PRETORIA // The coffin of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, draped in the multi-coloured South African flag, arrived Wednesday at the seat of power in the country’s capital for public viewing.
Motorcycle-riding police officers escorted the casket from 1 Military Hospital outside of Pretoria to the Union Buildings, once a symbol of the white-dominated government in the country. When Mandela took office, he used the building as his offices and the presidency is still located there.
Some residents of Pretoria lined the streets to watch the procession go by. They sang old struggle songs and called out their farewells to Mandela, who died December 5 at the age of 95.
Soldiers in formal uniforms carried Mandela's coffin into the Union Buildings to a special viewing centre built inside the building's amphitheatre, which President Jacob Zuma named after Mandela by decree yesterday.
Mandela’s body will lie in state for three days. On Wednesday, Mandela family members, government officials and world leaders are expected to pass by the coffin. It’s unclear whether it will be an open- or closed-casket viewing, though officials have banned cameras from being inside the viewing area.
Each day, Mandela’s coffin will be driven back to 1 Military Hospital to be held overnight.
Mandela’s body will be flown Saturday to Qunu, his home in the Eastern Cape Province. He will be buried Sunday.
Yesterday, world leaders including US President Barack Obama, eulogised Mandela. In his speech, Obama called Mandela "the last great liberator of the 20th century".
“We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” Mr Obama said. “But let me say to the young people of Africa, and young people around the wo-rld – you can make his life’s work your own.”
* Associated Press
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
Race%20card
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
Pakistan v New Zealand Test series
Pakistan: Sarfraz (c), Hafeez, Imam, Azhar, Sohail, Shafiq, Azam, Saad, Yasir, Asif, Abbas, Hassan, Afridi, Ashraf, Hamza
New Zealand: Williamson (c), Blundell, Boult, De Grandhomme, Henry, Latham, Nicholls, Ajaz, Raval, Sodhi, Somerville, Southee, Taylor, Wagner
Umpires: Bruce Oxerford (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG); TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS); Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Tickets and schedule: Entry is free for all spectators. Gates open at 9am. Play commences at 10am
