After a galaxy of stars rocked the world in the largest live concert ever held, organisers looked to a summit of rich nations to see if people power would change policy on poverty.
More than a million people listened to rock and pop musicians at venues across four continents to demand that leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised countries meeting in Scotland on Wednesday relieve African debt and boost aid.
The media in Britain, where the build-up to Live 8 has had a higher profile than in other countries, hailed organiser, rocker Bob Geldof, and the 170 pop acts who graced stages, but limited television coverage in the United States could dampen the impact of such an impressive show of people power.
Tokyo kicked off Live 8, which was also staged in the Circus Maximus in Rome and before a crowd of 150,000 in Berlin. In Barrie, near Toronto, 35,000 people turned out. The numbers in Moscow's Red Square were low, and in Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela addressed nearly 10,000 people.
London's Hyde Park had the strongest line-up, with Paul McCartney, Bono, Madonna, Elton John, Pink Floyd, The Who and George Michael entertaining 200,000 people.
Saving the Tigers from extinction It was a hurriedly organized citizen’s meeting at Guwahati Press Club, where serious concerns were expressed at the increasing trend of poaching and killing of wildlife in various parts of Assam.
The EIP factor - what you should learn from it When we grow older, or get older for the sake of the argument, we tend to start seeing the world only from one side. We tend to believe, no, not believe but know, how things are done. If you are smart, you understand that it shouldn't be that way, you understand this is wrong.
Whether we want to admit it or not, even now, in year 2012, there are still big gender biases in some fields of life. While it's generally understandable that men should do more heavy lifting than women and knitting fits a bit better for the women (even though I am aware even here there are many people who want to disagree), art is one of those things where our gender really should not play any significant role at all. And within the past decade things have started to change even on this front and even on the more conservative arenas such as Bukowskis - the top Nordic auction house.
