The late civil rights activist Rosa Parks will be the first woman to lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda -- a tribute formerly reserved for presidents, soldiers and prominent politicians.
Parks, who died on Monday, aged 92, will be only the second black American to receive this distinction, allowing visitors to the capital to file past her casket today as they did for former US president Ronald Reagan's last year.
She became one of the most revered figures of the civil rights era after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955. Her subsequent arrest prompted a boycott of local buses that lasted for more than a year, led by Martin Luther King, who was then unknown.
The following 10 years would see a huge, mostly non-violent, struggle for black Americans' right to vote and an end to segregation.
Democrat congressman John Conyers, for whom Parks worked in Detroit for 20 years, wrote the resolution.
"We think having her body lie in honor in the Rotunda is probably the most expressive way that we can let everyone know the legacy of Rosa Parks is embraced by the federal legislature," he said.
"I must say that the bipartisan support has been excellent," he added.
The US senate voted on Thursday to allow the honor and the House of Representatives endorsed it yesterday. Eva Malecki, a spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol, said the office was already working on seating and placement of the casket.
"The movement that Rosa Parks helped launch changed not only our country but the entire world, as her actions gave hope to every individual fighting for civil and human rights. We now can honor her in a way deserving of her contributions and legacy," said senate minority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.
Parks has been the subject of numerous vigils over the past week, including a service in Martin Luther King's old church on Friday, and her body will be the focus of ceremonies in three cities.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image