Donald Trump is sworn in for a historic second term as president.
With one hand raised in the air and the other on the Bible given to him by his mother, the 47th President of the United States solemnly took the oath of office under the huge rotunda of the US Capitol.
The Republican and outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden earlier travelled together in a motorcade to the Capitol, where the ceremony is being held indoors - the first time in decades due to the cold weather.
Earlier, the two and their wives met for the traditional White House tea.
"Welcome home," Biden told Trump as he and first lady Jill Biden greeted their heirs at the front door of the presidential residence.
Trump, 78, was a political outsider when he first took office in 2017 as the 45th president, but this time he is surrounded by America's wealthiest and most influential citizens.
The world's richest man Elon Musk, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all got top seats on Capitol Hill along with Trump's family and members of his cabinet.
Musk, who funded Trump's election campaign with a quarter of a billion dollars, will lead the drive to cut spending in the new administration.
Although Trump refused to attend Biden's inauguration in 2021 after claiming the Democrat had committed voter fraud, this time Biden reinstated the tradition.
Biden joined former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton on Capitol Hill. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush were also there, but former first lady Michelle Obama stood by.
Unusually for an inauguration where foreign leaders are usually not invited, Argentine far-right President Javier Millay attended, as did Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The cold weather forced Trump's inauguration to be held indoors for the first time since Ronald Reagan's in 1985, so the usual huge crowds were missing.
Behind the pomp and ceremony, the billionaire launched his nationalist, right-wing agenda with some 100 presidential decrees.
Trump will declare a national emergency at the border with Mexico, give the US military a key role at the border and end birthright citizenship as he seeks to crack down on undocumented migrants, an official from his future administration said.
Trump has promised to begin immediate deportations of illegal migrants.
After taking office, he will also sign an executive order requiring the U.S. government to recognize only the two biological sexes and seek to eliminate the federal government's diversity programs.
The announcement of the tough policies came a day after Trump promised a "new day" for the US and an end to "four years of American decline".
"I will act with historic speed and force and I will fix every single crisis facing our country," Trump said at a rally on the eve of his inauguration, where he danced with the band Village People.
In his final minutes before the end of his presidency, Biden issued emergency pardons for his siblings to protect them from "unfounded and politically motivated investigations."
He also pardoned former Covid-19 adviser Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley and members of the US House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021 violent attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
Biden said he has also reinstated the tradition of leaving a letter for his successor - though he clarified that the contents will remain a secret between him and Trump.
Trump will also make history for another reason - he surpassed Biden's record as the oldest president to be sworn in. He is also only the second president in US history to return to power after being impeached, after Grover Cleveland in 1893.
For the rest of the world, Trump's return means expecting the unexpected.
The US president threatens massive tariffs, makes territorial claims on Greenland and Panama and promises an end to the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump ahead of his inauguration and said he was "open to dialogue on the conflict in Ukraine," adding that he hoped any agreement would ensure "lasting peace." | BGNES
