THE US: Weeping softly, Ms Nancy Reagan and her family began saying their goodbyes yesterday to former US president Ronald Reagan, as his body was taken to his presidential library to lie in repose at the start of a week of national mourning.
Dressed simply in black with a string of pearls, the former first lady embraced her daughter and cried at the conclusion of a brief ceremony in which the flag-draped coffin of her husband was placed atop a catafalque inside the Reagan Library, north of Los Angeles. After the service, during which she held the hand of daughter Patti Davis as a minister read passages from the Bible, Ms Reagan rested her cheek on the coffin and uttered some inaudible words as she bade farewell to her husband of 52 years.
Thousands of mourners bearing flags, flowers and even jars of his beloved jelly beans began arriving at the library to file past the flag-draped casket. They were being shuttled to the library at a rate of 2,000 people an hour.
Mr Reagan's vice-president through two terms, former president Mr George Bush, hailed the Republican icon for reshaping the party into a dominant, conservative political force. "Reagan was unfailingly kind and courteous and thoughtful to the people around him."he said on NBC's Today show.
After a private ceremony for family and friends at the library, there was a public viewing at noon local time. His body was then flown to Washington. A horse-drawn wagon, accompanied by a single drummer, was to carry Mr Reagan's body to the Rotunda of the US Capitol, where his remains will lie in state from tomorrow evening through Friday morning.
A funeral service will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington on Friday, with President George Bush and other world leaders in attendance. The body will be flown back to California on Friday, where a private sunset burial will be held on a hillside at the library. - (Reuters)