”
Image: Sabrina Carpenter performs Please Please Please. Pic: AP
Elsewhere, Sabrina Carpenter picked up song of the year for Espresso, while Good Luck, Babe singer Chappell Roan was named best new artist and Blackpink’s LISA won the best K-pop award.
Carpenter wore the same silver sequined Bob Mackie gown that Madonna wore to the 1991 Academy Awards, and surprisingly kissed an alien during her performance of a medley of her hits which included Please Please Please, Taste and Espresso.
Image: Chappell Roan won best new artist. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, Roan channelled Joan of Arc for her medieval performance of Good Luck, Babe – a summer hit that has made her a break-out star.
Roan – who last month sparked a conversation about boundaries after posting videos online urging fans to stop “harassing her” – had recently faced push-back after cancelling two European shows to play the VMAs.
Image: Eminem performs Houdini. Pic: AP
Eminem won prizes for best hip-hop video and best visual effects, making him the solo male artist with the most wins with a total haul of 14 gongs.
He performed his two latest singles, Houdini and Somebody Save Me, entering the stage with dozens of dancers all sporting bleach blonde wigs.
It was a nod to his 2000 VMA performance of The Real Slim Shady, where he sang at the ceremony in front of hundreds of extras dressed just like him.
The 2024 MTV VMAs will be screened in the UK on MTV and Paramount Plus at 8pm on Thursday 12 September
Donald Trump has celebrated the 100th day of his second term with a campaign-style rally in Michigan.
During his 90-minute speech the US president mocked Joe Biden, falsely claimed he won the 2020 presidential election and defended his decision to impose tariffs on countries around the world.
Speaking in front of electronic screens reading “100 days of greatness”, Mr Trump attacked “radical left lunatics”, briefly took on a heckler and boasted about his administration’s “mass deportation” efforts.
“Removing the invaders is not just a campaign pledge,” he said. “It’s my solemn duty as commander-in-chief. I have an obligation to save our country.”
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He played a video of migrants his administration claims are gang members arriving at a notorious prison in El Salvador, with those in the crowd cheering the images of deportees having their heads shaved.
During his speech, during which he called up several of his top team to the stage, Mr Trump claimed his administration has delivered “most profound change in Washington in nearly 100 years”.
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3:04
100 days of Donald Trump
Mr Trump also briefly touched on tariffs, saying China, which is facing tariffs of 145%, “has taken more jobs from us than any country has ever taken from another country”.
Image: Pic: AP
But he said his tariffs did not mean Beijing and Washington cannot “get along” and said he thought a trade deal with China was near, adding: “But it’s going to be a fair deal.”
“I think it’s going to work out,” he says. “They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. But it’s going to be a fair deal.”
Image: Donald Trump speaking in Michigan. Pic: AP
Image: Mr Trump dances at the end of his rally. Pic: Reuters
He claimed his administration had “already ended inflation”, but last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics said while inflation slowed in March over the past year, it had in fact risen 2.4%.
Mr Trump, who has frequently criticised Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell in recent weeks, said: “Interest rates came down, despite the fact that I have a Fed person who’s not really doing a good job, but I won’t say that. I want to be very nice. I want to be very nice and respectful to the Fed.
“You’re not supposed to criticise the Fed. You’re supposed to let him do his own thing. But I know much more than he does about interest rates, believe me.”
Mr Trump also defended his administration’s steep tariffs on cars and car parts, hours after he signed an executive order aimed at easing the impact of his tariffs on US carmakers.
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“We’re here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country,” Mr Trump said.
He later added: “We’ve just gotten started. You haven’t even seen anything yet.”
Getting beyond the West Wing and out of Washington has been harder. The volume of news has necessitated a near-constant presence in the US capital.
Every single day, there has been something. Of course, this has been entirely intentional for the president and his team of proud disrupters.
They pledged to govern differently, and on that promise, they have more than delivered.
To fix America, Donald Trump first had to convince people that it is broken. Many didn’t need convincing. Look for decline here and you’ll easily find it; communities left behind.
Look for bureaucracy and waste – you’ll find that too. Common sense silenced by wokism? Many can relate to that. Immigration out of control? Politicians have been struggling with that for decades.
In just 100 days, Mr Trump has harnessed all of that into a package of change that feels like nothing short of a revolution.
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Despite the tsunami of news, my colleagues and I have managed to escape from the White House. And it is there, beyond Washington, that the more subtle but no less profound changes to the fabric of this nation can be felt.
Whether it be innocuous tattoos that might now be associated with gang membership, free speech opinions penned on social media, or the willingness just to chat about politics, one startling thing I have observed these past 100 days is a growing sense of fear.
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23:32
Does Trump really ‘run the country and the world?’
A passion for politics
Anyone who has worked as a foreign correspondent in America will tell you that Americans love to give their opinion on politics. And they do it, always, with word-perfect articulation. There is no better place in the world for a ‘voxpop’.
There is a passion for politics that I haven’t seen anywhere else I’ve lived and worked. Until now. Over these past 100 days, I have increasingly found a reticence that reflects an America changed by this president and his style.
I’m in Detroit at the moment, in Michigan, the battleground state that helped to deliver Donald Trump the presidency back in November. I was here back then, too, and recall the enthusiasm with which people would discuss the upcoming election. There was enthusiasm for Trump and enthusiasm for Harris.
An indictment of the times
Now the response to my questions is, so often, “no thanks, I’d rather not”. Sometimes people ask where the report will be seen. “Will it be on in America?” Think about it – this is America. What an indictment of the times, that people fear offering their opinion – whatever side of the aisle they sit.
Very often, it’s businesses that are extremely cautious of being associated with one political view or another. Such is the animosity now between the two sides.
After a day of perseverance in Detroit this week, a few folk did talk to us. Their answers were revealing.
In a park, I met Marie Freeman who said people are now “more angry”. Her view is that America has lost something over these past 100 days.
“I definitely want us to move forward in a positive, more empathetic way. I think with Trump being such a hardcore president, we lose the empathy, we lose the grace for our fellow neighbours. We’re all so angry because we’re under angry leadership. And that’s not good.”
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She articulated a vibe which I recognise in so many parts of this country right now. A lack of grace and empathy.
Yet, yards away, a couple walking their cats stopped to chat. I asked how they would rate these past 100 days. Two tens out of ten for Trump’s performance.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.
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2:49
From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral
Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainianleader was “calmer”.
“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.
However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.
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He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.
“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.
It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.
State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.
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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”
It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.
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1:26
From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit
The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.