US Author Pat Conroy Dies

Author Pat Conroy, who chronicled both the beauty and the pain of growing up in the American South, has died at age 70 after a bout with pancreatic cancer.

Conroy's publisher announced the news late Friday, saying the author known for his lyrical prose died at home in Beaufort, South Carolina, surrounded by friends and family.

Conroy's novels often described troubled family relationships juxtaposed with descriptions of the natural beauty of coastal South Carolina - an area known for hospitality and gracious living, but also a dark history of slavery and racism.

Four of Conroy's novels were made into movies, the best-known of which are The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini.

Motorhead’s Lemmy Dead at Age 70

British hard rock icon Lemmy, the lead singer and bass player for Motorhead, had died at the age of 70, two days after being diagnosed with cancer.

“There is no easy way to say this…our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer,” Motorhead said in a Facebook posting Monday “We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words.”

The band noted that he had been diagnosed with cancer on December 26.

Born Ian Kilmister, Lemmy formed Motorhead in 1975. He was known for his aggressive bass and his gravelly voice on such songs as “Bomber,” “Overkill” and the band’s most famous track “Ace of Spades.”

“It's still very popular. When we do it onstage, everyone loves it," Lemmy told Rolling Stone in August.

Many rock and heavy metal musicians have been paying tribute to the Motorhead front man.

On Twitter, Ozzy Osbourne called him a warrior and a legend. "Lost one of my best friends, Lemmy, today. He will be sadly missed. He was a warrior and a legend. I will see you on the other side."

"We've lost a friend & legend," Foo Fighters said in a Facebook posting.

Metallica tweeted that it would be “forever grateful for all your inspiration.”

Lemmy was known for his hard living lifestyle that including heavy drinking. While confirming his death, Motorhead urged fans to “play Lemmy's music loud. Have a drink or few. Share stories. Celebrate the life this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself. He would want exactly that."

Bobby Womack Dies at 70

American Soul singer Bobby Womack has died.

He started his career in the city Cleveland in the 1950s in a gospel group with his brothers.

In the 1960s, the group recorded on Sam Cooke's label and switched from gospel to secular music.

Womack possessed a distinctive voice and was a powerful songwriter. 

He eventually left his brothers and ventured out on his own.  His hits included Across 110th Street, If You Think You're Lonely Now, That's The Way I Feel About 'Cha, and Woman's Gotta Have It.

Some of Womack's biggest hits were songs written for other artists, including Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex and Dusty Springfield.

Womack wrote and recorded with this brothers, It's All Over Now which the Rolling Stones covered.  The New York Times reports the Stones' version became the group's first number one single in Britain and their first international hit. 

Bobby Womack influenced generations of performers and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

He struggled with drugs and health problems for decades and was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. 

He continued to work and perform after the Alzheimer's diagnosis and in 2012 released his first album in more than a decade.

His website says the 70-year-old Womack was scheduled to start a European tour next month.

When he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Womack said "This is just about as exciting to me as being able to see Barack Obama become the first black president of the United States of America."

Civil Rights Pioneer James Hood Dies at 70

One of the first black students to defy racial segregation at a university in the American south a half century ago has died.

Officials at a funeral home in Gadsden, Alabama said James Hood died Thursday of natural causes. He was 70.

Hood made history in 1963 when he and fellow student Vivian Malone were confronted at the University of Alabama by then Governor George Wallace, who tried to block their entry to the auditorium where they were to register for classes. The students were accompanied by U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach in a confrontation still referred to by historians as “the stand in the schoolhouse door.”

Wallace backed down later in the day, and Hood and Malone registered for classes. The governor's capitulation came just months after publicly promising the citizens of Alabama to maintain “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

University of Alabama President Judy Bonner on Friday remembered Hood as “a man of courage and conviction” for his role in integrating the university. Bonner told the Associated Press that Hood maintained a connection to the school that drew him back years later to earn his doctorate.

Hood was the last survivor among the major figures in the schoolhouse door confrontation. Wallace, who years later recanted his segregationist stance, died in 1998. Vivian Malone Jones died in 2005, and Attorney General Katzenbach last year.

Cape Verde's 'Barefoot Diva' Dies

Cesária Évora, the Cape Verdean singer known as the “Barefoot Diva” because she performed without shoes, has died at the age of 70.

The singer, who won international acclaim with her sultry voice and melancholy ballads of lost love, died Saturday in a hospital on her native island of Sao Vicente.

Évora retired in September because of health problems. She underwent open heart surgery last year.

Évora was the best-known performer of “morna,'' Cape Verde's national music.

Her 1995 album, Cesaria, was released in more than a dozen countries and brought the entertainer her first Grammy award nomination. She won a Grammy in the World Music category several years ago for her album, Voz D'Amor.

Photo by Bremond: Cesária Évora in concert, 14 November 2009, at the Rockhal of Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

Slain Former Afghan President Led Peace Efforts

As head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, former President Burhannudin Rabbani was tasked with leading efforts to find a political solution to the ten-year war with the Taliban.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed the council in October of 2010. The 68-member body made up of tribal elders, religious leaders, and politicians was set up to facilitate contacts with insurgents willing to lay down their arms and join the government.

Born in 1940 in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, Mr. Rabbani studied in Kabul and then at Cairo's Al-Azhar University.

In 1971, he took over the leadership of an Islamist party, Jamiat-e-Isami, which later formed one of the mujahedeen groups that fought Soviet forces following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Mr. Rabbani became president of a shaky mujahedeen coalition government in 1992 after the collapse of the country's Soviet-backed communist government.

The struggle for power among mujahedeen groups sparked a civil war that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Mr. Rabbani's presidency ended in 1996, with the rise of the Taliban.

An ethnic Tajik, he then became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, which joined with international forces in ousting the Taliban from power in 2001.

Mr. Rabbani was killed Tuesday in a suicide attack at his home in the Afghan capital.

Northern Alliance military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, was killed by al-Qaida suicide bombers posing as journalists on September 9, 2001, just two days before the September 11 attacks on the United States.