Joe biden has been given the official green light to begin his transition to the white house, more than two weeks after the us media declared him the winner of the president ial election. Donald trump has accepted that his team needs to work with the incoming administration, but has promised to press on with legal challenges contesting the result, tweeting in the last hour that will never concede to fake ballots. Our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. A peter bowes reports. Step closer to the white house. A step closer to the white house. The green light for president Electjoe Biden, formerly to begin the transition process, with the trump administration. The General Services administration, the government body that handles the handover, finally acknowledged that mr biden was the apparent winner. President trump treated tweeted that he had approved the handover but without conceding the election. Our case strongly continues and i believe we will prevail. The president added that in the best interest of the country, they will do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols was a bit opens the door to a fund of more than 6 million tojoe biden to set up the new administration. The president elect will get access to top security briefings, office space and key government officials. The biden team welcome to the move. Todays decision is step to begin tackling the challenges facing the nation, including getting the nation, including getting the pandemic under control and oui the pandemic under control and our economy back on track. The turning point may have been a decision in the state of michigan to certify the States Election result. Mr biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes, a major low to donald trump who has disputed the count. There are a lot of people in the United States, it isa people in the United States, it is a staggering, who will believe in all of this fake information they are getting through mostly social media. It isa through mostly social media. It is a really big problem, that problem is not going to be solved overnight stop but the one big issue for us and for the entire world, donald trump will no longer be in office. The country is still divided over the election result that there is a growing acceptance amongst republicans band mr trump is on his way out. The president has given the go ahead to the gsa to start the transition and with that comes a sense, a message to the American People. So while he is right to continue to fight for every valid and legally cast vote, it is also a move in the right direction to see that the decisions that are coming out are leaning toward president biden. With few legal avenues remaining for the president to challenge the election, joe biden is building a team of vetera n biden is building a team of veteran washington figures. If confirmed by the senate, janet yellen will become the treasury secretary, the former head of Americas Central Bank will be the first woman in the job. The former secretary of state john kerry is returning to government with a seat on the National Security council and a full time role fighting climate change. The message, safe hands and experience first. The biden administration, now with an official government website, is taking shape. And peterjoins me now. Im just looking at ronald trumps tweet in full donald trump. He says this will go down as the most corrupt election in american political history. So although he has given the go ahead to the transition process, he has by no means conceded at this point . He has not. What this looks like to me is the president perhaps seeing the reaction to his initial tweets and the reaction was that the president was moving towards, perhaps conceding, or at least acknowledging that he hasnt won the election and that biden tea m won the election and that biden team should be allowed to talk to government officials and have that office space and the six plus Million Dollars that they are going to get to move forward it to put together an administration. And it looks like the peasant has seen that and is now kind of pulling back and is now kind of pulling back a little bit. The interpretation that he seemed to be moving towards the concession he is making clear in this tweet that he will not concede and talking once again, as you say, about fraudulent votes, fraudulent election, and once again he is saying that he wont concede to fake ballots and fake ballots has been the issue all along ever since polling day, his claim that the election, that the presidency was stolen from him. Do you think, though, the situation in georgia may have played a part in his Decision Making . There is this argument that still at because there is a run off going on in the new year and thatis going on in the new year and that is an important seat in the senate, he doesnt want to risk the outcome of that in terms of his behaviour now . There are different opinions about that. Some people will say absolutely, that that could be the case and he is looking at those two senate seats and if they stay with the republicans, of course that will continue for other republicans to have balance of power in the senate. The other argument is that donald trump doesnt really care about that, that he only cares about retaining the presidency for himself, or perhaps building his own future in whatever sphere that is moving forward. Assuming he does leave the white house in the middle of january. So it is difficult to really understand a clear narrative. I think that is what im trying to say in terms of what is coming out of the president s tweets, in terms of perhaps longer term what he wa nts a pa rt perhaps longer term what he wants apart from short term which is to contest the result. In the meantime, for president Electjoe Biden, his team, Kamala Harris, et cetera, they can now crack on in the way that they can do the way they couldnt do prior to this decision. Yes and this is crucial to them. They have the money, they have to access, they have the office space, they have the office space, they already have an official government website now, and they can talk to those key officials and especially as it applies to the fight against coronavirus, the vaccine may be on track by the time the government the new president gets into the white house and he will be very closely involved in the distribution of that vaccine, the inoculations, perhaps he will be prioritised, and he will be privy now do all of the detailed information about where the administration is on that. And the key issues relating to National Security, relations with other countries overseas, all of those bits of information that he needs to hit the ground running on the 20th of january. All right, peter, thank you very much. Peter, thank you very much. Peter bowes there for us. Democratic strategist, robin swansonjoins me now from the us. Thank you for being on the programme. First of all, your reaction to this step taken by the trump administration. the trump administrationlj would the trump administration. would credit General Services administration for actually taking the step. Im not sure i credit donald trump, especially not after his tweets this evening. I think everyone in america is ready for whats next and whats next isjoe biden. It is clear that this election wasnt close. As you have reported, it is not close in michigan, it is not close in the popular vote and it is not even close in the electoral couege even close in the Electoral College boats. Votes. He has lost 84 legal challenges, those arent close either, so we are already to move on. I think the toddler has had his temper tantrum and at this point we need to ignore the temper tantrum and move on as a country. I would challenge that because there are many millions of people who support donald trump and who believe he is right, that this election was stolen from him, as it were, and they are rallying to see that he wins in this legal fight, as it were. So it is not eve ryo ne fight, as it were. So it is not everyone is ready to move on in the way that you say, is it . Well, i do think it is u nfortu nate well, i do think it is unfortunate that he is stoking the flames and trying to undermine democracy. Joe biden won this election fair and square and i certainly dont wa nt to square and i certainly dont want to discount the millions of people who voted for donald trump but when you win an election, as joe biden trump but when you win an election, asjoe biden and Kamala Harris did, you have to accept the result of that election and i think a lot of republicans, and you have heard a lot of the republican leadership, calling on donald trump today to stop with the antics, and when i say we need to disregard the temper tampering, it is Donald Trumps temper tantrum. Joe biden isnt going to need to embrace donald trump photos and we saw in his a cce pta nce trump photos and we saw in his acceptance speech that that is what he is trying to do, that he really reached out across the aisle and said he wasnt going to be the president of red states or blue states but of the United States, and i think were ready to move onto that chat. Are you concerned, though, about the road ahead and how difficult it will be for president Electjoe BidenGoing Forward . Especially if they dont win a majority in they dont win a majority in the senate as well, his hands will be very tired, wont they, on capitol hill . Absolutely, big challenges ahead, the biggest of which is addressing this Global Pandemic where millions of americans are affected and we are at 12 million americans affected right now by the coronavirus and those numbers are not going down and so joe and those numbers are not going down and sojoe biden has his hands more than full. He has governed for many years so this isnt the first time he is addressing these kinds of issues that he is going to need to meet with the lights of doctor Anthony Fauci the likes, and meet with people that are making vaccines and work out a distribution plan, so the real work of governing is going to have to happen right now. 0k, thank you for your time. Robyn swanson, aquatic strategist. Lets take a look at some of the other stories affecting the current us president. In wisconsin, their partial president ial recount has entered its fourth day with very few changes in vote totals. President trumps attorneys remain focused on a legal challenge seeking to throw out tens of thousands of ballots. Joe biden won the state by about over 20,000 votes. And after the Trump Campaign requested a recount of the president ial ballots in georgia, state Election Officials have been working to finalize the details of how and when that will be done. The Election Results certified last week showed joe biden beating President Trump by over 12,000 votes out of about five million cast. Lets go to atlanta, georgia now seth weathers is Donald Trumps former political director. Thank you for being on the programme. So, do you think he needs to concede now . Yeah, i think he needs to go through the process, if he feels there are issues, and they have been some obvious issues, then go through the full Legal Process that he is allowed as a candidate for office and depending on the outcome of that, move forward, and whatever direction the outcome shows. Clearly so far, his attem pts shows. Clearly so far, his atte m pts to shows. Clearly so far, his attempts to prove anything have not really come up with anything and most of the legal challenges have led to nothing so far. There are some things that havent hit the courts, i do believe the chances of those overturning anything at this point is very slim, however, as someone who was bothered by someone who was bothered by some of the things that did happen in this election, i would like to see them go forward with those legal measures so that we can have some resolution to some of the things that happened, specifically some of the things that happen here in georgia and Fulton County where they kicked out republicans encountered votes or not without the proper opposing party in the room which isjust as opposing party in the room which is just as are an unheard of, you are supposed to count islets with the opposing party there to witness it, they kicked them out, lie to them and said we not counting ballots a nd and said we not counting ballots and continue to count night long. I would like to see resolution on that. Again, i dont think any of these things would overturn the election but i would like to see that happen. In terms of support for President Trump, he tweeted in the last hour, we will continue to fight this legal battle, we have seen fake ballots et cetera, those around him, close to him, and also as nurse leaders, over 160 Business Leaders, over 160 Business Leaders have said, President Trump, you need to concede also Business Leaders. What damages this doing . To be honest, i dont really care what Business Leaders, a. K. A. Democratic donors. These are key donors to the republican party. If they are saying these are getting embarrassing . just dont care what billionaires have to say about it because they are still going to be billionaires and they are going to do good regardless of account and where it goes because they are going to buy people in positions of power so im not worried about their opinions on this. As for the democrats saying this is an assault on democracy and a trump is putting us in chaos and turmoil, questioning and election result . Lets not forget that for nearly four yea rs forget that for nearly four years here in the us, we dealt with the fake russian collusion, weve dealt with the fa ke collusion, weve dealt with the fake dossier, all of these things that were proven to be com pletely things that were proven to be completely false, the spying on the president , non stop from the president , non stop from the democrats saying this was an illegitimate president and now all of a sudden, a couple of weeks of legal battles are going to send all of the people into believing that democracy is at stake because he is questioning and going through the Legal Process . I think it is nonsense. Everyone does it ultimately in the end, the American People are going to see through that. Seth weathers, thank you for your time. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come joe biden is no longer waiting and hes building his team and the message is steady as she goes with keyjobs going to severalfigures from the 0bama administration. President kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. The murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. He caught the imagination of the world. The first of a new generation of leaders. Margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and Prime Minister. Before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, its a funny old world. Angela merkel is germanys first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. Attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes but nobody seemed to mind very much. As one local comic put it, its not hot air we need, its hard cash. Cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. Castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. It was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, with the cuban missile crisis. This is bbc news, the latest headlines. Donald trump has accepted that a formal transition of power to president elect, joe biden, can begin. , but stopped short of conceding. The president elect says the transition will begin with meetings with government officials on a response to the pandemic and National Security issues. Just how different a face the United States will present to the world underjoe biden has been underscored by his choices for top roles in the new administration. Long time ally Antony Blinken is to be the new secretary of state. And john kerry, who did that job under president 0bama, is to be the new climate tsar. Their Global Outlook contrasts with the America First approach of donald trump, as our state Department CorrespondentBarbara Plett usher reports. Hi, im deputy secretary tony blinken, from the state department. Wow, you have a long name the us is presenting a new diplomatic face to the world someone with a lighter touch, ready to reframe americas relationship with the international community. The un stands for United Nations a place where nations or countries from all over the world come together. Its a great pleasure to welcome all of you here today. Forjoe biden, tony blinken is the safest possible pair of hands as top diplomat. Blinken has been advising biden for nearly 20 years. Hes so close to the president elect, hes been described as an alter ego, a virtual mind meld. This veteran Foreign Policy hand would be returning to familiarground. He began his career at the white house during the clinton administration, and he was a key figure on barack 0bamas National Security and diplomatic team. The