Family gathers for Ted Kennedy's final journey

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A bugler plays taps to honour Ted Kennedy as the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox line up before a game at Fenway Park in Boston. With Americans mourning Edward Kennedy and the end of a dynasty that dominated US politics for a generation, the libe

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts, Aug 27 (AFP): The family of Edward Kennedy prepared Thursday to accompany his body on its final journey, as Americans mourned the end of a dynasty that dominated US politics for a generation.
All government buildings lowered the Stars and Stripes to half-mast, as did private homes in the Massachusetts seaside resort of Hyannis Port, where the veteran US senator died late Tuesday at his family compound aged 77.
President Barack Obama led tributes from across the US political spectrum and around the world, saying "the outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories which we have all witnessed is a testimony to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives."
Family members prepared to begin celebrations of a life touched by tragedy, scandals and ultimately success by escorting his coffin Thursday in a cortege to his home city of Boston following a private mass.
His body was to lie in state at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library ahead of a Catholic funeral mass Saturday during which Obama will eulogise the lion that roars no more.