Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson are among the high-profile guests in Washington DC for Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The three men were sat in the same row inside St John’s Church as the incoming president attended a church service before his swearing in.
Other famous faces getting a prime seat for the big moment included Tesla boss Elon Musk, who appeared momentarily mesmerised by the ceiling of the US Capitol building.
Image: Elon Musk appeared to be checking out the ornate ceiling. Pic: Reuters
Image: The ceremony was held in the rotunda in Washington’s US Capitol building. Pic: Reuters
The Tesla boss was perhaps Mr Trump‘s most famous backer during the election race and he’ll help lead an “efficiency” department in the new government.
Mr Musk was seen chatting to Google boss Sundar Pichai in the moments before the swearing-in, with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sanchez on the other side.
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg was a few spaces along with wife Priscilla Chan – as the titans of tech waited for Mr Trump to arrive.
Image: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg with wife Priscilla Chan (left) and Lauren Sanchez. Pic: Reuters
Image: Google boss Sundar Pichai (middle) and Elon Musk, with Jeff Bezos (left). Pic: Reuters
The multi-billionaires will be hoping the new president’s policies will boost, or at least not hinder, their vast money-making machines.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook was also at the swearing in, while TikTok’s boss Zhang Yiming was also expected to be in Washington DC.
Mr Trumphas pledged to give the app a reprieve from a ban that made it temporarily go “dark” in the US on Sunday.
Image: Apple chief Tim Cook was also among the tech billionaires in attendance. Pic: Reuters
Image: Argentina President Javier Milei and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. Pic: Reuters
Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei, was one of several world leaders in attendance.
Mr Milei, with his “rock and roll” hair cut and sideburns, was pictured laughing arm in arm with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was also invited, according to Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, but is believed to have declined.
Foreign leaders are not normally invited to presidential inaugurations but Mr Trump broke with tradition.
Image: Former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama. Pic: AP
Image: The Clintons, former president and secretary of state, were also there. Pic: AP
Image: UFC boss Dana White is a long-time Trump supporter. Pic: Reuters
Image: Influencer brothers Jake Paul and Logan Paul. Pic: Reuters
UFC boss Dana White was also suited and booted for the swearing-in ceremony and seen standing next to Barack Obama.
The mixed martial arts promoter often hosts Mr Trump at his events and is credited with helping boost his appeal among young men.
Influencers and fight stars Jake and Logan Paul were also in the building, watching from a nearby area called the Emancipation Hall.
Democrat former presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush – although from across the political divide – also turned out.
Image: Barron Trump waiting for his father’s moment in the spotlight. Pic: Reuters
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0:35
Melania’s hat stops Trump kiss
Mr Trump’s family were all there of course, with wife Melania wearing a wide-brimmed hat alongside their son Barron.
However, there was an awkward moment when Donald Trump went in for a kiss but came up short – seemingly blocked by her choice of headwear.
Outgoing president Joe Biden appeared relaxed as his final minutes as commander in chief ticked down.
The Democrat received an ovation as he entered the Capitol’s rotunda with first lady Jill Biden.
Defeated candidate Kamala Harris also watched the handover of power – at times stony-faced as Mr Trump said he would declare an emergency at the southern border to halt migration – and to “drill baby, drill” for oil.
Image: Mr Trump promised to ‘dill baby, drill’. Pic: Reuters
Image: The outgoing president and vice president looked unimpressed with Mr Trump’s speech. Pic: Reuters
Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK’s Reform Party and long-time supporter of Mr Trump, is believed to be in Washington but – like Boris Johnson – hasn’t been seen at the inauguration ceremony itself.
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Posting a picture from a Trump victory rally at the weekend, Mr Farage said: “We are so back.”
Images on X also show him alongside party treasurer Nick Candy, the billionaire UK property developer, and former SAS Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton – who’s now trying to enter politics.
A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Image: Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
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The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Image: Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Image: Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Image: Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
A former FBI director has been interviewed by the US Secret Service over a social media post that Republicans say was a call for violence against President Donald Trump.
James Comey, who led the FBI from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Mr Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the numbers “86 47”.
Image: James Comey later removed the Instagram post. File pic: AP
He captioned the Instagram post: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Some have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination.
What does ’86 47′ mean?
The number 86 can be used as a verb in the US. It commonly means “to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly”.
One recent meaning of the term is “to kill”, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which said it had not adopted this meaning of 86 “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use”.
The number has previously been used in a political context by Matt Gaetz, who was President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general but withdrew from consideration following a series of sexual misconduct allegations.
Mr Gaetz wrote: “We’ve now 86’d…” and listed political opponents he had sparred with who ended up stepping down.
Meanwhile, 47 is supposedly representing Mr Trump, who is the 47th US president.
Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers “were a political message” and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence.
“I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down,” Mr Comey said.
Mr Trump rejected the former FBI director’s explanation, telling Fox News: “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant… that meant assassination.”
Donald Trump Jr accused Mr Comey of “casually calling for my dad to be murdered”.
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US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of “an ongoing investigation” but gave no indication of whether he might face further action.
The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Mr Comey had put out “what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States”.
“This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Mr Budowich wrote on X.
Another White House official James Blair said the post was a “Clarion Call (…) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East”.
Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time.
While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.