Sudan President Omar al-Bashir 'undergoes surgery

 Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has undergone a minor operation in Saudi Arabia, state media says.

 Mr Bashir, 68, underwent a "successful small" operation in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, they say.

News of the operation comes a day after it was reported that Mr Bashir would receive a medical check-up and meet the Saudi king during his trip.
Last month, officials said he had surgery on his vocal cords in Qatar in August, but was in good health.
On Monday, state news agency Suna, quoting the president's office, said Mr Bashir had gone to Saudi Arabia for "a normal medical review connected with an infection in his throat".
The president is "in good health and is carrying out all his presidential activities normally," it added.
Mr Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in the western Darfur region, which he denies.
He has been in power in Sudan since a bloodless coup in 1989.

Sir Ian McKellen set for ITV gay sitcom

 Veteran British actors Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi are teaming up to play a bickering gay couple in a new ITV1 sitcom.

  Vicious has been created by Will and Grace writer Gary Janetti and award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill.

The show, to air next year, will also feature Rising Damp actress Frances De La Tour as their feisty best friend.
Sir Ian will play ageing actor Freddie who has lived in a cramped flat with Sir Derek's Stuart for nearly 50 years.
Their worlds are turned upside down when a young man called Ash moves in upstairs.
Writer and co-producer Janetti, who has also worked on award-winning US comedy Family Guy, said he was "incredibly excited" to be working with "this unbelievable cast".
ITV's comedy commissioning editor, Myfanwy Moore, said the broadcaster was "thrilled this exciting and bold sitcom, with stellar performers and writing talent is to join the increasing slate of new look comedy shows on the channel".
Next month Sir Ian will be seen reprising the role of wizard Gandalf in Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
The film, which co-stars Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood and Benedict Cumberbatch, is due in UK cinemas on 14 December

TANZANIA IS NICE COUNTRY TO LIVE

Tanzania has been spared the internal strife that has blighted many African states.

Though it remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with many of its people living below the World Bank poverty line, it has had some success in wooing donors and investors.

Tanzania assumed its present form in 1964 after a merger between the mainland Tanganyika and the island of Zanzibar, which had become independent the previous year.

Unlike many African countries, whose potential wealth contrasted with their actual poverty, Tanzania had few exportable minerals and a primitive agricultural system. In an attempt to remedy this, its first president, Julius Nyerere, issued the 1967 Arusha Declaration, which called for self-reliance through the creation of cooperative farm villages and the nationalisation of factories, plantations, banks and private companies.

At a glance

• Politics: Tanzania has enjoyed stability. Multi-party politics was introduced in 1992
• Economy: Annual growth rate has averaged 6.7% since 2006, one of the best in sub-Sahara Africa. Power supplies are erratic and fall short of demand. Gold earnings have been rising, and the find of a major offshore gas field is promising
• International: Tanzania hosts thousands of refugees from conflict in the neighbouring Great Lakes region
• Environment: Experts fear a planned highway threatens the Serengeti game park, Tanzania's biggest draw for tourism

Elton John Diana tribute tops best-selling single chart

 Sir Elton John's Candle in the Wind tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales has topped a chart of the biggest-selling UK singles of the last 60 years.

The 1997 release sold 4.9 million copies - more than a million more than the second placed track, Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?
The Official Charts Company rundown features 123 records that have sold more than one million copies in the UK.
Seven of the records included sold more than two million copies.
Elton John's double A-side - Something About The Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 97 - was released in the aftermath of Diana's death in August 1997.
The 1990s feature heavily in the list, with Aqua hit Barbie Girl and Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You among the Top 20 biggest sellers.
The Beatles have six million-selling singles in the countdown, with She Loves You ranked highest in eighth place.
At the bottom of the chart, just scraping past the million mark, is When We Collide by 2010 X-Factor winner Matt Cardle.
1955 was the first year to see a single crack the one million mark, when Bill Haley & His Comets sold 1.42m copies of (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock.

 

Marikana mine killings: South African police 'planted weapons'

South African police have been accused of planting weapons near the bodies of workers killed during strikes at the Marikana platinum mine.

Photographs taken by police suggested large knives had been placed near the bodies after they had been shot, a lawyer told an inquest into the deaths.

Thirty-four miners died when police opened fire at striking miners in August, leading to widespread shock.

The police say they were acting in self-defence.

The bloodshed occurred on 16 August, days after the deaths of 10 people, including two police officers who were hacked to death. Judges are holding an inquiry into all 44 of the deaths.

The inquiry was presented with photographs showing the bodies of the miners after the shooting - the most deadly police action since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Machetes and handcuffs

In one photograph, a dead man is seen lying on rocky ground near the mine. A second picture, taken later the same day, is identical except a yellow-handled machete is now lying under the man's right hand.