South Africa is preparing a sweeping, emotional farewell for Nelson Mandela and a funeral to underline the anti-apartheid icon's transcendent influence with a stellar gathering of world leaders and luminaries.
ELSEWHERE:
LONDON - A technical problem in Britain's air traffic control systems has caused widespread flight delays and cancellations across the country's airspace.
CAIRO - Egyptian appeals courts has ordered 14 women jailed after a protest to be freed, reducing 11-year prison terms to one-year suspended sentences, as seven girls were also ordered released.
KABUL - US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says he has received assurances during a visit to Kabul that a long-delayed deal allowing American troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 would be signed "in a timely manner".
LONDON - Staff and students from Cambridge and Oxford have thrown their support behind Australian Trenton Oldfield, who faces deportation from the United Kingdom after he disrupted the 2012 boat race between the two universities.
LONDON - A race to the South Pole involving Britain's Prince Harry and teams of injured troops has been cancelled due to safety concerns, but the veterans will trek on together to the globe's most southerly point.
