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Taylor-Mania Hits Tokyo as Swift Resumes Tour Before Super Bowl 

A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
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Taylor-Mania Hits Tokyo as Swift Resumes Tour Before Super Bowl 

A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)

Taylor Swift will celebrate making Grammys history with a run of concerts in Tokyo starting Wednesday, kicking off a month of sell-out shows in Asia that will include a quick run home to see her boyfriend contest the US Super Bowl.

Excited fans queued in the cold from morning to buy merchandise at Tokyo Dome before the four shows, part of the megastar's global Eras Tour -- the first billion-dollar-tour ever.

"It's us, hi! We are Swifties from Taiwan!" read a huge fabric banner featuring 10 pictures of Swift's face, held up by a group of fans outside the 55,000-capacity arena.

Results of a hotly contested ticket lottery for Swift's Japan dates were announced in July, with some fans travelling to Tokyo, even if the tour was coming to them.

"We came just for the concert as we couldn't get tickets in Australia," laughed 18-year-old Ebony Donohue.

"I'm so excited to finally see her. All her music is so different. She's so relatable, and strong and amazing."

Other fans from places Swift won't stop this time, including Thailand, the Philippines and China, joined the vast crowd which gathered in the afternoon before the gig.

Some donned tassels, bright sequins and high-heeled boots in homage to their favorite Swift looks, while others came dressed as unicorn angels or wore official tour T-shirts.

Saya Matsuo, 25, told AFP he had been waiting years for this moment.

"I've been listening to her songs since I was in middle school, about 10 years. This is the first time I'll see her in concert, and I've been so excited since the moment we were able to get tickets," he said.

"She is someone who can grab people's hearts, make people sing and dance. I love her personality."

Swift-mania has reached fever pitch worldwide after the 34-year-old on Sunday scooped her fourth Album of the Year prize at the Grammys on Sunday.

That is the most held by any artist and breaks the joint record of three previously held by Swift and the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Super Bowl dash

Straight after her last Tokyo concert wraps up on Saturday, Swift will make a pit stop at this weekend's Super Bowl, where she is expected to cheer on her current beau Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs from the VIP suites.

The pop icon will then play dates in Australia and Singapore before heading to Europe on the tour that is predicted to make a staggering estimated $2 billion.

An influx of fans to the concerts has been shown to create a so-called "Swift effect" on local economies.

Travel technology company Amadeus reported an "extraordinary increase in interest" in search traffic for travel to cities in the Asia-Pacific region visited on the Eras Tour.

Cheska Caberte, 25, from the Philippines, told AFP she had been planning her trip for six months.

Wearing a fluffy bright pink jacket and matching heart-shaped shades, Caberte she was "really excited" to meet other "Swifties", as the star's fans are known.

Did she think her idol will make the Super Bowl in time? "She can go back right away, no sweat -- it's Taylor Swift."

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Javier Bardem on Gaza: ‘We Cannot Remain Indifferent’ in Call for Hostage Release and Ceasefire

Javier Bardem appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. (AP)
Javier Bardem appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. (AP)
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Javier Bardem on Gaza: ‘We Cannot Remain Indifferent’ in Call for Hostage Release and Ceasefire

Javier Bardem appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. (AP)
Javier Bardem appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. (AP)

Javier Bardem was no longer comfortable being silent on Gaza.

The Spanish actor spoke out about the Israeli-Hamas conflict upon accepting an award at the San Sebastian Film Festival last week. In his nuanced remarks, Bardem condemned the Hamas attacks as well as the "massive punishment that the Palestinian population is enduring."

He called for immediate ceasefire, Hamas’ release of hostages and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hamas leaders — some of whom are now dead — who ordered the Oct. 7 attacks to be judged by the International Criminal Court.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bardem explained why he chose to speak out.

"I believe that we can and must help bring peace. If we take a different approach, then we will get different results," Bardem told the AP, speaking prior to Iran’s attack on Israel Tuesday. "The security and prosperity of Israel and the health and future of a free Palestine will only be possible through a culture of peace, coexistence and respect."

Israel’s offensive has already killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents and destroyed much of the impoverished territory. Palestinian fighters are still holding some 110 hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, in which they killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Around a third of the 110 are already dead, according to Israeli authorities.

The war has drawn sharp divisions in Hollywood over the past year, where public support of Israel or Palestine has provoked backlash and bullying, with accusations of antisemitism and Islamophobia, and cost people jobs. Even silence has had its consequences. The #blockout2024 movement pressured celebrities who hadn’t said anything — or enough — to take a stand.

"Why now?" Bardem said. "Because to continue to stall negotiations and return to the previous status quo, as they say, or as we are seeing now, embark on a race to further violations of international law would be to perpetuate the war and eventually lead us off a cliff."

Bardem stressed that while antisemitism and Islamophobia are real and serious problems in the US, Europe and beyond, that the terms are being used to divert attention away from the "legitimate right to criticize the actions of the Israeli government and of Hamas.

"We’re witnessing crimes against human rights, crimes under international law, such as, for example, the banning of food, water, medicines, electricity, using, as UNICEF says, war against children and the trauma that’s being created for generations," Bardem said. "We cannot remain indifferent to that."

The Oscar-winner, who was born in the Canary Islands, has spoken up on global issues before, signing an open letter calling for peace during a 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas. He's also an environmental advocate, and spoke to the UN in 2019 about protecting the oceans.

"My mother educated me on the importance of treating all human beings equally, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, religion, nationality, socio and economic status, ability or sexuality," Bardem said. "Actions inform us and that alone interests me about people. That's why I have always been concerned about discrimination of any kind. That includes antisemitism and Islamophobia."

Bardem is married to Penélope Cruz, with whom he shares two children.

He said that beyond a fear that the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in danger, he has seen the effects of the conflict up close and the promise of a different approach. Two of his close friends, one Israeli, one Palestinian, both lost daughters to violence years ago and have bonded together in their shared pain and desire to help create positive change.

Those fathers, Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, are members of a nonprofit organization called The Parents Circle Families Forum that emphasizes reconciliation. They wrote a letter that Bardem shared: "What happened to us is like nuclear energy. You can use it for more destruction. Or you can use it to bring light. Losing your daughter is painful in both situations. But we love our life. We want to exist. So we use this pain to support change. To build bridges, not to dig graves."

Bardem added: "That’s what it should be about: Building bridges, not digging graves. That’s why it’s urgent and important."