Japan offers tributes to human rights giant

Japan and its’ leaders on Friday mourned the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela, calling the country’s first black president a “great leader” and a man “filled with warmness.” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that Mandela, who died Thursday at age 95, “fought (with) a strong will to eliminate apartheid and achieved a great deal by putting national reconciliation at the center of his natuin-building.” Mandela visited Japan three times, the first time in 1990 when he was deputy president of the African National Congress to seek support for the antiapartheid movement. In addition to the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, he received numerous awards and honors. Read More (Japantimes.co.jp)

South Africans morned Friday the death of the man who led the fight to end the system of apartheid here and then went to lead the country itself. He will be buried in a state funeral on Sunday, December 15, in his ancestral hometown of Qunu in the Eastern Cape province in a state funeral, Zumba said. Sunday will be a “national day of prayer and reflection,” in which people throughout the nation will gather in places of worship to conduct “prayer services and meditation reflecting on the life” of Mandela, Zuma said. Read More (CNN International)