While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 20

Wiping away tears, US President-elect Joe Biden bid an emotional farewell to his home state of Delaware on Tuesday before heading to Washington on the eve of his inauguration.

"It's deeply personal that our journey to Washington starts here," Biden said after rubbing one of his eyes while addressing dozens of guests at a National Guard base named in honour of his late son Beau.

"I only have one regret, that he's not here," Biden said, referring to Beau, who died of cancer in 2015. "Because we should be introducing him as president."

Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States at noon on Wednesday, replacing Republican Donald Trump, whose chaotic four-year presidency left an American public bitterly divided.

A dozen members of the US National Guard have been removed from duty helping to secure the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden after vetting, which included screening for potential ties to right-wing extremism, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday.

A Pentagon spokesman said the vetting went beyond ties to extremist groups.

One Guard member was removed from duty after troubling text messages, while another had been reported to a tip line, Army General Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said on Tuesday that the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan 6 had been "provoked by the president and other powerful people," stating publicly for the first time that he holds President Donald Trump at least partly responsible for the assault.

"The mob was fed lies," McConnell said, referring to attempts by Trump to overturn the election based on bogus claims of voter fraud. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like."

McConnell made the remarks on his last full day as majority leader, speaking on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration and as the Senate was bracing to receive a single article of impeachment from the House charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection."

The Trump administration has determined that China has committed "genocide and crimes against humanity" by repressing Uighur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, delivering an embarrassing blow to Beijing a day before US president-elect Joe Biden is set to take office.

Pompeo said he made the move - which is certain to strain further already frayed ties between the world's top economies - "after careful examination of the available facts," accusing the Chinese Communist Party of crimes against humanity against the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities since at least March 2017.

China has been widely condemned for its Xinjiang complexes, which it describes as "vocational training centres" to stamp out extremism and give people new skills and which others have called concentration camps. It denies accusations of abuse.

Leicester moved top of the Premier League by inflicting another damaging 2-0 defeat on Chelsea on Tuesday, to leave manager Frank Lampard fighting to remain in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues have now won just two of their last eight league games to fall to eighth, nine points behind the leaders.

Chelsea were expected to challenge for the title after a £220 million (S$400 million) spending spree in the transfer market.