Hanks and Redford to get top US honour

President Barack Obama is honouring actors Robert DeNiro, Cicely Tyson, Tom Hanks and Robert Redford with the nation's highest civilian honour.

They are among 21 people Obama plans to recognise with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on Tuesday.

Honourees from the sports world include basketball players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan, along with veteran sports broadcaster Vin Scully.

Entertainers include Ellen DeGeneres, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen.

Other honourees are philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, polymath physicist Richard Garwin, architect Frank Gehry, designer Maya Lin, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, lawyer Newt Minow, mathematician and computer scientist Margaret H. Hamilton, and Eduardo Padron, president of Miami Dade College in Florida.

Posthumous honours will go to Native American advocate Elouise Cobell and Rear Adm. Grace Hopper.