News: Oscar Wilde, El Niño, Pepto-Bismol, Vladimir Putin, Iraq

U.S. military probing claims by Iraqi refugee that servicemembers were involved in the executions of gays in Iraq.

Provincetown player Ryan Landry stars as Oscar Wilde in production of Moises Kaufman's Gross Indecency.

Save the Earth, piss in the shower.

New El Niño may be second-strongest.

The Majority: Condé Nast's 'A-gay' tower of power?

Bolivia bans all circus animals: "Bolivia has enacted what animal rights activists are calling the world's first ban on all animals in circuses. A handful of other countries have banned the use of wild animals in circuses, but the Bolivian ban includes domestic animals as well."

Phyllis Schlafly unleashes on the National Education Association for supporting gays at its annual convention in San Diego.

Allen Thornell, LGBT leader in Georgia, dies after suffering stroke.

Leonardo Dicaprio hits the beach in Ibiza.

Pepto-Bismol ice cream: hangover cure?

Murses and the dudes who dig them. (via the awl)

Stonewall Shooting Sports: Gay Utah group to join gun rights march in Salt Lake City.

Killer of gay seaman August Provost, who committed suicide while in custody, had tried to kill himself twice before.

Movieline interviews photographer Bruce Weber.

Maybe the only reason to see the new G.I. Joe flick?

The NYT visits the John Bartlett boutique: "It’s not as if this store is exclusively gay; it’s just secure in its sexuality. Contrary to current film and television, there is a large segment of confident gay men out there who aren’t that obsessed with fashion. They work hard, and just need some nice clothes for jobs and second dates."

What Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Will Smith will be wearing this fall.

Russian PM Vladimir Putin shows off his macho self again. FLASHBACK: A river runs through Russia: Fishing with Pin-up Putin.

75% of Poles against same-sex marriage.

Glenn Beck: Don't get violent, even though I've been riling you up for years.

Error rate increases as signatures are counted in Washington state anti-gay ballot measure.

Massachusetts teen held on $1000 bond after anti-gay assault: "According to the victim, he and his female friend were walking on Bay Street when they were approached by a group of four boys. They identified two of the four as Ambers and Gregg, who appeared to be intoxicated when they directed their attention toward the victim in an aggressive manner. Though she tried to keep Ambers at a distance, the victim’s friend told officers her attempts were futile. Reports say Ambers and Gregg shouted homosexual slurs as they punched and kicked the teenager until he fell to the ground."

Annie Lennox, backwards and forwards.

Annie Lennox: We are Fixated with Sexuality and it Can Be Very Cruel

 

Annie Lennox talks to CNN about her new track "Shining Light" (the other new song on her latest hits collection, "Pattern of My Life", is a winner too) and various points throughout her career.

The new single, "Shining Light", which I posted here before, is a cover of an original track by the Irish band Ash. Of the track, Lennox says: "It's one of those incredible anthemic songs that just stay with you. It's like when you heard Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah.' It's almost like a revelation when you hear it."

Adds Lennox: "I think we all [have a lot to learn about love]. I think the world needs to be a far more loving place. And I think we are confused between erotic love [and] unconditional love. I think our sexuality is a very different thing from our love. ... We are a society fixated with sexuality and it can be very cruel. When the love, and the respect and the consideration [are] missing, people live very isolated existences."

Watch the interview, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #424

DENVER SIGHTSEEING: Michelangelo Signorile and Mike Jones visit the apartment where Jones had sex with Ted Haggard.

SHINING LIGHT: The new Annie Lennox single.

CHER ON MADONNA: A new clip from Nadya Ginsburg.

GOOGLE EARTH 5.0: The new version allows you to see historical imagery, dive beneath the ocean's surface, and record a tour of your travels.

Music News: Will Young Goes Through "Changes", Plus The Verve, Lily Allen, P!nk, Franz Ferdinand

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Openly gay British pop star Will Young has a pretty groovy new single called "Changes," which will precede the September U.K. release of his fourth album Let It Go. It's been three years since Young's last album, and as he says on his official site, putting together the new material was no easy task.

"['Changes'] is one of my most personal songs. I was in a bit of a rut and I didn’t even know it. Writing about the changes I needed to make actually helped me get out of a situation where I felt trapped by my own actions. That really is songwriting as therapy!"

Here's the video, wherein Will gets shirtless, nearly spontaneously combusts, then is struck by lightning:

Young, who's been open about his sexuality since winning the very first season of Pop Idol—the British program which begat American Idol—has scored four #1 hits in his home country and a total of nine Top 10 singles since 2002.

In a recent interview, he talked about doing a gig this past weekend at the V Festival in Staffordshire, as well as the Glastonbury Festival earlier in the summer. "...I feel like it's the right time now, and I feel we've probably gauged it right. If I'd gone and done Glastonbury a year after winning Pop Idol there would have been quite a lot of resentment but I think people feel and I feel it myself that I've earnt my stripes."

As for new album Let It Go, Will's site promises it will contain "various genres from disco, soul and funk to orchestral chamber pop." The set will be available on import from the U.K. on September 29.

   The Verve (pictured right) close England's V Festival with style, after a decade-long gap between albums.

   With "Disturbia" knocking Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart last week, Rihanna is now tied with Mariah Carey and Beyonce for the most U.S. #1 hits this decade. Each of them have scored four apiece since 2000.

   At a roughly $46 million payout, Phil Collins' divorce from his third wife has broken records to become the most expensive ever in the U.K.

   Annie Lennox is recovering in London after undergoing spinal surgery for an impinged nerve she suffered in Mexico while attending an AIDS conference: "I should have been attending the final press blitz of the week, but my back suddenly went into spasm last night, giving me more pain than I've ever experienced in my life, and a totally numb left foot! A very nice doctor from Cancun had given my aching vertebra some adjustments, and a great big cortisone shot, which should help me to get to the airport tonight!! I'm gutted, of course, because I was really primed up to attend the media event, but at this point in time, I'm actually having difficulty getting out of bed." Unable to do any promotion, The Annie Lennox Collection, her forthcoming greatest hits (with two new songs), has been pushed to next year.

   Gun-toting John McCain supporter Heidi Montag, star of The Hills, has a new single called "Overdosin." It was premiered Monday on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM L.A. morning show.

   Lily Allen is baffled as to why her second album Stuck On The Naughty Step has yet to be released: "The record industry is a very political place at the moment and I am on EMI records, lots of people have been fired or have taken redundancy recently as the company was taken over by a private equity firm called Terra Firma. Many of these people were people assigned to my projects and now I don't quite know what's going on. I'm sure everyone will find their feet soon enough and I'll be able to put the album out."

   TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

Raw Footage, a new album from Ice Cube. Next month a greatest hits set from the rapper will be released.

"So What," the lead single off P!nk's upcoming, as-yet-untitled fifth album. The track was produced by Max Martin, and co-written by Martin, P!nk and Shellback.

"Lucid Dreams," apparently a one-off single from Franz Ferdinand now that their third album has been pushed back till 2009.

The Dandy Warhols' ...Earth To The Dandy Warhols..., the band's first self-released album. It was initially offered in May via an online pay subscription service.

The Illusion Of Progress, the sixth album from hard rockers Staind.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #340

ANNIE LENNOX: At the International AIDS Conference last week in Mexico City.

NO ON PROP 8: West Hollywood couple Charlie David and Brandon Rolph for Love Honor Cherish.

ARKANSAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN: Shot at Little Rock headquarters.

OLYMPIC INJURY: Hungarian weightlifter dislocates elbow while lifting (warning: very graphic).

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

News: AIDS, Amy Winehouse, Olympics, Matt Lucas, Liberia

"Elite" HIV wife may hold key to AIDS vaccine: A woman who has never shown symptoms of infection with the AIDS virus may hold the secret to defeating the virus, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. Infected at least 10 years ago by her husband, the woman is able somehow to naturally control the deadly and incurable virus -- even though her husband must take cocktails of strong HIV drugs to control his. She is a so-called 'elite suppressor,' and studies of her immune cells have begun to offer clues to how her body does it, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said. 'This is the best evidence to date that elite suppressors can have fully pathogenic virus,' said Dr. Joel Blankson, who led the study."

Spanish Olympic basketball team under fire for 'slant-eye' photo.

Amy Winehouse seeking revenge on charts for being dumped by James Bond producers: "I do think they could have waited a bit. If they want a worldwide hit I have them all up here (pointing to her beehive)."

Annie Lennox talks AIDS from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City: "There have been around 25,000 people who have come to take part in this extraordinary event. A conference like this gives tremendous focus and profile on the issue of HIV/AIDS...There are representatives from all walks of life. HIV is a very complex issue, and it effects people in all kinds of different ways. So to be a representative of those people, whether they're gay and lesbian men and women - whether they're transsexuals, or mothers, or children - whoever it happens to be - it's deeply moving just to take a moment to look at who's here. It's like a microcosm of the world, in actual fact."

McCain forced to remove attack ad with Wayne's World clip. Doesn't think he's gone negative.

Australia Capitol Territory says civil partnerships exceed expectations: "Attorney-General Simon Corbell says 23 gay or lesbian couples have already registered their partnerships."

A psychiatrist who Provincetown being re-branded to go after heterosexuals?

Clay Aiken leaves the hospital with his boy.

In June I reported that Little Britain creator Matt Lucas and his partner Kevin McGee were seeking a divorce. Well, it looks like they've made up, for the moment.

A chat with Olivia Newton-John.

The NYT visits Graydon's Carter's Waverly Inn: "The reservations system has miniprofiles on clients: the number of times they have eaten at the restaurant, (Mr. Menicheschi, the publisher, supposedly is near the top of the list with more than 200 meals) whether they complained about the food, whether they yelled at a waiter or ever wrote an unflattering word about Mr. Carter. No, not really on the last one. Has anyone been blacklisted? Mr. Carter won’t say, but Mr. Varda admits that there is one group. 'B-list stars who call the paparazzi from inside the restaurant,' he said. 'They are not invited back.'"

Anti-gay professor indicted in Israel: "Hillel Weiss, who helped found his nation's religious peace movement, has been indicted on two charges of inciting violence and intimidation after two very crude outbursts, including one about the abominable gays..."

The little girl who sang at the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies was a fake. Music designer Chen: "The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation. The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression."

Madonna on track to adopt a baby girl from Malawi.

Study shows sexual abuse of male soldiers common in Liberia: "More than 40% of female combatants said they had experienced sexual violence, compared with less than 10% in the general population. Surprisingly, 33% of male combatants said they had been similarly abused. 'Mental health policies need to address males as victims of sexual violence,' Lawry says."

Ready for Mantyhose?