Biden bans offshore drilling across vast area of US

US President Joe Biden has announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of America's coastline, weeks before Donald Trump takes office.

The ban covers the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.

It is the latest in a string of last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Trump has vowed to revoke the ban "immediately" when he takes office, but he may find it difficult to reverse under US law.