Bono, Malala & Desmond Tutu send stark warning to world leaders

You probably haven’t heard about it, but this week decisions are being taken that could mean the difference between poverty and dignity for millions of people.  Diplomats from UN member states are finalising a draft blueprint for the post 2015 development agenda and the stakes could not be higher.

Today, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Graca Machel, Bono, Mo Ibrahim and Muhammed Yunus have joined forces to sound a warning that 2015 is a year of huge opportunity, but also of huge risk.

In a strongly worded open letter, they are calling on world leaders to make next year a transformative year in the fight against poverty, inequality and climate change. Next year, the UN’s development framework – known as the Millennium Development Goals will reach its deadline and be replaced. A new climate treaty will also be agreed.  Together, these two processes could determine what kind of world we live in in 2030. They write:

What is at stake here could not be greater, for it is not less than the future of our human family and the world upon which we all depend.
It is fitting that on Mandela Day these Nobel laureates, moral and religious leaders and campaigners are urging our politicians to be ambitious. They are demanding goals that will build on the dramatic progress we have seen in some areas and guide us on a path that gives people everywhere a chance to live a life of dignity.

2015 is an historic opportunity for change. A focused package of ambitious but achievable development goals can really empower grassroots citizens of the global south – and those globally who campaign in solidarity with them – to demand and receive vital life-saving and life-changing health, education and infrastructure services from governments.

A global movement is taking shape to call for urgent action, justice and for leaders to seize this chance to secure a better, safer world for all. ONE’s 6 million members will be campaigning alongside activists from hundreds of organisations worldwide who care about justice.  The letter says:

This movement for people and planet will lead to accolades for those leaders who rise to this historic occasion. It will hold accountable those who fail to help secure a better safer world for all. It will speak up for the marginalised and disenfranchised, and demand justice for all.
If decision makers get this wrong, the real risk is that progress is lost, we see higher levels of poverty, hunger and more armed conflicts.  Eradicating the injustice of extreme poverty is within our grasp – we can’t and we won’t let this opportunity slip.

Read the full letter and share their message

http://www.one.org/

EVE HEWSON: THE INGENUE

To prepare for her role as a New 
York nurse in this month’s Cinemax miniseries The Knick, Irish actress 
Eve Hewson practiced an American accent, brushed up on early-20th-century medicine (the show is set in 1900), and even bought a nurse-
training DVD. But there was still one major hurdle: her fear of needles 
and blood. “I’m a huge fainter,” she 
says. “I went with my mom to get a blood test, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God!’ My mom 
said, ‘Eve, you’re about to play a nurse. Get your shit together!’ ” And that 
she did. In the first episode, Hewson attempts to resuscitate a newborn 
and injects a man below the belt. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, The Knick follows the staff of a flailing hospital, including a curmudgeonly surgeon (Clive Owen) and the enterprising head of its social-welfare office (Juliet Rylance). Hewson plays Lucy, a bright-eyed, eager transplant from 
West Virginia. “I walked on to the set and thought, Is this actually happening?” 
says the 23-year-old, who is the daughter 
of the rock star Bono and the activist fashion entrepreneur Ali Hewson, and who spent much of her childhood touring with U2. “My dad wants to be an actor now,” she says with a smirk. “He’s like, ‘What do you think of me being in a movie with Beyoncé?’ And I said, ‘Stick to 
your day job!’

by Vanessa Lawrence

Photography by Bjarne Jonasson

Styled by Patrick Mackie

http://www.wmagazine.com/

BONO RECEIVES LIONHEART AWARD AT CANNES LIONS CONFERENCE

Bono collected the first Cannes Lionheart Award today and also spoke at the Cannes Lions creative/advertising conference in France.

The speaking appearance was a sit-down conversation with another guest, Apple's Jonathan Ive, where the two spoke about the (RED) organization and the successful auction that Ive and Apple helped with late last year. Based on some of the live-tweeting from the interview, Bono re-used some of his more common phrases about (RED) and the effort to fight poverty in Third World countries.

http://news.u2fanlife.com//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWDU-s81RRI//http://www.atu2.com/

Letter from Bono on Chess and Meeting Garry Kasparov

Thinking ahead, thinking around corners, guessing somebody else’s next move… these were the pleasures of chess for me… my greatest childhood pleasure. In Ballymun we had a chess club, like so many kids at the beginning of the 70s, I fell head over heels for this dizzy strategic game.  I have fond memories of the Phisboro club also where myself and my friend Joseph Marks were let play with the grown ups.

Part of our passion was to study the great masters.  Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were virtual pop stars at the time.  Everybody knew them. Anatoly Karpov, the Russian grand master, was my favourite.  Later, Garry Kasparov would unseat him in my own mind as the best of the best.  I admired his nagging intellect.  I still do.  He continues to ask the most difficult questions about the world, about Russia, human rights, the injustice of extreme poverty.   He is passionate about teaching the game of chess to children.  Not just because of its role in exercising the brain, but because of the confidence it gives kids in thinking through the future.  And his belief that that future can be better than the one presently on the board.

I met the great man recently in Dublin, and heard he was running for President of FIDE. I can’t think of a more luminous mind to take that position.  I became a child again in his company. I badgered him about the titanic match of 1984 between himself and Karpov – while all he wanted to talk about was Ireland and sub-Saharan Africa.   Looking back, the arrival of puberty and learning to play the guitar may have hampered my dexterity in the game.  It is not like riding a bike, I have recently discovered.  But sitting there in the Clarence across the table from Garry Kasparov, inside my head I found myself rattling through my game-plan, my opening strategy, and calculating just how many moves I could hold out before his check-mate.  Three.

Bono, 2014

Note from Garry Kasparov:

It was a great pleasure to meet Bono during my visit to Dublin. I was not sure what to expect considering our different backgrounds but we had a fascinating conversation. And despite his self-deprecation, I could see from the fire in his eyes when he spoke about chess that perhaps it might not be too hard to convince him to return to the board, even if just for a charity exhibition. And I’m sure he’d last much longer than three moves!

http://kasparov2014.com/

Bono, The Edge Collaborating With ‘Once’ Director on New Project

Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Bono and the Edge will contribute a handful of songs to Once director John Carney's upcoming film, Sing Street, which takes place in Dublin in the 1980s and tells the story of a teenager who starts a band after switching from private to public school.

"They already have been extremely helpful in discussing the musical aspect of the film and what the sound is going to be like," Carney tells Rolling Stone. "It's going to be set in the Eighties; obviously U2 were extremely prolific then, so they'll bring that, and they’ve just been great sounding boards. Bono has been very helpful with character and story as I've sort of pitched the project to him over the last few months."

While Bono has helped Carney flesh out Sing Street's story, the director noted that the singer wasn't exactly pulling from his own experiences of forming U2 while still in high school. Still, Carney praised Bono's knack for story, which he believes comes not just from a love of film, but from his storied music career as well.

"I think a lot of musicians know about story, because I think a gig is a story," Carney said. "And I think that an album is a story, and most people that write albums have some sense of a three act structure. So he's been very helpful with how much music he's done, but also I think he watches movies closely. He's been helpful with beginning with a strong opening scene and character development. He's just generally a guy that knows his movies."

Carney added that Bono and the Edge won't appear in the movie itself, and while their official role or level of involvement remains to be seen, the director said they will likely serve as some sort of executive musical producers, and pen two or three tracks for the film. U2 certainly know a thing or two about writing for movies too: The band scored their second Oscar nod for Best Original Song last year for "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

As for their own material, U2 released the song "Invisible" — which premiered in a Super Bowl ad for Bank of America and the band's partnership with non-profit organization (Red) — and then performed the track on top of Rockefeller Center to help Jimmy Fallon ring in his tenure as host of The Tonight Show earlier this year. The track should also appear on the band's upcoming LP (their first since 2009's No Line on the Horizon), which they recorded over the past two years with Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton.

By JON BLISTEIN

http://www.rollingstone.com/

Bono: '10 bucks. A ginger. A red head. I’m in...'

Restaurateur Mario Batali is leading a campaign for (RED) as restaurants and bars add their support to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS . 

'10 bucks. A ginger. A red head....' Bono's in too. 

And you get a chance to go on a VIP Trip to NYC and cook and eat the #BestMealEver with Chef Mario. Here's how. 



http://www.red.org/en/eat//http://www.u2.com/

BONO TO RECEIVE INAUGURAL CANNES LIONHEART AWARD FOR AIDS ORGANISATION (RED)

The organisers of the 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity are proud to honour Bono, the activist lead singer of Irish rock band U2, with the first ever Cannes LionHeart Award, for pioneering (RED), a creative fusion of branding, activism and philanthropy that has generated more than $250 million for the fight against AIDS in Africa.
The Cannes LionHeart recognises the person or organisation that, through innovative use of commercial brand power, has made a significant and positive difference to people or the planet.

Bono co-founded (RED) with Bobby Shriver in 2006 to engage businesses and consumers to raise money and awareness in the fight against AIDS.  (RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands, which contribute up to 50% of profits from (RED) branded goods and services to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services. (RED) Proud Partners include: Apple, Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company, Bank of America, Beats by Dr. Dre, Belvedere, Claro, SAP, Telcel and Live Nation Entertainment. (RED) Special Edition partners include: Jonathan Adler, Theory, HEAD, Kidrobot, Mophie, FEED, Sir Richard's Condom Company, Shazam, Square, Girl Skateboards, Nanda Home, Bottletop, Fatboy USA and Bed Bath & Beyond.

To date, (RED) has generated more than $250 million for the Global Fund to support HIV/AIDS grants in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 100% of that money goes to work on the ground – no overhead is taken. The Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted more than 40 million people with prevention, treatment, counselling, HIV testing and care services.



(RED) is a division of The ONE Campaign, a global advocacy organization which campaigns for government leaders to support programs and policies that save lives and improve futures in the poorest parts of the world. Also cofounded by Bono, ONE is nonpartisan and has more than 4 million members around the world. Together, ONE and (RED) are stronger than the sum of their parts. By increasing awareness of the Global Fund and the AIDS emergency, (RED) also helps ONE and other advocates ensure continued government support for The Global Fund.

“Bono has used his celebrity status to successfully establish a global brand, through which he has built unique relationships with other such brands, to raise awareness and funds for the fight against AIDS and achieve greater good for humankind,” says Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals. “We are delighted and privileged that Bono will share his inspirational story with our Cannes Lions delegates and we look forward to presenting him with the first Cannes LionHeart in recognition of his achievements.”     


Bono will be presented with the inaugural Cannes LionHeart, an honorary award presented in exceptional instances, on Saturday evening, 21 June, during the final awards ceremony of the festival week.



A Conversation with Bono and Jonathan Ive, moderated by Shane Smith


In an exclusive seminar for Cannes Lions delegates, Bono will join Jonathan Ive, Apple Inc’s Senior Vice President of Design, in a discussion moderated by Shane Smith, CEO and Founder of VICE Media, and introduced by Anne Finucane, Global Strategy and Marketing Officer of (RED) partner, Bank of America. Bono and Jonathan Ive will discuss the success of (RED) and it’s unique collaboration with global partners – including Apple, (RED)’s largest corporate contributor to the AIDS fight – and the record-breaking (RED) Design Auction curated by Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson.  The auction resulted in $44 million for the Global Fund on World AIDS Day last year.  This exceptional session will be held at 15:15 hrs, Saturday, 21 June.  

http://www.canneslions.com/http://www.red.org/