October 2007 Archives

Anti-poverty groups the ONE Campaign and DATA, both co-founded by rock star Bono, will merge in the United States to form a single organization in tackling poverty, especially in Africa, officials said on Monday.

The new organization will be known as ONE in the United States and will include the ONE Campaigns's 2.4 million members, a U.S.-based project launched in 2004 to build citizen support to fight desease and extreme poverty.

Outside the United States, DATA--or Debt, AIDS, Trade Africa--will retain its name and focus on debt cancellation, AIDS treatment and more effective development assistance.

"ONE and DATA are two organizations with the same outrage: extreme, stupid poverty in the 21st centruy makes no sense when the resources and technology exist to do something about it," Bono said in a statementl.

"What makes sense is to harness these two forces into a single organization and redouble our efforts. One Goal. One team," he added.

The new organization will be led by president and chief executive David Lane, an executive with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationl.

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y., Billboard.com

To celebrate the 20th birthday of its landmark album, "The Joshua Tree," U2 is reissuing the set in four different incarnations on Nov. 20 via UMe. The album will be available as a remastered single CD, a 2-CD set, a 2-CD/1-DVD collectible box and a double vinyl package.

The single-disc will be housed in a jewel case, but the 2-CD set comes in a hard back case. The 2-CD/1-DVD version has a base and lid to accomodate the discs as well as five portfolio prints. Band members have contributed new linear notes for the package.

The second CD in the 2-disc package sports rare material from the period, including a single edit of "Where the Streets Have No Name" and B-sides such as "Spanish Eyes" and "Sweetest Thing" The DVD comprises a July 4, 1987, show at the Paris Hippodrome, as well as the documentary "Outside It's America," a long-whispered-about but never released video for "Red Hill Mining Town" and an alternate version of the "With or Without You" clip.

Produced by Brian Eno, "The Joshua Tree" shot U2's commercial fortunes into the stratosphere. The album's first three tracks were huge singles, with both "With or Without You" and " I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.