RABIA ALAWWAL 23, 1442 AH MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 16 Pages Max 34º Min 24º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18278 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Bitcoin rise sparks new Egypt’s GDP grows despite Festive Filipinos trying US sports stars celebrate 8 debate amid pandemic 9 pandemic, so does poverty 13 to save Xmas from virus 14 as Biden wins presidency Biden begins transition, calls for healing, unity US president-elect urges cooperation, reaches out to Trump voters WASHINGTON: US President-elect gram protecting from deportation Joe Biden began the transfer of power “Dreamers” immigrants brought to yesterday that Americans hope will the US illegally as children shortly turn the page on four years of divi- after taking office on Jan 20 that siveness as his defeated rival Donald would reverse several contentious Trump refused to concede and con- Trump policies. tinued to cast doubt on the election Biden, who turns 78 on Nov 20, is results. As congratulations poured in the oldest person ever elected to the from world leaders and supporters White House. Harris, the junior sena- nursed hangovers after a day of rau- tor from California, is the first woman cous celebrations, the 77-year-old and first black person to be elected Biden and Vice President-elect vice president. Biden has already Kamala Harris, 56, launched a transi- announced plans to name a task force tion website, BuildBackBetter.com, today to tackle the coronavirus pan- and a Twitter feed, @Transition46. demic which has left more than It lists four priorities for a Biden- 237,000 people dead in the United Harris administration: COVID-19, States and is surging across the economic recovery, racial equity and country. climate change. “The team being Biden, just the second Catholic to assembled will meet these challenges elected US president, was attending on Day One,” it said in a reference to church yesterday morning in his Jan 20, 2021, when Biden will be hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, sworn in as the 46th President of the as Trump was headed for the golf United States. course. Trump, 74, was playing golf at The Washington Post reported his club near Washington on Saturday yesterday that Biden plans to sign morning when the US television net- executive orders repealing a ban on works announced that Biden had travellers from several Muslim-majori- secured enough Electoral College ty nations, rejoining an international votes for victory and he returned for climate accord, reversing Trump’s another round yesterday morning. As WILMINGTON, Delaware: US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stand with spouses Jill Biden and Doug withdrawal from the World Health Trump’s motorcade headed to Sterling Emhoff after delivering remarks on Saturday after being declared the winners of the US presidential election. — AFP (See Pages 5 & 6) Organization and buttressing a pro- Continued on Page 2 and vice president-elect Kamala Palestinians Harris on Twitter yesterday, before thanking Trump for a raft of moves Trump does not that, according to Netanyahu, hopeful; Bibi advanced Israel’s interests. Trump uni- plan to concede laterally pulled out of the 2015 Iran faces setback nuclear deal - an agreement between Tehran and world powers loathed by anytime soon JERUSALEM: Joe Biden’s US elec- Netanyahu - and recognized tion win marks a setback for Israeli Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided capi- WASHINGTON: After the declaration on premier Benjamin Netanyahu, a tal”, moving the US embassy to the Saturday that Democrat Joe Biden had won the staunch ally of President Donald city, breaking international consensus. race for the White House, Republican President Trump - but it could spur renewed He also endorsed Israeli sovereign- Donald Trump and his allies made one thing engagement between Washington and ty over the Golan Heights - which was clear: He does not plan to concede anytime the Palestinians, experts said. seized from Syria - and avoided criti- soon. The president, who has spent months try- Netanyahu said Trump was Israel’s cizing Jewish settlements in the occu- ing to undermine the election results with strongest-ever ally in the White pied West Bank. According to a pre- unproven allegations of fraud, pledged on House, and the Republican advanced vote poll by the Israel Democracy Saturday to go forward with a legal strategy policies that delighted the Israeli Institute think-tank, 63 percent of JERUSALEM: Palestinian man reads the front page of Al-Quds newspaper, head- that he hopes will overturn state results that prime minister’s right-wing base. Israelis wanted Trump to win a lined in Arabic “Joe Biden the new US President”, in front of the Dome of the gave Biden the win in Tuesday’s vote. Netanyahu congratulated Biden Continued on Page 2 Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound yesterday. — AFP Trump aides and Republican allies, while somewhat conflicted on how to proceed, largely supported his strategy or remained silent. “The President Donald Trump’s blunt approach to the region: from wars in Libya and Yemen to reassuring simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Arabs doubt Biden region’s myriad problems. “I was positive that the United States’ Gulf Arab allies that Washington Biden has not been certified as the winner of Trump will not make it to a second term. He was too can protect them from enemy Iran, even though he any states, let alone any of the highly contested hostile almost towards everybody. He is (more) fit to has said he would return to the international nuclear states headed for mandatory recounts, or states will herald change be a mafia leader than a president of the United deal with Tehran. where our campaign has valid and legitimate States,” said Adel Salman, 40, a high school English “Trump was our friend, he loved Saudi Arabia legal challenges that could determine the ulti- in the Middle East teacher in Baghdad. and protected it from enemies. He handcuffed Iran. mate victor,” Trump said in a statement released “Let’s wait and see with the Biden presidency. Biden will let Iran free again and this will hurt us by his campaign around midday. BAGHDAD/RIYADH: Arab leaders congratulated And I’m saying to all Iraqis don’t count your chick- and the whole region,” said Mohamed Al Anaizy, a The president’s allies and advisers privately Joe Biden on his election victory, but some people ens before they hatch. Is Biden better for Iraq? Saudi Uber driver. While Trump had cozy relation- admitted that the former New York business- in the Middle East expressed cynicism over US pol- Let’s wait and see his acts.” Biden may face some of ships with what critics say are increasingly man’s chances of overturning the election icy even if he pursues diplomacy rather than his most complex foreign policy challenges in the Continued on Page 2 results and staying in the White House were slim. While preparing for an eventual conces- “believed so deeply in an America sion, they called for time to let the legal chal- India hails where a moment like this is possible” in lenges run their course. “He should allow the a national address with president-elect recounts to go forward, file whatever claims Joe Biden on Saturday. there are, and then if nothing changes he should Harris win At Thulasendrapuram village in Tamil concede,” said one Trump advisor. THULASENDRAPURAM, India: Nadu state, once home to Harris’s Only two Republicans senators - Mitt Residents set off firecrackers in the maternal grandfather P V Gopalan, cele- Romney and Lisa Murkowski - have congratu- ancestral home of Kamala Harris yester- brations broke out with people lighting lated Biden on his victory and Democratic day as India celebrated the vice presi- firecrackers, praying at its main temple Representative James Clyburn of South dent-elect’s victory in the US election, and waving posters bearing the vice Carolina said the Republican Party has a with her uncle hailing her achievement president-elect’s face. Women in the vil- “responsibility” to help convince Trump that it as historic and an inspiration to women lage made a rangoli - a colorful work of folk art drawn on the ground - with the is time to concede. “What matters to me is and girls. Harris - daughter of breast THULASENDRAPURAM, India: Residents hold placards with the portrait of US Vice whether or not the Republican Party will step cancer specialist Shyamala Gopalan words “Congratulations to Kamala Harris”. “It is a matter of pride for the President-elect Kamala Harris as they celebrate her victory at her ancestral vil- Continued on Page 2 from the southern Indian city of Chennai lage in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu yesterday. — AFP - paid tribute to her late mother, who Continued on Page 2 2 Established 1961 Monday, November 9, 2020 Local US, Kuwait set to launch Fourth Strategic Dialogue US State Secretary, Kuwait Foreign Minister attend closing ceremony Nov 24 KUWAIT: The governments of the US first launched four years ago, is the over- and Kuwait are scheduled to launch their arching framework of efforts to shape the fourth Strategic Dialogue talks today two countries’ work on shared issues. The through a series of virtual, bilateral work- 2020 dialogue will build on the successes ing groups, the US Embassy said yester- Health deal from previous years, including past agree- day. The working groups will run for the to be signed ments and MOUs on counter-terrorism next two weeks in the lead up to a closing training, higher education, cybersecurity, ceremony in Washington DC on counter-narcotics, and customs security. November 24.