A US national holiday commemorating the end of slavery is due to be signed into law by President Biden after it received overwhelming backing.
Representatives voted by 415-14 to make 19 June, known as Juneteenth, a federal holiday, while the Senate passed the bill unanimously.
Mr Biden is expected to add his signature at the White House on Thursday.
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Congress votes for holiday to mark end of slavery
The date marks the day in 1865 when a group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas – which was in the pro-slavery Confederacy – finally found out they were free, nearly two years after President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Confederacy had surrendered two months before, ending the American Civil War.
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President Lincoln signed the proclamation on 1 January 1863.
He won the November 1860 election on an anti-slavery platform before war broke out five months later.
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During debate in the House, Democrat Sheila Jackson, from Texas, appeared beside a well-known black-and-white photograph showing a man’s back scarred from being whipped during slavery.
The new national holiday would “commemorate the end of chattel slavery, America’s original sin, and bring about celebration”, she said.
It follows a year of protests against racism following the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.
Image: Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation – saying all slaves should be freed – on 1 January 1863. Pic: AP
Juneteenth was officially declared a state holiday in Texas in 1980 and has since been recognised in most other states.
Republican representative Guy Reschenthaler said that making it a federal holiday would increase awareness.
It will “recognize the Americans who fought and died to end slavery”, he added.
It is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Junior Day was created in 1983.
Representative Carolyn Maloney said she could not think of a “more important milestone to commemorate”.
An aircraft carrying US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has had to make an “unscheduled landing” in the UK.
The jet was about 30 minutes into its journey back to the US after a NATO defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels, when it suffered a “depressurisation issue”.
Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the aircraft had been diverted to the UK due to a crack in the aircraft windscreen.
He posted on X: “On the way back to the United States from NATO’s Defence Ministers meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth’s plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield.
“The plane landed based on standard procedures, and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe.”
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The aviation news website Airlive reported the Boeing C-32A – a military version of the Boeing 757 – had a “depressurisation issue”.
It went on to land at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk at about 7.10pm.
Mr Hegseth had been at a meeting of NATO defence ministers which was also attended by UK Defence Secretary John Healey.
In February, a US Air Force plane carrying secretary of state Marco Rubio and the Senate foreign relations committee chairman, Senator Jim Risch, was similarly forced to return to Washington DC after an issue with the cockpit windscreen.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Image: Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Image: Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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24:40
Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
Grammy-award winning R&B and soul singer D’Angelo has died following a battle with pancreatic cancer, his family has said.
He died on Tuesday, leaving behind a “legacy of extraordinarily moving music” following a “prolonged and courageous battle with cancer,” his family said in a statement.
The prominent musician, born Michael D’Angelo Archer, was 51 years old.
A family statement said: “We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind.
“We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time, but invite you all join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”
The singer rose to prominence in the 1990s with his first album, Brown Sugar.
The track “Lady” from that album reached No. 10 in March 1996 and remained on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 20 weeks.