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      Joe Biden's inauguration: when is it and what can we expect?

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      In the aftermath of a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol that brought about the second impeachment of Donald Trump, the US is set to usher in Joe Biden’s presidency on inauguration day, 20 January.According to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, this year’s theme centers on “America United”.“We have witnessed countless heroes this past year step up to the front lines and serve their fellow Americans, so we are telling their stories, spreading their collective light and celebrating the best of our country and its people with this prime-time program,” Tony Allen, committee CEO, said in a statement on Thursday, of the planned inaugural events.The celebrations had already pivoted to be mostly viewed online due to concerns from the coronavirus pandemic, with public health officials requiring masks, temperature checks and social distancing for anyone participating.The presidential inauguration committee has planned a nationwide Covid memorial the day before, with planners urging cities and towns to light up their buildings and ring church bells on 19 January in a “national moment of unity and remembrance” in respect of the more than 385,000 US deaths resulting from the virus.Multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies have effectively shut down any semblance of normal life in downtown Washington DC in response to last week’s attack. Local officials are urging would-be attendees not to make the trip at all. With nearly every traditional highlight of inauguration day affected, eager spectators are left to wonder: what will a scaled-down event look like?The planning committee officially unveiled the lineup late on Tuesday. Here is what to expect.What is inauguration day exactly?Even though he won the November presidential election, Biden did not officially become president that day. Instead, the 20th amendment of the US constitution mandates that the terms of the sitting president and vice-president – in this case Donald Trump and Mike Pence, respectively, end at noon on the 20th day of January.Back in the day, the new president was inaugurated every 4 March. The span between the election and inauguration was shortened to two months with the ratification of the amendment in 1933.The gap is designed to allow the incumbent president, who is limited to a maximum of two terms, to complete remaining administrative tasks and coordinate a transition of key national security and executive branch information to the incoming administration.When, where and what time is it?All presidents-elect must first take an inaugural oath before officially becoming president. In keeping with this tradition, Biden will assume the presidency in a scaled-down ceremony on the US Capitol grounds beginning at 11am ET (4pm GMT). The inaugural parade is scheduled soon after at 2pm ET (7pm GMT). However, Washington DC and its surrounding metropolitan area remain on high alert as the FBI confirmed lingering threats of attacks against federal institutions throughout the country.Washington DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has issued a public emergency declaration until 21 January that allows officials to order businesses and residents indoors, telling reporters: “Trump continues to fan rage and violence by contending that the presidential election was invalid.”The National Mall, where cheering crowds normally stretch from the Capitol towards the Lincoln Memorial to watch the inauguration ceremony, as well as dozens of streets, monuments and federal facilities, will remain closed to the public until well after the event.Grandstands meant for public audiences have since been taken down in the aftermath of last week’s attack.Airbnb has heeded the calls of local officials not to travel to the city by cancelling all reservations in the metropolitan area – including communities in surrounding Maryland and Virginia.As many as 15,000 national guard troops have descended on the capital for added reinforcements.So who’s showing up?Not the incumbent president. Breaking a longstanding tradition, Trump confirmed in a 8 January tweet that he will not be attending the inauguration of his successor. That would make him the first president in more than 150 years, and just the fourth in American history.But he won’t be the only former president to miss out. Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, announced early in the year that they would not be making the trip. It marks the first time the couple, aged 96 and 93, respectively, will have missed the ceremonies since Carter himself was sworn in as the 39th president in 1977.In keeping with tradition, the former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush will be in attendance accompanied by the former first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.Pence has pledged to attend in the spirit of unity, in direct defiance of Trump. The outgoing vice-president narrowly escaped the insurrection in which invaders chanted to hang him for failing to acquiesce to Trump’s futile request for him to engineer the overturning of the election result.What else can we expect this year?An official inauguration traditionally begins with the president’s processional from the White House to the US Capitol. Harris will take her inaugural oath first, officially becoming the nation’s first female, Black and Indian American vice-president.For Biden’s swearing in, an invocation will be followed by the pledge of allegiance on the West Front of the Capitol, then the American pop star Lady Gaga is set to perform the national anthem.A poetry reading, then musical performance by Grammy award-winner Jennifer Lopez should move events along before attendees will effectively be taken to church with a final benediction from the Rev Dr Silvester Beaman of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church in Delaware, a family friend of the Bidens for 30 years.The president and vice-president typically head to a signing ceremony next, considered the first official action. Then attendees toast at the inaugural luncheon, which dates back to 1897.Biden and Harris will then make their way to the East Front steps of the Capitol to review a parade of ceremonial military regiments, citizens’ groups, marching bands, and floats that will make their way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.The actor Tom Hanks and the musician Jon Bon Jovi join the pop stars Demi Lovato and Justin Timberlake to ring Biden’s presidency in during a “virtual ball” streamed online later that night. The 90-minute special airs live at 8.30pm ET (1.30am GMT) on US network and cable channels.The committee will also livestream the event on their social media channels, with streaming providers including Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, NewsNow from Fox, and AT&T’s DirecTV and U-verse joining in. More

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      Kamala Harris and why politicians can’t resist Vogue (though it always ends in tears)

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      When Theresa May appeared in US Vogue in 2017, even her deliberately anodyne choice of a posh-end-of-the-high-street dress by British label LK Bennett did not prevent this newspaper calling the Annie Leibovitz shoot a “defining moment” which, “like Margaret Thatcher in the tank turret looking like a cross between Boudicca and Lawrence of Arabia … might easily become a signifier of all that is flawed in her prime ministerial style”. Michelle Obama’s bare upper arms appeared no fewer than three times on the cover of Vogue during her White House years, causing pearl-clutching uproar at the sight of her toned triceps.A political Vogue appearance is such a white-hot issue that it causes controversy even when it doesn’t happen. Donald Trump recently weighed in to complain about “elitist” Vogue having snubbed Melania, notable by her absence from the magazine over the past four years. Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris’s Vogue debut, in the February issue of the magazine’s US edition, is the latest in a long line of political covers to have caused a media storm. Sunday’s release on social media of the rather different newsstand and digital covers quickly fuelled a wave of criticism. Had Harris’s skin tone been “washed-out” by thoughtless or even culturally insensitive lighting? Was it disrespectful, on the newsstand cover, to present Harris wearing her battered Converse trainers, rather than giving her a stately makeover? Was Harris’s team led to believe that the more formal portrait in Michael Kors tailoring, apparently destined for digital editions, would appear on newsstands, too?Vogue has sprung to the defence of images that show Harris at “her casual best” in “styling choices that were her own”. Tyler Mitchell, who in 2018 became the first African American photographer to shoot a US Vogue cover, explains in an accompanying online article that a much-maligned pink-and-green backdrop was chosen to honour Harris’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, of which Mitchell’s aunt was also a member. Mitchell, who “grew up from a young age deeply understanding the rich history of these sororities and their significance … wanted the set design to pay homage to that history, to [Harris’] status as an AKA, and Black sororities and sisterhoods worldwide.”A Vogue appearance is rarely anything but controversial for women in politics, but the invitation remains apparently irresistible, nonetheless. To be a cover star – and especially for Vogue – is to be the avatar of a cultural moment. To have your image publicly displayed beneath that Vogue font is perhaps the closest any public figure will ever get to having their profile on a stamp or, while still living, their face on a banknote. And in an increasingly atomised media landscape, a Vogue cover is one of the few platforms with the cut-through to reach disparate audiences. It is shared on Instagram, discussed in newspapers, and on display at the supermarket checkout.When Hillary Clinton appeared on the cover of Vogue in 1998 it was in a floor-length velvet gown and pearl drop earrings, smiling beatifically from a stateroom banquette beside an urn spilling red roses. The letters of Vogue were spelt out – in gold – directly on top of the curlicued gilt frame of one of the wall’s oil paintings. The message was clear: a Vogue cover is as close to an official portrait as pop culture gets. Which is why the row around Vogue’s latest cover is not really about Mitchell’s lighting rig, or Harris’s shoes. Rather, these portraits are a lightning rod for a country grappling with a moment of cultural reckoning around gender, race and power.Harris’s stretchy black trousers are a little wrinkled around the knees, the kind of imperfection you might expect to have been smoothed out by a watchful assistantThe relaxed and smiling images were taken in the dizzy post-election relief of November, but landed online a few days after the storming of the Capitol had dialled the emotional tone of politics back up to febrile. This, perhaps, has left them out of step with the particular moment. In the more casual of the two portraits, Harris’s stretchy black trousers are a little wrinkled around the knees – just a tiny imperfection, but the kind that you might expect to have been smoothed out by a watchful assistant before the shutter clicked. Perhaps the informality was judged by the editorial team to chime better with the era of WFH dressing than slick tailoring. Perhaps it was intended to channel Harris’s now famous leggings-clad victory moment. (“We did it, Joe!”).Certainly, any likeness to the 2009 cover for Newsweek of Republican former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, posing in her gym gear, is unintentional. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who after a close relationship with the Obamas has been in self-imposed exile from the circles of political power during Trump’s presidency, will surely be looking to align herself as friend and ally of the incoming Democrat administration.The current British Vogue is more overtly political than ever before, and wears its activist heart on its cover – the magazine equivalent of its sleeve. Recent cover stars have included frontline workers and the Man United and England striker Marcus Rashford who, as one of the most high-profile public figures driving legislation for progressive social change, surely counts as a political figure – and the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was featured among 15 Forces for Change on the August 2019 cover.British politicians, however, have been notable by their absence. And should a flattering invitation find its way to a Westminster in-tray, it should be approached with caution. A Vogue cover is always a moment, but not always a flattering one. More

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      Vogue's Kamala Harris cover photos spark controversy: 'Washed out mess'

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      Vogue magazine became embroiled in a “whitewashing” controversy on Sunday when it tweeted photographs of its February cover star, Kamala Harris.Two images of the US vice-president-elect were released. One, a full-length shot in front of what appeared to be a glossy pink silk drape, drew the ire of social media critics.One user called it a “washed out mess of a cover”. “Kamala Harris is about as light skinned as women of color come and Vogue still fucked up her lighting,” the observer wrote.Others criticized Vogue’s editor-in-chief. “What a mess up,” wrote New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali. “Anna Wintour must really not have Black friends and colleagues. I’ll shoot shots of VP Kamala Harris for free using my Samsung and I’m 100% confident it’ll turn out better than this Vogue cover.”Last year, Wintour apologized to staff members in a letter for “mistakes” in publishing photographs and articles seen as insensitive to minorities.“Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate or give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers, and other creators,” Wintour wrote. “We have made mistakes too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant. I want to take full responsibility for those mistakes.”Vogue denied to the New York Post it had lightened Harris’s skin after the shoot, but the assurance failed to quell the wave of disapproval.“The pic itself isn’t terrible as a pic. It’s just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn’t put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it’s due,” the LGBTQ activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted.Vogue has not confirmed which of the two photographs it will use for its print cover, or if it will publish both. Each image was shot by Tyler Mitchell, who was 23 when he came to prominence photographing Beyoncé for Vogue in 2018.According to the Post, Harris and her team had control over her clothes, hair and makeup. She chose her own casual black jacket and pants and a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor boots for one photo, a powder blue Michael Kors pantsuit for the other.Harris’s appearance on the Vogue cover is likely to attract the attention of Donald Trump, who complained last month that his model wife, first lady Melania Trump, had not graced a single magazine cover in his four years in the White House, having been snubbed by “elitist snobs” in the fashion industry.The previous first lady, Michelle Obama, featured in numerous fashion shoots, including the cover of Vogue in December 2016. More

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      Congress certifies Biden and Harris win hours after deadly attack on Capitol – video

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      With all electoral college votes counted, the US Congress has certified Joe Biden’s win in the election. Biden and Kamala Harris will take over as president and vice-president on 20 January. The confirmation of the vote was delayed when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building in the afternoon of 6 January
      Congress certifies Joe Biden as next US president hours after pro-Trump mob storms Capitol – live
      America shaken after pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol building More

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      Can Kamala Harris as vice-president be both loyal deputy and heir apparent?

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      [embedded content]
      American vice-presidents occupy what can be one of the most powerful positions in all of the federal US government and yet it can also be one of the least powerful. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris is going to soon find out where her tenure will land.
      Harris is in a unique position among the near 50 vice-presidents in American history. She enters the office with the strong possibility that the incoming president, Joe Biden, won’t run for re-election, thus teeing her up as a future occupant of the Oval Office far more than normal.
      That has triggered intense speculation on how Harris will approach her job over the next four years as she treads a fine line between being Biden’s loyal deputy but also his heir apparent.
      Thus far the division of labor between Biden and Harris has only been described in broad terms. Incoming administration officials expect Harris not to have a separate policy portfolio and the issues Biden focuses on will be the ones she focuses on.
      Biden and Harris have said the Biden administration will follow the example of the Obama administration when Biden was President Barack Obama’s go-to man for greasing the wheels of Congress. Even before he nominated Harris, Biden described his own vice-presidential relationship with Obama as a model for the way he would work with his own deputy.
      Yet Biden and Harris bring remarkably different experiences and assets to the role. While Biden helped offset criticism that Obama was too young and inexperienced, Harris has helped ease concern about Biden’s age and excite legions of Democrats who were disappointed to see a white man lead the ticket.
      Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, will be the first woman and first woman of color to serve as vice-president.
      “She comes into office with real star quality and that goes a long way because she’s got sway with various constituencies,” said Roy Neel, who served as chief of staff to Vice-President Al Gore during Bill Clinton’s presidency. “She ran for president. She’s smart and able and she’s got relationships in the Senate – not as deep as Biden. They have an opportunity to be a helluva team.”
      Harris has been active in the weeks since Biden won the election. She headlined a rally for the Democratic candidates in the upcoming Georgia runoff elections that will decide control of the US Senate. The vice-president-elect has had a major role in Biden’s cabinet selections as well. More

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      Joe Biden and Kamala Harris named Time magazine's 2020 person of the year

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      Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine’s person – or persons – of the year for 2020.The magazine said: “Together, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket. And America bought what they were selling: after the highest turnout in a century, they racked up 81 million votes and counting, the most in presidential history, topping Trump by some 7 million votes and flipping five battleground states.”The accolade for Biden sees him follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama (2012) and Donald Trump (2016). Last year’s winner was climate activist Greta Thunberg.Biden, 78, who served two terms as vice president to Barack Obama, will become the oldest person to assume the office of US president when he is sworn in on 20 January. Harris will become the first woman, the first Black and the first person of Asian descent to be inaugurated vice president.The Person of the Year is usually an individual, but multiple people have been named in the past. In recent years the magazine has also taken to recognizing groups or movements. In 2017, the magazine selected “The Silence Breakers” of the MeToo movement, and in 2018, chose to designate journalists who were imprisoned or killed for their work.Prior to naming this year’s winner on Thursday, the magazine announced four finalists, included Biden and Trump – as well as two broader categories: the movement for racial justice, and frontline healthcare workers and Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious diseases scientist. Trump has been on the shortlist every year since he won the 2016 election.Time has named a person of the year since 1927. The selection represents “an individual but sometimes multiple people who greatly impacted the country and world during the calendar year”, the magazine says. The designation is not necessarily an honor. Rather, it recognizes figures who have “influenced the news, for better or for worse,” according to the magazine.Along with its Person of the Year honor, Time magazine named the Korean pop group BTS as its Entertainer of the Year, and basketball star LeBron James was crowned Athlete of the Year. More

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      Kamala Harris named world's third most powerful woman on Forbes list

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      Kamala Harris has become the third most powerful woman in the world by virtue of being elected as America’s next vice-president, according to the latest rankings of a popular annual power list.The Democratic senator from California was catapulted right into the No 3 spot for her debut on Forbes magazine’s world’s 100 most powerful women list. She appears just below Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who made the top spot for the 10th straight year, in the 2020 list published this week.Forbes highlighted Harris’s victory as Joe Biden’s running mate in the Democratic win over Donald Trump and his vice-president, Mike Pence, in the November race for the White House, noting she will be America’s first female vice-president and the first person of color in that role.Harris, who was the attorney general of California before being elected to the US Senate, will be the first Black American and first Asian American to be elected vice-president.She made a speech after the election victory in which she noted that she may be the first but she will not be the last woman in that role, and Forbes pointed to the break-out moment in her debate against Pence before the election when she confidently and calmly blocked Pence’s repeated interruptions by declaring: “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking.”That riposte “launched a thousand memes (and even a handful of T-shirts), but it also became a rallying cry for women across America”, Forbes noted.Beyond the stand-out moment for Harris and US politics, the 2020 list prominently featured female leaders who have earned accolades on the world stage for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Women from prime ministers to corporate executives earned spots in the list for their achievements helping mitigate and control the deadly contagious virus, which has infected more than 67 million people and caused 1.54 million deaths, Forbes said.New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, Lagarde, who was previously head of the International Monetary Fund, and the Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike, were particularly effective, it said.“Where they differ in age, nationality and job description, they are united in the ways they have been using their platforms to address the unique challenges of 2020,” Forbes said on its website.It quoted Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, also on the list, who said recently that “countries where human rights are respected and where women are able to reach top positions in society are also the countries that are the best-equipped to handle crises by Covid-19”.New Zealand eliminated coronavirus infections with a strict lockdown, reporting just over 2,000 cases of the virus and 25 deaths.Taiwan kept the pandemic under control after instituting strict restrictions and largely closing its borders in January, long before western countries, limiting cases of the virus to just over 700 and seven deaths, it said.Of the 17 newcomers to the Forbes list, Carol Tomé, chief executive of United Parcel Service, where delivery volumes soared during lockdowns, and Linda Rendle, chief executive of Clorox, which boosted production of cleaning goods as demand ballooned amid the surging virus, were noted for their work.At CVS Health, also in the US, Karen Lynch, who becomes chief executive in February, took over the pharmacy giant’s Covid response and extensive network of testing sites. In 2021, she will be responsible for overseeing vaccine distribution at the company’s nearly 10,000 US pharmacy locations.Stacey Cunningham, the first woman to head the New York stock exchange, made the “swift” decision to shut down in-person trading as the virus was spreading in March, it said.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was just 46th on the list.Reuters contributed reporting More

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      in Elections

      Biden plans to urge all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after inauguration

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      President-elect and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris pledge to receive Covid vaccines as soon as possibleJoe Biden intends to call for all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after he becomes president in an attempt to bring down infection rates, as the coronavirus crisis continues to rage out of control in the US.The president-elect and vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris, have also committed to receiving coronavirus vaccinations as soon as possible when, as expected, the first vaccines are approved by US regulators. Continue reading… More