Networks call Georgia for Biden as security officials say vote was ‘secure’

Turnout hits new high

A record proportion of voting-age Americans turned out for this election.

It beat the record set in 2008, when Barack Obama won his first term as president.

With votes still being counted on Sunday, the tallied ballots accounted for 62 per cent of the eligible voting-age population in the US. 

Analysis: What can we expect from Bidenomics? On a first judgement, this will be a cautious, pro-business administration

So it is to be Bidenomics. But it will be Bidenomics Lite. The US economy is a big beast but it has taken a huge knock and it will be months before the new administration is fully in place, writes Hamish McRae.

Assuming that the Republicans retain control of the Senate, Joe Biden will be a weak president, one that particularly has to do deals with Congress. He will be good at that, which is a source of optimism.

But US fiscal and regulatory policies will be constrained by what Congress will pass – and remember it is not only the Senate that will hold the president back, for the swing towards the Republicans in the House will set everyone thinking about the midterms, too. 

South Korean president congratulates Biden

Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, has congratulated Joe Biden on winning the US election and pledged to ally himself with his new opposite number.

"We will gather forces as an alliance on the shared values of democracy, peace, human rights, international solidarity and multilateral cooperation," Mr Moon told his top aides, the Blue House said in a statement regarding the incoming administration.

Mr Moon enjoyed a good relationship with Donald Trump as the latter attempted to press neighbouring North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

However, the relationship was strained by disputes over exactly how to engage with Pyongyang, trade and Mr Trump's demand that Seoul pay more to support the US military presence on the peninsula.

Opinion: Trump’s imminent departure from the White House makes him vulnerable to lawsuits and investigations

In his testimony to Congress, following his investigation, Robert Mueller was asked by the Republican representative Ken Buck: “Could you charge the president with a crime after he left the office?” Mueller replied: “Yes.”

Buck continued: “You believe that he committed – you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?” Again, the response was: “Yes.”

The special counsel’s report into whether Donald Trump was the Muscovian candidate for the White House concluded that Trump may have committed obstruction of justice on at least 10 occasions, writes Kim Sengupta.

 But Mueller had decided that a 1973 Justice Department decision that a sitting president cannot be indicted meant that charging Trump with federal crime would be “unconstitutional”.

China holds back on congratulating Biden

China is yet to congratulate Joe Biden on his election victory. Beijing said it would wait for “US laws and procedures” to play out before making a comment.

Donald Trump is yet to concede defeat.

"We noticed that Mr Biden has declared election victory. We understand that the US presidential election result will be determined following US law and procedures," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily media briefing.

"We always believe that China and the United States should enhance communication and dialogue, manage differences on the basis of mutual respect, expand cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit and promote sound and stable development of bilateral relations," he added.

Putin says he won’t congratulate Biden until ‘legal processes’ are completed

Vladimir Putin is refusing to congratulate Joe Biden on becoming-elect on Saturday, because there are still “legal processes” to go through, according to his spokesperson.  

Trump scammed by Piers Morgan impersonator, claims Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan has claimed that Donald Trump was tricked by an impersonator pretending to be him while aboard Air Force One, writes Louis Chilton.

According to Morgan, Trump, who just lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, spoke to a prankster on the phone for several minutes before cottoning on to the ruse.

In his column for the Daily Mail, the Good Morning Britain presenter wrote: “[Trump had] seen me talking about him on US breakfast TV show Fox And Friends, and thought it was time to bury the hatchet. He dropped an immediate bombshell.”

Coveney sees Biden win impacting Brexit talks

Joe Biden’s election victory may impact the crucial final week of Brexit trade talks between Brussels and London, Ireland’s foreign minister has said.

Simon Coveney told RTE: "I think perhaps it does [make a difference]. Joe Biden is a real friend of Ireland, he is somebody who in the middle of this campaign has taken the time to make a very clear statement on the need to prevent a hard border at any point in the future linked to Brexit policy.

"The relationship between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson was a close one and there was a lot of talk about a US-UK trade deal happening quickly. Now that Joe Biden is going to be the next president, I certainly think that will be a cause for a pause for thought in Number 10 to ensure Irish issues are prioritised as we try to close out this phase."

Mr Biden and other Democrats spoke out about their concerns when Boris Johnson’s government published the Internal Market Bill, which it admitted would break international law. It also contravenes the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and EU, which was designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

Pro-Trump Christian evangelical ‘prophets’ apologise for getting election result wrong

In the run-up to the presidential elections, a number of evangelical Christian leaders had forecast a clear win for Donald Trump – and they are now having to apologise for “missing the prophecy” after Joe Biden was named president-elect, writes Mayank Aggarwal.

Californian pastor Kris Vallotton apologised to Mr Biden directly on Instagram, stating that "you're my president" similar to the way Mr Trump and Barack Obama were “his presidents”.  

Sketch: The Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot is as low as history might ever have to go

There is always a moment when the game is up. When the writing appears on the palace wall, when the forest ups and moves, when the wobbling hand of history reaches for the corner of its spectacles and orders everyone out of the bunker but Keitel, Jodl, Krebs and Burgdorf, writes Tom Peck.

Or, you know, the moment when the furious tweets are all suddenly self-redacting. And when the last lies you’ve got are evaporating under the winter sun in the car park of an out-of-town garden centre, sandwiched between a sex shop and a crematorium. When their vaporous shapes have left not a mark on the backs of the crowd that only came to laugh and has already walked away.