good afternoon. in his first speech as president—elect of the united states, joe biden has said he wants nationwide celebrations among his supporters and his running mate kamala harris will make history by becoming the first female vice president. from donald trump, no concession and no tweets for the last 1a hours, but the white house says he will accept the results of a fair election. we will be live in washington shortly and bring you the

latest developments. big ben chimes. honouring the fallen of two world wars, the queen attending a socially distanced remembrance sunday service in london. it's time to stop treating opponents as enemies, the message from us president—electjoe biden, delivering it to cheering supporters near his home in delaware, after it became clear he had won the bitterly contested election against donald trump. mr biden said it was time to end the green era of demonisation in american politics and said his administration would marshal the forces of decency, fairness, science

and hope. we will have reaction to that speech from around the world in a moment, but first this report from washington. the president—elect of the united states of america, joe biden! a moment that has been 30 years in the making. joe biden makes his victory address, repeating his campaign promise to unite a divided country. for all those of you who voted for president trump, i understand the disappointment tonight. i've lost a couple of times myself. but now, let's give each other a chance. cheering. it's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again, and to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as ourenemies. they are not our enemies, they are americans. he and his choice for vice president are making history.

kamala harris will be the first female, black, and first south asian ever, in this role. she paid tribute to her mother, who came to the us from india at the age of 19. i am thinking about her. and about the generations of women, black women... cheering ..asian, white, latina, native american women, who throughout our nation's history have paved the way for this moment tonight. tackling covid—i9 will be their first order of business. on monday, joe biden will name a task force of scientists and medical experts. in the nation's capital, washington, dc — jubilation. we're here to support biden and celebrate his win tonight. and the first black, female vice president in office!

we're here because america has been liberated from the hatred and, just, casual racism that we've been experiencing for the past four years. somebody said we won a big battle today, the war is not over, but we have really accomplished something big today as a people. there have been people here all afternoon celebrating joe biden's win, and they are likely to continue right through the night. and while the crowd may have gone down somewhat, the excitement certainly hasn't. and with the white house just metres behind us, it's hard not to wonder what its occupants must be thinking. this was donald trump as projections came through thatjoe biden, not he, had won. on social media, he remains defiant and is pursuing various legal challenges. but his refusal to concede didn't dim this moment. it was a historic night, offering a new chapter for america. lebo diseko, bbc news, washington.

while a lot of attention has been focused on the swing state of pennsylvania which pushed joe biden over the line, it was close—run in other states as well. matt stevens isa other states as well. matt stevens is a political analyst in georgia, where there will be a recount. we are relieved that the election is over, as we know. we have spent several days this week waiting for election returns so it has been a slow process, a nailbiter, but it has definitely been something that we have looked forward to. the legal challenges have already started. we are definitely... i know we will see those in several states throughout the country. it is unfortunate. the cou nts the country. it is unfortunate. the counts have been slow, very deliberate, and i think that's a really good thing, but i am still a

little... i understand why they want to do legal challenges but at this point the numbers bear out thatjoe biden is the president elect of the country. i think he really spoke to the act of really bringing the nation together. that's going to be the first thing that he's going to have to do, and i think that's going to have to run as a thread through everything he does from here on out. that will obviously affect his coronavirus response, which is priority number one. on monday he will... his task force will begin to convene and get to work on that. but i think as he discusses issues of racial justice, climate change, i think as he discusses issues of racialjustice, climate change, the economy, just civil rights and everyday problems that face everyday americans, i think that compassion and spirit of bringing people together, the actual spirit of getting things done, that is the critical and key thing that we need, we need that leadership right now, from day one, and i think he will

definitely be able to do that. the past four years have been extremely divisive. they have been years that on precedent we have never seen. we have never been in a pandemic like this before. obviously the entire world is in the pandemic together, but i think the thing that is different with this particular president, has been the response to the virus. obviously the racial injustice we are seeing, police involved shootings, where we are on climate change, wildfires in california, where we were on the economy just being california, where we were on the economyjust being fair in general to the average american worker and workers right here in georgia, i think those are the things people wa nt to think those are the things people want to see changed, that they are seeing that they want to see different from the way donald trump has really led to this country in a very chaotic way and for most people that's how they have experienced him in the last four years and they are looking for an immediate change from that. so far the president seems

unwilling to concede defeat and has vowed to contest election results on several fronts. what happens vowed to contest election results on severalfronts. what happens now? a recount will be held in georgia, where margins are tight and mr trump wa nts where margins are tight and mr trump wants the same in wisconsin, which was projected for the president—electjoe biden on wednesday. on saturday the trump campaign filed a lawsuit on ballots cast on election day in arizona that it claimed were incorrectly rejected. the arizona secretary of state has however said in a statement that the case was grasping at straws. if the election result is challenged it will require legal teams to begin in state courts and statejudges teams to begin in state courts and state judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount and then supreme court justices could then be asked to overturn a ruling. so far, no evidence has been provided for the alleged voter fraud. we can go to washington and join our correspondent there. are these legal cases political noise or could they genuinely call the result into

question? supporters of president trump say they are much more than political noise, they are valid, have validity, have importance and must be investigated and so on. but as you point out, there has literally been no evidence presented by the president or his team that back them up so far. we have heard comments from judges who have looked at them so far and dismiss them out of hand. unless they have something impressive up their sleeve that they haven't made clear in public up until now, one would think there is little credence, certainly the americans who i spoke to out on the street celebrating joe biden's win yesterday gave them absolutely no credence whatsoever. is there any legal requirement for president trump to concede or is itjust tradition? it is just trump to concede or is itjust tradition? it isjust tradition. things can move on without him, but of course that doesn't help in terms of course that doesn't help in terms of transition teams. the president's tea m of transition teams. the president's team put out a slightly open—ended line that the president would accept the results of a free and fair

election, the implication being that i don't consider this to be a free and fair election so far, and they wa nt and fair election so far, and they want those claims of fraud investigated. but in terms of having to make the phone call tojoe biden and say congratulations, there is no legal reason he needs to do so and things can move on without him. how our other senior republicans responding? so far very quietly. there hasn't been the response from senior republican leaders we would expect in normal terms to come out to congratulate the leader. that includes majority leader mitch mcconnell in the senate, and various others, and the pressure is growing. there are those like mitt romney, who was a presidential candidate against barack obama, and he has come out to say congratulations, but beyond that we have seen silence from top republicans and the

pressure will grow on them in the coming days to do the right thing, as the democratic party would see it. in terms of the transition team, what do we know, their first priority will be dealing with the pandemic so has joe priority will be dealing with the pandemic so hasjoe biden flagged up what he wants to happen? not yet, except we know it will be heavy on science, which will come as a huge relief to those who have been watching the way the pandemic has been run, organised and combated by the trump administration and feel like science has been in the background, it hasn't been given enough weight. that will come as a relief to a lot of people, but we don't know any names yet. some interesting ideas that it might involve key people currently working for the trump administration so would they essentially have to give up would they essentially have to give up their jobs? the would they essentially have to give up theirjobs? the point is he will be able to draw on a lot of experience, a0 years in the senate, eight years as vice president. his contacts list will be pretty impressive, let's say. there is so much talk about unity, healing

bitterness and division, but 70 million americans voted for president trump and many will feel this election was stolen from them. what are people and saying in washington about how the democrats can now engage with them? one guy i spoke to outside the white house during celebrations, a young african—american voters who voted for the first time, a student, i put that point to him about the disunity and polarisation and what needed to happen next and his argument was, with a majority, if anybody needs to move, its them and not us. there has been so much pressure on the left and progressive is to somehow build in the trump supporter, more to their view than the other way round, and his argument was, we have shown we are the majority, with more people voting forjoe biden than any other candidate in the history of the country. as a result people need to a cce pt the country. as a result people need to accept that america is more multiracial, more multifaceted in

terms of sexuality and gender and what a family looks like, and all these things thatjoe biden speaks to. this is what this young man said. i thought that was an interesting point. nevertheless, the democratic party will be very aware of areas where they didn't pick up votes, for example in florida. why did the anti—socialist message go down so well with all those cuban—american voters, even the young ones who arrived from cuba or who have never stepped foot in cuba? they were very drawn to this idea that a biden harris ticket meant socialism in the united states. so i think there is work to be done to find the common ground butjoe biden is good at doing that. thanks for updating us from washington. mr biden addressed this issue of the disappointment felt by trump supporters, many of them fiercely loyal to the president who believe the claims he has made without

evidence that the election has been stolen from them. our correspondent james clayton spoke to some of them to get their viewpoint in nevada. you have organised these protests, why? so, myself and actually quite a few other people across the country, this is a national effort. we are organising these stop the steal protests here in nevada, arizona, wisconsin, michigan, georgia and pennsylvania. these are the final battleground states. and we want the people to come out and hear the truth. there is a lot of censorship still going on right now online, a lot of ballots are still being counted, and in some of these races it's getting so close, it's about a 1% difference or less. if we want every legal vote to be counted, then they should, and americans deserve to have a free and transparent election. what's your evidence that this election is being stolen? we are seeing a lot of different cases of voter fraud in pennsylvania, in michigan, wisconsin, georgia, here, just in nevada, we are finding out there are some dead voters that had

voted in this election. even if that were the case, and i haven't seen any evidence for that personally, but even if that was the case, biden's lead here is now in the tens of thousands. you're not alleging that tens of thousands of dead people voted here, are you? no, i'm not alleging that, of course not. but they are finding cases where that is happening, or signatures are not matching. where the trump campaign have had republican poll watchers that should be a part of the process that are not part of the process, with the ballot counting. you are here pretty heavily armed, right? you know, maybe, maybe. maybe just a little bit. what's made you feel like you need to bring a weapon to today's protests? it's not the fact that i have to. it's the fact that i can. and that people have died for this freedom, so i can sit here, i can defend my country, i can defend my president, and i can bear arms as much as i want, because that is our human right, that's in our constitution, it's our second amendment.

i'm not a threat. i actually carry more medical than i do ammunition. i'm just here to represent my president and have a show of force out here with all my friends and show some support. the registrar here said that he felt worried for the safety of some of the ballot counters here. if people turn up with guns, that can be quite threatening to people. do you accept that? the only thing that makes something threatening is an action. you can't just stand around and be a threat. now, if i had this gun, you know, pointed at you, that's a little different. butjust right here, nice and slung, hands not even on it, no threat. no threat, not so. i mean, these cops over here, they are armed to the teeth. they've got ar—15s and 870 shotguns in their cruiser, locked and loaded. why is that any different for me to do it? why is it different for you? and why are you actually here? do you think there was voter fraud at this election? yes. i believe that there was voter fraud. i believe that we have way too much

unanswered questions. i'm going to be completely honest with you, ifjoe biden is the true winner, i will accept that. that's just what i have to do because i love this country and i will stand for this country no matter who is president. but i don't believe that's what's happened. let's turn to the rest of the world. joe biden's victory could see a major shift in us relations with foreign powers. president trump was not afraid of criticising allies but a biden administration is expected to be more traditionally diplomatic. democratic senator chris coons, a friend ofjoe biden's says the president—elect will work far better with foreign leaders. he will not need to learn on the job. he has very well grounded views, and you will see him restore, re—engage and reimagine our place in the world, our close alliances. he is someone who has long and deeply valued our partnership with the united kingdom, with the eu, with nato, and with other nations that share our core values, so i think you'll see a significant

shift in terms of us foreign policy, in particular with regards to a closer embrace of our allies, with whom we share core values. donald trump was never a great fan of institutions like nato and the european union. one country where there is likely to be relief at the election result is germany, so we can go to berlin and joined the bbc‘s damien mcguinness. is relief the word that sums it up? that is the word that sums it up? that is the word that sums it up? that is the word everyone is using here. relief is the word of today because donald trump is incredibly unpopular in germany for looking at the polling, consistently germany is the country where donald trump is the most unpopular compared to any other western state. he is also seen as someone who has undermined consistently multilateral institutions, and these are the institutions, and these are the institutions which germany relies on politically for security, its economy, and in terms of personality as well, donald trump is somebody who is the polar opposite of german

chancellor angela merkel when it comes to style, personality and even worldview, so that has been a rocky relationship. it has been a rocky four years for germany and the eu, so certainly relief in germany today but also a sense of realism as well. there is an awareness in germany of the rest of the eu that there are some problems between or in the transatlantic relationship that will not go away under a biden administration, looking out for example germany's trading relationship with china, that makes many in washington, and it is a bipartisan view, quite uneasy. also germany's close energy links with russia is something both democrats and republicans don't like. also the criticisms germany has had thrown at it from donald trump of not spending enough on defence and in nato, is something we will also hear from joe biden, so those are the issues that will go on. the transatlantic relationship has been hit hard, but i think what we are seeing now is an enthusiasm from berlin and the

foreign minister here has tweeted that he wants a relaunch of the transatlantic relationship. he said they will make concrete proposals to they will make concrete proposals to the new administration about how to get that transatlantic relationship going again. in order to tackle global problems as well. i think there is a lot of enthusiasm here for the new leadership. a lot of issues that need to be resolved, but certainly the view here is thatjoe biden are some on the german government can deal with. one of those challenges damien mentioned was the relationship between the us and china. eu and china relations as well. tensions between china and the us have been mounting on issues of trade, security and covid. our correspondent robin brant has said so far the chinese leadership remains silent on the issue.

no, and that's mainly because, as we have just been discussing, this remains a slightly contentious election, certainly as far as donald trump sees it, and protocol reigns supreme here in this country. so i think we are unlikely to get anything officialfrom the beijing government, certainly today. it may even be a few days. we haven't even seen anything from state media either, which is often used as a conduit for the government's semi—official view. so at the moment, no, nothing. i think when the words come, the language won't be anything new. expect talk of a win—win relationship, peaceful coexistence, maybe even talk ofjoining hands to fight the virus. none of that will be new. i think the most important thing, and, look, this is the relationship that will define the future

of the world, frankly, the us and china, this rising power, the world's number two economy. going forward there is not going to be a sudden, substantial about turn from a biden administration when it comes to the trade war, which is the big issue of confrontation between these two countries at the moment. us diplomats, in the run—up to this week, have said as much, speaking in private to people like me. joe biden has talked of consulting allies when it comes to the raft of tariffs imposed on chinese imports. that's been the most used tool by donald trump's administration, but that's as far as he has gone in terms of any sudden about turn on those tariffs. in the middle east, president trump back to talks with the taliban, and picked the iran nuclear deal. we can go to lyse doucet, who is in afghanistan. do we expect any particular change in afghanistan policy? i think all afghans and indeed all americans know it is time for the united states to end what is now its longest war, so the commentary we are seeing here today, or in public, we have heard from president ghani and other senior leaders talk about strengthening and deepening relationship, but we know at some point in the very near

future the united states will want to ta ke future the united states will want to take out most of the last of its a500 troops, and nato forces will follow suit. i think what they are expecting is a change in tone and a change in process. there was criticism here, particularly among members of the government that president trump's administration, including his envoy got too close to the taliban. people will be watching to see if that envoy will be kept in hisjob or will somebody to see if that envoy will be kept in his job or will somebody new would be asked to take over the process. credit has to be given to the president trump administration for reaching a deal with the taliban in february, which led to the launching of talks which, even though they have now stalled in the gulf state of qatar between the afghan government and the taliban, they at least got under way. not a major change in policy but certainly of expectation of a change in process.

perhaps we will have to wait and see. greater emphasis on the importance of human rights and on the taliban keeping their promises when it comes to changing or ending their relationship with extremist groups like al-qaeda. and what about iran? what would it take for the us to rejoin the iran nuclear deal? president—elect biden made clear during his campaign that he wants to rejoin what's called thejc poa that president trump pulled out of unilaterally in 2018. he and his advisers know and some of its advisers have worked very closely on negotiations with iran, iran will be expected to come back to its commitments in the steel because it has been moving away from them. again we are expecting to see a change in tone, greater emphasis on

diplomacy and it should be pointed out that iranians watched every step of this election, of the counting, almost as closely, perhaps even more closely some say, than the united states, because they know the huge impact this would have on their future and on social media today they are running an old video of the foreign minister of iran talking about how he had good relations with president—elect biden when he was a senator. and before we let you go, you have travelled the world, and america's reputation has plunged during president trump's time in office. do you see and speak to people who believe it can be repaired byjoe biden? people who believe it can be repaired by joe biden?” people who believe it can be repaired by joe biden? i think this was in the reckoning for the rest of the world, that theyjust can't rely on america in the way they did before. they are welcoming the return to what they hope will be multilateralism, but they have also had a very sharp rebuke and they

know america has changed. some of america will be back, but some of america will be back, but some of america will be back, but some of america will have changed for ever. lyse doucet, thank you forjoining us lyse doucet, thank you forjoining us from kabul. see you soon. well, it's been pretty grey and drizzly out there today. the rain's also been quite heavy, for example, in northern ireland and it looks as though it's going to stay like it through most of the day across much of the country. but the weather will improve somewhat a little bit later on in south—western parts of england, wales and also northern ireland and the reason for it is because the weather front is starting to clear these areas here. see this gap in the cloud here? the clearer weather is just starting to filter into south—western parts of england. just like yesterday, also this weather front has brought very mild air, in fact it's coming all the way from the mediterranean and spain. the air has been moving across france northwards and spreading right across the country so i know if you look out of the window it may look really unpleasant,

grey and drizzly, but it's actually quite mild out there. the temperatures this afternoon will probably peak at around about 16 degrees, 15 or 16 degrees in the south of the country and really double figures right across the board. look at that, belfast at around 1a. so that's way above the average. now let's have a look at the forecast for this evening and overnight — not an awful lot changes. again, a lot of cloud across the uk. bits and pieces of rain into tomorrow as well. you can see showers developing by the end of the night across the south. and these are the overnight lows, so double figures across a large part of the country, just about dipping to 8 degrees there maybe in the lowlands of scotland. here's the weather map for monday and another weather front moving in across south—western parts of the country. so i think here, right from the morning onwards, a good chance of running into some showers, some of them could be heavy. the best chance of some bright, if not sunny weather, at least for a time, is across parts of scotland, maybe aberdeenshire here as well, around inverness there could be some sunshine around. but look at the temperature —

16 in the south, 1a in liverpool, 1a in belfast and double figures as far north as ourfriends in lerwick. now into next week, so monday, tuesday and wednesday we're expecting by wednesday this weather front to move in. you can see some more substantial rain there sweeping across ireland, moving into parts of wales and other areas of england and scotland. so western areas, i think western areas on wednesday will have at times, gale force winds around coasts and also outbreaks of rain. that's it from me. bye.

hello this is bbc news with lucy hockings.

the headlines: joe biden says his win in the american election is a convincing victory for "the people" and promises to unite and heal the country. we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies, they are not our enemies, they are americans. the victory for mr biden and his running mate, kamala harris, who will make history by becoming the first female vice president, sparked nationwide celebrations among democrat supporters. donald trump has not conceded — the white house said he would accept the results of a fair election.