U2's Bono and Bob Geldof are pushing world leaders to make good on their promises to give more financial aid to Africa.
The politically active rockers presented a new report that estimates that the Group of Eight of the world's wealthiest countries have only given a small fraction of the amount they pledged in 2005 to donate to Africa by 2010.
"What this big, long, exact, cold and brutal analysis shows us is that halfway to this historic date of 2010 � halfway � these wealthy countries ... have delivered 14 percent. How tragic is that?" Geldof said.
The report was issued by DATA, an advocacy organisation dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty and AIDS in Africa. Bono sits on its board of directors.
The report also gave statistics on how Africans have benefited greatly from financial aid, with millions of children entering school for the first time because of debt relief and getting immunized against life-threatening diseases, reports the Associated Press.
It also said that France, Germany, Italy and Canada have fallen off track in their pledges, and only the US and Britain appear to be on track to meet their targets by 2010.
--By our Los Angeles staff.
Find out more about NME.
Thursday 19 June 2008
Saturday 14 June 2008
Chris: 'I'm Still Trying To Live Up To Brad!'
They may be happily married with two kids, but Chris Martin says he is still trying to live up to Gwyneth Paltrow's ex!
The Coldplay front man even told Rolling Stone magazine that her two-and-a-half-year relationship with Brad Pitt is what drives him to make his band ever more successful.
"You've got to be hungry," he told the rock bible. "If your wife went out with Brad Pitt, you'd want to prove yourself, you know what I mean?"
Brad and Gwyn, 35, started dating in 1995 after they met on the set of the thriller Seven and got engaged in November 1996.
But although Brad, 44, had said it had been "love at first sight" the couple split in June 1997.
A lot has happened in the decade since they broke up -- but for some reason Chris, 31, still can't get his wife's love affair with one of the world's sexiest and most successful movie stars out of his head.
His latest effort to impress the mother of his children, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is set for its US release on 17 June.
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Sunday 8 June 2008
EastEnders set for stabbing storyline
'EastEnders' is reportedly set for a shocking stabbing storyline when youngster Jay Brown gets mixed up with a gang.
According to reports, the schoolboy, played by Jamie Borthwick, will begin to hang around with a violent gang after his father Jase starts spending more time with Dawn.
The gang reportedly terrorise elderly local lady Dot Cotton at her home and in the street and later Jay's father Jase also gets on the wrong side of them.
Reports have suggested that an 'EastEnders' regular gets stabbed by one of the gang in a confrontation.
A show source told The Sun: "This is easily one of the most shocking and controversial storylines 'EastEnders' has ever done."
"It is not a decision bosses have taken lightly, but it is an issue that is top of the news agenda."
The source also said: "We're going to tread very carefully - it won't be gratuitous. The plan is to screen the episodes in the usual slots before the watershed."
"Hopefully by showing the suffering that gang violence can cause, some people may think twice about getting involved."
According to reports, the schoolboy, played by Jamie Borthwick, will begin to hang around with a violent gang after his father Jase starts spending more time with Dawn.
The gang reportedly terrorise elderly local lady Dot Cotton at her home and in the street and later Jay's father Jase also gets on the wrong side of them.
Reports have suggested that an 'EastEnders' regular gets stabbed by one of the gang in a confrontation.
A show source told The Sun: "This is easily one of the most shocking and controversial storylines 'EastEnders' has ever done."
"It is not a decision bosses have taken lightly, but it is an issue that is top of the news agenda."
The source also said: "We're going to tread very carefully - it won't be gratuitous. The plan is to screen the episodes in the usual slots before the watershed."
"Hopefully by showing the suffering that gang violence can cause, some people may think twice about getting involved."
Friday 6 June 2008
Dosh
Artist: Dosh
Genre(s):
Rock
Discography:
Pure Trash
Year: 2004
Tracks: 12
Dosh
Year: 2003
Tracks: 12
Martin Dosh was natural to an ex-Catholic non-Christian priest father and an almost-nun female parent outside Los Angeles; he and his kinsfolk touched back to his parents' native Minneapolis when he was precisely a bambino. By age three, Dosh had started piano lessons, which he continued until 11, and then pick up the drums when he was 15. The adjacent year he touched to Massachusetts to attend euphony schoolhouse, tooling around on the East Coast until he finally returned to his parents' home in 1997 when he was 25 (he had since picked up the keyboards over again). Finding the music scene there palmy, he presently started playing drums in the Andrew Broder-led Fog, as well as in their subservient offset, Lateduster. In 2003 Anticon released Dosh's self-titled debut, followed by Pure Trash, which featured vocal samples from his married woman, deuce children, and his drum students, in 2004. The Lost Take, which had contributions from Andrew Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker of Fog, and members of colleague Minneapolitans Happy Apple and Tapes 'n Tapes, came out in 2006.
Andreas Kauffelt
Artist: Andreas Kauffelt
Genre(s):
Techno
Discography:
Jetflange-Noisechamber
Year: 2003
Tracks: 2
Datenstrom Bassquake Remixes
Year: 2003
Tracks: 3
The Real Deep Shit
Year: 2002
Tracks: 3
Das Akustische Labyrinth
Year: 2002
Tracks: 10
Susan Tedeschi
Indy loses his Mr. Big ranking as "Sex" rules at the box office
LOS ANGELES — "Sex and the City" and its legion of female fans over the weekend gave Hollywood exactly what it needs to survive an uncertain summer movie season: an unconventional hit.
The romantic comedy, based on HBO's long-running television series of the same name, unexpectedly overtook the latest "Indiana Jones" movie at the domestic box office, bringing in an estimated $55.7 million since opening with midnight shows on Thursday, according to Warner Bros., which released the film.
The performance fell short of the $70 million-plus opening some foresaw after sellout crowds — 85 percent of the ticket buyers women, many viewing in groups — brought the film about $26 million in sales Friday.
Still, the weekend opening far exceeded industry expectations, which only a week ago were looking something closer to the $27.5 million taken in by "The Devil Wears Prada," a similarly female-driven hit released by 20th Century Fox in June of 2006.
"It is kind of mind-boggling," Sarah Jessica Parker, the "Sex and the City" star, said in a telephone interview from her Manhattan home Saturday. "We are thrilled and humbled that the audience came out."
"Sex and the City," of course, benefited from the enormous audience awareness that came with the television series' six seasons, strong DVD sales and continuing appearances in syndication on TBS.
There was also no shortage of media attention showered on the return after four years of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, whether features about their clothes, their men or the show's enduring influence (for good or ill) on the culture.
And yet surprise at the weekend performance was palpable, even among those who made the $65 million film.
Parker, for instance, said she did not intend to sit home monitoring the box-office results. But by late Friday, fans were sending messages and even photographs to her cellphone of women in line outside movie theaters across the country. (As the weekend went on, more men showed up, according to Warner Bros.) A clutch of negative reviews did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm for making a night or day of it at the theater.
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Matt Mays
Artist: Matt Mays
Genre(s):
Rock
Discography:
When the Angels Make Contact
Year: 2006
Tracks: 18
Canadian roots rocker Matt Mays has turn one of the nation's almost popular new artists since striking the road with his championship band, El Torpedo. Born on August 10, 1979, Mays first came to the attention of music fans as a member of the Nova Scotia-based alt-country band the Guthries, wHO formed in 1998. The Guthries released their first album in 2000, Turned Windmill, only spell the album was praised by critics and fared well with fans, Mays opted to hit out on his possess. Mays released his first solo album in early 2003, plainly called Matte Mays, and in order to tour in support of the release, he assembled a road band featuring Jarrett Murphy on guitar and vocals, Rob Crowell on keyboards and saxophone, Andy Patil on bass voice and vocals, and Tim Baker on drums, with Mays handling lead vocals and trading sour guitar lines with Murphy. Extensive roadwork in Canada helped the band gain ground a loyal winnow base, and Mays gave his band co-star billing for his second album, Matte Mays + El Torpedo, released by Sonic Entertainment in the spring of 2005. The songs "Cocain Cowgirl" and "On the Hood" became major hits in Canada, and the band was chosen to subject a major Canadian circuit by the Black Crowes. Mays began fashioning noise in the United States after playing a display case at the 2006 South by Southwest Music Conference and appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and in late 2006 Flatness Mays + El Torpedo eventually standard a tardy release in the United States through the independent 02:59 label. As Mays and El Torpedo began touring the United States to push the album in America, they were likewise playing larger shows at habitation in support of record album numeral ternion, the ambitious When the Angels Make Contact. In early 2007, Mays resettled to New York City in order to better promote his career in America, and guitar player Jarrett Murphy amicably left El Torpedo; Jay Smith, from the Cape Breton band Rock Ranger, signed on as the band's new guitar player in April 2007.
Lindsay Lohan's Mum: Samantha Ronson's 'Great'
Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina has refused to confirm or deny rumours the actress is in a lesbian relationship with best pal Samantha Ronson, insisting she just wants her daughter to be "happy".
The Mean Girls star has been keeping gossips guessing as to the nature of her relationship with the DJ sister of producer Mark Ronson for the last six months.
But rumours escalated last week when the pair was seen repeatedly embracing and cuddling up to one another at a party in Cannes, France. Lohan has also been pictured kissing Ronson on the cheek.
And while the actress' representative insists the star is just "close
friends" with Ronson, Lindsay's manager mum Dina admits she will not stand in her daughter's way if she chooses to embark on a romance with the DJ.
Dina tells America's OK! magazine, "If she's happy, I'm happy. That's all I'll say.
"Samantha's great. I've known her and her family for ten years."
The Mean Girls star has been keeping gossips guessing as to the nature of her relationship with the DJ sister of producer Mark Ronson for the last six months.
But rumours escalated last week when the pair was seen repeatedly embracing and cuddling up to one another at a party in Cannes, France. Lohan has also been pictured kissing Ronson on the cheek.
And while the actress' representative insists the star is just "close
friends" with Ronson, Lindsay's manager mum Dina admits she will not stand in her daughter's way if she chooses to embark on a romance with the DJ.
Dina tells America's OK! magazine, "If she's happy, I'm happy. That's all I'll say.
"Samantha's great. I've known her and her family for ten years."
Sharon Stone Eats Chinese!!!
Sharon Stone is making up for her idiotic Chinese earthquake remarks ... one Chinese person at a time.
Last night she dined at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills but had nothing to say to us outside. If only she kept her mouth shut in the first place.
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Last night she dined at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills but had nothing to say to us outside. If only she kept her mouth shut in the first place.
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Barbara Walters - Walters Criticised Over Senator Affair
U.S. broadcaster BARBARA WALTERS has been heavily criticised for confessing to a passionate affair with a married senator during the 1970s.
In her upcoming memoirs, Auditions, Walters admits to an affair with former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke following the breakdown of her two previous marriages.
But Walters has come under fire by staff at conservative media watchdog group The Resistance, who claims she is a "shameless media whore".
Spokesman Marc DICe says, "Barbara has now sunk to the very level of other attention-starved celebrities such as Paris Hilton or even Steve-O from Jackass."
However, the 78-year-old's representative, Cindi Berger, has hit back, telling New York gossip column PageSix, "This conservative watchdog seems to have lived a sheltered life in his doghouse."
In her book, Walters claims Brooke - the first black member of the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction - was so in love with her, he told his wife he wanted a divorce.
But when his wife tried to reveal the affair to the National Enquirer, the couple ended the relationship.
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Winehouse quizzed by police over drug claim
Singer Amy Winehouse has been questioned in connection with a video which allegedly showed her smoking crack cocaine, a police source said on Wednesday.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers interviewed the 24-year-old in connection with an allegation of unlawful possession of a controlled drug.
He said she was not arrested, but was interviewed under caution and inquiries were continuing.
Last month footage obtained by the Sun newspaper appeared to show Winehouse inhaling fumes from a crack pipe.
The disturbing images were said to have been filmed during a party at Winehouse's London home.
The singer is now in rehab, admitting herself to the clinic in north London on 24 January days after the video appeared.
On 4 February the singer took a break from her treatment to apply for a US visa so she could attend the Grammys in Los Angeles on 10 February, where she is nominated for six awards.
The application process will not be simple due to her drugs record. Last October she was arrested and fined in Norway for possession of cannabis.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers interviewed the 24-year-old in connection with an allegation of unlawful possession of a controlled drug.
He said she was not arrested, but was interviewed under caution and inquiries were continuing.
Last month footage obtained by the Sun newspaper appeared to show Winehouse inhaling fumes from a crack pipe.
The disturbing images were said to have been filmed during a party at Winehouse's London home.
The singer is now in rehab, admitting herself to the clinic in north London on 24 January days after the video appeared.
On 4 February the singer took a break from her treatment to apply for a US visa so she could attend the Grammys in Los Angeles on 10 February, where she is nominated for six awards.
The application process will not be simple due to her drugs record. Last October she was arrested and fined in Norway for possession of cannabis.
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