Taylor Swift's Eras tour returns in London, with assist from Ed Sheeran, after foiled terror plot

LONDON (AP) — Taylor Swift’s history-making Eras Tour made a triumphant return, accompanied by Ed Sheeran, in London Thursday night.

He joined the headliner on stage at Wembley Stadium for the acoustic section, playing on two of their collaborations, “Everything Has Changed” and “Endgame,” before a burst of Sheeran’s hit “Thinking Out Loud.”

Swift teased the audience before his appearance, which lead to loud screaming from an audience that had already been energetically singing, dancing and doing heart hands throughout the show.

Sheeran’s appearance was one of the highlights of the finely-honed stage spectacular and musical celebration of Swift’s career to date.

It’s been tough few weeks for the singer and tour.

Heartbreak remains after the death of three young fans in Southport, northern England, who were killed by an attacker at their Swift themed dance class.

And fear followed the foiled plan to attack her concert venue in Austria, where police arrested three Islamic State-inspired extremists.

The August shows in Vienna were canceled, making Thursday’s Wembley concert the return of the Eras Tour to the stage. Neither were addressed on stage by Swift, who kicked things off with an “Oh hi London,” and admitted her “mind went blank” when she first greeted the crowd, which she likened to a “love system overload.”

She thanked the 92,000-strong audience for making the effort to attend, which had involved increased security measures.

Swift has four remaining dates at Wembley Stadium, which will make it a record breaking solo residency at the venue and round out the European leg of The Eras Tour.

It picks up again in Toronto in November.

The enthusiasm of Swift’s fans and a set list that includes more than 40 songs from all phases of her career have helped make the Eras Tour the biggest revenue earner of all time.

According to Pollstar, which collects data on the live music industry, it took more than $1 billion in ticket sales last year.

The tour is expected to push that record to more than $2 billion before it ends later this year in Indianapolis.

FILE - Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour on Friday, June 21, 2024 in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)

Taylor Swift fan, Amy Willow, wears wrist bands that have names of Swift songs on them outside Wembley Stadium in London, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, ahead of a series of Swift concerts starting Thursday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Kristina Broclebanl, left and Max Avatar Barnett who are Taylor Swift fans pose by a portrait of Swift painted on a stairway at Wembley Stadium in London, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, ahead of a series of Taylor Swift concerts starting Thursday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

A police officer wears wrist bands that have names of Swift songs as fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government investigation into Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic's securities trades and investments has found he violated several of the central bank's ethics policies.

The Fed rules violations “created the appearance” that Bostic acted on confidential Fed information and that he had a conflict of interest, but the Fed's Office of Inspector General concluded there were no violations of federal insider trading or conflict of interest laws, according to a report issued Wednesday.

The probe reviewed financial trades and investments in a roughly five-year period starting in 2017 made by several investment managers on Bostic's behalf — transactions that in October 2022 he said he had been initially unaware of.

Among the findings, investigators concluded that securities trades were made on Bostic's behalf multiple times during “blackout” periods around meetings of the central bank's policy-making Federal Open Market Committee. The investigation also found that Bostic at times did not report securities transactions and holdings, or failed to do so accurately, on annual disclosure forms.

Bostic also at one point was in breach of the Fed's policy against holding more than $50,000 in U.S. Treasury bonds or notes.

In 2022, Bostic acknowledged that many of his financial trades and investments inadvertently violated the Fed's ethics rules and said he took action to revise all his financial disclosures.

At the time, the board of the Atlanta Fed accepted Bostic’s explanations for the oversights and announced no further actions.

Still, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell asked the Fed’s Office of Inspector General to review Bostic’s financial disclosures.

FILE - In this image taken from video, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic speaks from Atlanta during a webinar sponsored by the 12 regional Fed banks to address the lack of racial disparity in the field of economics, April 13, 2021. (AP Photo/File)