theonecampaign.org: ONE is a new effort to rally Americans -- ONE by ONE -- to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. The ONE Campaign is engaging Americans everywhere we gather -- in churches and synagogues, on the internet and college campuses, at community meetings and concerts.

ONE will be promoted with the help of a diverse coalition of faith-based and antipoverty groups, celebrity spokespeople such as U2 lead singer Bono as well as corporate partnerships and local ONE Campaign organizers. [ more]

u2log.com: U2log.com’s New York editor Chris Conroy recently attended a Tribeca Film Festival screening of the thirty-minute documentary Heart Of America, chronicling the December 2002 initiative by Bono and his DATA group to bring the message of the AIDS emergency and relief for Africa to the American Midwest. To read his review of the film and event, click here.

thestar.com: Canada doubles AIDS funding to $70M a year

Prime Minister Paul Martin got some priceless pre-election publicity today as rock star Bono hailed him for increasing AIDS funding to Africa.

The U2 frontman, sitting casually in Martin's office with his legs crossed and wearing his trademark dark wraparound sunglasses, said he's not in Ottawa to campaign for the prime minister.

"I'm not here to elect Paul Martin or the Liberal party," he said. "I'm here to elect our issue - the AIDS emergency. . . . I'm here to elect that to office, that's really it."

But some of his other comments could have been scripted by a Liberal speechwriter: "We've come to say thank you . . . We have to compliment the prime minister and his team. It's not just the easy money before an election . . there's some cleverness going into this money."

Bono told a news conference later that he is being used, but he's happy to be. "That's my job," he said, "is to provide applause when somebody does the right and courageous thing and to provide criticism, when they don't." [ more]

cnews.canoe.ca: International rock star Bono once vowed to become a "pain in the ass" to Prime Minister Paul Martin, but at this pace he may end up instead on Liberal election posters.

The prime minister is set for his second meeting in six months with the U2 frontman, who warned in a speech at the Liberal leadership convention last November that he would constantly pester Martin to improve Canada's contribution to developing countries.

The Irish rocker and the Irish-Canadian politician meet again Wednesday in Ottawa. They will get together for a photo op in the prime minister's office and head out to an AIDS symposium where each is scheduled to speak later in the day. [ more]

electronicintifada.net: "BONO: We appeal to you, and to all the music world, to speak out now and say: 'STOP THE OCCUPATION!'"

So begins an online appeal - addressed to Bono Vox, leader of the rock group U2 - that asks the music world to organize a global "Concert for Palestine". [ more]

theglobeandmail.com: Bono, the lead singer for Irish rock band U2 who founded the group DATA -- which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa -- to combat AIDS and promote development in Africa, issued a statement giving glowing kudos to Mr. Martin. The rock star had spoken at last November's Liberal leadership convention, where Mr. Martin took over the governing party.

"Wow. A politician who doesn't break his promises. This is real leadership," Bono said in the statement. "I hope Canadians will know what this means in the rest of the world." [ more]

cnn.com: Bono brings passion to issues and music. U2 lead singer Bono is just as comfortable meeting with the pope or world leaders to lobby for social causes as he is being onstage fronting the enduringly successful Irish rock band.

"Rock stars are good at making noise," Bono said, explaining his talent for publicizing issues important to him. [ more]

The Grand Total For the "2004 Bono Birthday Wells Fundraiser" Is.....

$15,757.60 (USD)!

Once again, U2 fans responded generously making this year's fundraiser a tremendous success! Almost 300 of you gave to the "Make it a Beautiful Day in Africa" campaign. On behalf of Africare and the people of Ethiopia, the African Well Fund would like to thank you for your generosity.

The birthday messages for Bono left on our site have been delivered to Principle Management, along with an announcement of the amount raised. In the coming months, we will be providing more information about the well projects funded by this campaign as it becomes available.

kentucky.com: Earlier this year, Christian musicians rallied behind U2 front man Bono's charge for the church to fight the AIDS crisis in Africa.

They put together a 13-song CD of covers of U2 classics such as Sunday Bloody Sunday and Beautiful Day, with proceeds going to World-Vision's efforts to combat AIDS. For someone who's followed contemporary Christian music and U2 for two decades, it was so cool to finally see the faith community embrace a band and a man who has walked the walk outside the mainstream church for most of his career. It was even cooler to see it happen in the name of doing the work Jesus called us to do: reaching out to help the sick and the poor..

remhq.com: The film documents a seven day tour of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee by one rock star (Bono), two movie stars (Chris Tucker and Ashley Judd), one heroic Ugandan activist (Agnes Nyamayarwo), three brilliant doctors, and twelve talented Ghanian kids who travelled in three buses through "the heart of America" in order to put a human face on the HIV/AIDS crisis.

The seven days on the road that this movie captures and presents, from the campaign-like schedule of private meetings and public events, to the quiet moments of reverie it captures Bono, Agnes, and others in, are the beginning of a movement, that, as Bono tells a group of college students, "will change the world." In fact it did change the world.

As a result of the tour, thousands of conscientious Americans called the White House in December 2002 to request an "historic AIDS initiative" (6,500 Africans die of HIV/AIDS each day and another 9,500 are infected with the disease), and in response in the 2003 State of the Union the President proposed just such a plan, since enjoying bipartisan support in the Congress. This was the doing of people in the "heart of America," which beats throughout this documentary.