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Lee Kuan Yew Singapore state funeral: LIVE REPORT

08:59 GMT - Last goodbye - WE ARE CLOSING AFP'S LIVE REPORT following the end of Lee Kuan Yew's funeral. As the rain cleared in the late afternoon, Singaporeans still thronged the streets, singing the national anthem and hoping for a final glimpse of Lee's hearse as it made its final journey to the city's Mandai crematorium. It capped a shower and tear-filled day that saw a host of foreign dignitaries and tens of thousands of Singaporeans turn out to say goodbye to a leader who, although controversial, was also widely revered. Among them was Siva Kumar, 33, a waiter at Casuarina Curry coffee shop, one of the city's million-plus migrant workers. "We love Mr Lee, he has shown a lot of support for the migrant community and champions our right to work hard here in Singapore," Kumar, an Indian citizen who has worked in Singapore for three years, told AFP's Amir Yusof. "He accepted Tamil as one of the official languages of Singapore and we are grateful for this... We want to catch a last glimpse of him." 08:38 GMT - Last Post - A bugler played the Last Post at the University Cultural Centre, before sirens sounded at 4:35pm for the nation to observe a minute's silence. The state funeral officially ended after a recital of the National Pledge and the singing of the national anthem, Majulah Singapura -- Malay for "Onward Singapore". 08:23 GMT - Final eulogy - After speeches by local community leaders, the late founding prime minister's youngest son, Lee Hsien Yang, got up to deliver the final eulogy of the service. "Singapore has lost the father to our nation. For my family, we have lost our beloved father and grandfather. We are bereft," Lee, a top corporate executive, said. In an anecdote-filled speech, he went on to describe Lee as an open-minded father who allowed him to ride public buses in his teenage years when he was trying to assert his independence. The late leader loved "a good steak" and had a sweet tooth for 'Perankan' -- or Straits Chinese -- desserts, Hsien Yang added. 07:59 GMT - 'Historic moment' - The afternoon has seen Singaporeans from across the city's diverse mix of racial backgrounds coming together to mourn Lee. "I grew up in a family that saw India and Singapore as home," Siddarth George, 27, a Harvard PhD student who works for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chief economic adviser in New Delhi, told AFP ahead of the funeral procession. "This is a historic moment... It gives me great pride that Modi is here (in Singapore) and they are flying the flags at half mast there (in India), that the country I call home is honouring the other country I call home," he said. 07:42 GMT - Public wake - Officials said that 450,000 people -- more than 12 percent of Singapore's citizens -- had visited parliament to pay their respects to Lee by the time his public wake ended on Saturday night. Some of them queued for up to ten hours to see Lee's body lying in state. Among those paying tribute were Lee's old friend and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, Indonesian ex-general Prabowo Subianto and Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma. 07:36 GMT - Goh Chok Tong - Goh Chok Tong, Singapore's second prime minister, gave a heartfelt eulogy at the service, peppered with personal anecdotes. "I valued Mr Lee's advice when he was Senior Minister in my cabinet. He sought to understand my thinking and objectives and suggested refinements, and sometimes alternatives, to my policies and programmes," Goh said. "But he always made it clear that the decision was mine to make," he added. Lee Kuan Yew handed over the premiership to Goh in 1990, becoming a senior minister. 07:21 GMT - Black ribbon - One popular image to emerge since Lee's death is of a black ribbon with the silhouette of Singapore's late founding leader's face in the centre, seen pinned and printed on the shirts of many of those watching the funeral procession. The design, the creation of Singaporean politician Alex Yam and his team, has been doing the rounds on social media in recent days accompanied by the hashtag #TributetoLKY -- as well as being seen stamped on cars, T-shirts, badges and balloons in the city-state. 07:15 GMT - Hong Kong mourners - Hundreds of Singaporeans packed into a commercial building in downtown Hong Kong to watch a live broadcast of the funeral, organised by the Singapore consulate in the city. Holding flowers, some wiped tears from their faces as the ceremony played on large screens in a sky lobby at Central Plaza. Jun Chen, a 25-year-old Singaporean exchange student who attends a Hong Kong university, told AFP's Dennis Chong: "I came here to pay my last respects to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He changed Singapore from a third world country to what we see today. Without him, I don't think we could have reached where we are in such a short period of time," he said. 07:12 GMT - President Tan speaks - Singaporean President Tony Tan, whose position is largely ceremonial, is speaking now. The island republic is "mourning the passing of a man and an era. There will never be another Lee Kuan Yew. No one person can take his place nor do what he did," said Tan, a former government minister from Lee's ruling People's Action Party. 07:06 GMT - Lee speech ends - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has wrapped up his eulogy after speaking for nearly an hour. "Together, we have grieved as one people, one nation. We have all lost a father. We are all in grief. But in our grief, we have come together to display the best of Mr Lee's Singapore," he told the audience. "Let us continue building this exceptional country. Let us shape this island nation into a great metropolis reflecting the ideals he fought for, and worthy of the united people who have made Singapore our home and nation. Thank you Mr Lee Kuan Yew. May you rest in peace." 06:56 GMT - Minute of silence - Singapore's entire transport system will observe a minute of silence at 4pm in memory of late leader Lee. Buses will remain at terminals, while all MRT metro trains will stop at stations and open their doors shortly ahead of the observance, the Ministry of Transport said. Nor will there be landings or take-offs for a short time at Singapore's busy Changi Airport -- which this week became the subject of a petition to rename it Lee Kuan Yew Airport, collecting more than 12,000 signatures on Change.org. 06:51 GMT - Mandarin lessons - One of British-educated Lee Kuan Yew's greatest passions was learning Mandarin Chinese, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told guests at the funeral. "He made a ceaseless effort to learn Mandarin over decades... Indeed, his last appointment on February 4, before he was taken ill early the next morning, was with his Mandarin tutor," he said of elder Lee, who was ethnic Chinese but spoke English as his first language and was also fluent in Malay. English, Malay and Mandarin are among Singapore's four official languages, the other being Tamil. 06:47 GMT - Former colony - Lee became Singapore's first prime minister in 1959, when the island gained self-rule from colonial ruler Britain. It then became a republic in 1965 after a brief and stormy union with Malaysia. Lee stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn was succeeded by Lee's son, the current PM Lee Hsien Loong. 06:32 GMT - Mao, Thatcher, Suharto - In his eulogy, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of his father's wide network of powerful acquaintances -- some of whom were present at the funeral. "He knew every Chinese leader from Mao Zedong and every US president from Lyndon Johnson," the PM said. "He established a close rapport with President Suharto of Indonesia, one of our most important relationships. Others included Deng Xiaoping, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Schmidt, George Shultz, as well as President Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger, whom we are honoured to have here this afternoon." 06:25 GMT - 'Straight talker' - In a glowing eulogy, the Singapore prime minister described the city-state's founding father as "a straight talker, (who) never shied away from hard truths." PM Lee Hsien Loong went on to say: "Internationally, he raised Singapore's standing in the world. He wasn't just a perceptive observer of world affairs, but a statesman who articulated Singapore’s international interests and enlarged our strategic space." 06:24 GMT - Secular funeral - A non-religious ceremony was chosen because of Lee's clear views on religion, as expressed in his book 'One Man's View of the World'. "I wouldn't call myself an atheist. I neither deny nor accept that there is a God," he wrote in the book. "So I do not laugh at people who believe in God. But I do not necessarily believe in God -- nor deny that there could be one." 06:23 GMT - Eulogy - "The light that has guided us all this years has been extinguished," Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said as he delivered the first eulogy, saying that the elder Lee "lived and breathed" Singapore. Prime Minister Lee went on to say that the founding leader's vision was of a Singapore not based on race, language or religion, but on fundamental values such as multi-racialism, equality, meritocracy, integrity, and rule of law. "Because he never wavered, we didn't falter. Because he fought, we took courage and fought with him, and prevailed. Thus Mr Lee took Singapore from Third World to First," the prime minister said. 06:10 GMT - Orchestra plays - Guests stood to attention as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra played Bach's 'Air' from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D Major. Lee's late wife Kwa Geok Choo was a fervent fan of classical music, and Lee would often accompany her to performances by the orchestra. About 2200 guests are packed into the University Cultural Centre for the funeral, the State Funeral Organising Committee said. Among them are Asia-Pacific leaders including Cambodia's president Hun Sen, Indonesia's president Joko Widodo and Myanmar's Thein Sein. 06:08 GMT - Mourners weep - Sivanesan Ganeson, a 54-year-old crane operator, spoke with AFP as he got on a metro train home, red-eyed, after standing at St Andrew's Road to pay respects to Lee. "I don't agree with a lot of what he said and did. He was a hard man," he said, speaking in Tamil. "But it's still like losing someone in your family. We have seen him all our lives. I really wanted to cry out loud as the coffin went past me." 06:00 GMT - Funeral to start - Lee's casket has been carried into the University Cultural Centre for the funeral service, which starts at 2:00pm. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver the first eulogy, while other speakers include Lee Kuan Yew's younger son Lee Hsien Yang, former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, and President Tony Tan Keng Yam. 05:55 GMT - Tony Abbott - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott chose to attend Lee's funeral -- despite it meaning he would miss the hugely popular Cricket World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, however, made the "difficult" decision to be in Melbourne for the cricket final, sending the country's Governor-General Jerry Mateparae to represent the nation in Singapore instead. 05:47 GMT - World leaders arrive - World leaders have started to arrive for the state funeral, including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and South Korean leader Park Geun-hye. The cortège has reached its final destination -- the University Cultural Centre at the National University of Singapore -- passing by the last rain-soaked crowds and lines of police honour guards, who inverted their rifles and bowed their heads in a sign of respect known as Resting On Arms Reversed. 05:39 GMT - Housing and education - The procession route has been carefully planned to take in landmarks considered emblematic of Lee's social achievements, including public housing estates -- 90.3 percent of Singaporeans own their own homes under a programme started by Lee, who believed home ownership gave citizens a stake in their country. It also passed by Singapore Polytechnic, a nod to the founding leader's emphasis on education as vital to the city-state's future. 05:26 GMT - Tough leader - The procession has passed by the headquarters of Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation bureau -- a symbol of the former prime minister's tough stance against graft. Lee, who held office for 31 years, was an authoritarian and controversial leader, but is widely revered for having transformed Singapore from a British colonial outpost into one of Asia's wealthiest societies in his three decades in power. 05:19 GMT - Auld Lang Syne - Along Singapore's Bukit Merah street people threw flowers and petals onto the road, crying "Goodbye Lee Kuan Yew, we love you". Police bagpipers stationed outside their complex at Cantonment Road played 'Auld Lang Syne' as the cortège drove past. 05:11 GMT - Sail-past - Two navy ships and two police coastguard vessels have conducted a ceremonial sail-past at Singapore's Marina Barrage, with each ship flying a black flag and signal flags spelling out the letters L, K, Y for Lee Kuan Yew's name, Channel News Asia reports. 05:01 GMT - Crowd in tears - With the front spots taken up, people are squeezing under bridges and among trees and bushes to get as close as possible to the gun carriage to catch a final glimpse of Lee. The former leader's family, including current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, are following the procession in vehicles after briefly walking in the rain. AFP reporter Bhavan Jaipragas says there were surreal scenes at City Hall as strangers huddled together under umbrellas waiting for the cortège to pass, with shouts of "Mr Lee" and "LKY, and people sobbing and dabbing their eyes. "Anything for this man. We will stay put even if there is lightning," said Mohammad Faizal, 38, a driver. 04:57 GMT - Gun salute - Army howitzers fired off a 21-gun salute and F16 fighters shrieked overhead as the cortège made its way through Singapore's civic square, where Lee Kuan Yew was first sworn in as prime minister in 1959. Crowds lining the streets are shouting Lee's name as the gun carriage passes – led by police, army, navy and airforce members carrying their rifles upside down, barrels wrapped in seals. 04:44 GMT - Funeral procession begins - People are standing in the pouring rain to catch a glimpse of the procession, with some crammed onto window ledges at Singapore's City Hall in an attempt to secure a good view. AFP reporter Bhavan Jaipragas spoke with Joel Lim, a 35-year-old teacher. "We are here today as a family to witness this historic moment. As Singaporeans we may have our differences, but when it comes to a crunch we stand together," he said. "That is what Singapore is about and that is Mr Lee's legacy. That we are a successful multiracial community accepting each other is because of him and we are here today to honour that." 04:40 GMT - Coffin brought out - The wooden coffin containing Lee's body has been brought out and draped in the Singaporean red-and-white flag. The coffin bearer party is now outside Parliament House, loading the coffin onto a gun carriage – a legacy of British colonial rule. Four armed contingents from Singapore's military and police forces will lead the funeral procession. 04:29 GMT - Funeral procession - Final preparations are underway for the funeral procession, which will begin at 12.30pm. The cortège will file past several landmarks symbolic of Lee Kuan Yew's legacy on its 15.4-kilometre (9.6-mile) route, including Singapore's Old Parliament House and City Hall, before ending at the National University of Singapore, where the funeral will take place. 04:03 GMT - Lee Kuan Yew Singapore state funeral: LIVE REPORT - WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT on the funeral of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding leader, who led the city-state to independence 50 years ago and who died last Monday aged 91. Thousands of Singaporeans have turned out in heavy rain to watch the funeral procession and bid a final farewell to Lee after a week of mourning. A host of former and current world leaders are set to attend, including Bill Clinton, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australia's Tony Abbott and William Hague, who is representing ex-colonial power Britain.