Bono and his wife Ali Hewson may be at risk of losing million as their ethical clothing change, Edun, continues to lose money.

At the end of last year Bono, and his wife of 28 years, Ali, moved their family from Dublin to New York to help launch the ethical clothing line based in Tribeca, Manhattan.

Ali has now revealed that the business has so far failed to make a profit.

“It hasn’t made money — it hasn’t made a profit yet,” said Ali. “But it’s growing. It’s growing.

“The first five years of the company is about putting money in and building the trade. So of course we had to support it. We’re still here supporting it now, because we believe in it.”

In fact the Hewson family believed so entirely in the project that they all moved to New York to be closer to the day to day running of the business.

“I’ve been seeing how the operation was being upgraded on a daily, weekly basis,” she said.

“It’s been amazing to see how far it has come in six months.

In 2005 Bono, Ali and fashion designer Rogan Gregory founded the fashion line. However, Ali says that the mission to increase employment in developing regions of Africa has overshadowed the company itself.

Over the years Bono has endured some criticism for his constant involvement in charity campaigns. His critics feel that his methods are a little preachy and that he’s over exposed in the media. However Ali defends his ongoing charity activism.

“He’s always known, if you want to get anything done you’ve got to stand in the firing line sometimes…He doesn’t do it for the warm fuzzy feelings. He does it to actually bring some change about, and highlight issues that were being pushed under the carpet. And he does it very effectively.

“Bono will say to you, ‘I’m sick of Bono, and I am Bono’.”

Just three years ago Edun had $3.6 million in bank loans and owes it’s three shareholders $7.9 million.

Ali feels that the situation for the company can only get better as the Hewson’s partnered up with LVMH, who owns Givenchy, Moet & Chandon, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Christian Dior.

Edun’s plans to have a line of clothing ready for the soccer World Cup this summer designed but children in the slums in Nairobi.

- BUZZ BRADY, Irishcentral.com

Bono, visiting Japan for a major Africa development summit that closed yesterday, teamed up with fellow musician-activist Bob Geldof as guest editors of a supplement to the Asahi Shimbun, an influential liberal daily.

Mr Bush wrote that the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers, to be held in Japan, needed to take concrete action to tackle AIDS and other scourges afflicting Africa.

“My message to my fellow leaders will be that our past promises are just empty words unless we provide meaningful follow-through,” Mr Bush wrote.

“And if we do, we can continue to help save lives and spread hope across the continent of Africa.”

Mr Bush said the US was doubling aid to Africa by 2010 and highlighted a $US15 billion ($A15.7 billion) AIDS relief fund launched in 2003.

“These efforts rarely make headlines in the United States. But when you go to Africa, the difference we are making is visible,” he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the same newspaper, called for the G8 summit to commit money to expand education in Africa.

“The world cannot make a better investment than in the education of its children,” Brown said.

Bono urged Japan to use the G8 summit to push forward the goal of halving extreme poverty in the world by 2015.

The U2 frontman praised Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s pledge to double Japanese aid to Africa but regretted that Tokyo’s overall foreign assistance has been declining.

Highlighting Japan’s past aid across Asia, Bono appealed to the Japanese public to care more about Africa - and pointed to the growing rivalry with China, which has been making inroads into Africa.

Japan’s efforts “were critical in creating the Asian tigers and I am wondering if the same strategies applied to Africa might have similar results,” Bono said.

“Forget moral imperative for a moment,” Bono said.

“The Japanese I know do not like the fact that China is leaving them behind in Africa,” Bono wrote.

“They want to show the world what Japan stands for.”

- Adelaide Now

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Although Japan gave the most overseas aid in the early 1990s, its generosity has steadily fallen since then, the U2 frontman told students at Tokyo’s prestigious Keio University, where he received an honorary doctorate of law earlier in the day.

“The world is watching Japan as the G8 (summit) approaches, and it’s not good news,” he said. The summit is scheduled to take place in Hokkaido, northern Japan, in July. Japan’s net official development assistance in 2007 was US$7.7 billion, down 30 per cent from the previous year and dropping the country to fifth place among foreign aid donors, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Bono, in Japan this week for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, called it a “monumental error” to ignore Africa or write the continent off as a lost cause. Japan’s development model for Southeast Asia led to the emergence of the so-called ’Asian tigers’ and could prove similarly successful in Africa, he said. “I believe in this country,” he said to an auditorium of nearly 900 students.

“The world needs your involvement.” Bono said his interest in Africa extends back to the Live Aid concert in 1985. Since then, he has become one of the most effective, though sometimes controversial, crusaders against poverty and AIDS in Africa.

The Irish rocker and Nobel Peace Prize nominee is scheduled to speak at the African development conference Thursday and meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda later this week. Michitake Watanabe, a first-year graduate student at Keio, said Bono’s words opened his eyes to issues he had never considered.

“He is an amazing person,” said Watanabe, who admitted he isn’t a fan of Bono’s music. “It’s really incredible that he doesn’t seem to be confined by traditional frameworks like race or religion.”

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Vid courtesy of Guardian News and Media Limited

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Donors to the Bono’s Birthday Well are invited to sign their names to an online birthday card that will be forwarded to Bono. Last year Bono sent a thank-you note to African Well Fund that can be viewed at the well homepage, http://www.africanwellfund.org/Bono-Well-2008.html. The well page also includes flyers, banners and avatars that can be uploaded or forwarded to spread the word on the fundraiser.

The first Bono’s Birthday Well fundraiser was held in 2003 with the intent of collecting $1,000 to build one well in Bono’s honor. That year, the African Well Fund collected more than $10,000. The second year, $15,000 was raised. More than $26,000 was collected for Bono’s Birthday Well in 2005. Over $32,000 was collected in 2006.

Last year saw the largest Bono’s Birthday Well total to date, with more than $34,000 collected. Those funds were used toward projects at several schools in Uganda implemented in partnership with Invisible Children and Africare. These projects are currently underway.

Tax-deductible donations to the African Well Fund are used by our partner organization Africare to fund various water projects in Africa. To date, African Well Fund donations have given more than 100,000 people in 10 African nations improved access to water.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the second year in a row, the Edge is putting his money where the music is.

The U2 guitarist announced Wednesday he will donate two Gibson guitars and other items from his personal collection to the “Icons of Music” auction benefiting Music Rising, a charity the Edge co-founded to replace musical equipment lost or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. (more…)

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The ‘Bono Signature Series T-shirt’ is set on a black 100% African cotton t-shirt (men’s) and on a white 100% African cotton t-shirt (women’s) and it’s produced by edun LIVE, the ethical t-shirt company, founded by Bono and Ali.

‘Proceeds from sales will benefit Wildlife Conservation Society’s Conservation Cotton Initiative, which helps lift African farmers out of poverty by providing education on proper land management, organic cotton growing techniques and wildlife conservation.’

Order yours here

More about the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Conservation Cotton Initiative, here

Check out edun Live here

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The African Well Fund is launching its sixth annual Bono’s Birthday Well fundraiser on March 17th. Called “Walk to the Water… Walk with Me,” the fundraiser aims to raise money in honor of Bono’s May 10th birthday. Details of the project funded by this year’s donations will be announced shortly. (more…)

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