Singing crowds gather for Mandela memorial

Joyous, singing South Africans gathered in the rain today to honour Nelson Mandela at a massive memorial service that is expected to draw some 100 heads of state and other luminaries, united in tribute to a global symbol of reconciliation.

Crowds converged on the FNB Stadium in Soweto, the Johannesburg township which was a stronghold of support for the anti-apartheid struggle that Mr Mandela embodied as a prisoner of white rule for 27 years and then during a peril-fraught transition to the all-race elections that made him president.