this is bbc news, i'm tim willcox with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. greenlight for president—elect joe biden as transition process is finally given the go—ahead. the trump administration say they are ready to begin the formal transition process, and his team would do what needs to be done in the best interest of the county. and the president—elect‘s team says the process will begin with meetings on a response to the pandemic and national security issues.

hello, welcome to bbc news. we start with our breaking news: a key us government body, the general services administration, says joe biden‘s transition as president—elect can formally begin. donald trump has tweeted saying that in the best interests of the united states he's told his team to co—operate with protocols. mr biden‘s team will now begin meeting with government officials to discuss the pandemic response and other issues. let's head to washington now and speak with our correspondent, nomia iqbal. this court, some white house staffers i think by surprise —— this caught. what was the catalyst? it's interesting, when we were talking about an hour ago, asked me if donald

trump would concede? i think this is the closest will get to him conceding, though he's not gone all the way. i think people had been waiting for this moment to happen, and it probably should have happened a lot sooner. but he's not tweeted for a day, but he has thanked emily mercy at the gsa, she's been a key in all this, she's been a key in all this, she heads up the gsa, and she had been criticised for not signing a document which releases millions of taxpayer funds for all kinds of things, for office space, intelligence briefings for that transition to begin. usually that document and signed a lot earlier on, it's been two weeks. i have a letter by the gsa who have confirmed that the transition will begin. donald trump has tweeted saying she's been harassed, threatened and abused, and he did not want to see this happen to her, but the

case strongly continues — which i think it suggests donald trump is not conceding any time soon, and he still believes he can overturn the election win. the letter itself is very interesting because emily murphy goes on to say she didn't receive any direction on releasing this statement, that it was of her own volition. but she doesn't refer tojoe biden as the president—elect in this letter, she refers to him as mr biden. i wonder if donald trump realised that he was swimming against the tide with the latest news from michigan? that's right, michigan has certified forjoe biden. and the whole process was something that donald trump had tried to directly intervene in. he backed a few of the republican officials there who had been making false noise about the integrity of the vote. he had invited some of the legislative state leaders to the white house last week — and the

reports are that he had certainly tried to pressure them into overturning the vote. but michigan has certified for joe biden, delivering him a state that donald trump had wrestled away from the democrats four years ago. but the trump legal team did release a statement straight afterwards, saying that certification is just a procedural step, and the fight continues. going back to the gsa announcement, which is our breaking news in the last few minutes, this will allow $6 million to be released to the biden team — and crucially it will give them access to briefings in terms of national security and what else? that's exactly right. it's up to about $10 million, and as i mentioned, it's taxpayer—funded. as we saw in a statement by the biden — harris transition team, this allows them to get access to — we talk

about office space, intelligence briefings, the information they need to control the pandemic, they'll be able to meet officials to discuss the pandemic response, and also look at lots of national security interests. it's been a real hold up for them. in fact, joe biden and kamala harris had tweeted just in recent days to the american public to help fund the transition. it got to that stage that it was essentially a go fund me to help them. but 110w go fund me to help them. but now there is a break there and it seems the transition will begin. how much criticism has murphy faced? because she was appointed by donald trump three yea rs appointed by donald trump three years ago? yes, it's fair to say she is a trump loyalist, and the weight trump has tweeted about her suggests that as well. there's lots of criticism over her, lots of people saying that she was basically not being patriotic. and she had been trending a lot

on social media as well, there's been lots of attack ads done against her certainly by republicans who do not like donald trump. so i think it is fairto donald trump. so i think it is fair to say that she has come under a huge amount of criticism. but those who have been criticising her are saying that she's not been doing her job. you know, herjob is quite straightforward and procedural, she shouldn't really be showing loyalty to a president, but should be showing loyalty to a country by signing this document which she should have done a lot earlier. but as she has said in the letter, and it's interesting because in the letter she still shows that loyalty — she claims she has not been pressured into any of this, that she has decided to sign this letter a lot earlier than planned, which is interesting, in orderfor that transition to begin. just one last question, because in one of the later tweets from donald trump, he says, "our case strongly continues." he recommends that emily murphy do

what needs to be done. what else does an outgoing president need to do formally alongside the gsa, which the trump administration hasn't done yet? he needs to say, "congratulations, joe biden." that's what he really needs to do and concede that he didn't win the election will stop also, if you think back to 2016, by this time barack obama had invited donald trump back to the white house. in fact, from's when had been a projection, michelle obama met with the first lady. i'm not sure if they will happen, but who knows. that would be the next step to officially recognised joe biden as the president—elect. recognised joe biden as the president-elect. thank you very much for that update. from orlando, florida, i'm joined byjulia manchester — a political reporter for the news website the hill. nice to speak to you again.

were you expecting it now?m was a bit of a surprise, we had a feeling it was coming. we heard in michigan today that those results were certified. we heard last week that in georgia, after a recount, those election results were certified. in a lot of these swing states, you saw a lot of the state parties saying, "look, joe biden had a clear majority of votes and we are going to move ahead." and we saw that with a number of these legal challenges from the trump legal challenges from the trump legal team. they were getting denied and turned on their face. they simply did not have a lot of leg to stand on. and last week, we saw that trump's attorney, rudy giuliani, gave up attorney, rudy giuliani, gave up press conference in which a number of false accusations and claims were made. he saw that the trump campaign distance itself from sidney powell, an attorney at the press conference. for donald trump, this entire situation wasn't a

good look and there wasn't much he could do any more. so we'll be looking forward to really seeing what happens next. does trump invite biden to the white house? does he have a meeting with him? house? does he have a meeting with him ? does house? does he have a meeting with him? does the first lady oi’ with him? does the first lady or doctorjill biden reach out to each other? will be see more coordination? i would assume so, but i think we'll wonder. donald trump's codecs have said it's not been a good look ever since the election, really. —— critics. what sort of criticism has the head of the gsa, this trump appointed emily murphy, come under? and what reasons was she using to refuse to release the funds to the democrats who had been pushing herfor this? democrats who had been pushing her for this? yes, well essentially she was criticised for acting in a partisan manner, for being under pressure from donald trump not to certify these election results, despite the fact that four years ago and shortly after donald trump was

projected to be the winner of the 2016 election by a similar margin to hillary clinton, against hillary clinton, we saw that the gsa very shortly after that the gsa very shortly after that certified those election results. so it definitely looked like it was very partisan. we also saw that she kept on delaying as the trump campaign push forward with these legal challenges, citing fraud, of which we know there is no evidence for widespread voter fraud is no evidence for widespread voterfraud in the united states. so it essentially looked like she was partisan, but the position she is and should not be a partisan position. there's been a fallout within the president's personal legal team, as well. what is left on that front? because as we were saying to oui’ because as we were saying to our correspondent in washington, donald trump said that the fight continues, "our case strongly continues. we will keep up the good fight."|j think that we was very cryptic because, as i said before, a lot of these legal challenges

weren't standing up in a number of states, and there simply isn't enough evidence for widespread voterfraud here in the united states. not enough evidence to convince anyone that there was enough fraud to overturn the election in favour of someone. so i think that's definitely a struggle that donald trump will face if he wa nts to donald trump will face if he wants to continue to claim voterfraud. we don't wants to continue to claim voter fraud. we don't know what he will do after this, though, and we don't really know what the fight continues means. he talks about his own political movement that started in the summer of 2015 — does he turn that into a media empire? does he consider another run in 2024? i he consider another run in 2024? i highly he consider another run in 202a? i highly doubt that. so i think his legal team is clearly not as strong as it once was, and it does appear to be in shambles, and their cases appear to be shambles, and their cases appearto be in shambles, and their cases appear to be in shambles. so we don't really know where they go from here because right now, the trump administration has to turn their directions to transitioning to a joe biden administration. the fact that

this is happening in the backdrop of a global pandemic here in the united states, where we are seeing a surgeon coronavirus cases — there needs to be some coordination to slow the spread and figure out how to move forward. what the election did show is that donald trump is still hugely popular and powerful within republican voters right around the country. and just looking ahead of the transition and what donald trump is doing now, how potent are his political appointments and policy directives, which he is trying to force through at the moment i had of inauguration day? and will that cause problems, do you think, for president—elect joe biden when eventually he does take office? it's very potent. donald trump, depending on what he does with the coronavirus pandemic or if he continues to not do much of anything with the coronavirus pandemic, we haven't heard mr

trump makea pandemic, we haven't heard mr trump make a public statement oi’ trump make a public statement or enforce any mandates and such — that'll have a huge impact on howjoe biden handles the coronavirus pandemic. the situations happening in the middle east, on the eastern pa rt middle east, on the eastern part of the world, whether it's trump pulling troops from afghanistan and iraq, of course that'll affect the biden strategy going forward. so the biden transition team will be very closely paying attention to what trump is doing. but i would turn our election to another —— attention to another election that'll be taking place in the swing state of georgia — two senate races going into runoff, and they will determine the balance of power in the united state senate. and donald trump, while he lost georgia, he didn't lose it by that much. it was a very tight race dashed united states senate. so i would assume that the two incumbent republican senators might lean on donald trump in that case, because trump in that case, because trump is still relatively

popular in that part of the country. and we've seen trump even say that he would consider going and campaigning in georgia. so we can definitely see him potentially flexing his political muscles down there. julia, good to speak to you, thanks forjoining us. a reminder of the breaking news, the gsa has informed joe biden that it the gsa has informed joe biden thatitis the gsa has informed joe biden that it is ready to begin full transition, and donald trump has tweeted that he recommended the initial protocols. emily murphy, who was the embattled trump appointee who held off declaring a banner for 20 trump appointee who held off declaring a bannerfor 20 days, declared joe biden the victor ina declared joe biden the victor in a letter which is now been published. we can now speak to us political commentator and journalist max kutner, he joins us from new york. many people thought this day should have, a few days ago.

what was the tipping point now? well the tipping point could have been michigan, which has 110w have been michigan, which has now certified the votes. and really it's just one thing after another. emily murphy, the gsa administrator, said there are a few different things she was looking for to help making that decision. and i think the certification did that. but this is a bit of a surprise, the gsa and this administrator had been an ally of trump by virtue of different things we've seen in the past. we've seen this administrator go to bat for the trump administration when it came to the fbi headquarters. donald trump of course, the trump administration has a long—term lease on its washington, dc hotel from the gsa. so there's this weird relationship between trump in the gsa. it's not surprising given that that she held out this long. but

a p pa re ntly held out this long. but apparently she couldn't hold out any longer as these different states kept certifying the results. and as the lawsuits of the trump campaign did not seem to be successful. donald trump has authorised the transition, but he's avoided the word concede. yes, that's right. and i think, given everything we know about donald trump, what he was like asa donald trump, what he was like as a businessman for decades, what he was like in the years before this, i don't think he'll ever give the concession speech that we are used to in american politics. i think perhaps for years to come, he will be saying that he won, this was a hoax, and the question is how many people will continue to read his tweets and believe it when he is no longer occupying the white house? the second president, i was reading, of the united states refused to attend the inauguration of the third and left town to avoid

that. so this wouldn't be unprecedented. certainly in modern times, it would. at one can even picture donald trump attending this inauguration — given how bitter the last presidential election in the us was, hillary clinton still did attend. but when one pictures donald trump, one can't even picture him attending. time will tell if he does. his whole narrative throughout his 50 year career has been that he never loses, he's a winner, eve ryo ne never loses, he's a winner, everyone else's losers — so this really blows up that narrative. trump has no playbook for this, his only playbook for this, his only playbook was to try and litigate his way to a second term. but with each passing day, it seems like that is not going to happen. so this is uncharted waters for trump, and who knows if you will attend the inauguration. $6 million to be used on what? the gsa gives

office space to the transition, it helps in various ways and gives different resources. this is something that happens throughout all the presidential transitions. obviously it's a little bit awkward when it's one party giving it to the other, but this is how it has worked in american politics ever since those rules were set up. and i wasjust ever since those rules were set up. and i was just asking ever since those rules were set up. and i wasjust asking julia about the appointments that donald trump is trying to push through now and some of the policies, as well — how problematic will that be for joe biden when he does take over? some of the appointments could be problematic, things like judges, could be problematic, things likejudges, judicial nominations — those are long—term nominees. but if donald trump were to put forward , donald trump were to put forward, say, the heads of different agencies, those are the things that won't really matter because generally all of those people will leave as biden dominates his own people.

and indeed, biden is wasting no time in announcing his nomination stash nominates his own people. we heard rumours of his treasury announcement, which should come in the coming days. so he's wasting no time on that. and in terms of policy, if donald trump puts forward executive orders as he's been doing over the years, and all presidents can do, those can be very easily undone by another president's executive order. so they aren't terribly problematic. that said, there are now something like only two months left in this administration, so it'll be difficult for him to get done what he wants to do. max, good to speak to you. the asian financial markets have already reacted to news that the transition is under way — the bbc‘s sharanjit leyl is in singapore for us. how much? well, yeah, japan's nikkei is the benchmark index

there, it has opened up 1.9% on that news after trump agreed to that news after trump agreed to that transition aid. it is something they've been watching for, of course, because markets have pretty much been in a holding pattern. we know markets hate uncertainty and the fact that donald trump had not conceded to the president—electjoe biden was certainly one of those uncertainties. so it obviously seems like the traders and investors here do like the news they are hearing. we also saw wall street higher yesterday partly driven by the news that the former fed chairwoman, janet yellen, would likely be joe biden's nominee for treasury secretary, making her the first female treasury secretary. so the fact that when things are progressing when things are progressing when it comes to the next administration, it is something the index likes here in asia. yes, because certainty is what

drives markets, but it's also worth pointing out that a lot of markets are pleased that it seems the senate will be controlled by the republicans, and a lot of the more drastic tax raising and perhaps more demanding taxes and regulations on business will be stymied. yeah, absolutely. that's the sense we get from various a nalysts, sense we get from various analysts, we've been talking to about the notion of concerns around a democratic president, the left—leaning elements within the democratic party perhaps won't be the focus here, that markets will continue to benefit from all of the liquidity we've seen. obviously there's been a lot of stimulus plans in place and expectations are they'll be a lot more stimulus spending to try to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the impact it's having on the

american economy. in fact, the economies of many countries around the world, america being the role's largest economy. what happens there certainly influences the rest of the world, including here in asia. that phrase that when america sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold is certainly true. but of course, we do actually have a legitimate pandemic that is really impacting economies everywhere. so this news will certainly be very much welcomed, and that's what we're seeing with the markets. the nikkei has only openin markets. the nikkei has only open in the last 20 minutes or so, and we are seeing a huge rise as a result. thank you very much. our reporter paul hawkins is with me. so since this news broke 35 minutes ago, what sort of reaction has there been? well, interestingly, we've been hearing from republican senator bill cassidy, louisiana senator, who's tweeted with

michigan certifying its results, joe biden has over 270 electoral college votes. donald trump is back legal team has not presented evidence of mass fraud which could have had to be present to overturn the election. i voted for mr trump, butjoe biden one. so it seems like the kind of floodwaters we re like the kind of floodwaters were breaking there, there is a significant but small number of republican senators, and now they're just going to go for it and break ranks. including people who supported donald trump in previous campaigns. chris christie has been instrumental, he's already come out and said that as well. do you agree that basically the game is up? pencil vania, michigan — it wasn't going to work in terms of those challenges, he had to —— pennsylvania. he had to at some point. and will be talking about the incoming biden administration having access to that $6 million, having office space and now being able to have a smooth transition

process that you normally get with hand over some powers following the election. the one thing that will be really key is thatjoe biden will now get access to the intelligence briefings, and that'll help him plan for the coronavirus vaccine which, up until now, he said because he hasn't been able to access those intelligent briefings, lives could be lost. —— intelligence briefings. $6 million released —dowe briefings. $6 million released — do we know if this head of the gsa has ever been as illegal as this? because emily murphy was appointed as a trump appointee back in 2017. no, we never really care about the gsa normally, there in the background doing bureaucratic stuff —— hear about. when one tea m stuff —— hear about. when one team hands over to another, but the letter that has come from emily murphy is extraordinary. "i came to my decision independently. i was never pressured by any executive branch official." which seems

to... with regards to initial protocols and have told my team to do the same." before that we had a whole day in washington of no tweets, nothing from donald trump, now suddenly we get this. one would speculate he knew this was coming, so he wa nted he knew this was coming, so he wanted to be seen as may be massaging the process. paul, thank you very much. that is oui’ thank you very much. that is our breaking news in the past 30 minutes or so, the gsa, the general service administration, has informed joe biden that is ready to begin formal transition. donald trump is tweeted that he recommended the initial protocols. plenty more on this on bbc news over the next few hours. no concession though, in terms of a tweet from donald trump yet. but the transition process is now under way for the administration of president—electjoe biden and his team ahead of inauguration

day on 20 january. from me and the team, goodbye. hello there. monday was really quite a chilly day, particularly so across central and eastern england, where temperatures quite widely only got to around 7—8 celsius — just six there in north yorkshire. but one of the things that brings us the biggest temperature rises this time of year are warm fronts. and we've had one of those across the country, south—westerly winds have been following, and hour by hour we've seen those temperatures rise recently — such that by the time we get to tuesday, 6am, those temperatures will be far higher than the highest temperatures we had all day yesterday, at around 10—11 celsius quite widely. so milder air is on the way, south—westerly winds to thank for that. but we'll also have this weather front which will be one of these slow—moving weather fronts — it's bringing rain at the moment in northern ireland and scotland, and it will continue to rain for these areas through much of the day

on tuesday, as well. now further southwards and eastward across england and wales, it'll be a mild start to the day, with temperatures 10—12 celsius in places. quite a brisk south—westerly wind, some low cloud over the high grounds, some mist and fog patches higher up, a bit of drizzle around as well. but as we go through tuesday morning, i think the cloud may well break up at times across england. the best chance of that probably in the morning, really, across east anglia and south east england. otherwise, probably keeping the cloud through most of the day for most areas. and the rain continues to come down for northern ireland and scotland. whether you see sun or cloud, temperatures around 11—13 celsius — a little bit cooler in the far northwest of the uk. that colder air is behind this cold front sinking southwards over the next few days. as it pulls away, we will get that colder air lingering around the uk for much of the rest of the week. so here's the chart for wednesday — here's our cold front, bringing clouds, still a bit of rain moving southwards and eastwards into east anglia, southeast england, a few showers for scotland

and northern ireland, it may be 1—2 sneaking down the irish sea, as well. you notice those temperatures cooling off — highs more typically around 8—9 celsius for northern areas, still around 11—12 celsius in the far southeast. the pressure then rises, giving us clear skies there wednesday night. there'll be a frost with high pressure around towards the end of the week. lots of dry weather with mist and fog patches in the morning, a few patches of frost, but it's a mostly dry picture, perhaps generally turning a bit more cloudy as we head into the weekend. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines. we start with our breaking news: a key us government body — the general services administration — says joe biden's transition as president—elect can formally begin. donald trump has tweeted saying that in the best interests of the united states he's told his team to cooperate with protocols. mr biden's team will now begin meeting with government officials to discuss the pandemic response and other issues. let's head to washington now and speak with out correspondent nomia iqbal. this came as a surprise, i think. do we know what is actually making a difference, what has tip to hear? we are not sure, but you are right, the transition team from the american news networks, as it was happening. —— we heard about. this is a gilding of the reality that donald trump lost the election. if the first step

the election. if the first step the initiation