Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden is now speaking from the White House about how his administration will tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

He begins his remarks by thanking the members of the military that helped with security for his inauguration yesterday.

He is expected to sign 10 executive orders, including some that are designed to speed up the country's ability to manufacture and distribute vaccines and testing kits.

About two hours after he speaks, Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki and top disease specialist Anthony Fauci will hold a briefing.

The US is the country hardest hit by the global pandemic, with over 407,000 deaths recorded so far. More than 24 million Americans have been infected.

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Pete Buttigieg has testified before a Senate committee considering his nomination as transportation secretary in the Biden administration.

"We need to build our economy back, better than ever," Buttigieg told the Senate's commerce, science and transportation committee.

"The department of transportation can play a central role in this, by implementing President Biden's infrastructure vision creating millions of good-paying jobs," said the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

It was not immediately clear when lawmakers would vote on his candidacy. If approved, the former US presidential candidate would be the first openly LGBT cabinet member.

President Biden started his first full day in the office with only one approved cabinet member - Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence. She was backed by Congress on Wednesday.

Mr Biden has repeatedly stressed the urgency to have his full team in place as soon as possible to implement his wide-ranging reform agenda. Until then, many federal agencies are led by acting heads.

When Donald Trump was inaugurated four years ago, Jazmin was a second year college student in Washington DC who had aspired to work in a Hillary Clinton administration. Keen to stay involved and “fight back”, she organised more than 200 of her classmates to join her at the massive Women’s March that took place the day after the Trump inauguration.

Do you think that march - the first of the Trump era - made a difference?

Absolutely. To have that strong of a showing that early on was pivotal. It was an initial rallying cry that saw all sorts of people come together and show we weren't going to be defined by the presidency. For many young people, it felt like a rallying call to reclaim our power. There was going to be resistance and that resistance continued with more women's marches and other gatherings like Black Lives Matter. The Women's March was one of the largest and most visible, so it set the tone. It was a stepping stone to building the people power that determined the 2020 election.

What has changed in the four years since then?

I think the damage the Trump administration has done to undermine women's rights and the rights of marginalised communities far exceeds what we could have imagined. And while we always knew the administration could be destructive, I don’t think a lot of us knew how he would embolden people. The racism, xenophobia and bigotry we put on Trump is a larger issue. But it showed our side that we are united in our values. Central issues - a quality job, clean air, safe environment, and the defence of basic human rights and dignity - are not tied to one candidate or one individual, but to the progressive movement.

Image source, Jazmin Kay

President Biden is due to give more details about his action plan to boost the fight against Covid-19, which has ravaged America.

Earlier, he said he would sign 10 executive orders, and the administration has already unveiled a seven-point plan which included efforts to facilitate effective distribution of vaccines and reliable access to testing, external.

In a break with his predecessor, Trump, Biden is stressing the need to have a federal strategy rather than relying on individual US states to decide what is best.

Once Biden's briefing begins, you'll be able to watch a live stream on our page, and we'll also bring you the key points here.

For now, you can read more about Biden's Covid executive orders here.

Image source, Reuters

One of the features at the start of any new presidency is the traditional prayer service - but like many other parts of Joe Biden's inauguration, it looked very different this year.

Instead of travelling to the Washington National Cathedral, President Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and their spouses watched the service from socially distanced seats in the State Dining Room of the White House.

The event marked the beginning of the new administration's first full day in office.

Everyone present stood as Patti LaBelle sang the national anthem, while inferfaith leaders and others offered prayers, readings and hymns.

Image source, Reuters

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BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Rossiya 24

In the wake of Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president, pro-Kremlin media outlets in Russia have focused on divisions within the US.

"Will Biden become the president of the whole of America? He won't, because half of America supports Trump," said the presenter on Russia’s most popular television channel, state-run Rossiya 1 TV.

“We have no friends there,” said presenter Olga Skabeyeva about the Biden administration, noting how Trump's victory in 2016 was greeted with enthusiasm and even champagne by some in Russia.

“The Democrats have formally won, but the power struggle has split the country,” said Russia’s third most watched television station, Gazprom-Media’s NTV.

“The question remains whether Biden will prove in practice that he is the president of all Americans,” said the Russian government’s daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, external.

Another Kremlin-friendly newspaper, Izvestia, external, said: “If the new US administration continues painting supporters of the former president as extremists and insisting on impeaching their leader, it will find it very difficult to unite society.”

Image source, Reuters

A woman suspected of stealing a laptop belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Capitol riot is to be released, AP news agency reports.

A judge ordered Riley June Williams, 22, to remain in her mother's custody ahead of a court hearing on Monday. She also faces travel restrictions.

Williams was detained in Pennsylvania two days ago on charges of violently and illegally entering the building, and disorderly conduct.

Her former partner has said in an affidavit Ms Williams intended to sell the data to Russian intelligence.

Five people died after a pro-Trump mob stormed Congress on 6 January.

Read more about Williams here.

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Trump's departure for Florida in the final hours of his presidency created a complicated situation for the military attaches that carry around the presidential nuclear launch codes in a briefcase known as "the football".

Trump is the first US president to skip the inauguration of his replacement in the age of nuclear weapons. So the transfer of the ominous black luggage, which normally happens in person at the inauguration ceremony, didn't take place.

Instead, a second "football" was sent to Biden's side in the moments before he became president. A card with his launch instructions, known as "the biscuit," was activated after he took his oath of office. At the same time, Trump's "biscuit" expired - like an old credit card.

The aide who carried Trump's "football" to Florida then returned to Washington when his term officially ended.

This is certainly not the first time that intrigue has surrounded the nuclear "football". Ronald Reagan had his nuclear launch card thrown away by medical staff after he was shot in an assassination attempt. Jimmy Carter accidentally sent his "biscuit" to the dry cleaner in a suit pocket and Bill Clinton lost his for several months.

Our colleagues Angelica Casas and Cache McClay are now going live to discuss the role of the new Vice-President Kamala Harris and what it means for America.

Watch the video below or follow and ask questions on Facebook here, external.

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump is a private citizen once again. Unusually for an outgoing president, Trump left the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as his successor was being sworn in.

“We will be back in some form,” Trump told supporters at a farewell event, hinting at a possible political comeback.

Trump’s future in politics is far from clear, though.

First, there’s the matter of the impeachment trial in the Senate which, as we reported earlier, could scupper his chances of running for the presidency again in 2024. This could keep him busy for a few weeks at least.

Beyond that, there is an array of outstanding legal cases that could keep him occupied. Among them are a criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, and a defamation lawsuit by the writer E Jean Carroll, whose allegation of rape he has denied.

If Trump can fend off these legal threats, he could turn his attention to his business empire, or even seek opportunities in the media.

There's a lot of speculation that his ambition is to get involved in the news media, either by launching his own channel or collaborating with an established conservative network.

There are other possibilities too. Read about them here.

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The new administration has thrown up a few surprises and here’s another one picked up by social media; the most senior person in the Senate now after Vice-President Harris is the star of five Batman films.

Patrick Leahy, the Democrat Senator of Vermont and now president pro tempore (president for a time) of the Senate, has also provided a voice-over for a Batman animation and written the forward to Batman comic books.

The 80-year-old long-serving senator has been a life-long fan of the Caped Crusader. He made cameo appearances in the Dark Knight Trilogy among others and donated all his earnings to the library in Vermont where he read the comics as a child.

As president pro tempore, Mr Leahy presides over the Senate chamber in the absence of the vice-president. The position is by tradition held by the senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service. Mr Leahy has served in the role before.

Tara McKelvey
BBC News, White House

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The inauguration photos of Trump that used to hang on the walls of the West Wing are all gone.

They have been replaced with photos of Biden and his inauguration. The new photos show US flags on the National Mall that stood in for guests who could not attend due to pandemic restrictions.

Another photo on the wall shows Biden giving a speech. He looks quite emotional, and he is wiping away tears.

The image of Biden and his inauguration are a stark contrast to the photos of Trump that were displayed on the walls while he was in office.

In his photos, Trump appears to speak before an enormous crowd at his inauguration. In other pictures, he looks stoical and determined, exuding power, while he stands at the top of the stairs of Air Force One.

The images reflected his leadership style: alpha male in charge.

Biden spoke of empathy during his inaugural speech, and the photos of him reflect his style.

It is his first full day in office, and the walls of the building already tell a different story than the one that came before.

Image source, Getty Images

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has been giving his weekly briefing from Congress, beginning by saluting Donald Trump for "the many achievements that the administration was able to achieve".

"While there was change in the political parties at the White House, the problems that we need to address affect all Americans together," he says.

Getting a vaccine to every single American that wants one would be a real "unity agenda", he says, in a reference to Biden's inaugural speech.

He calls several of Biden's executive orders, signed on Wednesday, "disappointing" and says they put the needs of illegal immigrants above those of Americans.

Liz Cheney, the Republican Party conference chair in the House, will stay on, he says. The Wyoming lawmaker, and daughter of ex-vice-president Dick Cheney, had faced calls to resign after voting to impeach Trump for his role in the riot at the Capitol.

Marianna Brady
BBC News

It's day one, and the Biden administration is making one thing very clear - it will approach Covid head on.

From an executive order mandating masks on federal grounds to a promise to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days, Biden is determined to use all the power he has as president when it comes to curbing the pandemic.

The approach to handling the pandemic was highly politicised during the presidential campaign, coming to a head when Trump contracted the virus in October and the second debate between the pair was cancelled.

Biden's challenge is immense. He is proposing over a trillion dollars of aid to combat Covid and the ensuing economic crisis - which must first past Congress.

But the biggest challenge for the new president could still be convincing the American public who does not see Covid as a threat to wear masks and get vaccinated.

Today, the president will sign 10 more executive orders on Covid. Read about them here.

Reality Check

It’s traditional for an outgoing president to leave a letter to his successor before departing the White House.

It’s not known yet what was in Donald Trump’s letter, but that hasn’t stopped people suggesting what it might contain.

One fake letter being widely shared on social media simply reads: “Joe, you know I won.”

The letter has been widely shared – including by prominent pro-Trump lawyer, Lin Wood - and been viewed over a million times.

Although it’s pretty obvious the letter is a fake, it has been taken seriously in some quarters, with Iranian state radio reporting it as fact.

It has also been widely-shared by Russian social media users.

For his part, President Biden said yesterday that Trump "wrote a very generous letter.

"Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous."

Image source, Twitter

The Covid pandemic is clearly at the forefront of the Biden administration's plans, but its effect on the economy is just as challenging.

The past week has seen another 900,000 Americans filing for unemployment benefits. On top of that more than 400,000 more filed for help from the Covid assistance scheme for the self-employed. Close to 16 million people were on benefits at the start of January.

Joe Biden is facing one of the worst job markets of any incoming president - nearly 10 million jobs have gone in the pandemic.

A look at political issues being searched in the US, according to Google Trends, external, shows unemployment is the top subject in every search point in every state.

The fears are not new - it's been that way ever since the start of the pandemic - but there has been another uptick in the past few weeks.

Opposition Republicans have shown some intent to work with Joe Biden's $1.9tn (£1.4tn) stimulus plan for jobless benefits and direct cheques for Americans. No wonder he is calling for unity.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Donald Trump may have left office, but the ripples of his presidency will be felt for a long time to come.

Last week - what now feels like a lifetime ago - Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for allegedly inciting a deadly riot at the US Capitol.

An impeachment is like a charge that is followed by a trial in the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate, where lawmakers decide to convict a president or not.

At the moment, we don’t know when that trial will take place. But, citing sources, US broadcaster CNN said Democrats could deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate by Friday.

That would trigger the trial, which Democrats are keen to move along quickly to avoid disruption to President Biden’s agenda.

If convicted, Trump could be barred from running for the presidency again.

In phone calls to allies on Wednesday, Trump is said to have asked about the level of Republican support for this outcome, according to a report by the Daily Beast, external. Trump is looking for lawyers to defend him in the trial, the website said.

Image source, Getty Images

"That inauguration was a breath of fresh air for our country," says Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as she begins her weekly briefing from Capitol Hill.

She welcomes the three new Democrats that joined the Senate yesterday, giving the party a majority in both congressional chambers.

The California congresswoman goes on to slam the Trump administration's "terrible, ineffective approach" to the virus rollout, and praise the executive orders that Biden plans to sign later today to help fight the coronavirus.

She says that work on a Covid economic relief package is beginning now, but that lawmakers won't meet again to take up any proposed bill until early February.

She did not specify when the article of impeachment would be sent to the Senate, or when Trump's trial there may begin.

Read more:

When will the trial go to the Senate?

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Vice-President Kamala Harris will not immediately take up residence at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, which has served as the home for every vice-president since Walter Mondale in the late 1970s.

The building that has housed the Pence family for the last four years - and the Bidens the eight years before that - is in need of repairs, an aide to Harris said on Wednesday.

The chimney liners need to be replaced, among several other projects planned that "are more easily conducted with the home unoccupied," the aide said.

Harris, who until yesterday was a California senator, has a home in Washington, but it's unclear if that is where she will reside while the fix up takes place.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Biden will hold his first phone call with a foreign leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on Friday.

Canada is seen as one of the US's closest partners, so it's not surprising that's his first call.

Still - it's bound to be a bit awkward, as one of Biden's first actions as president yesterday was to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, which runs from Canada's Alberta province to Texas.

In a statement yesterday, Trudeau said, "while we welcome the president's commitment to fight climate change, we are disappointed but acknowledge" the decision to cancel the pipelines' permits.

The Alberta premier meanwhile called the decision a "gut punch" to the local economy.

Trudeau added that Canada is the largest energy provider to the US, and that his Liberal government looks forward to working with Biden on issues such as climate change and pollution reduction.

Any bilateral friction over the controversial pipeline project will be a bump in the road for the two leaders, who have more in common on policy than not, says the BBC's Jessica Murphy in Toronto.

Meanwhile, Downing Street says the UK government does not yet know when Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak with Biden.

However, Johnson's spokesman was keen to stress that the PM had "already spoken to President Biden" previously, as he was "one of the first to be called" after the election.

"The prime minister looks forward to working very closely with the new president going forward."