Ecuador and Peru have decided to reassign their ambassadors in a bid to resolve a diplomatic crisis that broke out when the Ecuadoran envoy got into a fight with two women in a supermarket checkout line. Peru had asked Ecuador to recall Ambassador Rodrigo Riofrio over the April 21 skirmish, even after the ambassador apologized, though he insisted he did not start the scuffle. Ecuador's foreign ministry late Monday announced that the envoy was being removed from his post, saying the decision had come at the request of Riofrio himself, who would be assigned to another post.

Russia's famous Mariinsky theatre in Saint Petersburg was to inaugurate a new ballet and opera house on Thursday in an event coinciding with the 60th birthday of its hugely ambitious and well-connected director Valery Gergiev. The new Mariinsky-2 theatre will open with a gala on Thursday night conducted by Gergiev with star performers from across the world, and with Russian President Vladimir Putin expected in the audience. Putin, who on May Day gave Gergiev one of five prestigious Hero of Labour medals in a revival of a Soviet tradition, lavished the conductor with praise.

The hugely ambitious and well-connected director of Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre will on Thursday oversee the opening of a controversial new ballet and opera house, one of the biggest cultural projects in post-Soviet Russian history. The new "Mariinsky-2" theatre will open with a gala on Thursday night conducted by director Valery Gergiev with great performers from across the world and expected to be attended by President Vladimir Putin.

South Africans voiced anger Tuesday over the release of television footage showing a frail and distant Nelson Mandela being visited at home by ANC leaders after his latest health scare. The ruling ANC was forced to defend itself from accusations it was exploiting the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon, who is recuperating after being hospitalised for a recurrent lung infection.