Newbie mod_rewrite question`

Hello ive spent a while looking at the mod_rewrite module in apache2.2
however i cant seem to get it to work. I am trying to get this simple
example to work but i cant.

in my httpd.conf file i have the following code

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/news$ /events
</IfModule>

All i am trying to do is to get to the point where if i type
http://localhost/news into the url i will be redirected to
http://localhost/events

I am using the site
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/guide-url-rewriting/2

If anyone knows how to get this to work please let me know

Thanks

Do you have mod_rewrite.c in your httpd (either compiled in, or as a
dso module)? Can you verify that?

Also, make sure that you have: Options FollowSymLinks set in your
config.