US presidents and foreign leaders have joined the tributes to civil rights icon John Lewis, who has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. Lewis was one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders, which included Martin Luther King Jr, and helped organise the historic 1963 March on Washington. Barack Obama is among those who have praised Lewis’s legacy. President Donald Trump later said in a tweet that he was “saddened” to hear of the former congressman’s death. A petition to rename a bridge in Alabama that played a pivotal role in Lewis’s life has drawn more than 400,000 signatures.

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, described Lewis as “truly one-of-a-kind, a moral compass”. Mr Biden said he had spoken to Lewis in the days before his death. “His voice still commanded respect and his laugh was still full of joy. Instead of answering our concerns for him, he asked about us. He asked us to stay focused on the work left undone to heal this nation.”(BBC)…[+]