Bono turns newspaper editor for the day

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rock star and Third World
campaigner Bono turned guest newspaper editor on Tuesday with
Britain’s Independent daily agreeing to give half its revenues
for the day to fight AIDS in Africa.

Bono got to interview British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
finance minister Gordon Brown while U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice offered her 10 favorite pieces of music.

In a celebrity-laden one-off edition, the front page
illustrated by British artist Damien Hirst proclaimed in a
banner headline that there was “No News Today” — except for
the deaths of 6,500 Africans from HIV/AIDS.

Blair, who has made Africa one of the top priorities of his
premiership, said the continent “wants to stand on its own two
feet and what it wants from us in the meantime is help to get
there.”

Among the paper’s other big name interviews of the day was
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez who told the Independent that
Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe “is my friend. He has been
demonised too much.”

Stella McCartney interviewed fellow designer Giorgio Armani
who said: “Fashion requires consumers to consume but we can run
our companies in a socially responsible way.”

Even other members of Bono’s band U2 got into the act.

Guitarist The Edge told how the musicians of New Orleans
were rebuilding their culture and livelihood after Hurricane
Katrina ravaged the city.

The paper asked if rock stars like Bono and Live Aid and
Live8 organiser Bob Geldof could change the world by using the
power of celebrity to pressure politicians into helping to
eradicate poverty.

“No,” was the answer from the guest editor who was the
first to admit the limitations of pop fame on the world
political stage.

“Celebrity is ridiculous but it is currency and I want to
spend mine wisely.” he said.

On Monday, Bono launched a new bright red mobile phone in
Britain. Sales of the phone, following on the heels of the RED
American Express credit card, are expected to raise hundreds of
dollars to fight AIDS in Africa.

He co-founded Product RED, an ambitious branding and AIDS
fund-raising scheme, with former U.S. President John F.
Kennedy’s nephew Bobby Shriver in January.

Big names from politics and show business abounded through
the pages of Tuesday’s Independent with Rice asked to pick her
10 best musical works.

They ranged from Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor to
“Rocket Man” by Elton John and, tipping her hat to the editor
of the day, she also chose “anything by U2.”