Vice President Kamala Harris: A new chapter opens in US politics

Kamala Harris, flanked by her husband Doug Emhoff, is sworn in as the 49th US Vice President by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, in Washington, DC. Pic/AFP

Vice President Kamala Harris broke the barrier that has kept men at the top ranks of power for over two centuries when she took the oath on Wednesday to hold the nation's second-highest office. Hours after she was sworn in as the first female US vice president - and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent in the role - she cast the moment as one that embodied "American aspiration."

"Even in dark times we not only dream, we do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be," she said in brief remarks outside the Lincoln Memorial. "We are bold, fearless and ambitious. We are undaunted in our belief that we shall overcome, that we will rise up."

For Harris, the day was steeped in history and significance in more ways than one. Her rise is historic and particularly meaningful because Harris takes office at a
moment when Americans are grappling over institutional racism and confronting a pandemic that has disproportionately devastated Black and brown communities.

Those close to Harris say she'll bring an important - and often missing - perspective to the debates on how to overcome the many hurdles facing the new administration.

Harris - the child of immigrants, a stepmother of two and the wife of a Jewish man - "carries an intersectional story of so many Americans who are never seen and heard."

World leaders laud US return to climate fight under Biden

World leaders breathed an audible sigh of relief that the US under President Joe Biden is rejoining the global effort to curb climate change, a cause that his predecessor had shunned. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron were among those welcoming Biden's decision to rejoin the the Paris climate accord, reversing a key Trump policy in the first hours of his presidency on Wednesday.

"Rejoining the Paris Agreement is hugely positive news," Johnson tweeted. Macron in a tweet said that with Biden, "we will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet." The accord, forged in the French capital in 2015, commits countries to put forward plans for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is released from burning fossil fuels.

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