Lamar Odom didn’t last long at the glittering intersection of championship success and Hollywood celebrity.

Civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the embassy where he has been living for over three years.

Relatives said goodbye yesterday to the 18-year-old unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a police officer, remembering him as a "gentle soul" with a deep and growing faith in Christianity and ambitions that one day "the world would know his name".

The mourners filled an enormous church to remember Michael Brown – a “gentle giant,” aspiring rapper and recent high school graduate on his way to a technical college but the funeral that unfolded today was about much more than the black 18-year-old who lay in the closed coffin after being shot to death by a white police officer.

Police say a black teenager shot dead by an officer was suspected of robbing a store shortly before he was killed.

The president of South Africa has led tributes to Nelson Mandela, describing him as a “beacon of hope”, as the anti-apartheid hero was laid to rest in a family plot.

Outrage over the acquittal of George Zimmerman over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager poured from street demonstrations and church pulpits as protesters called for justice for the victim.

Cleared by a Florida jury, George Zimmerman walked free from criminal charges in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin but was still under fire from civil rights leaders and critics who were dismayed by the verdict.

PRINCE PHILIP — who is undisputed Lord of the Gaffe — calls it “Dontopedalogy — the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it.”

A prosecutor has told jurors that George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin “because he wanted to,” not because he had to, while the neighbourhood watch volunteer’s attorney said the deadly shooting of the Miami-area teen was carried out in self-defence.

Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president, despite the objections of the opposition who said the move violated the country’s constitution.

World leaders, athletes and left-wing celebrities gathered at a music-filled state funeral honouring Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez today, with multitudes waiting outside the venue.

Venezuela’s opposition says it will not attend the swearing-in of Hugo Chavez’s anointed successor as interim president.

The son of former US presidential candidate Jesse Jackson has admitted conspiracy to commit fraud with electoral funds when he was a congressman.

Epic Records is going to “great efforts” to take down a new Future remix leaked with a vulgar Lil Wayne lyric that has offended the family of a black teenager murdered in the 1950s.

Former New York mayor Ed Koch, the combative politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during three City Hall terms, has died aged 88.

Jesse Jackson Jr has resigned from the US House of Representatives.

Michael Jackson's fans held a vigil outside his childhood home yesterday on what would have been his 54th birthday.

Neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has made his first court appearance on a second-degree murder charge following the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Prosecutors face steep hurdles to win a second-degree murder conviction against a neighbourhood watch volunteer charged in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, experts say.

The parents of an unarmed black teenager shot dead by a neighbourhood watch helper in Florida are leading a rally in protest at the lack of an arrest.

Whitney Houston’s flower-covered casket has arrived at the church where her powerful voice first wowed the congregation, and her family made final preparations to remember the pop superstar in her hometown.

TENS of thousands of chanting and dancing revelers waved the green and gold colours of the African National Congress as Africa’s oldest liberation movement celebrated its 100th anniversary yesterday, though many South Africans say the party hasn’t delivered on its promises since taking power in 1994.

Tens of thousands of chanting and dancing revellers waved the green and gold colours of the African National Congress as Africa’s oldest liberation movement celebrated its 100th anniversary today.

Muhammad Ali was among the mourners on Monday at the funeral of long-time rival Joe Frazier in Philadelphia.

Jim Kuhnhenn reports on the reasons behind making the president’s birth certificate public

US President Barack Obama cannot cross the border into the North during his Irish trip unless he first travels to London, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

American civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson is today beginning a two-day visit to the North.

THE Irish public should use their vote to advance the equality agenda, according to veteran American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson has criticised the bailing out of Ireland’s banks with taxpayer funds while workers were punished with cuts.

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is “doing better than doctors expected” and expects to be released from hospital in Detroit this weekend.

Aretha Franklin is reportedly fighting pancreatic cancer.

Hampton Sides

American civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson called tonight for a “new global economic agenda” and urged a new generation to re-make the world’s financial systems.

THERE was a stunned reaction in Chicago last night as the news broke that the American city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics ended after the first round of voting in Copenhagen.

THE last time Ginger Romano saw Ted Kennedy, she wasn’t at her best.

MICHAEL JACKSON left his fortune to his three children and his mother, the singer’s will revealed yesterday.

FUNERAL services for Michael Jackson could take place from tomorrow and his body could be buried at Jackson’s famous Neverland Ranch.

Michael Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when his doctor found him in bed and not breathing, a lawyer for the doctor has said.

The Jackson family were understood to have requested a second independent post-mortem examination on Michael Jackson’s body, a coroner's officer said tonight.

LAST Tuesday I just happened to put on a recording of Joan Baez singing “We Shall Overcome,” and suddenly I thought of the poignancy of the day.

Tens of thousands of Barack Obama’s supporters in the senator’s home town of Chicago gathered for a huge election-night rally to mark a historic victory celebration.

Hundreds of mourners attended a private funeral service for Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson’s murdered mother, brother and nephew at a Chicago South Side church.

IT IS politics but like nothing witnessed before.