"There has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the release of "My December," much of which has focused on a supposed feud with my record label, in particular, Clive Davis. I want to set the record straight on this by saying that I want my band, my advisors, those close to me and my record label to be one big, tightly knit family. Like any family we will disagree and argue sometimes but, in the end, it's respect and admiration that will keep us together. A lot has been made in the press about my relationship with Clive. Much of this has been blown way out of proportion and taken out of context. Contrary to recent characterizations in the press, I'm well aware that Clive is one of the great record men of all time. He has been a key advisor and has been an important force in my success to date. He has also given me respect by releasing my new album when he was not obligated to do so. I really regret how this has turned out and I apologize to those whom I have done disservice. I would never intentionally hurt anyone. I love music, and I love the people I am blessed to work with. I am happy that my team is behind me and I look forward to the future."

And he is still doing it his way today as he releases Planet Earth, his brilliant new ten-track album, exclusively through The Mail on Sunday, a move that has sparked controversy across the music industry.

A spokesman for Prince said: 'Prince feels that charts are just music industry constructions and have little or no relevance to fans or even artists today. Prince's only aim is to get music direct to those what want to hear it. Prince famously took a stand against Warner Records in the Nineties when he went on strike and appeared with the world "slave" drawn on his cheek. Subsequently, he regained control of the publishing right to his work and broke down the existing system through his innovation.'

Planet Earth, which is not due to go on sale until July 24, will also be given away free to holders of tickets to Prince's London 02 concerts in August and September. When asked recently why he had decided to do this, Prince replied: 'It's directing marketing as well, and I don't have to be in the speculation business of the record industry, which is going through a lot of tumultuous times right now.'

So much has been written about Prince's remarkable talents, his genius for songwriting, playing and arranging and his battles with the industry. Yet relatively little is known about the man behind the music. He gives interviews infrequently and reluctantly and, when he does, is just as likely to provide cryptic answers to questions as he is to speak freely. Some have speculated that his elusiveness stems from lifelong insecurity.

After filling up on thin-crust pizzas and downing fancy drinks early yesterday, the Grammy-nominated rapper - known for her work with Eminem, R. Kelly and Fat Joe - left the eatery's VIP section and piled into the Cadillac with three men, witnesses said.

Barnes-Joseph walked outside and slid behind the wheel of her Nissan Maxima, a college graduation gift from her mom.

About 10 minutes later, Remy Ma got out of the SUV, got into the Maxima and shot the woman twice in the midsection, police sources and witnesses said.

Barnes-Joseph was in stable condition at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan yesterday.

Dressed in designer jeans and looking disoriented, Remy Ma, whose real name is Remy Smith, surrendered to cops at the 6th Precinct stationhouse in Greenwich Village about 8 p.m. yesterday. She was charged with attempted murder, assault and possession of a weapon.

In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, they describe burns and hearing damage suffered by a patient hit by lightning while using his iPod.

The man, who was jogging in a storm, suffered burns to his chest and on his leg where he was wearing the player.

Doctors say the man's sweat and metal earphones helped channel the current.

Medical experts say electronic devices, such as music players or mobile phones, on their own do not attract lightning.

But in the Vancouver man's case, "the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head," wrote Drs Eric J Heffernan, Peter L Munk and Luck J Louis of Vancouver General Hospital.

When the victim was brought to Vancouver General Hospital, doctors found that along with second-degree burns on his chest and left leg, the man also suffered substantial burns in the area around his metal earphones. In addition, both his eardrums were ruptured, resulting in severe hearing loss, and his jaw was cracked.

"There's only one rule for a new word getting in: If it's likely to be found in printed reading matter - magazines, newspapers, novels - it's likely to get in," Peter Sokolowski, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, told MTV News. "Our entire staff reads and marks everything we can get our hands on: Vibe magazine, magazines on pregnancy and sailing, math journals, physics journals, soup-can labels, menus. Basically, when a word gains a critical mass of citations, we'll include it.

"We try to include words that aren't just trends," he continued. "We're looking for words that will be referred to in the future and people won't need any explanation to know what it means. If the editor of a newspaper can publish a word and he or she expects readers to know what it means, we'll include it."

Sokolowski said that in the case of a word like crunk, they had followed its use from the pages of hip-hop publications to magazines like Sports Illustrated and finally into Time and The New York Times. And yes, he's aware that including crunk in the dictionary suggests that it's no longer a "cool" word (this actually happened sometime around 2002), but that's just another part of the process: When your parents know what a word means, it's probably about time to include it in the dictionary.

Microsoft Corp. says it set a record for streaming an online event to the most customers after offering the Live Earth concerts on MSN over the weekend.

About 8 million people watched at least parts of the concerts live over the 36 hours that the shows took place in ten locations around the world. At the peak, 237,000 people watched simultaneously, Microsoft said.

That's more than what Microsoft thinks is the previous most-watched online broadcast, the Live 8 concerts in 2005. According to AOL LLC, which streamed those ten concerts, 5 million people around the world watched live.

Of the dozens of bands playing Live Earth this Saturday, one has a seriously close connection to the event's global-warming warning. When organizers looking to stage events on every continent learned they couldn't land commercial flights on Antarctica due to its fierce winter weather, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) suggested that rather than bring in outsiders, Live Earth hire the research team's house band, Nunatak.

Nunatak is Greenlandic for "an exposed summit of a ridge mountain or peak (not covered with snow) within an ice field or glacier" - it's also the name of the five-piece band that entertains BAS's 22-person scientist team. All the bandmembers work at the BAS's Rothera Research Station "investigating climate change and evolutional biology on the Antarctic Peninsula," which has experienced an almost 3-degree Celsius climate change over the last 50 years. Tomorrow, the band will make their global debut as they perform their "two most popular tunes" outside on the peninsula in a show that will be broadcast via live feed.

Nunatak - Matt Balmer (electronics engineer, singer-songwriter and guitarist), Tris Thorne (communications engineer, fiddler), Ali Massey (marine biologist, saxophonist), Rob Wester (meterologist, drummer) and Roger Stilwell (field general assistant, bassist) - formed when the scientists were training at the BAC's headquarters before heading down to Antarctica, and the members spend time jamming when they're not outdoors researching.

"You know, guys suck," she proclaimed, her sweet facial expression diluting any post-breakup bitterness. "I don't want to make a sweeping generalization, but some guys suck! And I've come across a few."

The statuesque 23-year-old, who split from TV star Zach Braff last year and has dated tennis hunk Andy Roddick and man-about-town Wilmer Valderrama, sings through some heavy stuff on "Wild Hope," her first studio album in more than three years.

The folk-pop disc, released last month and recorded in New York's rustic Catskill mountains, is a departure from the bubblegum music of Moore's not-so-distant past. Produced by John Alagia, who's shaped albums by Dave Matthews and Liz Phair, its acoustic sound and mature themes of heartbreak and personal growth would be more at home in a coffee shop than on popular radio. And Moore, who has had more success as an actress than she ever did as a singer, is fine with that.