NEW YORK (AP)—Sting isn’t a religious man, but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world’s problems. “In many ways, he’s sent from God,” he joked in an interview, “because the world’s a mess.” BELIEVES IN OBAMA—British recording artist Sting is photographed in New York Oct. 28. But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world’s problems. In an interview Oct. 28, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and “found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.”
MPHANDULA, Malawi (AP)—Madonna has promised electricity to a village in Malawi, the impoverished southern African country where she runs a charity organization and from which she has adopted two children. Speaking in Mphandula, some 30 miles from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, the singer said Thursday: “I know you work in darkness. I will bring you electricity.” BREAKING NEW GROUND—Madonna, second from left, gestures before cutting the ribbon at the ground breaking ceremony for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls in Malawi, Oct. 26.
by Tom Maliti KASESE, Uganda (AP)—For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse’s aide in the United States, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13. On Oct. 19, after years of political upheaval and financial struggle, Mumbere, 56, was finally crowned king of his people to the sound of drumbeats and thousands of cheering supporters wearing cloth printed with his portraits. Charles Wesley Mumbere during an interview at his house in Kasese, Oct. 18, hours before he was crowned king of the ethnic group the Bakonjo people in the Rwenzururu district of western Uganda.
by Dionne WalkerAssociated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP)—Nearly two decades after he arrived in the United States, Derreck Kayongo is still bowled over by one subtle display of American wealth: the endless array of soaps available in stores. In Uganda, his African homeland, the cost of soap is out of reach for many, often with tragic consequences. In 2004, the World Health Organization found roughly 15 percent of deaths among Ugandan children under age 5 resulted from diarrheal diseases, many of which could be prevented through hand sanitation. UNIQUE PROJECT—In this Oct. 8 photo, Derreck Kayongo displays bars of soap he has stored in the basement of his Lawrenceville, Ga., home.
by Gregory Katz LONDON (AP)—The choice of President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize was cheered Friday by a global chorus from European leaders to minibus passengers in Kenya—but it also elicited criticism over the decision to break with tradition and recognize hopeful promise over concrete achievement. GREAT THINGS EXPECTED—Archbishop Desmond Tutu reacts during a press conference held to congratulate U.S. President Barack Obama in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 9.
VATICAN CITY (AP)—A prominent African cardinal says there’s no reason why the next pope can’t be Black. Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is playing an important part in a three-week meeting at the Vatican on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa. WHY NOT?—In this April 13, 2005 file photo, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana attends a mass for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Cardinal Turkson said Oct. 5, at a news conference at the Vatican that there’s no reason why the next pope can’t be Black.
by Nicole Winfied VATICAN CITY (AP)—Pope Benedict XVI opened a special meeting of clerics about Africa on Oct. 4 by praising the continent as a font of spirituality but lamenting that it is afflicted by materialism and religious fundamentalism. A Congolese choir—with bongo drums, electric guitars and swaying, ululating singers—filled St. Peter’s Basilica with African hymns as Benedict formally opened the synod, a three-week gathering of some 300 prelates to discuss the church’s problems in Africa. OPENING MASS—Bishops enter St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 4, to attend a mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI for the opening of the synod on Africa, a three-week gathering of some 300 prelates to discuss the church’s problems on the continent.
by Nkemeleng Nkosi WEENEN, South Africa (AP)—Milton Mbhele showed up for his wedding in a white limousine—with four brides. The women in white gowns each received rings and a kiss from the groom at a ceremony Sept. 26 attended by hundreds of people. On Sunday, the families gathered for a second traditional Zulu wedding and planned to exchange gifts on Monday. JOINT CELEBRATION—Bridegroom Milton Mbhele, with his four brides, left to right, Happiness, Thobile, Simangele and Zanele at their western wedding in Weenen, near Ladysmith, South Africa.
by Godfrey Olukya KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)—He’s hairy, his table manners are atrocious, and he wants to be your friend on Facebook. No, it’s not the ex-boyfriend. It’s Muhozi, an endangered Ugandan mountain gorilla, who’s appearing online as part of a fund-raising program the Ugandan Wildlife Authority launched Sept. 26 to help save the species. ENDANGERED—In this Nov. 25, 2008 file photo, a silverback mountain gorilla is seen in the Virunga National Park, near the Ugandan border in eastern Congo.
images/stories/_national/2009/09_2009/9-23-09/trevor.jpg KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP)—Trevor Rhone, a prominent Jamaican playwright and screenwriter who co-wrote “The Harder They Come,” a film classic that helped introduce the island’s pop culture to a global audience, has died. He was 69. TREVOR RHONE His brother Neville says the filmmaker died of the consequences of a heart attack at a hospital in Jamaica’s capital of Kingston.
