Beirut

Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. In addition to the selections below, you can download the best of Radiohead (according to whom, I'm not sure) and a new album from The Virgins. Here are today's selections:

Indie darlings: Fleet Foxes are yet another little band making good out of the Northwest and their first self-titled album is gorgeous. One track, White Winter Hymnal is ethereal and sweet, and I can't get enough. They kind of have a Shins vibe going on.

The cynical beauty: It's no secret I've been salivating for the new Aimee Mann album, and it's finally here! I've already downloaded, Freeway and Thirty One Today. I'm so excited to dig into the rest of the album.

Another three albums (busy day for music!) if you read more

• Tornadoes Rip Midwest and South: Emergency crews are searching through the aftermath of violent storms that tore from the Midwest to the South and killed at least 23 people this weekend in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia. In Oklahoma at least seven people were killed and officials said 150 people in the town were injured. In Missouri emergency crews are “ensuring that we have found any potential survivors or anyone unaccounted for.” The governor says at least 85 people had been injured in the storm. In Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue has issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in six counties. The weekend’s tornadoes are the latest in several outbreaks of violent weather this year. Twenty-two people were killed by tornadoes in four states in February, two were killed in Georgia in March, and seven were killed in Arkansas in May.



• First US Aid Lands in Myanmar: The first US aid flight to Myanmar following last week's cyclone has finally landed in Rangoon. The US had to spend days negotiating with Myanmar's military government to gain permission to enter the country. The official death toll is now almost 30,000, though aid agencies fear 1.5 million could die without aid. Already more than two-thirds of the cyclone victims are yet to be reached, and agencies estimate that 100,000 have already died. Here's a list of ways to help the cyclone victims.
• Fighting in Beirut: Violent fighting that has plagued Beirut, Lebanon, since Wednesday, broke out yesterday in the mountains east of Beirut. The fighting continues between supporters of the Western-backed government and followers of Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran. Hezbollah began withdrawing gunmen from the city Saturday evening, leading some to hope for peace after four days of street battles there. With the underlying political crisis still unresolved, the violence seems to have shifted to the eastern villages. Security officials put the toll of five days of fighting at 44 dead and 128 wounded.

• Not al-Qaeda in Iraq Leader: The United States military in Iraq says a man arrested and detained yesterday in Mosul is not in fact the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, though an earlier statement from the Iraqi defense ministry said that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been captured. An American military spokeswoman said al-Masri had not been arrested and that confusion had arisen because a man with a similar name to the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader had been detained.



• UN Halts Myanmar Aid: The UN has suspended relief supplies to Myanmar today after the military government seized the food and equipment that had been sent into the country. The government had said it would accept supplies but not aid workers and would distribute the supplies as it saw fit. A statement from the Myanmar Foreign Ministry said the country is not in a position to receive rescue teams. A UN spokesman said he had never seen delays like this before in delivering relief supplies and aid officials.
• Hezbollah Seizes West Beirut: After heavy gunfire broke out yesterday, armed members of the militant group Hezbollah have seized most of western Beirut, exiling supporters of the Western-backed government there. The fighting ignited after a government decision on Monday to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network. At least 11 people have been killed and many more injured in the city in three days of clashes.

An explosion targeting a US Embassy vehicle rocked the Doura suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, this morning. Four Lebanese bystanders were killed in the blast that also injured twenty. Though no US diplomats or citizens were in the car at the time, a Lebanese driver employed by the embassy was injured. The explosion sent dark, thick smoke billowing over the mainly Christian region.

Bordered by both Syria and Israel, this explosion comes on the heels of a tense political climate in Lebanon. Former pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud resigned in November and a parliamentary vote to find his successor has been postponed 11 times. Additionally, the July War, a 33-day conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel between Hezbollah forces and the Israeli military displaced nearly 1 million Lebanese and 500,000 Israelis, and severely damaged the Lebanese infrastructure in 2006.

I've always assumed Natalie Portman has good taste in music — simply because of her Shins-loving character in Garden State, I'm sure. But it turns out the actress really does know her stuff. Portman rounded up a pretty great set of collaborators for her new charity compilation, Big Change: Songs for FINCA, including M. Ward, Portman's My Blueberry Nights co-star Norah Jones, and — yup — The Shins.

The 16-song album, which is available exclusively through the iTunes Music Store for $7.99, benefits FINCA, an anti-poverty organization that provides financial services to low-income entrepreneurs around the world. (Portman serves as the group's "ambassador of hope.") Most of the songs are also available separately.

Among the songs I can't wait to check out: a remix of the Shins' "Australia" by the Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John; the intriguingly titled "My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille" by Beirut (which Portman apparently almost sang on); and the exclusive M. Ward track "What is a Soul?" To see the complete track listing, just read more

The biggest sign that Beirut is the next big thing in indie rock? When you Google "Beirut," the band's name trumps the Lebanese city and the drinking game of the same name. The Albuquerque, NM, band is the baby of frontman whiz kid Zach Condon, whose enchanting music tends more toward Eastern Europe than Southwestern United States.

Beirut released an EP in January called Lon Gisland and is working on a new album due later this year. Condon is also one of the more buzzed-about personalities set to play tonight at the SXSW Music Festival, and I have to admit, I'm really liking what I've heard so far. To listen to "Scenic World," which appears on the Lon Gisland EP, read more