PM Modi arrives in South Africa to attend G20 summit
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Johannesburg (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Johannesburg on Friday to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit being held under South Africa’s Presidency.
Modi arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base (AFB) in Gauteng, where he was accorded a traditional welcome. He was greeted by artists who performed cultural song and dances.
"Landed in Johannesburg for the G20 Summit related engagements. Look forward to productive discussions with world leaders on key global issues. Our focus will be on strengthening cooperation, advancing development priorities and ensuring a better future for all," Modi said in a social media post.
This is the first G20 Summit being held in Africa. The African Union became a member of the G20 during India’s presidency in 2023.
On the margins of the summit, the prime minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg. He will also attend the 6th summit of IBSA - a trilateral grouping of India, Brazil and South Africa.
"Will be attending the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a particularly special Summit as it is being held in Africa. Various global issues will be discussed there. Will be meeting various world leaders during the Summit," Modi posted on social media before departure.
"I will present India's perspective at the Summit in line with our vision of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and 'One earth, One Family and One Future,'" Modi said.
The Summit will be an opportunity to discuss key global issues. The theme of this year's G20 has been 'Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability', by which South Africa has carried forward the outcomes from the previous Summits held in New Delhi and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he added.
"I look forward to my interactions with leaders of the partner countries, and participation in the 6th IBSA Summit scheduled on the sidelines of the Summit," Modi said.
"During the visit, I also look forward to my interaction with the Indian diaspora in South Africa, which is one of the largest outside India," he added.
Prime Minister Modi is expected to speak in all three sessions of the G20 Summit.
The three sessions of the Summit include "Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth Leaving No One Behind: Building our economies, the role of trade, financing for development and the debt burden".
The other two sessions are "A Resilient World – the G20's Contribution: Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Just Energy Transitions, Food Systems"; and "A Fair and a Just Future for All: Critical Minerals, Decent Work, Artificial Intelligence".
This will be the fourth consecutive summit of the grouping that will be held in the Global South.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are not attending the summit.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
