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CORRECTED - CORRECTED-Live Earth India concert cancelled after attacks

Mon Dec 1, 2008 2:26pm IST
 
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(Corrects first paragraph to say event was to be held this Sunday, instead of next month)

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar

MUMBAI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Live Earth India concert, scheduled to be held in Mumbai on Sunday, has been called off after terror attacks in India's financial capital killed nearly 200 people, organisers said.

American musician Jon Bon Jovi, British rocker Roger Waters and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan were to share the stage at the Dec. 7 event to raise funds for lighting homes with solar energy in places where people do not have access to electricity.

"Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been called off," they said in a joint statement on Saturday.

Islamist gunmen held Mumbai hostage for three days last week using assault rifles and grenades at two luxury hotels and other landmarks, killing close to 200 people including 22 foreigners.

"We are all shaken up by this event, and even though we believe in the cause of global warming, we have indefinitely postponed the Live Earth concert," said Viraf Sarkari, director of the Wizcraft event management firm, the local organiser.

Many international artists due to perform at the event were bound by advisories issued by their countries asking citizens not to travel to India, making this an "overriding factor" in the decision to cancel the concert, he added.

"We have artists like Jon Bon Jovi and Roger Waters, so we had to take this into account as well," he said.  Continued...

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