• With U2’s concert film being released later this month, Bono is turning his attention to different matters. The advocate was in France earlier this week on behalf of DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), urging French leader Nicolas Sarkozy to increase his country’s aid to developing nations to .7 percent of gross national income by 2012. The singer considered his visit productive, saying via a statement, “The president admitted it would be very, very hard, but France would keep her word.”
• Avril Lavigne has reached a confidential settlement in the lawsuit filed by Seventies group the Rubinoos, which alleged Lavigne plagarized last year’s “Girlfriend” from their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” Lavigne maintained she had never heard the track.
• Katharine McPhee joins Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks as the latest American Idol alum to part ways with her record label. McPhee, who came in second to Hicks during the show’s fifth season, split from RCA records despite the Number Two debut of her first album.
• The latest explanation for Chinese Democracy’s delay is rumored to be differences between Axl Rose and Geffen on the marketing of the long-awaited Guns n’ Roses album. Rose has allegedly turned over the completed record to the label.
• An EMI source has dismissed this week’s claims that Coldplay is leaving the label, NME reports. The insider explained, “The band’s relationship with EMI is both long-term and very healthy and positive. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect and unfair on both parties.”

[Photo: Getty]