Gaga's Russian promoter fined for violating anti-gay laws

A court in St Petersburg has fined the promoters of a Lady Gaga show that took place in the Russian city last year under Russia's controversial "blame it on the gays" law. As previously reported, Gaga's show was criticised almost immediately last December, with local political figures accusing the singer of breaching rules that ban the "promotion" of homosexuality in the presence of minors. Ruling on the complaint, the judge hearing the case said that promoter Planeta Plus had  failed to protect "children from information that could harm their health and/or development". Though the firm was only fined 20,000 roubles, just under £400. It is thought the parents of the minor may launch a civil action against Planeta.

Gaga goes into space

Lady Gaga has announced that she will perform a gig p in space: She's been asked to be the first official popstar to sing on a space-bound vehicle by New Mexico festival Zero G Colony, which takes place (itself on Planet Earth) in 2015. Gaga will blast off on a Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two, where she will sing a single track once she hits conditions of zero gravity.

Gaga takes on insurers over cancelled Jakarta show

Lady Gaga  is taking legal action against insurers at Lloyds Of London who are refusing to pay out over a cancelled concert that was due to take place in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta last summer – the event was cancelled because of statements made by the Islamic Defenders' Front, a  Muslim extremist group – and fears of violence. Indonesian police had also reportedly expressed concerns about the safety of both Gaga and her fans if protests got out of control. After the gig was cancelled, Gaga's promoters tried to recoup the losses caused by the axed show from their insurers, using clauses in their policy that allowed for compensation if cancellation was caused by "terrorism and/or sabotage or threat thereof". But the insurers have said that the Islamic Defenders' Front's statements were not sufficient to exercise that clause. The singer's management and promoters have now filed for litigation in the Californian courts.

Gaga provokes more protests

Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way Ball' tour of South East Asia has hit more problems in the Philippines with Christian groups joining Muslim protests against her concerts. In particular Christians have said that they are appalled by the use of a crucifix in “a very denigrating manner” as were the lyrics as one of her songs “where she is belittling Jesus Christ himself and praising Judas as heroic. It us understood the concerts in Manilla will monitored for any hint of "blasphemy, devil worship, nudity or lewd conduct".    

40,000 fans in the Catholic-majority nation have snapped up tickets of up to 15,840 pesos ($370) each to watch the U.S. singer perform in Manila.

Gaga outsells Madge

Reports say that Lady Gaga is substantially outselling Madonna in London as the pair vie to be queens of the London summer. Gaga has now announced a second September show a Twickenham Stadium after a ten minute sell-out of the first show, with a total of 110,000 tickets up for grabs. Madonna's Hyde Park show on July 17th (capacity of 55,000) remains on-sale with a higher pricing structure.

Gaga tops 1.15 million US sales in first week

A 99 cent full album download promotion by Amazon.com has pushed first-week sales of Lady Gaga’s new album “Born This Way” to 1.15 million units in the USA according to Billboard and despite technical glitches, Amazon cOntributed approximately 440,000 sales. At retail, the album reportedly sold at least 500,000 units on Monday; it has been made available at a wide range of 20,000 stores, including CVS, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

Gaga giveaway

US retailer Best Buy has announced a deal with Universal's Interscope which will mean that anyone who buys a mobile phone from one of their stores will get a free copy of Lady Gaga's new album 'Born This Way' which has been released to fairly mixed reviews.