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Mandela's Condition Clouds Obama's S. Africa Visit

LYNN NEARY, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Lynn Neary. President Obama is in Johannesburg, South Africa this morning. It's his second stop on a three-country tour of Africa. NPR's Ari Shapiro is traveling with the president. He joins us now. Good morning, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Good morning, Lynn.

NEARY: The president held a press conference with the current South African president Jacob Zuma this morning. Tell us about that.

SHAPIRO: Well, there was lots of talk about the changing role of Africa on the world. On the U.N. Security Council, for example, South Africa wants a permanent seat and President Obama stopped short of endorsing that, but he said the security council has to be updated and an expansion of the Security Council that did not include the continent of Africa would be odd, as Obama put it.

They also talked business with African - trade, especially. You know, China, Brazil, Turkey and India have been very invested in the continent, and President Obama had this warning for the people of Africa.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.