Saturday, September 05, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Madonna smashed her own record for top-grossing tour by a solo artist, but the "Material Girl" had to play more shows in bigger venues, according to data released by concert promoter.The pop singer's yearlong "Sticky & Sweet" world tour, which wrapped in Israel on Wednesday, pulled in $408 million after playing to more than 3.5 million fans at 85 shows.It broke the record set in 2006 by her previous outing, the "Confessions" tour, which grossed $194 million from 1.2 million fans at 60 shows. A promoter spokesman said the previous trek featured many arena stops, while the latest one was centered on bigger stadiums.On September 28, Madonna will release "Celebration" CD and video compilations, which will draw the curtain on her 27-year relationship with Warner Music Group Corp. In 2007, she signed a pioneering, 10-year, $120 million "360" deal with Live Nation covering recording, merchandising and touring.The top-grossing tour overall is the Rolling Stones' $558 million "Bigger Bang" trek of 2005-2007, which drew 4.7 million people to 144 shows.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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