this is bbc news — i'm laura trevelyan — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. democracy unbowed — after a day of chaos on capitol hill — america's lawmakers get back to work. the lawmakers get back to work. violence was quelled the the violence was quelled stop the capitol is secured and the people's work continues. we will not be out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. this president bears a great deal of the blame. this mob was, in good part, resident tromp's doing. —— president tromp's

doing. business was suspended — and the building evacuated — after supporters of donald trump stormed congress. they were trying to stop the confirmation ofjoe biden‘s election victory. one person was shot — police confirm she's now died. the president—elect condemned the scenes in washington, saying they were unacceptable and un—american. this is not dissent. it's disorder. it's chaos. it borders on sedition. this is the scene live in washington where a curfew is now in effect. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. in the past hour the us congress has recovened its joint session to certify the victory of president—elect joe biden in november's election.

at least one senator — kelly loeffler of georgia — has rescinded her objection to the certification of electors. loeffler has lost her bid for re—election, and with it control of the senate. all that follows a day of extraordinary scenes on capitol hill here in washington dc, where hundreds of trump supporters stormed congress, breaking into the senate chamber and the office of the house speaker. speaking as he reconvened the congressional session to certify america's november election result, the us vice—president mike pence condemned those who stormed the capitol building. today was a dark day in the history of the us capitol. but thanks to swift action the violence was quelled. the capitol is secured and the people's work continues. we condemn the violence that took place here

in the strongest possible terms. we grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls. as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our capitol today. and we will always be grateful to the men and women who stayed at their post to defend this historic place. to those who wreaked havoc in our capitol today, you did not win. violence never wins. freedom wins. and this is still the people's house. and as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy. for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism of this capital,

the elected representatives of the people of the united states have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the constitution of the united states. so may god bless the lost, the injured and the heroes forged on this day. may god bless all who serve here and those who protect this place. and may god bless states of america. let's get back to work. let's go live now to the joint session where nancy pelosi is on the floor. but little could we have imagined the assault that was made on our democracy today. to those who strove to

tear us from our responsibility, you have failed. to those who engaged in the gleeful desecration of this, our temple of democracy, american democracy, justice will be done. today, january six, is the feast of the epiphany. on this day of revelation, let us pray that this instigation to violence will provide an epiphany for oui’ will provide an epiphany for our country to heal. and in that spirit of healing i invoke the song of saint francis, the patron saint of my city of san francisco, and the son of saint francisco, and the son of saint francis is our and some. lord, make mea francis is our and some. lord, make me a channel of thy peace. where there is darkness may i bring light, where there is hatred, let us bring love, where there is despair, let us bring hope. we know that we

would be part of history in a positive way today, every four yea rs, positive way today, every four years, when we demonstrate the peaceful tra nsfer of years, when we demonstrate the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next and despite the shameful actions of today we still will do so. we will be part of a history that shows the world that what america is made of, that this assault, this assault is just that. it shows the weakness of those who had to show through violence what their message was. my colleagues, it is time to move on. we have a flag of

oui’ to move on. we have a flag of our country, a flag of the united states of america and on it it says one country, one destiny. one country, one destiny. one country, one destiny. written on the flag. that was also what was embroidered in abraham lincoln's code that he had on that fateful night. lincoln's party, lincoln's message, one country, one destiny. on this holy day of epiphany, let us pray. i am a big holy day of epiphany, let us pray. iam a big believer holy day of epiphany, let us pray. i am a big believer in prayer. let us pray that there will be peace on earth and that it will begin with us. let us pray that god will continue to bless america. and with that, let us proceed with our

responsibilities to the constitution to which we have just, within 72 hours, taken the oath to uphold. the gentleman from maryland. madame speaker i rise in opposition to the objection. you are recognised for five minutes. madam speaker, it is a sad day in america. and that was the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi there, reflecting on what has happened, saying that we know we live in difficult times but we never would have imagined what we saw today. our correspondent lebo diseko was inside the capitol building when security officials ordered her to stop broadcasting and move to a safer area. she's been there ever since — and shejoins me now. what a day you have had their witnessing history. are you getting a sense tonight as you listen to republicans speaking as they reconvene to certify

the election victory ofjoe biden, after everything that has happened, that those people who are planning to object are backing down? we heard kelly loeffler, the senator, the former senator from georgia who had been fighting a senate run—off and had planned tojoin up run—off and had planned tojoin up with a member of the house of representatives and object to the results of the election in her state, she did not do that. she opted not to do that and rescinded her objection. we also heard from another senator who had joined up with ted cruz and ii senators that were going to object with him saying that, look, the commission that we had been hoping to achieve to look at the election results is not going to happen. i cannot say... it has been such a day off twists and turns, i hesitate to make any huge predictions about what may

happen next. we have heard some people, some lawmakers still reading out their objection but whether it will actually come to anything, i do not know. we do expect the house of representatives to continue with the discussion that they we re with the discussion that they were having about the arizona election results but whether there will be any more objections after that, we do not know. it has been quite an incredible day. we must keep saying that a woman died. it is incredible, very sad that somebody would have lost their life and, basically, in the heart of american democracy, in the seat of power, because of the seat of power, because of the violence that took place. as we speak to you tonight we are hearing, it has been reported by our partner, cbs, that the number of cabinet members even discussing this evening are discussing invoking the 25th amendment which would initially mean that donald

trump could be removed from power for trump could be removed from powerfor a period of trump could be removed from power for a period of four trump could be removed from powerfor a period of four days and then he can appeal that and then there would be a further step that may take place but we are two weeks before the inauguration so it is quite a way, if it does happen, to finish once term in office. doesn't that just show how the mood in washington has com pletely mood in washington has completely shifted because of what you witnessed there today. the fact that members of the trump cadman are talking about invoking the 25th amendment and according to reporting by cbs news, the 25th amendment is invoked if the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. the fa ct and duties of his office. the fact that he encouraged his supporters to march on the capital today and it led to what we witnessed, it has transformed the mood in washington, hasn't it? yes. it was really interesting to me, the fact that the session is taking place as had been

planned. lawmakers from the house and the senate seemed quite defiant, a defiant stunt. you will not stop us doing our job. a number of them said that and we heard mitch mcconnell, the leader of the republicans in the senate saying that the protesters had basically tried to subvert democracy and he was not going to have it. similarly nancy pelosi, they are not often on the same page but they we re often on the same page but they were when it came to completing thejob at were when it came to completing the job at hand which was, or is, to certify the election results. so we do not know how long it is going to take that they are determined not to go home until that is done tonight. our reporter thereon capitol hill after a long day for us. thank you very much. the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said that the events in washington would not have happened without president trump and he was squarely to blame.

but make no mistake, make no mistake my friends, today's events did not happen spontaneously. the president who promoted conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the president who exhorted them to come to our nation's capital, and give them on, he hardly ever discourages violence, and more often encourages it. this president bears a great deal of the blame. this mob was in good part president trump's doing, incited by his words, his lies. this violence, in good part — his responsibility, his everlasting shame. today's events, certainly, certainly would not have happened without him. january 6th will go down as one of the darkest days in recent american history, a final warning to our nation

about the consequences of a demagogic president, the people who enable him, the captive media that parrots his lies, and the people who follow him as he attempts to push america to the brink of ruin. as we reconvene tonight, let us remember in the end, all this mob has really accomplished is to delay our work by a few hours. we will resume our responsibilities now and we will finish our task tonight. the house and senate chambers will be restored, good as new, and ready for legislating in short order. the counting of the electoral votes is our sacred duty, and democracy‘s roots in this nation are deep, they are strong, and they will not be undone, ever, by a group of thugs. democracy will triumph,

as it has for centuries. so to my fellow americans, who are shocked and appalled by the images on their televisions today, and who are worried about the future of this country, let me speak to you directly. divisions in our country clearly deep. but we are a resilient, forward—looking and optimistic people, and we will begin the hard work of repairing this nation tonight, because here in america, we do hard things, in america, we always overcome our challenges. i yield the floor. anything anthony zurcher is our senior north america reporter and hejoins me now. clearly, the political mood in washington has been completely

transformed, internode, are seeing republicans who are objecting to joe biden‘s victory, now dropping those rejections are. that is what we're seeing on the floor of the senate, although the debate in the senate right now it and the house of representatives are continuing on to the counting of arizona's electoral votes, and the big question to watch as the evening procedures whether once this discussion over arizona concludes, and the house of representatives and the senate and they go to have their vote to confirm arizona and go back to a joint session, whether any new objections are provided, whether the republicans really do want to stretch these proceedings out, well into the evening. nancy pelosi said just recently, nobody was going home until this is over, so she seemed determine to push the house of representatives at least to conclude this tonight, and it's just a question of whether the republicans have the stomach for it. what about the position

of the president himself, who urged his supporters to march on capitol hill, and look at what has happened. our partners cbs news reporting that the trump cabinet secretaries are discussing invoking the 25th amendment to potentially remove president trump from office, and he only has two weeks left what you make of reporting? that would be astounding, and i'm not surprised that they are conversations among certain members of the cabinet, it would be a remarkable, unprecedented step for a majority of the cabinet, a number of which you have to remember, are only individuals who are working in an active capacity, they are not senate confirmed cabinet members, homeland security department, the justice department, homeland security department, thejustice department, so i think you will see, it will be a real challenge to separate the majority there and get mike pence to sign off on this as well. i think what you may see

and what we are already seeing oui’ and what we are already seeing our senior administration officials beginning to tender their resignations. we saw one, their resignations. we saw one, the chief of staff, for first lady melania trump, she recently resigned, a press secretary has resigned, so there are reports that this is just the beginning. with only two weeks left in the trump presidency, now we will begin to see the people who are remaining taking a stand with what little time they have left. anthony thank you and we we re left. anthony thank you and we were just listening to senator josh hawley, the republican of missouri who is leading the objections to thejoe biden victory. interstate that i have been focused on, objected to as an an example of why people are concerned about our election integrity, to say that pennsylvania, quite apart from allegations of any fraud, you have a state constitution that has been interpreted for over a century to say there is no meal in balloting permitted except

for in very narrow circumstances that also provided for in the law, and yet last year, pennsylvania elected officials passed a whole new law that allows universal male in balloting, and did it, regardless of what the pennsylvania constitution said, and then went pennsylvania citizens trying to go and be heard on this subject before the pennsylvania supreme court, they were dismissed on grounds of procedure, timeliness, in violation of that supreme courtmakoun president, so the merits of the case had never been heard, the constitution has never been defended, i'm not aware of any court that has passed on constitutionality, and this is the statute that governs this la st the statute that governs this last election in which over 2.5 million mail—in ballots happened in pennsylvania. this is my point, this is the forum, the pennsylvania supreme court has not heard the case, there is no other court to hear the case in the state so this is

the appropriate place for these concerns to be raised, it which is why i have raised them here today and i hope that this body will not miss the opportunity to take affirmative action to address the concerns of so many millions of americans, to say to millions of americans denied that violence is never warranted, violence will not be tolerated, those that engage in it will be prosecuted, but that this body will act to address the concerns of all americans across the country. we do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud, a way forward together, we need election security reforms. i bet my friends on the other side of the ir don't disagree with that. we need to find a way forward together, so the american people can have confidence in their elections and that we can arrange ourselves under the rule of law that we share together. i yield the floor. that was senator josh hawley of missouri, he is one of the republican trump

loyalists who still is talking about his objections to this election. let's bring in now anthony's. what did you make of that line that he was trying to walk, condemning the violence but raising objections to the election? it will be a difficult one for him to hold. there is video of him after walking around the capital before the trump protesters storm dead, pumping his fist at them, andi storm dead, pumping his fist at them, and i think that video will be used against him, and juxtaposed on the video of trump juxtaposed on the video of tru m p protesters juxtaposed on the video of trump protesters inside breaking windows, and confronting police. he is still a p pa re ntly confronting police. he is still apparently going to continue to try to challenge the election results, even though it will not overturn the election. but it is jarring to hear him talking like this now after everything that has happened today. this has been the most extraordinary day in washington, in which so much

has happened. you are a veteran political reporter. what do you make of the significance of what you have witnessed? it is astounding. having covered capitol hill for decades, having walked to those very hallways, we saw the rioters running through them, i never thought we would see something like this happen, so i am still trying to process it personally, sitting here in arlington, virginia under cu rfew arlington, virginia under curfew because of what happened on capitol hill. it is going to bea on capitol hill. it is going to be a day that in chuck schumer‘s words, americans will not forget easily. i think this could change the way the republican party looks at donald trump going forward, his power within the party, it was already starting to wane, you are already seeing republican officeholders like mitch mcconnell start to distance themselves a bit from donald trump, buti themselves a bit from donald trump, but i think you may, once donald trump exit the

presidency, see a concerted effort by republican leaders to try to move conservatism, move the republican party in a different direction. what does it mean forjoe biden‘s presidency, the fact that a significant minority feel so angry about the results of an election which they have been told was stolen from them, that they resorted to political violence? how does he try to unify the country in the wake of this? joe biden knew he was going to have to deal with this angen going to have to deal with this anger, despite the incidence today, it has been clear for quite some time that there is a core base of donald trump support that was not going to seejoe biden as a legitimate president, that was going to resent his election, and was going to labour to try to undermine his presidency. i thinkjoe biden, honestly, he is fairly well positioned to try to serve as a unite, he is a fairly compassionate man, he isa a fairly compassionate man, he is a personal man speaking

about pain and loss in bringing people together, and he ran as a conciliator, someone wanted to heal the nation's wounds. definitely will get that test as president, but he has never been a particularly confrontational politician, certainly not in his latter few decades in public office, so he has a large task ahead of him, but one way of looking at this, this may lance the boil that has been growing in the united states and allow not onlyjoe biden, but the rest of the country to address what is going on here, and try to take steps to heal these wounds. anthony, our senior north american correspondent, thank you so much for that analysis after a tumultuous day. let's recap that day, the invasion of the capital building by supporters of president trump. this is the moment they pushed past security officials on the steps. it seems some pepper

spray or other substance may have been used to. some of the group at the front eye wearing masks, there are no weapons apparent, and the security officials on the steps don't appear to be reaching for any weapons either. however, when it becomes clear that they cannot hold back the advancing protesters, they begin to give way. a few minutes later, riot police try to make their way through the crowd to reinforce the security teams inside. they are wearing full protective gear, but don't appear to be using weapons. the protesters eventually made their way right into the very heart of the building. here they are inside one of the main lobby areas, the world—renowned capital rotunda. inks to note, no weapons on display, no threats of violence, but also, no security officials present, nor any attempt to make them leave. those were the extraordinary scenes here in washington, dc today when supporters stormed the capitol building, when a woman lost her life and circumstances which are still

unclear, but tonight congress has resumed its business and it is certifying the election of joe biden, the winner of november's collection. thanks for watching bbc news. hello there. there was some welcome sunshine in many areas on wednesday, but there's a definite wintery feel and look to the weather at the moment. not only do we have a widespread frost, but there will be some icy stretches around, and we have a spell of snow moving down from scotland and northern ireland ahead of that, some patches of freezing fog, as well. let's have a look at more detail then into the morning. and whilst there will be some patchy fog in the southeast of england, most of it will be through the midlands and towards merseyside. some icy patches in eastern england with those showers coming in off the north sea. and quite icy in scotland and northern ireland with that band of rain, sleet and snow moving down across the country, leaving a few centimetres of lying snow by the morning in many areas. now gradually that rain, sleet, and increasingly snow to high ground moves down into northern england.

brightening up in scotland and northern ireland, more snow for northern scotland. further south, most of that fog will tend to lift, although it could be quite great in a few places and feel particularly cold, some sunshine to come especially in wales and the southwest — another cold day wherever you are. and it will stay cold as we move into friday. the threat of more ice and also frost, as well, and maybe some more wintry showers coming into eastern scotland and northern england. a spell of light snow expected through the midlands and wales before that tends to peter out, also some damp weather in the southwest. but away from here, many places i think we'll see some sunshine. again, it's a cold day, temperatures struggling to 1—2 celsius, for example, in glasgow and also birmingham. now let's head into the weekend — slow changes to come, widespread frost on saturday morning, sunshine for england and wales, a cold day here, turning more cloudy for scotland and northern ireland, but a dampness around as well, especially in northern scotland as the breeze picks up.

temperatures start to rise in the northwest of scotland, it stays cold elsewhere with temperatures at 3—4 celsius. we got a week weather front for northern areas, still around for the second half of the weekend. high pressure starting to nudge in, and we are starting to change in the wind direction, picking up some milder air slowly but surely that'll come in from the atlantic. but that does mean the weather will turn more unsettled. we start to see the milder air coming in towards northwestern areas, wind picking up and rain moving in early next week, and eventually that milder air moves further south and also further east.

this is bbc news. lets go straight to senator mitt romney of utah, a trump critic who was speaking in congress. to refrain from further objections and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election. thank you, mr president. applause . that was mitt romney there. he was saying it was very important for his lawmaker collea g u es important for his lawmaker colleagues to move directly to certifying the result of the election. he wants them to stop raising these objections, the idea that election was somehow stolen in the wake of what's happened on capitol hill today,

when protesters stormed