Latest U2 News & Information

UPDATE: Full day passes for The Women’s Conference 2008 have sold out in a historic, record-breaking time of only three hours, after going on sale July 14, California First Lady Maria Shriver announced today (July 15th).

LOS ANGELES (July 14, 2008) – California First Lady Maria Shriver today announced an  extraordinary lineup of newsmakers and world opinion leaders confirmed for The Women’s Conference 2008 to be held on October 21 and 22 at the Long Beach Convention Center. Tickets to the conference go on sale today at 9:00 a.m. PDT at www.californiawomen.org.

With a growing roster of more than 50 speakers and participants led by Christiane Amanpour, Lance Armstrong, Cherie Blair, Bono, Warren Buffet, Sister Joan Chittister, Marian Wright Edelman, Sally Field, Michael J. Fox, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Caroline Kennedy, Heidi Klum, Jack Kornfield, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Matthews, Jenny McCarthy, Indra Nooyi, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Russell Simmons and Gloria Steinem, conference attendees can expect the same empowering experiences, fascinating speaker pairings, and once-in-a-lifetime conversations that have become the conference’s trademark under Shriver’s leadership.

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WEEKLY DELIVERY OF GREAT MUSIC HELPS TO SAVE LIVES IN AFRICA

Led by Don MacKinnon, Founder of Hear Music

New York, NY – June 30, 2008 – In the fall of 2008, (RED) will unveil a simple, seamless way for people to receive music from artists they love and artists they will discover through (RED). By applying the (RED) idea to music this new model will create a new revenue stream for artists and labels and buy life-saving medicine for those living with AIDS in Africa.

Don MacKinnon, founder of HEAR Music and former Vice President of Music & Entertainment of Starbucks Coffee Company, conceived this concept.

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U2 fans from around the world donated over $26,000 to the African Well Fund to build wells in Africa in honor of Bono’s birthday. The African Well Fund is a registered non-profit organization that was formed by a group of U2 fans 6 years ago. Since that time they have raised more that a half a million dollars to fund clean water projects in Africa.

Schenectady, NY (PRWEB) June 23, 2008 — The African Well Fund and Africare are excited to announce that this year’s fundraiser to “Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday” has raised $26,554.77 to fund clean water projects in Africa. This year marks the 6th one in a row that U2 fans from around the world have come together to honor Bono’s May 10th birthday by raising money for clean water in Africa.

The fundraiser launched on March 16th and donations were collected through May 15th. After donating, fans signed an online birthday card for Bono at the African Well Fund web site www.africanwellfund.org . Their signatures and birthday greetings will be incorporated into a beautiful hand made card that will be sent to Bono in Dublin. For 6 consecutive years, the African Well Fund has held a fundraising campaign in honor of Bono’s Birthday. These campaigns have raised a total of more than $125,000 and have been used to fund water and sanitation projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

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PARIS (AFP) — High profile rockers-turned-campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono on Wednesday hammered G8 countries for falling far behind in aid pledges to Africa and urged France to take a stand as next EU president to end the “disgrace”.

Flanked by French tennis star Yannick Noah and Benin singer Angelique Kidjo, the pair of Irish rock’n'roll aid icons said a 2005 pledge by G8 nations to deliver an extra 22 billion dollars to Africa by 2010 was currently only 14 percent fulfilled.

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FAMOUS names ranging from rock star Bono to US President George W Bush called for action to fight poverty in Africa in a special edition today of one of Japan’s major newspapers.

Bono, visiting Japan for a major Africa development summit that closed yesterday, teamed up with fellow musician-activist Bob Geldof as guest editors of a supplement to the Asahi Shimbun, an influential liberal daily.

Mr Bush wrote that the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers, to be held in Japan, needed to take concrete action to tackle AIDS and other scourges afflicting Africa.

“My message to my fellow leaders will be that our past promises are just empty words unless we provide meaningful follow-through,” Mr Bush wrote.

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TOKYO, Japan — In his first lecture as “Dr. Bono,” the rock superstar, social activist and freshly minted intellectual on Tuesday urged Japan to double its aid to Africa by 2012 and recapture its position as the global leader in overseas development.

Although Japan gave the most overseas aid in the early 1990s, its generosity has steadily fallen since then, the U2 frontman told students at Tokyo’s prestigious Keio University, where he received an honorary doctorate of law earlier in the day.

“The world is watching Japan as the G8 (summit) approaches, and it’s not good news,” he said. The summit is scheduled to take place in Hokkaido, northern Japan, in July. Japan’s net official development assistance in 2007 was US$7.7 billion, down 30 per cent from the previous year and dropping the country to fifth place among foreign aid donors, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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