Mandela calls for action at AIDS gig

IRISH rock superstars Bono and The Corrs joined Beyoncé Knowles and other international stars to answer Nelson Mandela's call to help fight the scourge of AIDS on Saturday.

Mr Mandela, 85, one of the world's leading AIDS campaigners, joined 40,000 fans of all races who filled a stadium in South Africa's tourist mecca Cape Town under a cloudless sky for a fund-raising concert.

"AIDS sufferers are serving a prison term for life," Mr Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail during South Africa's apartheid era, told the crowd.