It will be confirmed later today that three more cities will host Live 8 concerts next month.
Tokyo, Toronto and Johannesburg have been added to the list of host cities which already included Paris, Philadelphia, Rome and Berlin. Three concerts will be held here in the UK of course - one in London, one at the Eden Project site in Cornwall and one in Edinburgh - the latter taking place a few days after the other events, on the day of a big Make Poverty History riot, sorry, I mean march, in the Scottish capital.
Commenting on the new additions to the list of concerts, all designed to put pressure on the G8 countries to do more to alleviate poverty in Africa of course, Bob Geldof said he hoped former South African president Nelson Mandela - a long time campaigner on poverty issues in Africa - would head the Live 8 Africa event. Geldof: "Mandela, if he's well enough, will bring it to the world".
Explaining why he wanted to expand the number of Live 8 concerts, Geldof continued: "Three weeks ago Europe agreed, unbelievably, to double aid, throwing the ball back to the Yanks, the Japanese and the Canadians. So that forced me now to do, which I didn't want to do, a concert in Tokyo and Toronto".
On more logistical points, Geldof revealed plans to allow hundreds of thousands more people into Hyde Park on 2 Jul to watch the Live 8 London concert on large screens. He told reporters yesterday: "I'm not supposed to talk about this but other people tell me there are arrangements to allow hundreds of thousands more into the park on the day".
In Live 8 line up news, Roxy Music have joined the bill for the Berlin concert which will take place around the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin show already has other legends of Germanic pop on its line up including, erm, Green Day, Tracy Chapman, Brian Wilson, Chris de Burgh and Welsh opera star Katherine Jenkins.
In the US, 50 Cent has pulled out of the Philadelphia Live 8 concert because the event will clash with work on his debut movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin, which is a pretty poor excuse, but whatever, I'm sure they'll cope without him.