Nelson Mandela's remains arrived in his childhood village in eastern South Africa on Saturday for a traditional burial on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on 10 days of national mourning and memorial events for the anti-apartheid icon.
Amid worldwide alarm over a radiation scare in Japan following the tsunami, India and other nations from the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa group on Thursday pressed for strict adherence to safety norms with regard to nuclear facilities and a proposal was floated for mutual assistance in similar incidents.
'The challenge before us is to harness the vast potential that exists among us.'
During his South Africa visit, Modi will meet President Jacob Zuma and also Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president.
In the backdrop of the global economy being buffeted by a series of ill winds that have put a question mark over the profligacy of European nations and brought to the fore the resultant debt crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will leave for Pretoria, South Africa, on Monday to attend the fifth trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital for a medical checkup, amid growing speculation over the health of the anti-apartheid hero. Visitors, including top ANC officials, continued to flock to the Milpark Hospital for a second day as Nobel Laureate Mandela, 92, remained under observation for "routine tests", as stated by his Foundation.
South African President Jacob Zuma thanked Commerce Minister Anand Sharma for India's support in the matter, when the two met here this morning. India had been lobbying for South Africa's inclusion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Brazil on Sunday for attending the five-nation summit of BRICS nations on July 14 and 15 which is expected to finalise the setting up of a development bank and seek reforms of the United Nations and international financial organisations.
South African president Jacob Zuma and a host of Bollywood stars, led by Shahrukh Khan, will be joined by the biggest crowd ever at a cricket match on the African continent to honour iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar and pacer Makhaya Ntini at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Sunday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not yet firmed up any bilateral or pull-aside meetings with South African President Jacob Zuma during the two-day G-20 Summit at Pittsburgh, but officials accompanying him have not ruled out such a possibility.
A small but much-prized soccer trophy on display in a cell of Robben Island prison is a reminder of how football touched the lives of the activists locked up there by the apartheid regime.
Togo's national team will return home and not compete in Africa's biggest soccer tournament, captain Emmanuel Adebayor said on Sunday, after gunmen killed a squad coach and press officer in an ambush.
An Indian-origin man, who founded a humanitarian aid organisation that has provided relief to people worldwide, has received one of South Africa's highest honours.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has been selected as a member of the United Nations' high-level panel on global sustainability.
South Africa re-opened its showpiece Soccer City stadium to a glittering fanfare on Saturday, marking the last of the 10 World Cup venues to display its readiness ahead of the tournament. South African President Jacob Zuma cut a ribbon on the pitch and declared the venue open before the kickoff of the South African FA Cup final.
A glittering closing ceremony, with dash of glitz and glamour, drew curtains on the second edition of the Indian Premier League razzmatazz in Johannesburg, on Sunday night. Soon after the Adam Gilchrist-led Deccan Chargers pipped Anil Kumble's Royal Challengers Bangalore in the see-saw final, cricket paved way to entertainment at the Wanderers Stadium.
Capping a prolonged power struggle within the country's ruling African National Congress, South African President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday night announced his resignation but denied the charge of interfering with justice in a corruption case to nail his challenger for the top post Jacob Zuma."Fellow South Africans, since the attainment of our freedom in 1994, we have acted consistently to respect and defend the independence of the judiciary," he said.
India has joined Brazil and South Africa in calling upon the international community to support the US-sponsored Annapolis West Asia peace conference in order to assist the peace dialogue between Israel and Palestine.
Determined to continue their efforts for reforms in the United Nations, India, Brazil and South Africa have called for "immediate, element-based and result-oriented" inter-governmental negotiations for the expansion of Security Council.
Kathrada, who frequently referred to Mandela as his 'elder brother', was among three political prisoners who were sentenced to life imprisonment together with the South African anti-apartheid icon after the infamous Rivonia Trial of 1964.
Shaik had been sentenced to 15 years each on two counts of corruption and three years for fraud.
They were welcomed by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana-Dlamini Zuma, Home Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad.
'I was a bit startled when our host spoke with such force and at such great length about Terrorism.' 'Where did that come from?' 'He kept insisting that it comes from across the border.' 'I could not remember who all are across India's borders and was looking puzzled, but Zuma who understood my predicament, whispered "Pakistan".'
Modi in his address to the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Hangzhou said "terrorists in South Asia or any where for that matter do not own banks or weapons factories". "Clearly someone funds and arms them and BRICS must intensify joint efforts not just to fight terror but to coordinate actions to isolate those who are supporters and sponsors of terror," he said, without naming Pakistan which is a close ally of China.
Ailing anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital on Sunday though his condition remains critical and is at times unstable, the South African Presidency said.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is showing "sustained improvement", the presidency said on Monday, six weeks after the anti-apartheid hero was hospitalized with a life-threatening lung infection.
According to reports across media, then president Thabo Mbeki and foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma approved the payment which the authorities again insisted on Friday was for a legitimate development project in the Caribbean.
Condemning strongly the terrorist attack in Paris, India on Sunday made a case for united global effort to combat the menace of terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday termed the BRICS as 'Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions'.
Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed were named on Monday in the Summit declaration of the BRICS countries.
According to recent official data here is how world leaders' salaries stack up.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday unequivocally said that repatriation of black money kept abroad is a "priority" for his government, as he sought close global coordination to achieve this objective.
His death highlighted the problem of gun violence in South Africa only days after Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was jailed for five years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.
The BRICS also called upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism including countering radicalisation and blocking terror financing sources.
Nelson Mandela's condition remained "serious but stable" as the former South African President continued to receive hospital treatment for a third day for a lung infection that has recurred, the government said on Monday.
A day after Nelson Mandela's daughter lashed out at the "crass" media frenzy around her ailing father, the South African police on Friday asked journalists to leave the road outside the entrance to the Pretoria hospital, where the global peace icon remains on life support.
Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7 to July 11.
The prime minister also said that country nurtures a mindset that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justified for political gains.
Pitching for 'zero tolerance" against terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told leaders of the five-nation grouping BRICS that the "choices" they make now will shape the future of the world at large.
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