Newsreader hailed for cancer battle

TOKYO - The death of a former newsreader who won acclaim for blogging about her breast cancer fight hit the headlines on Saturday in Japan, with the media and officials praising her courage.

Mao Kobayashi, 34, died on Thursday, her husband and popular kabuki actor, Ebizo Ichikawa, said on Friday at a nationally televised news conference attended by about 400 reporters.

Kobayashi shocked the country in September with her blog titled "Kokoro" - or heart - after concealing her illness from the public for about two years.