Bono says he has ‘good ole row’ with Bush over AIDS spending

Washington — Bono, the Irish rock star and social activist, said Tuesday he had a “good ole row” with President Bush over global AIDS funding.

“He’s very passionate about these problems, and I believe him,” Bono said after their White House meeting. “I just can’t agree with the numbers.”

Bush signed the Global AIDS Act in May that authorized $3 billion to fund global AIDS programs for 2004, but Congress has allocated only $2 billion. Both the president and members of Congress said developing countries wouldn’t be able to make use of the extra money.

Lead singer for the band U2, Bono has long championed political causes, but he said AIDS was different.

“The AIDS emergency is just that. It’s not a cause. We’re not here peddling a cause … it’s an emergency,” Bono said at a news conference after the meeting.

Princess Stephanie weds

Paris — Princess Stephanie of Monaco has married her boyfriend, a Portuguese circus acrobat, the royal palace said Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Stephanie and Adans Lopez Peres, whose age wasn’t available, were married Friday in a private ceremony, palace spokesman Armand Deus said. German news reports said they married in Geneva, but Deus said he didn’t know where the ceremony took place.

The princess is one of three children of Prince Rainier and the late American actress Grace Kelly.

Alumni want new ‘Survivor’ shot

New York — Being a “Survivor” once doesn’t mean a little lobbying is beneath you.

Host Jeff Probst says he’s been getting tapes from past contestants on the CBS reality show who hope to compete again. Casting for the alumni edition of “Survivor” is happening soon, and the series will air early next year.

Some of the game’s personalities may be in for a surprise, Probst said.

“The notion of ‘just because you won entitles you to a shot’ is, from my point of view, baloney,” he said.

Meanwhile, the seventh edition of the show, from Pearl Islands, starts at 7 p.m. CDT Thursday on CBS, Sunflower Broadband Channels 5 and 13.

Those troublesome cigars

Miami — Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ love of cigars has put him in a cloud of legal trouble.

A cigar maker claims a cameraman trespassed at his Miami factory and filmed its “secret process” in June, and the footage wound up in Combs’ music video for the movie “Bad Boys II,” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The lawsuit, which Moore & Bode Cigars filed earlier this month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, seeks at least $15,000 in damages.

The lawsuit said the company’s “unique method of rolling the cigars” was taped for the “Shake Ya Tailfeather” video.