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China's vice-president held meetings with the US vice president-elect and US business leaders, including Elon Musk, in Washington on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration, as the two major powers tackle ongoing tensions over trade and technology.

Han Zheng, who serves as an envoy for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the inauguration, “discussed a range of topics including fentanyl, balancing trade and regional stability” with JD Vance, according to the Trump transition team.

Han stressed the “extensive common interests and enormous space of cooperation” the US and China share in economic and trade relations despite “some disagreements and frictions,” according to a readout of his meeting with Vance issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs and other measures against China in his second term, while also hinting and ways in which the two rival powers could cooperate on issues such as regional conflicts and curbing the export of substances used in the production of fentanyl.

In an unorthodox move, Trump last month invited Xi to his inauguration. No head of state has previously made an official visit to the US for the inauguration, according to State Department historical records.

While Xi will not personally attend the event, he and Trump held a phone call on Friday during which they discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok. The Chinese social media app restored service to users in the U.S. on Sunday, just hours after it went dark in response to a federal ban, which Trump said he would pause by executive order on Monday.

Han also met with Musk and other top US business executives, including representatives of the US-China Business Council and the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The Chinese vice-president reiterated promises for an improved business environment for foreign firms in China and expressed hopes that US companies will continue expanding investment in the country.

Pope Francis has called Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming US president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

History's first Latin American pope was asked about the Trump administration pledges of deportations during an appearance Sunday night on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa.

“If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill” for the problem, Francis said. “This won't do! This is not the way to solve things. That's not how things are resolved.”

Trump made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.

Francis, who grew up in Argentina in a family of Italian immigrants, has long prioritized the plight of migrants and called for governments to welcome, protect and integrate them, within their means. He has said the dignity and rights of migrants trump any national security concerns.

Carrie Underwood’s participation in Donald Trump’s inauguration is a sign of the changing tides, where mainstream entertainers, from Nelly to The Village People, are more publicly and more enthusiastically associating with the new administration.

Eight years ago, Trump reportedly struggled to enlist stars to be part of the swearing-in and the various glitzy balls that follow. The concurrent protest marches around the nation had more famous entertainers than the swearing-in, which stood in stark contrast to someone like Barack Obama, whose second inaugural ceremony had performances from Beyonce, James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson and a series of starry onlookers.

There were always some celebrity Trump supporters, like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, Jon Voight, Rosanne Barr, Mike Tyson, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Rodman, to name a few. Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Village People and Lee Greenwood all performed at a MAGA style rally Sunday. Those performing at inaugural balls include the rapper Nelly, country music band Rascal Flatts, country singer Jason Aldean and singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw.

Where Trump once emphasized the otherness of a Hollywood that largely shunned him, he's now turned his attention back to the entertainment capital as a project to be saved. He named Stallone, Voight and Mel Gibson as his chosen “ambassadors” for the mission.

Following the election, celebrity detractors have also been quieter than in 2017, when nationwide marches brought out the likes of Cher, Madonna, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys and Janelle Monae.

The People’s March in DC on Saturday did not boast about any celebrity participants. At the Golden Globe Awards in early January, Trump’s name was not mentioned on stage — a stark contrast to 2017, when Meryl Streep used her lifetime achievement award speech to decry the president-elect before his first term began.

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India.
• Japan and Australia will also be represented by their respective foreign ministers, Takeshi Iwaya and Penny Wong.
• Argentina’s President, Javier Milei, and Hungary’s Victor Orban are likely to attend.
• Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is likely to attend the inauguration with his wife Nita Ambani.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping will send Vice President Han Zheng to attend the inauguration.
• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is likely to be present at the event.
• The UK and Germany will send their respective ambassadors to represent their countries.
• French far-right politician Eric Zemmour will be there though President Emmanuel Macron will not attend it.
• Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s wife Michelle Bolsonaro will attend the inauguration in his place.
• All the living former Presidents of the US, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama, will attend the event. Outgoing President Joe Biden will also be there.
• Both the Democrat candidates who lost to Trump, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Vice-President Kamala Harris this time, will be present.
• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg are likely to attend the ceremony.
• Elon Musk, who will also be heading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will be present, of course.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, company President Greg Brockman, and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil plan to go to the ceremony.
• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is likely to attend some of the festivities.
• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend the inauguration.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are also planning to attend the event.

After taking credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal and claiming that the war would never have happened if he were the US President at that time, Donald Trump has vowed to end the Ukraine war “prevent World War III from happening”.

“We achieved an epic ceasefire agreement as a first step towards lasting peace in the Middle East. This agreement could have happened only as a result of our historic victory in November. The first hostages have just been released. (Joe) Biden said they made the deal. Well, first of all, it (Gaza war) would never have happened if I were the President,” he said.

On Sunday, three Israeli hostages were released by Hamas after 471 days in captivity. In response, Israel freed 90 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.

“Our incoming administration has achieved all of this in the Middle East in less than three months. Without being president, we have achieved more than they (Democrats) have achieved in four years with being president,” Trump said.

Trump also vowed to end the Ukraine war. “I will end the war in Ukraine, I will stop the chaos in the Middle East and I will prevent World War III from happening. And you have no idea how close we are,” he added.

Trump had famously refused to attend the swearing-in of Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020. After the infamous riots of January 2021, he had left Washington for Florida ahead of the ceremony, vowing to be back "in some form".

Trump will become the only sitting US president to be convicted on charges of felony.