Costello joins boycott

Elvis Costello has become one of the biggest names in music to join a cultural boycott of Israel by cancelling two planned concerts there at the end of next month.

The British singer-songwriter announced on his website that he was pulling out of two dates in Caesarea on June 30 and July 1, saying: "Merely having your name added to a concert may be interpreted as a political act ... and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent."

He also said he was conscious that many of those who would have come to hear him "question the policies of their Government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security".'