The White House announced early Wednesday that Donald Trump was pardoning his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and 72 others. The last-minute clemency came just hours before president-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony was set to begin. Trump also commuted the sentences of 70 people.

Trying to repair his tarnished legacy, President Donald Trump trumpeted his administration’s accomplishments and wished his successor luck in a farewell video as he spent his final full day in office preparing to issue a flurry of pardons in a near-deserted White House, surrounded by an extraordinary security presence outside.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday said limits on arrivals from Europe and Brazil will be lifted from 26 January, though the incoming Biden administration responded that restrictions would remain in place, dpa reported.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday backed the messaging platform's ban of US President Donald Trump, but said it sets a "dangerous" precedent and represents a failure to promote healthy conversation on social networks, AFP reported.

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday temporarily suspended President Donald Trump's channel and removed a video for violating its policy against inciting violence, AFP reported. "In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump's channel for violating our policies," YouTube said in a statement.

The US Vice President Pence on Tuesday rebuffed calls from House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office, news wires reported. "I do not believe such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with the Constitution," Pence wrote in a letter to Pelosi released Tuesday night.

Germany’s Deutsche Bank said it would not be involved in any future business activities with outgoing American president Donald Trump or his companies in the wake of his supporters’ assault on the US Capitol, Reuters reported quoting the New York Times.

Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that the decision by social media giants to permanently suspend Donald Trump's accounts is problematic because freedom of opinion should not be determined by such online platform bosses, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday.

The FBI has warned of armed protests being planned for Washington and all 50 US state capitals in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on 20 January, a federal law enforcement source said on Monday, Reuters reported. In other steps to safeguard the US capital, the National Guard was authorised to send up to 15,000 troops to Washington, and tourists were barred from visiting the Washington Monument until 24 January.