Condoleezza Rice was on Thursday sworn in as the new US Secretary of State at a White House ceremony.

Rice is the first black woman to hold the post.

The Senate had on Wednesday confirmed her as President George W Bush's new Secretary of State, America's top diplomat, in an impressive 85-13 vote.

Rice, 50, national security adviser in Bush's first term in office, succeeds Colin Powell.

She has been Bush's most trusted security aide and an architect of the policies on Iraq and the US' war on terror.