NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift has announced a new song, “Patient Zero” — her first since her starry wedding this summer. It releases Friday.
She made the announcement in true Swift fashion. On Tuesday morning, the pop powerhouse launched a cryptic countdown clock on her website, displayed atop a red curtain and due to end at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Her dedicated fans, known as Swifties, quickly got to work attempting to decode whatever news was forthcoming, noting that her official Instagram bio was changed to read “And, baby, that’s sh0w business f0r y0u,” with each “o” replaced with a zero.
Now it appears clear that the gesture was a reference to the new song's title. Once the countdown timed out, her website updated to reveal three, limited-edition CD variants of the new track: one with a double-sided cover as well as an acoustic and piano version, for $3.99 each.
It is her first new song since marrying Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in July.
Swift's last album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” was released last October, and she contributed a song to the “Toy Story 5” soundtrack in June.
On Monday, it was announced that Swift will receive the inaugural Artist Director Honors at the MTV VMAs on Sunday, becoming the most awarded artist in VMA history.
Currently, Swift is tied with Beyoncé for the title. They have 30 each.
The new award aims to recognize artists “whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling.”
Swift has nine nominations at this year's award show, following only Madonna, who leads with 11.
Her appearance at Sunday's show raised the specter of further announcements, as Swift has been known to make news onstage.
At the Emmys last week, Swift appeared in a pretaped skit, playing a rookie in the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” office.
Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson went through two large crime boards to make connections between Swift’s songs, and the Emmy-nominated shows to see if she would attend the telecast. One of the detectives called it a “rabbit hole.” (In reality, Swift was at Arrowhead Stadium during the award show, and sitting alongside Tom Cruise, to watch the Chiefs open the NFL season against the Denver Broncos.)
In one pointed moment, Swift looked to the camera and appeared to utter a series of hints: “Saccharide. Ares. From the Vineyard. North or South,” she said. Fans have urgently been trying to decode the message since.
But in true Swift spirit: They won't know for sure until she has connected the dots.
FILE - Taylor Swift performs during "The Eras Tour," Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan court convicted 15 men on Tuesday over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed more than 260 people, and sentenced them each to 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated. The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse, following a lengthy trial that spanned for nearly five years.
The April 21 attacks targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations, and they also wounded about 500 people. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They killed 42 foreigners and devastated communities across the country.
All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.
Authorities filed 23,270 charges in 2021 against 24 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offenses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamic militant groups were accused of carrying out the bombings.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.
A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.
In July, a former police chief and a former senior defense ministry official were also sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.
Sri Lanka has not carried out executions since 1976, meaning death sentences typically result in life imprisonment.
After the bombings, allegations emerged that the attackers had links to Sri Lanka’s state intelligence services. The country’s Defense Ministry denied any involvement.
In February, police arrested Suresh Salley, a former intelligence chief and retired army major general, in connection with the bombings. The government has alleged that Salley, who remains in custody, had prior knowledge of the attacks and actively conspired to carry them out.
Salley was a prominent military intelligence official credited with playing a major role in the campaign that ended the country’s civil war in 2009.
The bombings shook the island nation and revived memories of the 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, widely known as the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group that fought to establish an independent state for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.
Police commandos patrol with a sniffer dog at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
A police commando stands guard at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
Police commandos stand guard at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
