Coldplay's Chris Martin performs during the MTV Europe Music Awards on Thursday
Photo: Getty Images

Madonna popped out of a disco ball, the Gorillaz got animated and Green Day and Coldplay dominated the MTV Europe Music Awards, performing live and winning two awards each at Thursday's ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dressed in a purple leotard and purple leather jacket, Madonna emerged from a giant disco ball to open the show, performing her new single, "Hung Up."

(Click here for images from this year's MTV Europe Music Awards.)

This year's ceremony was hosted by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakhstani alter ego, Borat Sagdiyev, who greeted the audience by saying, "Welcome to the 2005 Eurovision song contest!" Poking fun at his pal Madonna, he then said, "It was very courageous of MTV to start the show with a genuine transvestite."

Gorillaz's win for Best Group brought a chuckle when co-founder/cartoonist Jamie Hewlett said, "We are the best group, and we don't even exist." The band "performed" at the show via three-dimensional holograms of their cartoon images projected onto the stage.

Also taking home awards were Robbie Williams (Best Male), Shakira (Best Female), Alicia Keys (Best R&B), Chemical Brothers (Best Video - "Believe") and the Black Eyed Peas (Best Pop).

In addition to performances by Green Day, Coldplay and Gorillaz, the show at Lisbon's Pavilhão Atlântico featured sets from the Foo Fighters, Shakira, System of a Down, the Pussycat Dolls and Robbie Williams.

The event also featured the presentation of the Free Your Mind humanitarian award, which was given to Live Aid and Live 8 founder Sir Bob Geldof by Madonna.

MTV Europe Music Awards winners:

• Best Male: Robbie Williams
• Best Female: Shakira
• Best Group: Gorillaz
• Best Song: Coldplay - "Speed Of Sound"
• Best Album: Green Day - American Idiot
• Best Video: Chemical Brothers - "Believe"
• Best Pop: Black Eyed Peas
• Best Rock: Green Day
• Best Hip-Hop: Snoop Dogg
• Best New Act: James Blunt
• Best Alternative: System of a Down
• Best R&B: Alicia Keys
• Best UK & Ireland Act: Coldplay
• Free Your Mind Award: Sir Bob Geldof

• MTV Europe Music Awards 2005

• Coldplay
• Green Day
• Madonna
• Robbie Williams
• Shakira

Bob Geldof (file)
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

It remains to be seen if the G8 leaders gathered in Scotland heard the message of Saturday's Live 8 concerts, but one thing's for sure: Organizer Bob Geldof is getting serious props.

The disheveled rocker has been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of debt relief and financial aid to Africa. Norwegian parliamentarian Jan Simonsen made the nomination on Wednesday (July 6), according to a BBC News report, singling out Geldof's tireless efforts to help the world's poorest nations.

"Bob Geldof took the initiative in July 2005 to arrange a string of rock concerts to focus on the problems of poor nations, and pressure the world's leading politicians to take actions in fighting poverty," Simonsen said in a statement. Geldof will have to wait a year to find out if he will take his place alongside such past winners as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter, because the February 1 nomination deadline for the 2005 award has already passed.

Geldof, 53, was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1986 for his pivotal work on Live Aid, which raised more than $100 million for African famine relief. He received many awards for this work, including an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II (as a non-British subject, the Irish-born Geldof was legally precluded from being awarded a full knighthood and use of the title "Sir").

Over the past 20 years, Geldof has established a reputation for his impassioned, often profane pleas for humanitarian and financial aid to developing nations. He has asked the G8 leaders, who are meeting in Scotland this week, to double aid to the poorest African nations and cancel more than $40 billion in debt (see "Geldof Speaks Out As G8 Protesters Clash With Police").

The peace prize is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee based on recommendations from, among others, member of parliaments from around the world. The winners are announced in October.

Get involved: Learn about the poverty crisis in Africa, the proposed solutions, and how you can help. Plus find all of our coverage of the international Live 8 concerts and more at our thinkMTV Live 8 hub.

• Bob Geldof

Mick Jagger performs at Live Aid
Photo: Frank Micelotta / Getty Images

There's a good reason why, 20 years after Live Aid, Bob Geldof still looks exhausted.

Even as he hustles to coordinate 10 global events in support of his ambitious July 2 sequel, Live 8 (see "Good Charlotte, Bjork In For Live 8 Tokyo; Moscow Concert Added"), Live Aid — a still-unprecedented feat of good will, logistics and old-fashioned guilt-tripping, all masterminded by Geldof — looms large as the show that proved music can actually change the world. (See photos from Live Aid.)

Live Aid was the biggest, but it wasn't the first all-star charity show. Rockers had been lending their efforts to various causes for years, from ex-Beatle George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 (which aided refugees of that war-torn country) to the anti-nuclear power No Nukes show in 1979.

But Live Aid was different.

For one day — July 13, 1985 — an estimated 1.4 billion of the planet's five billion people stopped and watched Geldof's "global jukebox," and were treated to one of the biggest, most ambitious concerts ever staged. At one point, according to a stage announcement, 95 percent of the world's television sets were tuned in to Live Aid — an even more incredible statistic when you consider that it happened before the Internet, cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging and blogging. Through music and an eminently worthy cause, much of the world actually felt connected — even at the height of the eminently selfish "Me Decade."

	Live 8 artists stress debt relief, critics of the plan sound off and the G8 summit is explained in "Live 8: A Concert To End Poverty" on Overdrive.

That might explain why, 20 years later, even though I recently acquired the shows on DVD, there is still a stack of VHS tapes in my attic somewhere that contain most of the broadcast in all its grainy glory. They've been packed and unpacked, moved and temporarily heaped in the junkpile more than a dozen times as I've moved around the country. But they've never been tossed.

I won't lie: I've never watched them, but for some reason I just can't let go. Maybe I thought I'd want to show them to my kids, or pop them in some day to remind myself of a time when, despite all the other turmoil around the globe, the world was made aware of injustice and rose up together to try and make a difference.

It all started with a song ...

The seeds for Live Aid were sown in 1984, after Geldof saw a BBC documentary about the famine in Ethiopia — which claimed more than 1 million victims in 1984-85 alone — and decided to write a song to help raise money for the starving citizens of the East African nation.

Geldof (then singer of the Boomtown Rats) teamed with Ultravox leader Midge Ure, gathering 40 of the British Isles' biggest stars of the time to record a song for African famine relief under the name Band Aid. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" featured memorable vocal contributions from Bono, Sting, Boy George, George Michael and several less-memorable others (Britain's biggest stars at the time included Paul Young, Heaven 17 and cross-dressing non-singer Marilyn) became a worldwide hit, raising more than $10 million for the cause. It sold more than 3 million copies in the U.K. alone, making it the biggest and fastest-selling single in British chart history at the time.

The Band Aid single set off a slew of companion songs across the globe, from the Michael Jackson co-penned USA for Africa smash "We Are the World" to Canada's "Tears Are Not Enough," as well as songs from France, Spain, South Africa, Holland, Australia, Jamaica and Belgium.

It also opened the floodgates on a rush of benefit songs and events for a variety of causes, from Little Steven's anti-apartheid "Sun City" to the well-intentioned American homeless-relief effort Hands Across America, in which 5 million people raised nearly $100 million by forming a (slightly broken) chain from New York to California. There were also the popular Comic Relief benefits for the homeless and the annual Farm Aid shows for struggling American farms.

How do I know? Well, because somewhere near those Live Aid tapes are a stack of T-shirts, singles, buttons and/or baseball caps from all of the above events. I participated in Hands Across America (and bought the shirt), I watched multiple Comic Relief specials (and bought the shirt the first three times), I went to the first Farm Aid show (and yes, bought the shirt) and I distinctly remember annoying my friends by endlessly playing the multiple remixes of the still-funky "Sun City" single.

... And peaked with the show

On the cover of the recently released "Live Aid" DVD is the now-iconic logo of the event (an Africa-shaped guitar), the date of the shows and the tag line "The day the music changed the world."

	Check out pictures from the 1985 Live Aid concerts.

The event was tagged as a music event like none the world had ever seen, but even the advance hype couldn't accurately portray the momentousness of the occasion. After all, no one had ever tried to coordinate two massive concerts on two continents with the world's biggest music stars, and make the whole thing a sufficiently slick TV event to encourage the kind of donations Geldof had in mind.

Relying on satellites, a Concorde jet and lots of good will, Geldof split the show in half, with the majority of the English artists performing in front of 74,000 fans (including Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana) at Wembley Stadium in London and the rest taking the stage for 90,000 fans at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

Keep a few things in mind: Geldof got the acts to perform — for free — at a show that was organized in just three weeks. Before the days of instant digital communication, someone had to figure out how to coordinate the satellite-linked broadcasts of the two shows, along with beamed-in and taped performances from Holland, Japan, Austria, Yugoslavia, Norway, Germany, Australia and what was then still called the Soviet Union.

Luckily, Geldof had a few aces up his sleeve, among them, the reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin for their first gig together since the 1980 death of drummer John Bonham, as well as reunions by the Who and the original lineup of Black Sabbath.

Then there was Phil Collins. The Genesis drummer and solo star made history during the broadcast when he started the day out by playing his hit "Against All Odds" and performing with Sting in London and then hopping a supersonic Concorde to make it to Philly to sit in with the reunited Zeppelin. (The notoriously sloppy set was not included on the "Live Aid" DVD at the request of the surviving Zep members — ditto Santana's performance.)

As people from 160 countries tuned in to watch, Geldof pulled together some amazing, one-of-a-kind collaborations. Among them: Mick Jagger and Tina Turner tearing up the stage for "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)," Madonna — described at the time as an "up-and-coming singer" — joining the Thompson Twins, Nile Rodgers and Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens for a ragged take on John Lennon's "Revolution," and Neil Young re-teaming with Crosby, Stills & Nash for "Teach Your Children."

In addition, the London show cemented U2's place as one of the best live bands in the world, placing the group on an international stage that they have yet to relinquish, both as a live act and as a force for positive change. Their unforgettable performance — "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and a 12-minute version of "Bad" — saw Bono running down the lip of the stage and encouraging fans to come forward, then jumping 10 feet into the mud to slow-dance with a woman as the band vamped behind him.

Among the other artists who participated in the concerts: Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, Adam Ant, INXS, Elvis Costello, B.B. King, Sade, Run-DMC, Judas Priest, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Santana, Tom Petty, the Cars, Eric Clapton, Duran Duran (in their last performance with all the original members before reforming two years ago) and Bob Dylan, who closed the show with a performance of "Blowin' in the Wind," featuring the Stones' Keith Richards and Ron Wood.

Each artist was given no more than 17 minutes to play, and the performances were interspersed with short films documenting the famine, as well as impassioned pleas from Geldof to donate to the cause.

At one point, the phone center in the U.S. crashed when 700,000 pledge calls came in at the same time. By day's end, more than $70 million had been raised.

The 16 hours of music (televised by both ABC in an abbreviated version, and all day by MTV) ultimately raised more than $200 million for the cause, with Ireland generating the most donations per capita, despite the fact that the country was in the midst of a major economic depression at the time.

And Geldof? He was given an honorary knighthood (honorary because the Irish cannot receive full knighthood) and earned the nickname "Saint Bob" for his efforts. Though he swore he'd never attempt a sequel, here he is again with Live 8, marshaling the biggest stars on the planet again.

Looking back, some of the performances and acts at Live Aid were, to be honest, pretty awful. Between the Who's set being cut in half due to a blown generator, Geldof kicking his microphone cord out during a song, and the trainwreck that was the "We Are the World" Philadelphia finale, much of the event doesn't really hold up on a musical level.

But even 20 years later, the spirit of Live Aid is what still moves, and that's the most important part. And this time, Geldof doesn't want your money — he wants you to speak up.

MTV, mtvU and VH1 will broadcast from Live 8 beginning at noon on Saturday (see ).

Get involved: Learn about the poverty crisis in Africa, the proposed solutions, and how you can help. Plus find all of our coverage of the international Live 8 concerts and more at our thinkMTV Live 8 hub.

• Bob Geldof
• U2
• Led Zeppelin
• The Rolling Stones
• The Who

Photo: Amnesty International

The Live Aid concerts in 1985 raised more than $200 million in funds for African famine relief. Yet two decades later, the world's second-largest continent continues to fight the crises — which include enormous debt, unfair trade laws and insufficient aid — threatening many of its nations.

Last month, Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof announced another landmark concert to raise awareness of extreme poverty in Africa (see "Live Aid Organizer Confirms Another 'Big Concert' Is Coming"). U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Dave Matthews Band, and Destiny's Child are among the artists confirmed for gigs slated in all of the G8 nations (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia) as well as South Africa (see "Good Charlotte, Bjork In For Live 8 Tokyo; Moscow Concert Added" and "What Is The G8, Anyway?").

"This is a moment in history where ordinary people can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental," said Geldof. "The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history, but they will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough. What Live Aid did joyously was open up the avenues of possibility, and Live 8 finally allows you to walk down them."

The statistics for extreme global poverty are overwhelming: More than 1 billion people worldwide currently live on less than a dollar a day; more than 100 million children cannot afford a basic education; one child dies every three seconds due to hunger; and over 20,000 people a day lose their lives to extreme poverty.

	Live 8 artists stress debt relief, critics of the plan sound off and the G8 summit is explained in "Live 8: A Concert To End Poverty" on Overdrive.

"You go to a village in Africa and you see wonderful people with incredible spirit, but they're fighting for survival," Jeffrey Sachs, head of the United Nations' Millennium Development Project, told MTV News. "Villages are ravaged by AIDS and everybody's sick with malaria. They're hungry because the soils aren't producing enough food. They have to walk two hours to a water hole that might not even be safe for human use. The most basic needs are unavailable to them."

Global leaders and activists, like Sachs, say there are three primary pillars to ending global poverty: 100 percent cancellation of debt, doubling international aid, and allowing the opportunity for fair trade in the international market.

Countries — such as Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania — that are repaying millions of dollars in debt mostly accumulated during the Cold War could be using that money for improving their weak health systems, paving roads, immunizing children and feeding their populations. Malaria, a treatable disease, takes the lives of nearly 3 million children per year, yet the majority of people cannot afford mosquito netting, insecticide or medication.

"We've ended up in a situation where more money is going out of Africa to pay off these old debts than new money coming into Africa, so you have this tragic irony where the poorest region in the world is actually subsidizing the wealthiest institutions and economies in the world," said Salih Booker, executive director of Action Africa, a non-profit organization that responds to the challenges faced by the people of sub-Saharan Africa.

Nearly $40 billion of debt has recently been cancelled for 18 impoverished countries — 14 of which are in Africa — and up to 28 more will have their debts completely wiped out over the next few years.

But even with the debt cancelled, many millions of people in Africa will still be living in extreme poverty unless more money is brought in for development. "Basically, we need to cancel the outflow and double the inflow," said Sachs. He argues that new aid packages from the G8 countries should be structured as grants instead of loans, and should total $50 billion a year — double the current amount of $25 billion.

But if the most impoverished African nations are ever to stand on their own feet, fair trading policies must be adopted. The current rules of the World Trade Organization tend to benefit the richer countries and shut smaller entities out of the global market.

"There's hypocrisy in the international trade system," said Laura Rusu of Oxfam International, the organization that heads up the Make Trade Fair campaign. "Rich countries are telling developing countries, 'You must open your markets for our products, but we're not going to open ours.' Trade has the greatest potential to pull people out of poverty, but only if the system is fair." Rusu estimates that a 1-percent increase for Africans in the international market would amount to five times the amount it receives in aid from the worldwide community each year.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has also spoken out to mobilize action. "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, and we can be that great generation. Millions of people in the world's poorest countries are trapped in the prison of poverty, and it is time to set them free. Poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome by the action of human beings. Let us work to make poverty history and then we can all stand with our heads held high."

The Live 8 concerts on July 2 will kick off the start of "The Long Walk to Justice," a movement that aims to inspire people demonstrate for action at the G8 Summit. The event will wrap on the eve of the summit on July 6.

Get involved: Learn about the poverty crisis in Africa, the proposed solutions, and how you can help. Plus find all of our coverage of the international Live 8 concerts and more at our thinkMTV Live 8 hub.

• Bob Geldof
• U2
• Coldplay
• Madonna
• Dave Matthews

Mel B (file)
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

According to Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof, one woman stands in the way of a "Girl Power" revival.

Within hours of Geldof's May announcement that he'd organized a star-crammed, five-concert sequel to his landmark 1985 Live Aid concerts, there's been persistent speculation that Spice Girls would reunite for a July 2 Live 8 performance.

But are Scary, Posh, Baby, Sporty and Ginger set to mend fences and grace a London stage to raise awareness of poverty in the developing world?

Not just yet, Geldof said — but he's determined to try and make it happen. It all hinges, he explained, on one of the pop act's members.

In an interview on Channel 4's "Richard & Judy" (the U.K.'s answer to "Regis and Kelly") on Monday, the former Boomtown Rats leader said the only person holding up the regrouping is Melanie Brown, better known as Scary Spice.

He told the show's hosts that Brown was having "difficulty" agreeing to the Live 8 regrouping, but that he's still hoping to convince her to hop aboard the reunion train. Geldof claims that Mel B has been working in California — he didn't say on what — and that the singer's not keen on "going back to something she did in the past."

	Watch Live 8 Reports on MTV Overdrive.

Geldof promised to reach out to Mel B this week, BBC News reports, but he plans to back off if she refuses. "If she can't do it, she can't do it," he said. The Live 8 mastermind also shot down suggestions that Spice Girls re-form sans Scary, saying, "It's got to be all or nothing."

When Geldof first revealed plans for the Live 8 concerts (see "50 Cent, Jay-Z, Mariah, U2, Coldplay On Board For Massive Live Aid Sequel"), he hinted at there being a strong possibility that the Spice Girls would re-form for the event. "I spoke to them this morning," he said, according to BBC News. "It looks very good. That's all we can say."

MTV will be bringing you all of the Live 8 action — including live performances, interviews and more — starting at noon ET on July 2. More details will be announced soon.

Get involved: Learn about the poverty crisis in Africa, the proposed solutions, and how you can help. Plus find all of our coverage of the international Live 8 concerts and more at our thinkMTV Live 8 hub.

• Spice Girls
• Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof (file)
Photo: Getty Images

Rumors have been swirling for weeks that former Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof is secretly planning a massive sequel to the 1985 Live Aid concerts that raised millions to combat famine in Africa.

Geldof had repeatedly denied the rumors ... until Thursday. While attending the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriters in London, Geldof finally tipped his hand and said "there's something brewing ... it's big," according to The Associated Press. He cautioned that the event to fight poverty in Africa was unique, and "there's never going to be a Live Aid II."

The U.S. spokesperson for the concert, Elizabeth Freund, said Geldof will preside at a press conference announcing all the details on Tuesday in London, with a possible second conference in New York. Rumors have had everyone from Madonna and U2 to Paul McCartney, Oasis, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Eminem, Sting and a reunited Pink Floyd performing in both London and Washington, D.C., though Freund would not confirm or deny the speculation.

So far, only Sting has confirmed his participation. Also speaking at the Novello ceremony, the singer said, "Bob called me up and said I was doing it. He doesn't ask you, he tells you."

	Watch Live 8 Reports on MTV Overdrive.

Freund would not reveal the date of the show, but a spokesperson for England's Prince's Trust said last week that the charity had canceled it's annual Party in the Park concert in London's Hyde Park on July 3 so that the Geldof concert could take place.

The concert, referred to as "Live 8" in the English press, is believed to have been timed to coincide with the gathering of the world's richest countries in Scotland for the G8 summit (July 6-8), at which they are to discuss alleviating Third World debt.

Geldof said planning the event has been exhausting, adding, "it's as petrifying as the buildup to Live Aid, if not more so. We'll have all the biggest names we can find. But it's not just about big names, it's about making a point. ... What started 20 years ago is coming to a political point in a few weeks."

The original Live Aid took place in Wembley Stadium in London and in Philadelphia's JFK Stadium on July 13, 1985, and raised $245 million for famine relief in Africa. It was watched by more than 1.5 billion people worldwide and featured sets from Elvis Costello; B.B. King; Black Sabbath; Run-DMC; Sting; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Judas Priest; U2; Queen; David Bowie; the Who; Santana; Elton John; Madonna; Paul McCartney; Bob Dylan; Neil Young; and a reunited Led Zeppelin with Phil Collins on drums.

Get involved: Learn about the poverty crisis in Africa, the proposed solutions, and how you can help. Plus find all of our coverage of the international Live 8 concerts and more at our thinkMTV Live 8 hub.

• Bob Geldof

Bono
Photo: Interscope

U2's Bono is pressing on with his two-year-long battle for Third World debt relief, and he hopes to convince the White House and the American people to join the crusade, he said Friday.

During a press conference sponsored by the anti-poverty organization Results, Bono said he hopes to appear with former South African president Nelson Mandela on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to discuss the cause, which he described as essential to easing the devastating impact of AIDS on Africa's poorest nations.

The campaign to convince the world's richest countries to forgive all of the debt owed them by some of the world's poorest countries — originally known as Jubilee 2000 — has so far succeeded in convincing the U.S. and other nations to forgive some debt from 22 out of 41 targeted countries.

U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus, a Republican from Alabama who supports debt relief, credited Bono's extensive lobbying for much of the movement's success.

"Bono really breathed life into this whole movement. I can literally say, and I'm convinced, that had he not been involved there would be millions of children that would be dead in those countries today," Bachus said at the press conference. "As a result of debt relief there are millions of children that are attending schools today, there are millions of children that receive vaccinations." But Bono said he feels his efforts — which have included a meeting with the Pope (see "Bono, Bob Geldof, Others Appeal To Pope For Debt-Dropping Support"), lobbying sessions with members of Congress and a speech to United Nations representatives — have so far been a failure.

"There is a scandal in that one of the widest movements for any issue like this since the anti-Apartheid movement feels let down — they feel after all their campaigning they haven't achieved the results they're looking for," he said.

Bono, who has met with members of President George W. Bush's administration, said he has "an informed feeling" that Bush might make significant progress toward 100 percent debt relief. In a presidential debate last year, Bush said he supported debt forgiveness.

Meanwhile, Bono said, he and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof — who also participated in the conference — will ponder how to best reach out to the American people. "We're going to get to the heartland in some way on this," Bono said.

The rocker spoke Friday from California during a day off from his band's Elevation 2001 Tour, which hits Phoenix on Saturday.

• U2
• Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof
Photo: Sony

Musician and activist Bob Geldof won custody of Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence, the daughter of ex-wife Paula Yates and late INXS singer Michael Hutchence, in Britain's High Court on Monday, according to the Associated Press. Hutchence committed suicide in 1997. Geldof has cared for the 4-year-old since her mother, British TV host Yates, died in September. Hutchence's half sister, Tina Shorr, had requested custody, arguing that the publicity surrounding Geldof would be harmful to the girl, the news service said.

Geldof could not be reached for comment. He and Yates had three daughters prior to their 1994 split.

Though Geldof hasn't released an album since 1997's Great Songs of Indifference, the organizer of 1985's Live Aid benefit for famine relief continues to be involved in high-profile political activism, including appeals to the pope and international leaders for Third World debt relief.

A posthumous, self-titled Hutchence solo album came out in February, and featured a vocal appearance by U2's Bono.

• Bob Geldof
• INXS
• Michael Hutchence

Jubilee 2000's campaign to convince the world's leaders to cancel the debt owed to the world's richest countries by the poorest ones just got a boost -- in the form of a Papal endorsement, inspiring U2 singer Bono to refer to the current Pope as "the first funky Pontiff."

-- Brian Ives

• Bob Geldof
• U2

When you try to get between wealthy countries and money owed to them, it always helps to have the Pope on your side.

-- Brian Ives

• Bob Geldof
• U2