Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.I.Am has rubbished claims the band won't play a gig in China - despite calls for artists to boycott the country over its terrible human rights record.

Coldplay star Chris Martin thinks the new version of charity single Do They Know It' Christmas? is a "tremendously bad idea" and only agreed to sing on the track after watching a report on refugees in Sudan's Darfur province.

LEADING allies of the United States sought yesterday to defend the legal basis for their support of the US-led invasion of Iraq after UN chief Kofi Annan said it was illegal.