South African President Jacob Zuma said today that 94-year-old Nelson Mandela is responding to treatment but still in critical condition. Mandela has been hospitalized for weeks as he battles a lung infection.

The doctors of Nelson Mandela report that he has entered a "permanent vegetative state" as his family has resolved a conflict over the final resting place of his three children who predeceased him. He wishes to be buried in the same plot.

President Obama met privately with the family of Nelson Mandela today, spending a half-hour with the kin of the ailing former South African leader. The president did not meet with Mandela himself, who remains in critical condition with a chronic lung infection.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is now in critical condition after two weeks of hospitalization for a recurring lung infection.

Nelson Mandela is in serious but stable condition after he was hospitalized early this morning for a recurring lung condition.

Nelson Mandela was readmitted to the hospital just before midnight local time due to a recurring lung infection. The former South African President spent over two weeks in the hospital this past December, undergoing treatment for a lung infection and gallstones.

You'd think Nelson Mandela, a worldly, highly decorated 94-year-old man who spent 27 years of his life in a harsh, degrading prison fighting to free his people from the shackles of injustice and colonial abuse would want absolutely nothing to do with the TLC reality show Toddlers & Tiaras.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first post-Apartheid president and the man lovingly referred to by his compatriots as Tata Madiba, turns 94 years young today.

Beloved former South African president Nelson Mandela was hospitalized in Pretoria, according to a statement from current president Jacob Zuma.

Three of Nelson Mandela's granddaughters are launching a reality show about their lives as South African socialite businesswomen. They swear they're "definitely not the African Kardashians." Hmm, really? Let's meet the ladies:

Paris Hilton was arrested for possession in South Africa, but released! Ashley Dupre is becoming a real estate agent. Lady Gaga spotted wearing something normal. Carrie Prejean got straight married. Saturday's gossip roundup is a breath of fresh air.

The Hague is looking to talk to supermodel Naomi Campbell in a case against former Liberian president Charles Taylor who's on trial for crimes against humanity. That's the same case that prompted her to sock an ABC camerawoman last month.

Twenty years ago today, Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa after 27 years. He was imprisoned thanks to apartheid, which has since been proven to be stupid. You know you need to watch Sarafina today, to celebrate.

A mere days after winning, in a shocking upset, that prestigious US News award, Harvard University finds itself the center of a terrible controversy! Are the Harvard Campus Police racist? President Drew Gilpin Faust (!) sent out an email to students announcing the creation of a commission to review "complaints that officers have unfairly stopped black students, professors, and other university community members because of their race." Now, I know what you are thinking. Sure, Boston is a hugely white town in which cops are probably a little less savvy about the "racial profiling" than most, but what kind of professor gets mistaken for a sundry hoodlum?? Come on in, I will show you!

• Anne Hathaway's Italian ex-boyfriend, accused con-man Rafaello Follieri, originally had planned a big spontaneous "vacation" to Italy for his "birthday" Wednesday, but of course he's in jail now, so no "dining patio, huge cellar of expensive wines, pricey pastas and locally caught seafood" for him. [Post]

• Hockey star and Vogue intern Sean Avery showed up to a
  concert "dressed head to toe in black with a black newsboy cap... he
  looked like he was straight out of a 1998 J.Lo video." [P6]

• Actress Jessica Alba did something nice for a sick girl, and if you focus on the pictures and edit out the exclamation points in the copy, the story is kind of sweet. (That's just... I got something in my eye, is all. Shut up.) [Star]

Which apparently is not breaking news! But since at least two of us on the Gawker late shift didn't know, I'm just making sure we're all on the same page. I mean, when I read this lede — "The Spice Girls would love to perform for former South African President Nelson Mandela, but said on Monday they had not yet been formally asked to be part of his planned 90th birthday celebrations in June" — I nearly blogged that line without comment, you know? It turns out Mandela, who met the group in 1997, invited them to perform last year at his 89th birthday party, but Baby Spice was too pregnant. But so far, no new invite. Clearly Mandela has learned that the band really can't make a comeback, so he went big and invited Chumbawumba. After the jump, two men go through the exact same thought process in Dutch, though they pronounce "Chumbawumba" as "Pinochet."