FW de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid president, has died at 85
CBSN
Johannesburg — Frederik Willem de Klerk, South Africa's last white minority president who ruled over the final years of apartheid's demise between 1989 and 1994, has died. In a statement released on Thursday, his foundation announced with "the deepest sadness" that de Klerk had "died peacefully at his home" following a long battle with cancer.
FW de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with the man who would succeed him, South Africa's first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa."
De Klerk released Mandela from prison in 1990, after the pro-democracy icon had served 27 years behind bars. As leader of the then-National Party, whose official policy was one of racial segregation, De Klerk initiated broad reforms, including the unbanning of liberation movements like Mandela's African National Congress, the release of other political leaders from prison, and the start of negotiations for a transition to democracy.
For the first half-dozen years of her pro career, Daria Kasatkina was known as an ascending player, whose tennis was predicated on brains, not brawn, using her racket less as a high-powered weapon than a scalpel. She was known throughout tennis by her nickname, Dasha. She was not known for being political, or particularly outspoken.