The United States is due to swear in Democrat Joe Biden as its 46th president, who is inheriting a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a coronavirus pandemic.
The inauguration event, scheduled to start after 10:30am local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday, will be organised amid unprecedented security in the wake of the storming of the US Capitol building on January 6 by supporters of the outgoing President Donald Trump.
The crowd size will be extremely limited as the capital Washington, DC, has been under lockdown due to security fears prompted by the deadly riot at the Capitol – the seat of the US government.
Trump was impeached for his role in the Capitol mayhem, becoming the first president in US history to be impeached twice. Critics say the outgoing president’s repeated false claims that the November election was stolen triggered the Capitol violence.
Breaking with tradition, Trump will not attend Biden’s swearing-in and the subsequent gathering of all living presidents.
Here are some of the latest updates:
British PM says he’s looking forward to working with Biden
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he looked forward to working with Joe Biden on their “shared priorities”, just hours before Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.
“As I said when I spoke with him on his election as President, I look forward to working with him, and with his new administration, strengthening the partnership between our countries and working on our shared priorities: from tackling climate change, building back better from the pandemic and strengthening our Transatlantic security,” Johnson said in parliament.
Russia says better ties with US up to Biden
The Kremlin said that any improvement in Moscow’s tense relationship with Washington would depend on Joe Biden when he enters the White House.
The United States recently blamed Kremlin-backed hackers for a massive cyberattack that breached government institutions, adding to a long list of grievances plaguing ties between the former Cold War rivals.
“Russia will live as it has lived for hundreds of years: seeking good relations with the United States,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Whether or not Washington works towards achieving the same goal “will depend on Mr Biden and his team,” Peskov added.
Joe Biden’s inauguration day: What you need to know
When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as president and vice president at Noon EST (17:00 GMT) on Wednesday, they will be doing so on a day that will resemble no other previous inauguration.
Biden has been planning a significantly scaled-down inauguration day for two months due to the pandemic: a minimal crowd will be on hand at the US Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony and his inaugural speech.
The traditional inauguration luncheon with Congress and the Supreme Court followed by the Inaugural Parade were both scuttled weeks ago, as were the traditional inaugural balls.
The celebratory events will be replaced by a “virtual” parade, featuring parade participants from all across the US and a “Celebrating America” television special hosted by actor Tom Hanks replaces the balls.
Read more here.
Remembering 11 of Trump’s forgotten ‘moments’
As the sun sets on US President Donald Trump’s presidency, the chilling events of January 6, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol, continue to hang over his departure. But there is no denying that Trump will be remembered for many other moments.
Some of them were historic, unprecedented and, in many cases, completely bizarre. Americans will remember his public suggestion that COVID-19 could possibly be knocked out by injecting disinfectant in the human body or the time he tweeted out the word “covfefe” (still no explanation of what he meant). But there were many other unusual and awkward moments.
Read more here.
Scaramucci brands Trump ‘seditious traitor’
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci described outgoing US President Donald Trump as a “seditious traitor”.
Scaramucci, who has become a Trump critic since his departure from the White House, said many American’s would “breathe a sigh of relief” after Biden’s inauguration.
“All of us are waiting with bated breath, many of my friends are frankly up this evening because we’re worried, because of what he’s capable of and what he did to our country,” Scaramucci said on Trump’s final few hours as president.
“He’s a seditious traitor and he will be known for history as a domestic terrorist in the United States.”
German president ‘greatly relieved’ at US change of power
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed relief that Joe Biden was replacing Donald Trump as US president on Wednesday, calling it a “good day for democracy”.
“I am greatly relieved that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president today and move into the White House,” the head of state said. “I know this feeling is shared by many people in Germany.”
Biden to sign 15 actions to address US ‘crises’
Joe Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as US president on Wednesday, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.
To address the “crises” of the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity, Biden will sign the executive orders and memorandums in the Oval Office in the afternoon, and ask agencies to take steps in two additional areas, said incoming Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
The actions include a mask mandate on federal property and for federal employees and an order to establish a new White House office coordinating response to the coronavirus.
Biden will also begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issue a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden will revoke Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and end a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.
Further actions will include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks US funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.
EU’s von der Leyen says Europe ‘has a friend in the White House’
The European Union’s chief executive hailed on Wednesday as a new dawn Joe Biden’s term as US president but warned that the bloc would strive to regulate American technology companies, calling for global standards.
“After four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, who welcomed outgoing President Donald Trump’s ban on Twitter.
But she added: “This kind of decision must be taken in accordance with laws and rules … not by an arbitrary decision in the power of Silicon Valley CEOs.”
Europe, US need ‘new founding pact’ after Trump: EU’s Michel
European Council President Charles Michel called for the United States and European Union to create a “new founding pact” for their transatlantic relations.
“Today is an opportunity to rejuvenate our transatlantic relationship which has greatly suffered in the last 4 years,” he said.
“On the first day of his mandate, I address a solemn proposal to the new US president: Let’s build a new founding pact for a stronger Europe, for a stronger America, and for a better world,” Michel said.
Trump pardons ex-aide Bannon, dozens of others: White House
US President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to his disgraced former aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations during his final hours in office.
The statement issued by the White House on Wednesday included a list of the names of 73 pardoned individuals and 70 others whose sentences were commuted.
Read more here.
Biden marks nation’s COVID grief before inauguration pomp
Hours from the inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden paused on what might have been his triumphal entrance to Washington, DC on Tuesday evening to mark instead the national tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic with a moment of collective grief for Americans lost.
“To heal we must remember,” the incoming president told the nation at a sunset ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.
Four hundred lights representing the pandemic’s victims were illuminated behind him around the monument’s Reflecting Pool.
“Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights into the darkness … and remember all who we lost,” Biden said.
Trump, in farewell address, says movement ‘only just beginning’
President Donald Trump has released a farewell video, touting what he described as the success of his “America First” platform and telling his supporters that “the movement we started is only just beginning”.
Trump, who will leave office on Wednesday but will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, acknowledged in the nearly 20-minute video that a new administration would be sworn in this week.
Read more here.
Indian village cheers for Kamala Harris before US inauguration
A tiny, lush Indian village surrounded by rice paddy fields is beaming with joy, hours before its descendant, Kamala Harris, takes her oath of office and becomes the vice president of the US.
Harris is set to make history as the first woman, first woman of colour and first person of South Asian descent to hold the vice presidency.
Read more here.
