Miriam Makeba, the renowned South African singer and anti-apartheid campaigner who was forced into exile for more than three decades, died early this morning after collapsing at a performance in Italy. She was 76. Known as "Mama Africa" to her many fans worldwide, Makeba was at a protest concert against organised criminals when she suffered a heart attack as she was leaving the stage. She died soon afterwards at a clinic in the southern Italian town of Castel Volturno.As the first black South African to win international stardom, Makeba performed alongside the likes of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie in the US. Fusing township melodies with jazz ballads, she sang for world leaders from President John F Kennedy to Nelson Mandela, who led the tributes today, describing...

South African singer and voice of the anti-apartheid movement Miriam Makeba has died. The musician passed away after suffering a heart attack following a performance in Italy yesterday. She was 76.Makeba's publicist Mark Lechat told Reuters the singer had suffered from arthritis and had been unwell for some time. At the time of her death, Makeba was in Castel Volturno, Italy, having just performed at a concert held against organised crime. The event was held in support of writer Roberto Saviano, who is currently in hiding after receiving death threats from the Neopolitan "mafia" following the publication of his book Gomorrah. Makeba, whose famous hits include the songs Pata Pata and the Click Song, was known for her winning fusion of jazz with elements of traditional South African music...

From ANC National Executive member Fikile Mbalula, commenting on the prospects of the new COP party and its impact on the ANC:"We are not shaken, we are unbreakable and we are indestructible."Whoever would have thought that Captain Scarlet was actually Jacob Zuma in...

The MDC has disagreed with a resolution aimed at ending a deadlock in talks on forming a cabinet at an emergency SADC...

From the Lux Pod in London to Home in Buenos Aires, here's a round-up of some of the best hotels and...

Now, please read some of these seriously salient meassages being sent from the wider...

dancing in the rainOriginally uploaded by ladelentes. love is in the air plays for the second time in a row and there is now way you can contradict this. girls and girls dance under the rain. a woman takes the pin out of a woman's hair and lets it fall loose, keeping her gaze. a sigh passes silently across the still air between them. a distant peal of laughter breaks the spell. the party goes on....

in the back of a truck with a coffee, i explain that there is "the girl" and "the friend who's a dancer" and "you and me" and "the american" and...a trio of mucky children play football with an empty coke can. they want to look at the girl's beads. they want to touch a white man's hairy legs, the want to climb all over and tell all about school, football, soweto. they want to be the stars of the show, the want 50c-a-piece. they want to show off their shoes and their dancing skills. far far away, an alto-stratus translucidus shapes up to veil the moon with a dark drape. a party goes underway, sloppily while the market winds down outside. baristas make coffees and grappas. the girl dances on her own. black boys and girls stare shamelessly and smile. black girl in white skin, they say, and...

The first UN-sanctioned sale of ivory for nearly a decade began today in southern Africa. South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe have been allowed to auction more than 100 tonnes of stockpiled elephant ivory for sale to Japan and China. The one-off sale was agreed in July at a meeting of the UN body the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).Under the deal, the two countries can bid for up to 108 tonnes of ivory which has been collected from culls and natural deaths and will be used in the traditional ivory carving trade. Both countries will be monitored by Cites to ensure that companies are not mixing illegally sourced ivory with the legal shipments. China and Japan are not permitted to export the material, and it is a condition of any sale that money...

The BBC reports on how Project Masiluleke will send free text messages to people to encourage them to be treated for...

Two foreigners and an Afghan have been killed in a shooting in front of the offices of an international courier company in Kabul, Afghan officials said today.The shooting took place in front of the DHL office in the upmarket Sher Pur area of Kabul, where many foreigners live. "Two foreigners and one local have been killed and another two locals wounded," a senior police officer at the scene said. Another police official said the victims worked for DHL.The nationality of the foreigners killed was unclear. Kabul's deputy police chief said the two foreigners were German, but another police official, Abdul Raouf, identified them as a Briton and a South African.The two were shot in their car as they were apparently pulling into the DHL office. Police at the scene covered the silver sports...

Groundbreaking operation sees patients receive infected kidneys in surgery set to save...

It is a problem that has taxed the world's leading scientific minds and its greatest doctors; some of the richest people on the planet have pumped billions of pounds into finding a solution.But a new project aimed at curbing the spread of HIV in Africa has discovered that one of the most effective weapons is the humble text message.Faced with 1,000 HIV-related deaths in South Africa every day, a global group of organisations has teamed up to create Project Masiluleke, which aims to increase HIV awareness, testing and treatment across Africa using mobile phones.The first stage of the project – which has already shown remarkable results in early trials – involves sending out free text messages to millions of people every day urging them to call a confidential phone line if they have any...

Thanks to Pookie for directing me to this article from here  - “Oct. 14 (GIN) - American televangelist TD Jakes called off a planned trip to Zambia where he was to officiate at a Freedom Summit, meeting presidential hopefuls ahead of this month’s presidential election. He explained his cancellation, citing a mysterious disease reported last week to have killed some people. Summit organizers were unable to reassure Bishop Jakes there was no chance of catching the viral hemorrhagic fever believed to be rodent-borne. Two out of three victims of the disease, who died in Johannesburg, had come from Zambia. “This decision was made by Bishop Jakes and his team because of their concerns regarding a disease they understood to have originated in Zambia,” the statement...

Scottish ministers could release the former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the Lockerbie bombing because he is suffering from “advanced stage” cancer. The Scottish National Party Administration at the Edinburgh parliament confirmed yesterday that it would consider a request for early release on the grounds of his deteriorating health. Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi (pictured above) has been diagnosed with prostate cancer following hospital tests last month, his lawyer revealed yesterday. The disease has spread to other parts of his body. Well in view of what he was found guilty of, it couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke. Al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years after being convicted in 2001 of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. All 259 men,...

John Hume, drawing parallels with the South African apartheid regime, once stated that what Ireland needed was a unionist de Klerk; to which David Trimble responded saying simply that it was not a unionist de Klerk that was much needed, but a nationalist one in the context of the British Isles. Nationalists and republicans have both attempted to compare their pre-agreement 'struggle' with that of Nelson Mandela, not that it bears any resemblance, but because of the political 'peace process' that resulted from the fall of apartheid. Sinn Fein/IRA are attracted to the prominence of the ANC as they had close connections with their militants and this was epitomised by the appointment of Cyril Ramaphosa as one of the inspectors of the IRA arms dumps (it itself a method used in South Africa)....

A very truncated Caledonian Comment today. It’s my birthday and I’ve been celebrating in the glorious traditional Scottish manner. Which means that it’s a miracle that this is being typed at all. But I couldn’t let the occasion go by without a dig or two at the Royals…….   Prince Charles is scheduled to have two 60th birthday parties, and now his former mistress Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall (the cheerful couple pictured above - well, one out of two’s not bad) is planning to give him 60 individual gifts - one to mark every year of his life. Amazing she managed to work that out on her own. Anyway, the presents, which friends describe as a ‘labour of love’, include a pair of walking boots, a personalised fly fishing rod and...

some things last a long time and some not. either way things happen. and it is good that they do. and sometimes it's bad, but then it is good too that it is bad that things happen sometimes. the rain came and went without a whisper. followed by lighting and light. over in a flash. flash flood. flasher. floods of tears. torn between you and me. you in between the lights. lights flashing overhead. alien landscapes. dominoes. games of scrabble. mysteries to solve....

Former union leader resigns in criticism of ANC's so-called 'putsch' against Thabo...

South Africans are rapidly losing patience with a divided ruling party seen as arrogant and...

We have wonderful friends in South Africa and they visited us a couple of months ago…about Feb/March. They don’t go very often on holiday due to business, but when they do go, they go to all the awesome places in South Africa. This is one of their pictures. They were on holiday in SA and straight from there they went to Finland and then London, so all their wonderful pictures were still on their cameras when they visited us and they downloaded a few on my pc…and I’ve thought to share this beautiful pic with you. It’s actually much larger, this is only about half of the image. I also have it now on my desktop as a wallpaper image. I think you can’t disagree with me that this is really a fantastic shot! And I’ve said many times and I want to say it...

dry, questions, will-power, boys, sunshine, cash machines, dead ends, washing lines, thunderbolts, period pains,...

Former minister plans to form new party while accusing Zuma leadership of betraying...

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling (both pictured above) launched an emergency £500 billion bank bail-out yesterday equivalent to a £16,000 bill for every British taxpayer. In a radical move to shore up the crumbling economy unthinkable even only a fortnight ago, the government has semi-nationalised a string of High Street banks. But just hours after the drastic measures were announced, Mr Darling admitted that even a staggering £500 billion sum may not be enough - if so he was prepared to go further.. Shortly after, it emerged that the Bank of England had slashed interest rates by 0.5 % . The two-pronged attack was designed to stabilise the highly volatile markets, which have plummeted violently in recent days, and provide liquidity for...

When Brian and Pamela went on holiday to Gambia, they got more than a tan. They got a mission - to help the local people. Louise France hears their...

Barbara Hogan promises to 'get things right' in country with highest number of HIV...

Kgalema Motlanthe sworn in, putting allies of of Jacob Zuma firmly in control of...

Former trade unionist and freedom fighter expected to act as caretaker leader until elections next...

Deputy leader and eight ministers quit over treatment of South African...