LONDON — Two weeks after Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts were canceled due to a suspected terror plot, the singer delivered her first remark about the cancellations.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she stated in a message on Instagram on Wednesday. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

She thanked authorities—”Thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she said—and stated that she would wait to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour was completed to prioritise safety.

Taylor Swift calls cancellation of Vienna shows ‘devastating’ and explains her silence

“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she said.

Following the cancellations, Swift’s reps did not reply to several requests for comment from The Associated Press and other news organizations, and her social media profiles had become inactive.

“In situations like this,’silence’ is exercising restraint and waiting to express yourself until the time is appropriate. My top objective was to finish our European trip safely, and I’m relieved to say we did,” she added.

Barracuda Music, the concert organizer, said it canceled the three-night Vienna run, which was scheduled to begin on August 8, since the arrests in connection with the conspiracy occurred too close to showtime. Authorities claimed a 19-year-old suspect wanted to target spectators outside the Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives, wanting to “kill as many people as possible.” Austrian officials claimed they appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

That suspect and another 17-year-old were arrested on August 6, the day before the gigs were canceled. A third suspect, aged 18, was arrested on August 8. The 19-year-old’s lawyer has said the allegations were “overacting at their best” and claimed Austrian authorities were “presenting this exaggeratedly” to obtain new surveillance powers.

Tens of thousands of Swifties from all over the world had traveled to Vienna for the performances.

Swift’s Instagram post also marked the end of the European leg by paying respect to her five nights at London’s Wembley Stadium, which she said influenced her decision to wait to speak out and eventually “felt like a beautiful dream sequence.”

Taylor Swift calls cancellation of Vienna shows ‘devastating’ and explains her silence

“I decided that all of my energy had to go towards helping to protect the nearly half a million people who were coming to see the shows in London,” she wrote the day after her final Wembley performance. “My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal.”

The shows in London, the next stop after Vienna, followed a stabbing at a Swift-themed dance class that killed three young girls in the United Kingdom. Swift said in a statement following the Southport attack that she was “just completely in shock” and “at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” According to news reports, Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in London.

The record-breaking tour is on hiatus until October, when it will resume in Miami.

SOURCE | AP

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ascribed the continued internet delay and degradation of services to a malfunction in “two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally”.

The clarification came in the aftermath of the ongoing internet delay, which experts and stakeholders blamed on the alleged testing of an internet firewall to control social media, which is equipped with filters to prevent undesired content from reaching a larger audience.

“The AAE-1 cable has experienced a 250G outage due to rerouting between Iran and Qatar,” according to an official statement from the telecommunications authorities.

Similarly, the PTA stated that the SMW 4 cable (1.5T) has been out of operation due to problems near Karachi. It also stated that operators were redirecting traffic to other available cables in order to “minimise the impact on internet users in Pakistan“.

PTA Clarifies Role of National Firewall System in Internet Slowdown

“The concerned teams are fixing the fault and PTA is monitoring the situation till internet speeds are normalised in the country,” the statement went on to say.

A day earlier, PTA Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeezur Rehman admitted to upgrading the National Firewall System (NFS) or Web Management System (WMS) to restrict or remove content from social media, claiming executive or judicial instructions.

According to The News, the PC-1 for the NFS upgrade was granted in March 2019, under the reign of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. He also stated that social media messaging service X, formerly known as Twitter, was prohibited for failing to comply with the interior ministry’s directions, since there was a specified procedure under the law to impose a ban or remove content from social media.

According to the Web Management System, it is the PTA’s responsibility to comply with executive or superior court rulings, and the PTA chief mentioned examples of content removal relating to obscenity or blasphemy.

However, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology unanimously opposed slowing down the internet or banning social media platforms. They urged the Ministry of IT to collaborate and provide specific estimates of IT sector losses.

The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP), Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), and IT experts have slammed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government on the issue, citing the economic impact on freelancers, IT professionals, and the digital economy in general.

With P@SHA estimating a $300 million loss due to existing complaints by businesses and reputational damage, WISPAP Chairman Shahzad Arshad has stated that businesses and individuals who rely on reliable internet connectivity, which is an essential pillar of the country’s digital economy, are now “struggling to maintain operations, and the slowdown is threatening their very survival”.

However, the government has denied any participation in the matter, with State Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja citing internet users’ use of virtual private networks (VPNs) as the cause of “their phones” slowing down.

“I swear that the government of Pakistan did not block or slow down the internet,” she told the journalists last week.

The second-largest diamond ever discovered, a rough 2,492-carat stone, was discovered in Botswana at a mine operated by Canadian company Lucara Diamond.

It is the largest find since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine distinct stones, several of which are housed in the British Crown Jewels.

The diamond was discovered at the Karowe mine, approximately 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone.

Botswana’s authorities claimed it was the biggest diamond ever discovered in the southern African country.

The previous largest discovery in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone found at the same mine in 2019.

Botswana is the world’s largest diamond producer, accounting for around 20% of global production.

Lucara described the stone as “one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed” in a statement.

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492 carat diamond,” Lucara CEO William Lamb stated.

The corporation did not specify the stone’s gem quality or worth.

According to Mr Lamb, the diamond was identified using Lucara’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology.

According to Miningmx, it has been utilised since 2017 to locate and protect high-value diamonds, preventing them from breaking during ore-crushing procedures.

The Karowe mine is 100% owned by Lucara.

Botswana’s government has proposed legislation that would require corporations awarded mining licenses to sell a 24% stake to local firms if the government does not exercise its option to become a shareholder, according to Reuters news agency last month.

Source: BBC