“Ultimately, they’re going to wind up infecting people in the community, but they’re the ones that are sort of driving the infection,” Fauci said.

40 min readNov 8, 2020

(CNN)After a week of dauntingly high numbers in all parameters of the pandemic, the US has reached another sobering mark: its highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases since the virus entered the country.

On Saturday, there were 126,742 new coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The new record also marked the fourth day this week that new cases totaled more than 100,000 and the third day in a row that new cases topped more than 120,000, according to a CNN analysis.
US tops 125,000 daily coronavirus infections — a record high
US tops 125,000 daily coronavirus infections — a record high
The fall resurgence has brought regular records in the number of cases, the number of people hospitalized and daily deaths. And experts are encouraging measures to mitigate the spread as they warn that the numbers may continue to climb in the coming weeks.
“We’re going to see these case numbers really start to explode,” former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Friday during an interview on CNBC.
The virus can be dealt with by targeting mitigation state by state, he said, but the US is not doing that currently. And the lack of intervention could build up for the future, spelling trouble for December and January, he said.
“It’s not just the cases, it’s the hospitalizations as well. That’s really the number to watch, 53,000 people hospitalized, 10,500 people in ICUs. That’s a lot and it’s growing very quickly.”
Sixteen states reported record high Covid-19 hospitalizations on Friday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and 22 states have reported at least one record high day of coronavirus hospitalizations during November, so far. Since the pandemic started, more than 9.8 million people have been infected and 237,113 people have died of the virus, according to JHU data.
Fauci: stick with science, not politics
The pandemic will soon become the primary concern of President-elect Joe Biden. He plans to announce a 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday, two sources with knowledge of the announcement told CNN.
Biden’s task force will be headed by three co-chairs, including former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler and Yale University’s Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.
In a virtual event with the American Medical Association on Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, advised physicians in leadership roles to stick with science, evidence and data when it comes to making coronavirus recommendations.
“Stay completely apolitical. Don’t get involved in any of the political aspects. And just focus on what your job is as a scientist and a physician,” Fauci said. “You do that, you’ll be fine.”
US again surpasses 100,000 daily new cases as Joe Biden preps his coronavirus task force
US again surpasses 100,000 daily new cases as Joe Biden preps his coronavirus task force
Health experts have been working to combat skepticism around coronavirus vaccines and recommendations after being at odds at times with political leaders.
‘Age, experience and better drugs’ impact death rate
Though the death toll has climbed, the rate of cases that have resulted in fatalities has seemingly decreased, and Fauci said that is due to “age, experience and better drugs.”
As with all new diseases, health professionals learned more about the virus as it went on, including when to put people on ventilators or not, Fauci said Saturday.
Cough droplets can travel beyond six feet, new simulation study suggests
Cough droplets can travel beyond six feet, new simulation study suggests
“We just get better at treating people,” he said. “You (know) what works. You know what doesn’t work, including just fundamental, non-pharmacological approaches.”
The usage of treatments that can help people, such as dexamethasone and remdesivir, has also further developed, he said.
Also impacting the death rate are the college students going back to school and being infected more, he said. Those getting infected now compared with the spring “is almost a decade difference of being younger now.”
“Ultimately, they’re going to wind up infecting people in the community, but they’re the ones that are sort of driving the infection,” Fauci said.
Covid symptoms last ‘well beyond’ expectation
As researchers learn more about the virus, they’re noticing that the impacts can drag on, Fauci said.
Some patients have reported symptoms lasting even after they have tested negative from a coronavirus infection.
“We do know for absolutely certain that there is a post Covid-19 syndrome — referred to sometimes as long Covid, chronic Covid, long haulers,” Fauci said during the event with the American Medical Association.
Another 751,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week
Another 751,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week
“We’re seeing variable percentages, and anywhere from 25 to 35% or more have lingering symptoms — well beyond what you’d expect post any viral syndrome, like influenza and others,” he said.
Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches, sleep disturbances and what is referred to as “brain fog.”
“So, there’s no doubt that it’s going on, that (it) can last anywhere from weeks to months,” he said, adding that it could be longer, but that isn’t known because the novel virus was discovered less than a year ago.
CNN’s Alta Spells, Naomi Thomas, Christina Maxouris and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
President-elect Joe Biden will have his work cut out for him.

The United States added 126,480 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to data released Saturday by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. It’s the third day in a row that the U.S. has set a daily record, bringing the total number of infections in the country to more than 9.7 million. More than 236,000 have died.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have laid out a comprehensive plan to try to get the virus under control, including the creation of a pandemic testing board to produce and distribute tens of millions of tests, and a U.S. public health jobs corp to mobilize at least 100,000 Americans to help with contact tracing and protecting at-risk populations.

But it’s unclear how effective these steps will be against a virus poised to surge even more as colder weather sets in and people retreat indoors.

“You have to be really worried what January is going to look like, what December is going to look like right now given the way this is rising,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday.

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More than half the country is seeing unchecked community spread, defined as more than 25 daily new cases per 100,000 people. Close to 55,000 people were in the hospital Friday with COVID-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

“Hospitals are definitely strained and societal measures remain relatively liberal,” Dr. David Brett-Major, professor of epidemiology at the University of Nebraska, told The New York Times. “You just don’t get the feeling that folks are committed to enforcing taking it seriously.”

The challenge of containing the latest surge in cases has extended to the White House, with the news late Friday that President Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Meadows is the latest member of the president’s circle to contract the virus. Multiple White House staffers and campaign aides have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks, and the president was hospitalized for COVID-19 in October.

Although America is the world leader in coronavirus infections, other countries are catching up. Many European countries have seen exponential growth in recent weeks. National lockdowns are in effect in several countries there, including England, Greece and Italy. Charts of the virus’s spread in France, Poland and Germany all show classic hockey-stick shaped graphs, indicating the virus is nowhere near under control.

France had the second-highest rate of infections in the world Friday, with 60,727 cases and 828 deaths. French nursing homes alone have seen more than 400 COVID-19 deaths in the past week, with some residents once again cut off from their families.

“I cry every day,” Paris nursing home resident Patricia Deliry, 81, told The Associated Press.

France is among several European countries that have imposed new lockdowns in the face of continued infections. But at least in France, the public isn’t observing the lockdown as stringently as it did during the country’s first lockdown in March. According to Le Monde, during the week since the latest lockdown has been in place, there has been about a 30% drop in vehicle traffic — compared with an 80% decline in traffic during the first lockdown.
Joe Biden’s projected win of the U.S. presidency and the Republican Party potentially retaining control of the U.S. Senate could drive a pickup in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that took a hit amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmakers said.
Significant changes unlikely but there may be development on Rohingya issue, according to experts

Leaders of ruling Awami League believe Bangladesh-US bilateral ties will be strengthened during the tenure of Joe Biden, newly elected president of the US, but diplomats and international affairs experts think the relationship between the two countries will be the same.

Fiji’s prime minister got in first, gambling on congratulating Joe Biden before the presidential election had been called, slipping in a plea for action on climate change.

But once the result was official, congratulations came pouring in from around the world. Donald Trump’s allies, critics and reluctant partners had all been following the vote counting, weighing up the impact of a radical change of direction expected from Washington under Biden.

Many of those congratulating the new president-elect and his running mate Kamala Harris took the opportunity to bolster ties by underlining their connection to America. Among the first was Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. He said: “We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.”

A notable exception to the parade of well-wishers came from the United States’ southern neighbour, where Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said he could not congratulate a winner until all legal proceedings are concluded, calling his decision “politically prudent”.

In his remarks, López Obrador said he had a good relationship with both Trump and with former vice president Biden, who he said he had known for a decade.

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Boris Johnson, who has been a close ally of Trump, took a little longer, but about an hour after the election was called put out a message reminding Biden of the “special relationship” that usually means so much more to London than Washington. He said: “America is our closest ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities.”

From Dublin the congratulations came with a nod to Biden’s Irish heritage, with his interest in the country particularly important at a time of fears that the Good Friday agreement could be threatened by Brexit.

“I want to congratulate the new president elect of the US. Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead,” wrote the Irish prime minister Micheál Martin.

Kamala Harris
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Kamala Harris, the first woman of colour to become a vice-president. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The stream of global congratulations were in stark contrast to the middle of the week, when the US slid into days of election chaos, with a flailing incumbent making wildly untrue claims from the White House as his supporters gathered in the streets to demand the basis of democracy — counting votes — be halted.

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That had prompted mockery from around the world. But after a brief wobble, American democracy appeared to have come through.

And after years in which Trump has disengaged from multilateral institutions, to focus on his “America First” policy, many are likely to be hoping for greater global engagement under a Biden administration. Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez and France’s Emmanuel Macron both said they were looking forward to future cooperation.

The leaders of Greece and Italy added their congratulations, while the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, described Biden as a “strong supporter of our alliance”. The president of Ukraine, whose country was central to Trump’s impeachment and an attempt by the Trump campaign to paint Biden and his family as corrupt, offered speedy congratulations.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who often seemed frustrated by Trump — reportedly telling Macron this summer “I don’t want to be in the room with the guy” — said via a spokesman that she wished Biden “luck and success from the bottom of my heart”.

There were also celebrations around the world of Harris’s historic success as the first woman on a winning presidential ticket, and the first woman of colour to become vice-president. The first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said: “This is a big and special moment. Women and people of colour in particular will feel inspired by the historic nature of vice-president elect Harris’s achievement.”

Many of Trump’s closest allies abroad — and his most bitter rivals — began repositioning themselves after Biden’s win. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, a Trump ally who critics said had tacitly endorsed the incumbent for re-election, sent congratulations and a particular message for Harris, whose mother moved to the US from India. He said: “Your success is pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride for all Indian-Americans. I am confident vibrant India-US ties will get even stronger with your support and leadership.”

Iran’s supreme leader, the ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quick to repeat earlier mockery of the election, which he described as “a spectacle” but did not attack the president-elect personally, and on Saturday evening a political prisoner, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was given a temporary release from jail.

The timing may have been a coincidence, but there are hopes Biden and Tehran may revive the Obama-era nuclear deal jettisoned by Trump. News of the release also fostered hopes a Biden administration would be focused on civil rights beyond America’s borders, as well as at home.

“There is doom and gloom within Arab regime circles,” said Hassan Hassan, editor of Newslines Magazine. “A Biden presidency is likely to create space for activists and renewed civil society support.”

Iraq’s president, Barham Saleh. extended “warmest congratulations” to Biden, describing him as “a friend and trusted partner in the cause of building a better Iraq. We look forward to working to achieve our common goals and strengthening peace and stability in the entire Middle East.”

Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga, meanwhile, congratulated Biden and pledged to work together to ensure “peace, freedom and prosperity” in an Indo-Pacific region that is increasingly dominated by China. South Korean president Moon Jae-in said he was looking forward to working with Biden on their “shared values”.

Australia’s conservative prime minister, Scott Morrison, congratulated Biden on his victory , while his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, succinctly declared “what a relief”. Morrison said he looked forward to coordinating with the new Biden administration on Covid-19 and on technologies to reduce “global” emissions.

In his congratulations, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, leader of Africa’s most populous nation, called for “greater engagement” with the continent, while South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Twitter his government looked forward to “working with you and deepening our bonds of friendship and cooperation”.

From Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, one of Trump’s most fervent backers, there has been silence. There was also no immediate statement from Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The election’s outcome inspired disbelief in Slovenia, the homeland of first lady Melania Trump. Prime minister Janez Jansa was the only world leader who congratulated Trump even before all the votes were counted, and continued to show support after Biden’s win was announced.

One ousted leader had a word of advice to the outgoing president. Former Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen tweeted to Trump a picture of himself walking out of the seat of power, a backpack over his shoulder, and said: “This is the right way to leave office with honour once you have lost an election. Thanks for honest conversations over the last four years. Let’s keep in touch.”

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A fresh start for America …
… as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the US election. The American people have disavowed four years of a thuggish presidency. They have chosen decency over dysfunction, fact over fiction, truth over lies, and empathy over cruelty. They have rejected the last four years of ugliness, divisiveness, racism and sustained assaults on constitutional democracy. And even as Trump plots legal challenges and levies unfounded claims of fraud, it is clear America is moving on.

Now, the real work begins.

Removing Trump from the White House is one thing — fixing America is another. Many of the systemic issues that afflict the country will remain in place once he leaves Pennsylvania Avenue. Two eight-year Democratic presidencies over the last 30 years have not significantly impacted these issues. A stark racial wealth gap, school segregation, corrosive inequality, a climate crisis and a democratic deficit at the heart of America’s electoral college are but some of the issues that confront the new president.

With the Trump administration drawing to a close, we welcome the opportunity to refocus our journalism on the opportunities that lie ahead for America: the opportunity to fix a broken healthcare system, to restore the role of science in government, to repair global alliances, and to address the corrosive racial bias in our schools, criminal justice system and other institutions. We will report on the massive economic transition needed to stem climate change and we will continue to question the unchecked power of corporations and Big Tech.

But we can’t do this on our own. We need your support to carry on this essential work. We rely to an ever greater extent on our readers, both for the moral force to continue doing journalism at a time like this and for the financial strength to facilitate that reporting.

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated US president-elect Joe Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris through separate messages on Sunday.

In the message to Biden, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said: “Bangladesh, over the years since its independence in 1971, has forged an excellent and durable relationship with the USA. Now, with you at the helm of affairs of your country, I foresee the relationship reaching new heights in the coming days.

“I look forward to working closely with you in attaining shared ideals as well as in effectively confronting the evils of terrorism, violent extremism, hatred, forced displacements as of the Rohingyas, and for the realization of a safer and a better world,” she added.

Muhammad Faruk Khan, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday afternoon that Joe Biden and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have previously met each other at a program.

“I think, this time, Bangladesh and US relations will be deeper and stronger, as we are expecting some good progress in the Rohingya crisis and some other issues related to trade and commerce. We hope we will get more support during this regime,” added Faruk Khan, who is also serving as a presidium member of Awami League’s central committee.

2020/11/dt-770-x-90–1604207604176.gif

Amena Mohsin, professor of department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, said: “I do not think major changes will come in the trade and commerce.”

Regarding the Rohingya crisis, she said: “As we have seen previously, democrats are more concerned with human rights, so this time we might come to know of some concrete development on the Rohingya issue. This also depends on the US-China relations. During the reign of the Republican party, we have noticed there was a deterioration in relations between US and China, but this time this relationship could now become competitive and sophisticated.”

Dr Shammi Ahmed, international affairs secretary of Awami League, said US foreign policy is the same for everyone and does not depend on which party in in power. “However, we think our relation will be more developed and stronger this time. We are expecting some important developments on bilateral issues related to the garment sector and Rohingyas.”

Md Shahidul Haque, former foreign secretary, said: “I do not think qualitative changes will come for Bangladesh with the change of US President.”

PM Sheikh Hasina co-chaired a High-level Summit on Strengthening International Peace Operations during the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on September 26, 2014 in New York City, where former US vice-president Joe Biden was also present.

Bankers and lawyers who advise companies on M&A said the outcome, if confirmed, was the best possible for providing the stable economic and regulatory environment that deal making needs. They expect that Biden, the Democratic Party candidate, would be more predictable in governing than Republican President Donald Trump, and that a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate would restrain Biden’s most interventionist policies.

“This dynamic can be quite conducive to doing deals, because it provides stability,” said Peter Orszag, who served in the White House under President Barack Obama and now heads the financial advisory arm of investment bank Lazard Ltd.

“The only caveat is that there is less chance of another big round of stimulus, which would help the macroeconomic outlook, than if Democrats had taken the Senate,” Orszag added.

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All major U.S. TV networks projected Biden would win the presidency on Saturday, though Trump vowed to continue to challenge the outcome in the courts. Two runoff U.S. Senate races in Georgia, which will decide which party will control the upper chamber of Congress, will take place on Jan. 5, with Republicans favored to retain control based on this week’s tally.

Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate could block large swaths of Biden’s legislative and spending agenda, as well as key appointments for his Cabinet and government agencies.

NESTLÉ ACQUIRES PREPARED MEAL SERVICE FRESHLY TO COMPETE WITH HELLOFRESH, BLUE APRON

“Corporate leaders and markets like stability. Gridlock, in its own way, can be seen as a stabilizer, as we saw during the Obama administration,” said Cary Kochman, co-head of global M&A at Citigroup Inc.

While M&A activity jumped in the third quarter as executives rushed to revisit deals put on hold at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, deal volume globally is down 12% year-to-date to $2.84 trillion, according to data provider Refinitiv. Deal volume involving U.S. companies being acquired is down 32% year-to-date to $1.07 trillion.

Dealmakers said certainty over financial and regulatory policy will be crucial in the coming months to keep M&A going, as a new wave of coronavirus infections spreads across the United States and most of the world.

“I would venture to say some M&A has been held up under the Trump administration, because Trump could sometimes be unpredictable with his Twitter account,” said Bill Curtin, global head of M&A at Hogan Lovells.

Had Democrats taken control of Congress, dealmakers said the most disruptive aspects of Biden’s agenda would have been tax hikes. Biden has proposed raising the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 39.6% for those making over $1 million. This would have made it more expensive for corporate owners to cash out on their holdings.

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“Deals won’t be so much tax-driven, as Biden is not expected to immediately be able to carry out huge reforms in the U.S. corporate tax or healthcare systems,” said Patrick Sarch, a partner at law firm White & Case LLP.

BARRIERS TO CHINESE ACQUISITIONS TO STAY

Scrutiny of Chinese takeovers of U.S. companies, which intensified under Trump, is expected to continue, dealmakers said. In the last four years, the United States blocked many Chinese acquisitions, especially of U.S. technology firms, on national security grounds, and even ordered some Chinese firms, such as the owners of social media apps TikTok and Grindr, to divest them.

Deep U.S. suspicion of China’s economic power, technological advances and accounting standards will likely result in many of the hurdles to cross-border investments remaining in place under Biden, dealmakers said.

“The nationalistic focus and the high degree of scrutiny on sensitive deals that has emerged in recent years will not disappear anytime soon,” said Nestor Paz-Galindo, global co-head of M&A at UBS Group AG.

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One corporate sector that could be a major beneficiary of the election outcome is the oil and gas industry, dealmakers said. Low energy prices have fueled a wave of consolidation in the oil patch in recent weeks, and this could continue unhindered as Republicans curtail Biden’s clean energy agenda.

“You are going to see some pop in valuations in the energy sector. The market will feel that a Republican Senate will hold back Biden from regulating the U.S. energy sector as much as he might have,” said Vito Sperduto, global M&A co-head at Royal Bank of Canada.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin and Krystal Hu in New York and Pamela Barbaglia in London; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Jonathan Oatis)

Supporters of US President Donald Trump gather at a ‘Stop the Steal’ protest after the 2020 US presidential election was called for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, in front of the Arizona State Capitol, in Phoenix, Arizona on November 7, 2020 Reuters

The Trump campaign is fighting Philadelphia election officials over vote counting in the city, which continued on Saturday

US President Donald Trump’s campaign said on Saturday it had filed a lawsuit in Arizona, its latest legal challenge over the results of the presidential election.

The campaign suffered losses in Michigan and Georgia courts this week, but Trump pledged on Saturday to go forward with a legal strategy that he hopes will overturn state results that gave Democrat Joe Biden the win in Tuesday’s vote.

Legal experts said the cases the Trump campaign is bringing are narrow in scope and unlikely to change the outcome.

Below is a list of the cases that will play out in the coming days and possibly weeks. Trump’s campaign said on Saturday more litigation would be filed in the coming days.

Pennsylvania litigation

Several court battles are pending in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

The Trump campaign is fighting Philadelphia election officials over vote counting in the city, which continued on Saturday. A state court on Thursday granted the campaign closer access to the proceedings, a ruling that officials have appealed.

The City of Philadelphia Board of Elections has said its observation rules were needed for security reasons and to maintain social distancing protocols.

Trump’s campaign on Wednesday filed a motion to intervene in a case pending before the US Supreme Court challenging a decision from the state’s highest court that allowed election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday’s Election Day that were delivered through Friday.

US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday night ordered county election boards in the state to separate mail-in ballots received after 8 pm EST on Election Day.

Pennsylvania election officials have said those ballots were already being separated.

The justices previously ruled there was not enough time to decide the merits of the case before Election Day but indicated they might revisit it afterwards.

Alito, joined by fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said in a written opinion that there was a “strong likelihood” the Pennsylvania court’s decision violated the US Constitution.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar has said late-arriving ballots are a tiny proportion of the overall vote in the state.

Arizona Challenge

Trump’s campaign said on Saturday it had sued in Arizona, alleging that the state’s most populous county incorrectly rejected votes cast on Election Day by some voters.

The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Maricopa County, said poll workers told some voters to press a button after a machine had detected an “overvote.”

2020/11/dt-770-x-90–1604207604176.gif

The campaign said that decision disregarded voters’ choices in those races, and the lawsuit suggested those votes could prove “determinative” in the outcome of the presidential race.

Nevada loss

A voter, a member of the media and two candidate campaigns sued Nevada’s secretary of state and other officials to prevent the use of a signature-verification system in populous Clark County and to provide public access to vote counting.

A federal judge rejected the request on Friday, saying there was no evidence the county was doing anything unlawful.

Georgia ballot fight

The Trump campaign on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in state court in Chatham County that alleged late-arriving ballots were improperly mingled with valid ballots, and asked a judge to order late-arriving ballots be separated and not be counted.

The case was dismissed on Thursday.

Michigan ballot-counting suit

Trump’s campaign on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Michigan to halt the vote count in the state. The lawsuit alleged that campaign poll watchers were denied “meaningful access” to counting of ballots, plus access to surveillance video footage of ballot drop boxes.

On Thursday, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed the case, saying there was no legal basis or evidence to halt the vote and grant requests.

US Postal Service litigation

The US Postal Service said about 1,700 ballots had been identified in Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps on Thursday and were being delivered to election officials, according to a court filing early Friday.

The Postal Service said 1,076 ballots, had been found at its Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. About 300 were found at the Pittsburgh processing center, 266 at a Lehigh Valley facility and others at other Pennsylvania processing centers.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington is overseeing a lawsuit by Vote Forward, the NAACP, and Latino community advocates.

Sullivan on Thursday ordered twice-daily sweeps at Postal Service facilities serving states with extended ballot receipt deadlines. The judge plans to hold a status conference on Monday.

US VP-elect Kamala Harris’ ancestral village in South India celebrates her victory

Kamala Harris (Photo: Reuters)
Star Online Report
Diwali, the festival of lights, has come a week ahead of its actual date at Thulasendrapuram, the village where US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ mother comes from, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Going by media reports in Tamil language dailies, residents of the Thulasendrapuram offered prayers at a local temple and offered “idli and sambar” free of cost to devotes there in the run-up to the US elections, and now wears a festive look ahead of Diwali next week.

Many houses in the village have in front of them “alpana” extending wishes to Kamala Harris, the reports said.

Kamala Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian immigrant and Donald Harris, a Jamaica-born man, in California.

Harris’s ancestral village from her mother’s side is Thulasendrapuram in Tiruvarur district.

In Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, an elated maternal aunt of Kamala Harris — who made history by becoming the first Indian-origin and Black American to ascend to the chair of Vice President of the United States — is elated over her niece’s feat and now hopes to attend her swearing-in ceremony.

Harris’ aunt Sarala Gopalan, a veteran doctor at a voluntary health service in Chennai, said today that she couldn’t speak to Harris, who has her roots in a village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Saturday as she spent the entire day waiting for the announcement of her victory.

“How do you think I should feel about her victory? I feel very happy,” said the senior consultant at the voluntary health services.

“I was waiting for the announcement till late in the night…I felt tired and had to retire for the night,” she added.

“Hopefully,” was her response when asked if she would attend the swearing-in ceremony of her niece in the US.

A few years ago, after Harris called her up with a request, Dr Gopalan broke 108 coconuts at a temple in Chennai in keeping with the traditional practice.

When Joe Biden picked her as his running mate, Kamala Harris had pointed to her Indian roots in her acceptance speech and talked about her trips to Tamil Nadu as a child and the support she got from her aunts.

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A federal judge rejected the request on Friday, saying there was no evidence the county was doing anything unlawful.

Georgia ballot fight

The case was dismissed on Thursday.

Michigan ballot-counting suit

On Thursday, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed the case, saying there was no legal basis or evidence to halt the vote and grant requests.

US Postal Service litigation

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington is overseeing a lawsuit by Vote Forward, the NAACP, and Latino community advocates.

Sullivan on Thursday ordered twice-daily sweeps at Postal Service facilities serving states with extended ballot receipt deadlines. The judge plans to hold a status conference on Monday.

US VP-elect Kamala Harris’ ancestral village in South India celebrates her victory

Many houses in the village have in front of them “alpana” extending wishes to Kamala Harris, the reports said.

Kamala Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian immigrant and Donald Harris, a Jamaica-born man, in California.

Harris’s ancestral village from her mother’s side is Thulasendrapuram in Tiruvarur district.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, “CII looks forward to once again collaborating with President Biden and his incoming Administration.”

Prior to the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, bilateral trade in goods and services in 2019, reached a peak of nearly USD 150 billion, and CII hopes this will continue to rise in the years to come, he added.

“We can aim higher to our shared goal of USD 500 billion through a new era of revitalised economic cooperation, which would be comprehensive, complementary and collaborative,” Banerjee said.

The key sectors to watch for enhanced business cooperation will be energy and the green economy, defence and manufacturing, especially providing a boost to small business cooperation, as well as pharmaceuticals and healthcare — all driven by India and the US’ new age businesses and disruptive innovation and technologies, he added.

Hailing Biden and Harris as the new leaders of America, Chairman and MD of JSW Group Sajjan Jindal said in a tweet, “A democratic process voted for a change in a very defining year globally! Congratulations to the American community that ensured that the democratic process was not compromised in a tough external environment.” Similarly, congratulating Biden and Harris on their victory, JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal in a tweet hoped “to see enhanced ties and cooperation between India and the United States”.
Johnson congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory and said the two countries’ “common global perspective” would be vital to shore up a rules-based global order that is under threat.

“The United States is our closest and most important ally,” said Johnson, who has yet to speak to Biden. “And that’s been the case under president after president, prime minister after prime minister. It won’t change.”

Johnson told The Associated Press during an interview Sunday at his offices in 10 Downing St. that he looked forward to “working with President Biden and his team on a lot of crucial stuff for us in the weeks and months ahead: tackling climate change, trade, international security, many, many, many, many, many other issues.”

Conservative Party leader Johnson is widely seen as an ally — and to critics, a copy — of the populist, “America First” Trump, who has referred to Johnson approvingly as “Britain Trump.” Last year, Biden called the British leader a “clone” of Trump, and he has criticized Britain’s exit from the European Union, which Johnson has championed and led.

But Johnson said “there is far more that unites the government of this country and government in Washington any time, any stage, than divides us.”

“We have common values. We have common interests. We have a common global perspective,” said Johnson. “There’s a huge amount of work we need to do together to protect those values: a belief in democracy, in free speech around the world, in human rights, in free trade, in the rules-based international order.”

He shrugged off suggestions that Biden’s victory would scupper chances of a UK-US trade deal, and make it more urgent for Britain to secure a post-Brexit free trade deal with the 27-nation EU.

Also Read | UK says US ties will go ‘from strength to strength’ whoever wins

Britain had been hoping to secure a quick trade agreement with the US after its official departure from the EU in January. The change in administration in Washington leaves prospects of a deal uncertain and could raise pressure on Johnson to seal a deal with the EU before the UK makes an economic split from the bloc at the end of this year.

Post-Brexit trade talks are due to resume Monday, with the deadline imposed by the two sides just days away.

“I’ve always been a great enthusiast for a trade deal with our European friends and partners,” said Johnson, who has repeatedly said he is prepared to walk away from the Brexit trade talks without an agreement. “I think it’s there to be done. The broad outlines are pretty clear. We just need to get them to do it if we can.”

Johnson said he still hoped to get a US trade deal but knew the Americans would be “tough negotiators.”

“I’ve never believed that this was going to be something that was going to be a complete pushover under any US administration,” Johnson said, adding “I think there’s a good chance we’ll do something.”
Britain and the United States will work together to support democracy and combat climate change, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday, while denying that his close ties to President Donald Trump would hurt U.K.-U.S relations once President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Johnson congratulated Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory and said the two countries’ “common global perspective” would be vital to shore up a rules-based global order that is under threat.

World leaders congratulate Biden and Harris on U.S. election win
Conservative Party leader Johnson is widely seen as an ally — and to critics, a copy — of the populist, “America First” Trump, who has referred to Johnson approvingly as “Britain Trump.” Last year, Biden called the British leader a “clone” of Trump, and he has criticized Britain’s exit from the European Union, which Johnson has championed and led.

But Johnson said “there is far more that unites the government of this country and government in Washington any time, any stage, than divides us.”

Britain and the United States will work together to support democracy and combat climate change, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday, while denying that his close ties to President Donald Trump would hurt UK-US relations once President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

NEW DELHI: India Inc on Sunday hailed the victory of Joe Biden in the US Presidential election, while hoping for enhanced ties and cooperation between India and the United States, especially in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
ill
In 1975, Biden’s brother set up a blind date with a woman he’d known from university, Jill Tracy Jacobs. The date went well; two years later Biden married Jill, a teacher, in a Roman Catholic ceremony at a chapel in New York. In 1981, they had a daughter, Ashley. Meanwhile, Biden’s senatorial career was taking off. Time magazine identified him as a future American leader. His main international interest was arms control, at a time when relations between the US and the Soviet Union were characterised by mutual mistrust. Biden met with the Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, and argued Washington should abide by treaties signed with Moscow limiting long-range ballistic nuclear missiles. He also opposed the Reagan administration’s support for apartheid South Africa.

Biden with his sons Beau (left) and Hunter and his future wife Jill.
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Biden with his sons Beau (left) and Hunter and his future wife Jill. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
First presidential bid
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In summer 1987, Biden announced a presidential bid, his first. He was regarded as moderate, likable and high-profile, as chair of the Senate’s judiciary committee. At just 44, Biden would have been the second-youngest president after John F Kennedy. But his campaign for the Democratic nomination unravelled when he made a heartfelt speech about his family. Biden had substantially borrowed a passage from the British Labour leader Neil Kinnock. The gaffe sent journalists scurrying to dig up further embarrassing details. They found plenty. Biden, it turned out, had exaggerated his lacklustre academic credentials as well as his participation in the civil rights movement. He pulled out of the race, a victim of his own flaws and what he dubbed the “exaggerated shadow” of his past. Biden was further criticised for his role in supreme court hearings. Women’s groups accused him of mismanaging allegations of sexual harassment made by Anita Hill against judge Clarence Thomas.

Joe Biden announcing his bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.
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Joe Biden announcing his bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. Photograph: Steve Liss/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Second presidential bid
Biden’s second presidential bid in 2007 fell apart more rapidly than his first. This time it wasn’t plagiarism that undid him but a classic Joe gaffe. He described his rival Barack Obama as “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy — I mean that’s a storybook, man”. The comment sunk his ability to raise funds. Biden found himself squeezed between Obama and Hillary Clinton. He exited the contest after coming fifth in the Iowa caucus. Biden’s tilt at the presidency followed a long stint on the Senate’s foreign relations committee, as chair and ranking minority member. He supported Nato enlargement and its bombing of Kosovo. In 2002, Biden backed the US-led invasion of Iraq. He later admitted this was a “mistake” and said President Bush should “level” with the American people about the war’s cost.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before the start of a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2007 in South Carolina.
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Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before the start of a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2007 in South Carolina. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP
Vice-presidency
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After winning the Democratic nomination, Obama selected Biden to be his running mate. This was a surprise. Obama looked beyond Biden’s drawbacks: the condescension, his prolixity when it came to giving speeches, and his proclivity for gaffes. Instead Obama identified what Biden might bring to the ticket: contacts on Capitol Hill and substantial political nous, plus an ability to connect with blue-collar voters and foreign policy experience. In August 2008, Biden was confirmed as the Democrats’ choice for vice-president. During the campaign the media spotlight was more on Sarah Palin, Biden’s erratic Republican party rival. Biden campaigned in swing states and criticised the Republican candidate, John McCain, a longstanding friend. After Obama’s victory Biden relinquished his Senate seat and — seemingly — his last opportunity to become president.

Death of his son Beau
Biden and his family watch an honour guard carry his son Beau’s casket into church in Wilmington, Delaware in 2015.
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Biden and his family watch an honour guard carry his son Beau’s casket into church in Wilmington, Delaware in 2015. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
During Obama’s second presidential term there was speculation that Biden would make a third bid for the presidency. There was an issue: his age. Had he stood and won, he would have been 74 at the time of inauguration — the oldest president ever. The other factor was Biden’s son Beau, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Beau’s death in May 2015 persuaded Biden not to run. He acknowledged the loss of his son had drained him of “emotional energy”, adding: “Nobody has a right … to seek that office unless they’re willing to give it 110% of who they are.” Biden’s frankness about grief and his ability to come back from dark places — not once but twice — would later turn out to be useful political assets. His empathy was in contrast with the narcissism of Donald Trump, the 2016 election’s winner. In a time of pandemic Biden’s emotional gifts would strike a chord with voters.

Biden the candidate
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In 2019, Biden launched his third bid to enter the White House. His poll numbers were good. But in the first Iowa caucus he flopped disastrously — trailing Bernie Sanders and Sanders’ fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren. By the time of the New Hampshire primary it seemed that Biden was sunk: he came fifth. And then something nobody had anticipated happened: the most improbable comeback since Lazarus. On the campaign trail Biden appealed to black voters. In South Carolina, they forgave him his patchy record on race and came to the rescue. He won the state overwhelmingly. He then won 18 of the next 26 contests and endorsements from rival candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. When Sanders dropped out in April Biden became the nominee. The prospect of a restorationist Biden presidency became real. Questions about his age hadn’t gone away, though. Neither had Trump, a ruthless adversary and the man he had to beat.

Picking Kamala Harris
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the final night of the 2020 Democratic national convention.
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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the final night of the 2020 Democratic national convention. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
In March 2020, Biden announced he would pick a woman to be his running mate; his choice was the Californian senator and former prosecutor Kamala Harris. It was a bold decision. She was the first woman of colour on a major party ticket in America’s 244-year history. At a time of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter uprisings, Harris was also a symbolic rebuke to the white supremacists who cheered on Trump. Biden would be 78 at the time of his inauguration. It seemed unlikely he would want to serve a second term. That meant Harris was ideally placed to become America’s first female president, should Biden win, and to exorcise the ghost of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat. There was calculation here too: that Harris could maximise the turnout of women fed up with Trump and that of African American voters, especially in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Victory
On the eve of last week’s election, the pundits were unanimous: Biden was going to win, and win big. It didn’t quite turn out like that. On election night, Trump won the swing state of Florida, held Texas and painted much of the US map red. Democratic challengers in the House and Senate fell short. Trump even increased his vote share among Latinos and African-Americans. And yet slowly and inexorably Biden votes began to pile up. He won Michigan and Wisconsin. And in swing states mail-in ballots gobbled up Trump’s early lead. Trump responded in familiar fashion: with law suits and false claims that the Democrats were engaged in fraud. Biden remained calm and confident. By Friday, the race was effectively over, when Biden edged ahead in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Late on Saturday morning, as a chunk of Philadelphia votes came in, CNN and other networks called the race for Biden. At the time Trump was out golfing. The news triggered spontaneous street parties across the country, from DC, to New York, to San Francisco. In a victory speech on Saturday, Biden offered an inclusive vision and promised to heal America. “Let this grim era of demonisation in America begin to end — here and now,” he said.

A fresh start for America …
… as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the US election. The American people have disavowed four years of a thuggish presidency. They have chosen decency over dysfunction, fact over fiction, truth over lies, and empathy over cruelty. They have rejected the last four years of ugliness, divisiveness, racism and sustained assaults on constitutional democracy. And even as Trump plots legal challenges and levies unfounded claims of fraud, it is clear America is moving on.

Now, the real work begins.

Congratulating President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, CII President Uday Kotak said, “with rising trade and investment ties between the two countries, the health of our economies are inextricably linked and we must work together during this critical time to reinvigorate the bilateral economic agenda — facilitating economic growth, enhancing job creation, supporting small business and enabling cooperation in investment-related movement of professionals.”

With the election of Biden as President and Harris as Vice President, he said, “we are looking forward to engaging with the administration’s leadership to promote post-pandemic economic stability, business collaboration, our shared democratic values and increased people-to-people ties that have defined the special India-US relationship.”

ALSO READ: Biden administration likely to provide US citizenship to over 5,00,000 Indians, repeal Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’

Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said, “under the Biden-Harris leadership, the Indo-US economic ties would go from strength to strength, getting deeper into areas of advanced scientific research and development, business to business cooperation in strategic areas.”

He expressed confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biden would chalk out great cooperation in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

“The vaccine development, manufacture and distribution would require immense global cooperation: India and the US would surely be leading such cooperation,” Sood said, while also applauding Harris’ feat of becoming the first woman Vice-President of the US, saying: “You have been so gracious in hailing your Indian roots and values”.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sanjay Aggarwal said India and the US, the world’s largest democracies have always shared strong social, cultural and economic ties.

“We strongly believe that India-US partnership will be the defining relationship of the 21st century.

We look forward to a continued strengthened bilateral trade and investment growth trajectory and defence cooperation between the two nations.” For Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, the US election was also about lessons on leadership.

In a tweet he said, the lessons from the US election are, “leadership is about policy AND personality” and “Leaders will be judged by what they SAY not just what they DO. Leaders must ultimately represent everyone, not just those who voted for them (and) leaders with decency and values haven’t gone out of fashion.”