MTV News Round-Up 13/07/2004

*** Bono has praised the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown 's pledge of 1.5billion yesterday to help tackle HIV/AIDS across the developing world over the next three years. "What happened on Monday was hundreds of thousands of people with AIDS who were not going to have access to anti-retro viral treatment and therefore were going to die," said the U2 vocalist, "after Monday are going to live."

*** The Darkness and Keane have descended into a war of words, following a member of Keane's comments in the Sun, suggesting that the catsuit-favouring outfit's reign in the UK 'is coming to an end'. "What are those public schoolboys like?" said bass player Frankie Poullain. "We used to call namby-pambys like that bedwetters - but now they've taken it to a whole new league."

*** Kelly Rowland has spoken of the Destiny's Child members' dedication to the band, despite their solo success. "It was a no-brainer that all of us wanted to do another DC record," she said. "That's the mould everything grew from and you can't just stray away from that. I know all of us are so excited about this next record and we wouldn't have done the solo records if it wasn't for Destiny's Child records."

*** Foo Fighters frontman, and ex-Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl has reportedly been drumming for the Nine Inch Nails. According to postings on their website, Californian band The Exies' spotted Grohl in the studio with the Nails on their own webcam. Since Nirvana, Dave Grohl has played drums for the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age and Garbage.

*** Outkast's Andre 3000 and movie star Alicia Silverstone have been voted the World's Sexiest Vegetarians. The pair fended off veg-eating competition from the likes of Pamela Anderson, Kim Basinger, Morrissey, Ian McKellan, Tobey Maguire, Josh Hartnett, Natalie Portman and Shania Twain to top the PETA online poll.

DL