Russian official targets Madonna with crude tweet

A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin used an obscene Twitter post to attack Madonna after the pop star called for the release of three women who face prison over an irreverent performance in Moscow's main cathedral.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, a nationalist politician and former envoy to NATO, posted the tweet on Friday after Madonna told a Moscow concert audience the jailed members of punk band Pussy Riot were "courageous" and deserved to be free.

"Every ex-wh*re tends to lecture everybody with age. Especially during world tours and concerts," Rogozin, who now leads Russia's drive to upgrade the army and defence industry, wrote in a tweet in English.

The microblog posting was a crudely worded echo of frequent warnings by Russian officials that Moscow will not accept Western "preaching" on human rights and democracy, a message Putin has repeatedly delivered during 12 years in power.

Madonna, who is American, donned a balaclava like those worn by Pussy Riot performers during her concert in Moscow on Tuesday night and was cheered loudly when she offered her support.

Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, stormed the altar of Russia's main cathedral on February 21 and sang a "punk prayer" calling on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, who was then campaigning to return to the presidency after four years as prime minister.

Prosecutors want a judge to sentence them to three years in prison for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

They have been in jail since shortly after their performance, which offended many in mostly Orthodox Christian Russia, and Kremlin critics see their trial as part of a crackdown on dissent as Putin starts a new six-year term.

The women have said the performance was meant as criticism of close ties between Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church and the clear if informal support its leader, Patriarch Kirill, gave Putin during his successful election campaign.

Excessive reaction?

Western governments and rights groups have said the govermnent's reaction to the "punk prayer" was excessive and are watching the trial closely. The judge is to give a verdict on August 17.

Rogozin, who some analysts view as a potential presidential candidate in the next election in 2018, did not mention Madonna by name in the English tweet on Friday or a Russian one on Wednesday.

But few Internet users had any doubt that he was referring to Madonna, who also spoke out in support of gay rights at a concert in St. Petersburg, Putin's home town, on Thursday night.

"She spoke about freedom, it is the state bureaucrats who are lecturing us every day on all the state channels," a Twitter user called Alexander Oleinik wrote in response to Rogozin's posting in Russian.

"Either take off the cross or put on your panties," Rogozin replied. His spokeswoman confirmed the messages were genuine.

Rogozin, former leader of the nationalist political party Rodina (Motherland), also wrote ironic messages about Pussy Riot, likening their supporters to a religious sect.

Rogozin was appointed deputy prime minister late last year as part of then prime minister Putin's drive to appeal to moderate nationalists.

He is known for his sharply worded criticism of the West and in particular of US and NATO plans for a European missile shield that Moscow calls a threat to its security.

On Friday, a group of Russian Orthodox hardliners burned Madonna's picture outside Moscow's Christ the Saviour cathedral, where Pussy Riot staged its punk protest. Source:http://tvnz.co.nz

Madonna airs 1944 Warsaw Uprising clip amid concert row

WARSAW: US pop star Madonna aired a World War II-era newsreel on the 1944 anti-Nazi Warsaw Uprising at the top of her Wednesday gig in the city marking the day 68 years ago when the bloody insurrection was launched.

Thousands of fans applauded the two-and-a-half minute long film which ran as the concert got underway with nearly an hour's delay, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

Warsaw city hall requested the singer air the clip in the wake of an online petition against her concert by a group of young Catholics furious it would coincide with the Polish capital's annual World War II commemoration of the doomed uprising against the city's Nazi's occupiers.

As of Wednesday, the petition had gathered 54,000 supporters for the "Material Girl's" concert to be called off out of respect for the estimated 200,000 people who died in the 63-day uprising by Polish partisans.

Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the deportation of the half-a-million residents who survived before his forces systematically bombarded the city leaving it as little more than a smouldering heap of rubble.

"August 1 is a day of remembrance in Poland. We pay our respects to those who survived and those who perished in the uprising. We won't allow the desecration of our hallowed symbols," reads the Internet petition launched by a group calling itself the Youth Crusade.

Warsaw ground to a halt Wednesday at 5 pm (1500 GMT) and sirens wailed as residents stood still to observe the annual minute's silence across the capital remembering the loss of life in the largest single rebellion against Nazi Germany during WWII.

The Youth Crusade also slammed the 53-year-old Queen of Pop's on-stage antics as "attacking the Catholic faith... offending Jesus Christ by burning crosses and wearing a crown of thorns" as well as promoting homosexuality and pornography.

Warsaw Archbishop Henryk Hoser urged residents to pray against what he termed Madonna's "blasphemous concert". Poland remains one of Europe's most devoutly Roman Catholic countries.

Madonna's ongoing "MDNA" world tour has been been marked with her trademark brand of controversy.

The pop diva outraged fans in France who had paid more than 250 euros (300 dollars) per ticket by quitting the stage in Paris after barely 45 minutes on July 26.

France's far right National Front has taken legal action against her for screening a video showing its leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead during an earlier concert in Paris.

The video was also shown at a Tel Aviv gig in May kicking off the tour, covering about 30 countries and wrapping up in Australia in 2013. (AFP)

Madonna's 'MDNA' sends pop lesson to young guard

PARIS: Jostling for space with younger rivals like Lady Gaga, Madonna brings a grown woman's voice to her new album "MDNA", out on Monday, on which the 53-year-old Queen of Pop evokes the pain of her divorce.

Since her last album, the dance-flavoured "Hard Candy" in 2008, new faces have crowded into the space long ruled by the Material Girl: Rihanna for sexiness, Lana Del Rey for edgy glamour, and the ever-theatrical Lady Gaga.

So when Madonna announced she was working on a new album, the music world raised a sceptical eyebrow: put frankly, can a woman in her 50s still set the pace in a youth-driven pop world?

The first track from the album, "Give Me All Your Luvin", which Madonna performed at the Superbowl last month, failed to win over the music press.

But critics have since given a thumbs up to Madonna's 12th studio album, which leaked on the Internet this week ahead of its release.

"Madonna is still very much the Queen of Pop," wrote the US magazine Billboard. "Nearly 30 years after first hitting the Billboard charts with her debut single 'Everybody', Madonna is still showing the world how it's done."

Likewise, Britain's Daily Mirror wrote that "Madonna's new album shows the young pretenders she is still a force to be reckoned with."

Madonna teamed up with a host of carefully chosen collaborators for "MDNA", most notably M.I.A, the British hip-hop star who set tongues wagging at the Superbowl with a brief flip of the middle finger to the cameras.

Production side, she signed up the French DJ Martin Solveig and Italian duo Alle and Benny Benassi, masters of the dance floor hit.

The album - whose title is a play on the nightclub drug MDMA - is peppered with hedonistic dance tracks, but they share space with highly personal pieces in which Madonna alludes to her 2008 divorce from British director Guy Ritchie. (AFP)