Southern Africa

JOHANNESBURG - A South Africa-based satellite channel on Friday evicted a participant from its "Big Brother" reality show after receiving complaints from viewers and rights groups when he struck a female housemate.

JOHANNESBURG - A South African pop group known for its World Cup collaboration with Shakira has been barred from performing in neighboring Zimbabwe after releasing a video depicting President Robert Mugabe as a chicken, band members said Monday.

JOHANNESBURG - Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer is leading South African writers in speaking out against proposed laws she fears will muzzle freedom of speech in her homeland.

JOHANNESBURG - A trustee of a Nelson Mandela charity said he will leave the organization after being caught up in a scandal involving a supermodel, a warlord and rough diamonds.

JOHANNESBURG - The party to raise money for Nelson Mandela's children's charity started with an odd guest list: Dining among the celebrities was Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, also known as the "Butcher of Monrovia." Before the night was over, supermodel Naomi Campbell says she had been given a pouch of "dirty-looking stones" by two men who knocked on her door as she slept.