Budde, 65, asked president to ‘have mercy’ on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people in prayer service on Tuesday

• US politics live – latest updates

The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde made headlines this week after she used her sermon on Tuesday at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration to implore Donald Trump to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Budde, 65, is the first woman to serve as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She has been leading the diocese since her election to the role in 2011. Before that, she served as the rector of St John’s Episcopal church in Minneapolis for 18 years.

Florida declared state of emergency and blizzard warning had been issued for first time ever in Louisiana and Texas

Severe cold weather has engulfed parts of the US south as a major winter storm bringing record-breaking snowfall and frigid temperatures to parts of the Gulf coast region on Tuesday, with icy conditions expected to continue into Wednesday.

In anticipation of the dangerous winter weather, governors across the south, including Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, declared states of emergency earlier this week, and a blizzard warning for parts of Louisiana and Texas was issued for the first time ever, but has since been discontinued.

Jim Newman claims band who performed at inauguration is ‘entirely separate entity’ from group he was in

A former member of Village People has distanced himself from the band that performed at Donald Trump’s inauguration events, stating that the current group has “nothing to do with the group that I was a part of”.

Village People, whose song YMCA is widely considered a gay anthem and a favorite of the returning US president’s, performed at several of Trump’s inaugural events over the weekend and on Monday. However, only one original member, the lead singer and songwriter Victor Willis, 73, is still part of the band and participated in the performances.