Singer Pete Doherty cancelled the rest of a British tour with his band Babyshambles to give himself more time to recover from his drug addiction treatment.
Doherty, 27, known as much for his on-off relationship with model Kate Moss and his well-publicized drug problems as his music, was more than halfway through the 13-date tour.
The concerts were his first since leaving a drug London rehabilitation clinic.
PHOTO: AP
“It is now clear that Peter embarked on this arduous and high profile tour too soon after his discharge,” Doherty’s spokesman said Saturday.
The band cancelled a concert in Liverpool on Friday night and the remaining four dates in Glasgow, Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle.
Critics have praised Doherty’s performances during the tour, with several newspapers using the headline “Pete’s no shambles.”
Moss joined the band onstage to sing during La Belle and La Bete. One reviewer said she “chirped self-consciously and almost inaudibly, then ran off, waving her arms like an excited schoolgirl.’
On Saturday, the Sun showed pictures of a bare-chested Doherty supposedly “storming out” of Moss’s home at 3:30am after a row.
Meanwhile, pop diva Cher has put up 700 items and says she’s amazed by what people were willing to spend for them.
Of the dozens of vintage gowns and flashy costumes she put up for auction, a skimpy black number made of fishnet, rhinestone and patches of fabric got the highest bid.
The Bob Mackie-designed outfit, which came with a black leather jacket, sold for US$60,000 — about twice the asking price, said Darren Julien, president of Julien Auction. His firm helped administer the two-day auction, which brought in a total of US$3.5 million, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with Sotheby’s.
Cher’s asking that all winning bidders send her pictures of the items in their new homes.
While Cher is making money from old fans, Madonna is earning new ones.
The singer visited an orphanage in the impoverished African country of Malawi last week, handing out copies of her book English Rose to a crowd of AIDS orphans as her publicist dismissed claims that she was going to adopt a child herself.
The pop star was greeted by about 50 children as she arrived in a four-vehicle convoy. Bodyguards prevented journalists from getting access to the premises or approaching her.
Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said the pop star was on a private visit working on projects for children and dismissed statements from Malawian government officials that she and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, would adopt a boy.
“I have no information or confirmation regarding Madonna adopting an individual child. She’s kind of adopting an entire country of children,” Rosenberg said.
“She is on a private visit to Malawi and is involved in the building of an orphanage/child care center as well as other initiatives to help the children of that country who have lost parents to AIDS.”
The visit has generated huge excitement in Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, which usually only makes headlines because of its grim cycle of drought, hunger and disease. More than 14 percent of Malawi’s 12 million people have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and an estimated 1 million children have been orphaned.
Madonna was greeted Thursday at the Kondanani children’s village near Malawi’s commercial capital by a crowd of about 28 singing orphans, who each received a translated copy of Madonna’s book.
Orphanage officials said Ritchie accompanied the singer and filmed the children.
“She and her husband are very lovely,” said orphanage director Anne Chikhwaza. “She has a kind heart; she really wants to help.”
Madonna’s project, called Raising Malawi, aims to set up an orphan care center to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children. It will have projects based on Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism that has gained popularity in recent years and which counts the 48-year-old singer among its devotees.
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
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