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World in brief

Sisters win 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' royalties

By wire services
Published March 23, 2006

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Three impoverished South African women, whose father wrote The Lion Sleeps Tonight, have won a six-year battle for royalties in a landmark case that could affect musicians worldwide.

No one is saying how many millions will go to the daughters of the late composer Solomon Linda, who died in poverty from a curable kidney disease in 1962 at age 53. But the family's settlement with New York-based Abilene Music, giving Linda's heirs 25 percent of past and future royalties, has broad implications.

Linda composed his now-famous song in 1939. According to family lore, he wrote the song in a matter of minutes and was inspired by his childhood tasks of chasing prowling lions from the cattle he herded.

The song sold more than 100,000 copies over a decade, probably making it Africa's first big pop hit.

In the 1950s, at a time when apartheid laws robbed blacks of negotiating rights, Linda sold worldwide copyright to Gallo Records of South Africa for 10 shillings - less than $1.70.

Gallo also tried to sell the work in the United States, but American folk singer Pete Seeger had adapted a version that he called Wimoweh.

Then it became one of the best known songs in the world as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, attributed to George Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore.

Owen Dean, South Africa's leading copyright lawyer, argued successfully for Linda's family that under the British Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, which was in force in South Africa at the time Linda composed his song, all rights revert to the heirs, who are entitled to renegotiate royalties.

Of his three surviving daughters, only the youngest has a job, as a nurse, and she still lives in the family home in Soweto. Her sisters never reached high school.

The song's captivating rhythm poured from the soundtrack in Disney's blockbuster musical The Lion King - one of at least 15 movies in which it has been featured.

Dean's tactics included winning a court order last year freezing Disney's rights to income in South Africa from legendary trademarks including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh pending resolution of the dispute. That appears to have been a turning point, though Disney never was sued in the case.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Wednesday amid growing international condemnation of the case.

Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under this country's Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.

"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari told the Associated Press.

The United States, Britain and other countries that have troops in Afghanistan have voiced concern about Rahman's fate.

MIDEAST: The militant Islamic group Hamas moved closer to controlling the Palestinian government, calling a special session of Parliament to approve its new Cabinet despite objections from President Mahmoud Abbas over its refusal to recognize Israel. Abbas plans to state his complaints but in the end will give his blessing to the new Hamas governing team. Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that if there are no talks with the Palestinians, Israel will draw its own borders, annexing main settlement blocs.

WATER FORUM: Governments, not private companies, should take the lead in improving public access to safe drinking water, representatives of 148 countries said at the end of a forum in Mexico City on improving global water supplies. The seven-day forum focused much of its attention on the developing world's growing reliance on bottled water bought from private companies. Worldwide, the industry is now worth about $100-billion per year.

LACOSTE DIES: Bernard Lacoste, who spent more than 40 years at the helm of the Lacoste clothing empire best known for its crocodile-embossed polo shirts, has died. Lacoste is widely credited with turning the family sportswear business into a major apparel company.

[Last modified March 23, 2006, 02:45:08]