US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton who began her 11-day seven-nation tour of Africa in Kenya on August 5, said improving democracy is the key to boosting trade and development, and there’s no doubting the fact that Africa has enormous potential for progress. She told a summit in Kenya investors would not be attracted to states with failed leadership and civil unrest.

Later she met Kenyan leaders, amid growing concerns over Nairobi’s reluctance to seek justice following last year’s postelection violence.

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SAMANTHA Orobator, the pregnant Briton jailed for life in Laos for heroin smuggling, arrived back in the UK on August 6.

The 20-year-old from Peckham, south London, was caught with 1.5lb (680g) of the drug at Wattay airport in the capital, Vientiane, last August. Orobator escaped the death penalty because she became pregnant in jail and will complete her sentence in the UK. She said she was “enormously relieved and happy to be back on British soil” after “an unimaginable nightmare”. more...

SOWETO Gospel Choir is once again exhibiting their exclusive African acapella style at the Edinburgh Festival. Their harmonies, drumming, dancing and choral strength have become a huge part of the festival which they debuted in 2003.

The Edinburgh Festival opens the two-time Grammy winners’ UK tour for this autumn. The festival which began on the 6th of August will end on the 31st of August. Soweto Gospel Choir brought their new concert show, Soweto Gospel Choir In Concert, to the festival. This same concert show will be seen through 27 towns across the UK as they tour from the 3rd of September to the 10th of October. more...