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It's all unravelling

The US federal agency responsible for officially signing off on the presidential transition process has recognised Joe Biden as the "apparent winner" of the US election.

The recognition from the General Services Administration clears the way for the start of a transition, despite US President's Donald Trump's refusal to accept the results of the election.

Mr Trump tweeted that he had directed his team to cooperate on the transition, but vowed to continue his legal challenges to the election result.

Administrator Emily Murphy made the decision to sign off on the transition process after Mr Trump's efforts to subvert the vote failed in key battleground states.

Michigan certified Mr Biden’s victory on Monday local time, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania tossed out a Trump campaign lawsuit on Saturday.

Yohannes Abraham, the executive director of the Biden transition, said in a statement that the decision "is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track".