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.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS