Egypt, which was to give Yasser Arafat a state funeral on Friday, Yemen and Jordan have announced three days' mourning. State-run Jordan radio and television replaced regular programming with recitations of Quranic versus interrupted only by hourly news bulletins. "We have known him as a defender of right and a struggler against occupation, and striving toward peace," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said of Arafat as he opened a session of parliament. Plaudits came from as far away as China, where President Hu Jintao said Arafat was "an outstanding leader of the Palestinian cause." Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi praised Arafat's efforts on behalf of peace and his people, citing his signing of the 1993 Israel-PLO accord that gave him control of most of Gaza Strip and 27 percent of West Bank. "Yasser Arafat spent his entire life for the Palestinian cause. We pray that his mission is completed after his death," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press from Saudi Arabia, where he was performing the Muslim pilgrimage. --MORE 1341 Local Time 1041 GMT
