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December 11, 2013

Thousands Queue to Pay Respects as Mandela Body Lies in State 
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The body of Nelson Mandela is lying in state today following Tuesday's
memorial service at a soccer stadium in Soweto. Thousands of people are
lining up to file past Mandela's casket at the Union Buildings, where he
was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president in 1994. South
Africa's week of remembrance will end Sunday with Mandela's burial in
his home village of Qunu. Tuesday's memorial saw a historic handshake
between President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, sparking
Republican criticism of Obama at home. Republican Sen. John Mc Cain
compared the gesture to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's
handshake with Adolf Hitler at the outset of World War II. Meanwhile,
advocates for the deaf voiced outrage after the sign language
interpreter for the memorial turned out to be a fraud. A man posing as
an interpreter made gestures from the stage, but his hand signals
amounted to gibberish.

 

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