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First Thing: Hand on the Bible, eyes on the future at Biden's inauguration

<span>Photograph: Susan Walsh/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Susan Walsh/AFP/Getty Images

Good morning.

Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next president of the US today, taking the oath of office at the Capitol two weeks after it was stormed, smashed and looted by rioters seeking to overturn his election victory. Washington is a far cry from the usual inauguration setting: the parades and cheering crowds have been replaced by a militarised zone and 25,000 National Guard troops. A dozen troops were removed from their posts yesterday after FBI screening, amid fears of an insider attack.

Back in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden gave a tearful address to his supporters before he traveled to Washington to take up residency at the White House. He paid homage to his home town and issued a message of hope, saying: “I know these are dark times but there’s always light.” The oldest president yet, Biden will take the reins at midday today. You can read our guide on what to expect over the course of the day and follow live with our blog.

Trump issued his own farewell yesterday, calling on the public to pray for the incoming administration, but he stopped short of naming Biden or acknowledging the legitimacy of the election result. The speech hinted at his desire to run again, saying that “the movement we started is only just beginning”.

The 45th president will become the first to miss his successor’s inauguration since Nixon when he heads to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida later today, following a departure event at a military airfield near Washington. The vice-president, Mike Pence, on the other hand, will not attend Trump’s farewell ceremony but will attend Biden’s inauguration. Take from that what you will.

  • Trump reportedly pardoned Steve Bannon in the final hours of his presidency. Bannon, his former senior adviser, faces trial over allegedly siphoning money from an online fundraiser for Trump’s contentious border wall. Others pardoned include a Trump fundraiser who admitted illegal lobbying and former Detroit mayor serving a prison term for corruption. You can see the full list of pardons here.

Biden held a memorial for Americans who have lost their lives to Covid

The incoming administration held a vigil yesterday to honour the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19, the first large-scale acknowledgment of the catastrophic impact of coronavirus on the US. As dusk fell in Washington DC, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was lit up by light statues, and members of Congress held candles on the steps of the Capitol. Bells rang out across the US, and Americans posted on social media to remember their loved ones in collective mourning. The vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris, said:

Tonight we grieve and begin healing together.

Biden is planning to trigger a range of executive orders to tackle the pandemic and its economic fallout when he is sworn in, including a $1.9tn economic package announced last week and a pause on student loan payments. He also plans to retain the coronavirus travel restrictions on much of Europe, the UK and Brazil, overruling an order from Trump that ended the restrictions.

Confirmation hearings for Biden’s cabinet nominees kicked off yesterday as news broke that he had chosen Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s health secretary, as his assistant secretary of health. If confirmed, Levine would be first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.

  • Biden will declassify an intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist murdered by the Saudi government. The move means the US is likely to officially blame the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for the brutal killing. Last month, Khashoggi’s fiancee urged the US to release the report to help uncover the truth.

  • Sean Spicer has applied to join the White House press corps, four years after he made headlines as the White House press secretary for his false insistence that Trump’s inauguration was the biggest ever. He now hosts a show on the far-right network Newsmax.

California has been hit by more wildfires after a traumatic 2020

A fire in Napa County, California, in August 2020
Firefighters watch flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in the Berryessa Estates neighbourhood of unincorporated Napa County, California, in August 2020. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

A spate of winter wildfires have been ignited in California, forcing several communities to evacuate – a grim start to 2021 after record-breaking blazes in the state last year. Unusually warm and dry weather, paired with strong winds, are thought to have led to the fires. People in the Santa Cruz mountains were instructed to leave the area, and thousands of residents in predominantly southern California had their electricity cut off due to the risk of winds downing power lines and starting fires. Isaac Sanchez, the battalion chief of communications for Cal Fire Sacramento, said:

We’re not seeing ‘fire season’ any more. It’s just one big fire year, where we can be prepared for and expect a large destructive fire at any point.

  • One in eight households in California is in water arrears, with debt owed on water bills hitting $1bn. People living in predominantly Black and Latino neighbourhoods are more likely to be in arrears, and have disproportionately larger debts.

In other news …

  • US officials have detained a nine-year-old Haitian boy with a valid US visa, separated him from his older brother and put him in refugee resettlement facility in California. Vladimir Fardin arrived in San Francisco from Haiti on Sunday on a tourist visa to visit his 19-year-old brother who was studying on a valid student visa near San Francisco, his lawyers said.

  • Ghislaine Maxwell court proceedings were halted when someone illegally broadcast them live on YouTube to numerous apparent followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Maxwell is accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

  • Batteries capable of charging an electric car in five minutes have been produced for the first time, marking a significant step forward in the development of the more environmentally friendly vehicles.

View from the right: impeachment only exacerbates divides

If Joe Biden is serious about national unity, the last thing he should do is impeach Trump, writes Michael Goodwin in the New York Post. Goodwin argues that Biden should draw a line under the Capitol assault to get a clean slate for his presidency, rather than pulling the nation back to “all the passions of the Trump presidency”. For Senate Republicans, voting to impeach Trump risks alienating his support base, he warns.

Don’t miss this: Biden’s inauguration is giving hope to stranded migrants

On his first day in office, Biden is set to deliver a package of immigration reform to undo Trump’s “inhumane” policies. For those stranded at the border, where children and adults have been raped, kidnapped and murdered waiting for their court date, this gives new hope of a better life.

Last thing: Biden’s best merch

T-shirts bearing the likeness of Joe Biden on sale in a street in Washington the day before his inauguration
T-shirts bearing the likeness of Joe Biden on sale in a street in Washington the day before his inauguration. Photograph: Yegor Aleyev/TASS

With the much of the world in a lockdown and encouraged to stay at home, you might not feel especially well dressed for this year’s inauguration. Fear not! We have shortlisted the best Biden-Harris merchandise for your perusal. From tie-dye T-shirts to a vest depicting a young Biden, here’s how 10 pieces of election merchandise mark a historic inauguration.

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