Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

November 10, 2008 | 10:08 am

-- South African singer Miriam Makeba dies at 76.

-- The Canadian government scraps plans for a national portrait gallery.

-- United States Artists awards 50 $50,000 grants to artists in architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts and visual arts. Five are from Southern California.

-- The Library of Congress has acquired the papers of lyricist Howard Ashman ("Little Shop of Horrors," "The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.”)

-- The Peruvian government is set to sue Yale University to recover thousands of Machu Picchu artifacts.

-- The Washington National Opera has canceled plans for Wagner's "Ring" cycle in the 2009-2010 season. It's unclear how the cancellation will affect San Francisco Opera, which was co-producing the cycle.

-- A London street artist will leave 1,000 works worth a total of about $1.6 million around the city for anyone to take home.

-- A spat over programming leads conductor Riccardo Muti to pull out of the queen's celebration for the Prince of Wales' 60th birthday at Buckingham Palace.

-- Artworks by Picasso, Basquiat and others are showing up in Beverly Hills pawnshops.

-- Rosella Hightower, a prominent American Indian dancer, dies at 88.

-- Edo de Waart, chief conductor at the Santa Fe Opera, is stepping down.

-- Lisa Fung

Photo by Salvatore Laporta / Associated Press