Gwen Stefani in Russian Radiation Scare
Although you probably wouldnt associate Gwen Stefani with Russian spies, a bizarre spy-who-carried-radiation story pulled the singer into its periphery. While in Toronto promoting her new solo disc, The Sweet Escape, Stefani learned she and her baby, Kingston, may have been exposed to radiation during a British Airways flight last week. The airline admitted they found on some of their jets traces of the radio-active material that killed a Russian spy.
"We might have radiation too,'' Stefani, 37, said with a slight grin when asked about the revelation in an interview on Thursday, her last day in the city. "No, I'm just kidding. I hope not.''
Uh, yeah, for real, she better hope not; former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, ended up with alpha radiation from polonium-210. Before his radiation-poisoning death on November 23rd, the radiation passed through his body to various people and places throughout London. He may have transferred the highly toxic substance to someone who later boarded the airplane. Despite this, officials claimed the health risk to the public is low; polonium-210 must be ingested to be dangerous, so unless Stefani was chewing on her fellow passengers, shes probably ok.
Battle to The Death!: Universal Music Group Sues Myspace
Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world that owns labels such as Interscope (Gwen Stefani, Nine Inch Nails), Geffen (Weezer, The Cure), and Island Def Jam (The Killers, Lady Sovereign), has sued Myspace . The mega-corporation, owned by French media mammoth Vivendi, filed papers on late Friday, claiming Myspace allows users to post songs and videos on their site in violation of copyright law. UMG cites sixty alleged copyright infringements and is seeking $150,000 in damages per song and video. The suit comes after several months of negotiations between the two parties to resolve the matter. Myspace and its parent company, the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp., claim to be protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DCMA), which was set-up to keep websites from being held responsible for content posted by its users. On an interesting note, when checking Myspace's main music page two of the three "featured artists" (Jay-Z, Brand New) are on Universal. Is Myspace sucking up? As the fight for Intellectual Property ensues, how long before they start coming after users again?
