QUNU, South Africa: South Africa's first black President Nelson Mandela received a tearful state funeral at his childhood village of Qunu on Sunday, followed by a traditional burial attended by family and friends.

A 21-gun salute and full military honour guard escorted Mandela's coffin to a marquee where 4,500 mourners said their final goodbyes.

His flag-draped casket was placed on cow skins, surrounded by 95 candles — each signifying a year of his extraordinary life.

"The person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in an opening address.

Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, who was seldom far from his bedside during his final months, looked on disconsolate, along with his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The frail and aging leaders of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle also attended: George Bizos, Desmond Tutu and Ahmed Kathrada, whose voice broke with emotion as he delivered a eulogy for his old friend.

"I first met him 67 years ago," said Kathrada, who along with Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1963.

He recalled his fellow inmate as a powerful amateur boxer who could cope far better than others with the physical challenge of hard labour.

"What I saw in hospital was a man helpless and reduced to a shadow of himself," he said struggling not to break down.

"We can salute you as a fighter for freedom. Farewell my dear brother, my mentor, my leader.

"Now I've lost a brother my life is in a void and I don't know who turn to."

His words left many in tears among the invited guests, whose ranks included foreign dignitaries and celebrities ranging from Britain's Prince Charles to US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

Mandela will be buried with traditional Xhosa rites in a graveyard that sits on the sprawling family estate Mandela built in Qunu after his release from prison in 1990.

"It was in that village that I spent some of the happiest years of my boyhood and whence I trace my earliest memories," he wrote in his autobiography.

Overseen by male members of his clan, the burial will include the slaughter of an ox — a ritual performed through various milestones of a person's life under the clan's traditions.

During the ceremony, Mandela will be referred to as Dalibhunga, the name given to him at the age of 16 after undergoing the initiation to adulthood

Mourners will wear traditional Xhosa regalia, with blue and white beaded headgear and necklaces.

Xhosa speakers are divided into several groups, including the Thembu people, of which Mandela is a member.

The funeral closes the final chapter on a towering public figure whose courage and moral fortitude turned him into a global symbol of freedom and hope.

During 10 days of mourning, hundreds of thousands of South Africans had turned out across the country to bid the founding father of their "Rainbow Nation" farewell.

They braved a rain-sodden memorial in Soweto and for three days queued to see his remains as they lay in state at Pretoria's Union Buildings.

Lines of mourners enveloped a city that was once the bastion of white rule.

For 50 million compatriots, Mandela was not just a president, but a moral guide who led them away from internecine racial conflict.

For the rest of the world he was a charismatic leader of the anti-apartheid struggle — in turn a poet, saint and scholar.

"Ever since he passed away, I wanted to walk the journey with him," said Pascal Moloi, 52, who made the trip from Johannesburg to Qunu to attend a public viewing.

While Mandela had been critically ill for months, the announcement of his death on December 5 still sent a spasm through a country struggling to carry forward his vision of a harmonious multi-racial democracy of shared prosperity.

During the funeral South African President Jacob Zuma told the country it was incumbent on them to carry on his legacy.

"One thing we can assure you of today Tata (father), as you take your final steps, is that South Africa will continue to rise.

"South Africa will continue to rise because we dare not fail you," Zuma said.

For the rest of the world, Mandela's death marked the loss of that rarest of world leaders: those who are viewed with near universal respect and admiration.

Gushing tributes poured in from every corner of the globe, although Mandela himself had always stressed he was part of a communal leadership and resisted any move towards his public canonisation — posthumous or otherwise. — AFP

FARKUHABAD (UP): Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has termed the arrest of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade in public as an "insult" and said the US's reaction is awaited on the matter.

"We consider it as an insult. The US has been apprised about our stand on this and we are awaiting its response.. and do the needful after it is received," he told reporters yesterday when asked about the arrest of the Indian diplomat.

In a major diplomatic embarrassment, 39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody on a street in New York as she was dropping her daughter to school on December 12 and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.

Replying to another question on Aam Admi Party (AAP), Khurshid said that they should take the responsibility and form the government in Delhi.

"Their (AAP) situation is that of a groom, whose preparation of marriage is ready but he is denying to take the responsibility..," he said.

The minister said that Congress has given its support to AAP so that it could take the responsibility of "married life" and understand its essence. — PTI

Union Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola dead

NEW DELHI: Union Labour and Employment Minister Sis Ram Ola died at a Gurgaon hospital on Sunday after a prolonged illness.

The 86-year-old Congress leader had been suffering from various ailments, sources in Medanta Medicity said.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

The Jat leader represented the Jhunjhunu constituency of Rajasthan and was a member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1990, and from 1980 to 1990 he was a Cabinet Minister in the Rajasthan government.

He was Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers (Independent Charge) from 1996 to 1997 and Union Minister of State for Water Resources (Independent Charge) from 1997 to 1998.

He was Union Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment from May 23, 2004 to November 27, 2004 and was Union Cabinet Minister of Mines in the Manmohan Singh’s government.

His son Bijender Ola is a MLA from Jhunjhunu and was a former minister in the Rajasthan government. — PTI

Anna Hazare's hunger strike enters sixth day

RALEGAN SIDDHI: Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare's indefinite hunger strike here for the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament entered sixth day on Sunday.

"Anna has lost 4 kg since the fast began," his aide Suresh Pathare told PTI.

Former Union Minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil today met Hazare and expressed his solidarity.

"I came to meet Hazare in my personal capacity. I request all parties to support his agitation and ensure the Bill is passed in the Parliament," Vikhe-Patil said.

While Hazare has appreciated the amended draft Lokpal Bill presented in the Rajya Sabha, his one-time protégé Arvind Kejriwal has dismissed it as "jokepal".

"I accept it completely. If this Bill is passed, I will end my fast. The Bill will help the poor people of this country," Hazare had said yesterday.

While Kejriwal tweeted his opposition, "I'm really surprised. How can Anna accept sarkari Lokpal Bill? Sarkari Lokpal is a jokepal. Who is misguiding him? Whatever he may say, we will continue our fight for Jan Lokpal Bill till our last breath," he said. — PTI

HYDERABAD: The draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013 is caught in a tug-of-war in the state legislative Assembly between legislators on either side of the regional divide.

A copy of draft Bill reached the Assembly on Friday, but it could not be tabled because of the adjournment following the din created by both Telangana and Seemandhra MLAs.

Tomorrow, the Bill is expected to be tabled, after which the Speaker will conduct a meeting of the business advisory committee to fix schedule for discussion. However, it may not break the stalemate as Seemandhra MLAs have other plans.

MLAs from Telangana want that the draft Bill be tabled in the Assembly immediately for a discussion. But, members from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema (collectively called 'Seemandhra') want the process to be taken up in a special session next month as the President has given the Assembly time till January 23 to express its views.

The Seemandhra legislators are seeking not just a discussion but also a vote on the bifurcation.

They have also demanded that the draft Bill should be translated from English into Telugu and Urdu before discussion is taken up. As the translation may take time, it will not be possible to take it up in the current session, they argue.

Telangana MLAs, jittery over these moves, are opposing the delay in tabling the bill. They also oppose voting, saying there is no provision for voting on Presidential reference. Indications are that pandemonium of Friday would be witnessed again in the house on Monday.

Right from Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, MLAs on the Seemandhra side are in no mood to facilitate discussion on the Bill in the winter session, supposed to end on Wednesday.

They are not keen on completing the formality of returning the Bill to the President within stipulated time. — PTI

DHAKA: Three more people have died in escalating political violence in Bangladesh as opposition Jamaat-e-Islami began enforcing a daylong general strike on Sunday to protest the execution of its leader.

At least 24 people have been killed in clashes involving opposition and pro-government activists and police since Thursday, when Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah was executed for war crimes committed during the nation’s independence war in 1971. His party said the execution was politically motivated.

Opposition parties are also protesting the government’s decision to move ahead with January 5 elections. The opposition wants the government to resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee the vote. — AP