Timing may prove irresistible for fading Guns N' Roses star

Everyone, it seems, is giving China a hard time by jumping on the Tibet bandwagon to get on its case. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew all the way to India just to hold hands with the Dalai Lama. Icelandic singer Bjork, provocatively, chanted 'Tibet, Tibet' near the end of her song, Declare Independence during the final encore performance at a Shanghai concert.

Even Guns N' Roses is threatening to join the chorus. After a decade in the making, the rock group may finally manage to release Chinese Democracy this year. The album was, most recently, scheduled for release a year ago, but the date came and went, and there was not a word from lone remaining original member Axl Rose about a new release date. The former hit group has not produced an album since the 1993 covers collection, The Spaghetti Incident. It has since burned through a reported US$13 million in recording expenses, without a single album to show for it.

Dr Pepper, the US soft drinks giant, has offered to give every American a free can of drink if the much-anticipated album comes out this year. Beijing must be keeping its fingers crossed that it will not happen.

But then, given the international controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics and Beijing's crackdown in Tibet, the sales value of putting out the album this year may prove irresistible for a fading star like Mr Rose.