A recent poll gave Joe Biden a three-point lead over Donald Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today. AFP
A recent poll gave Joe Biden a three-point lead over Donald Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today. AFP
A recent poll gave Joe Biden a three-point lead over Donald Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today. AFP
A recent poll gave Joe Biden a three-point lead over Donald Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today. AFP


Trump and Biden in tight race to see who can alienate the most Americans


  • English
  • Arabic

July 13, 2022

US President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings have been steadily sliding into the abyss for the past year, got some good news this week: he could beat former president Donald Trump in a hypothetical rematch.

A New York Times/Siena College poll gives the incumbent a three-point lead over Mr Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today.

This represents a remarkable accomplishment for Mr Trump, who has managed to match and then surpass Mr Biden's deep unpopularity, even as 90 per cent of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, prices are soaring at rates not seen in 40 years and it now costs more than $100 to fill up the family car.

Instead of capitalising on a palpable sense of anger and frustration felt by most American families, Mr Trump has somehow been able to defy the national mood and alienate his own Republican Party.

The same poll found the former president, who is mulling a run in 2024, now only has the backing of 49 per cent of Republicans. It's a sea change for Mr Trump, long assumed to be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination in two years.

The reasons for this are many. The former kingmaker's political star is setting as many of his picks for primary races lose out to opponents he did not back.

And the historic hearings playing out on Capitol Hill are weighing heavily on his reputation.

Here was a president who — according to the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection — incited armed right-wing extremists to march on the Capitol in a bid to overturn Mr Biden's election win and, presumably, try to end democracy in America.

The panel and its witnesses have described time and again how Mr Trump knew his claims of election fraud were lies, yet he pushed them anyway.

Even Elon Musk, the self-declared Republican who is himself adept at alienating his followers, has had enough, telling Mr Trump to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”.

A vainglorious Mr Trump appears unable to move beyond the fact that he lost to Mr Biden by seven million votes. Now a critical mass of his supporters — whom he once bragged would still love him if he were to “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” — seem to have had enough.

Mr Biden, however, can draw little comfort from this.

Aside from the Trump metric, nothing on the polling front is going right for the 79-year-old president, who insists he will run again even as the world's most demanding job exacts a tough toll.

His gaffes are growing worse by the week, he has been unable to secure significant legislative wins this year and the Democrats seem determined to bungle their messaging on vital issues whenever possible.

Only this week, first lady Jill Biden caused an uproar when she likened San Antonio, Texas's Latino community to breakfast tacos.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released on Wednesday found that only 18 per cent of Americans think Mr Biden should run again in 2024. He will be almost 82 by election day, by far the oldest of any president to seek a second term.

In the key under-30 demographic, 94 per cent of Democrats say they want to see a different presidential nominee, the New York Times/Siena College poll showed.

With the Democrats on a cruise-controlled crash into a midterm electoral bonfire, the news will only get worse for Mr Biden.

As the Republicans win control of Congress, they will open sprawling probes into his bungling of the end of the Afghanistan war, his son Hunter's laptop and other inconvenient issues like out-of-control inflation that the Democrats would rather just go away.

It is clear Mr Biden is no longer fit for the job. And Mr Trump's seemingly seditious actions on January 6 should disqualify him from ever running for office again.

Neither party has a deep bench of palatable alternatives — but it's time for the old guard to step aside and see who rises.

Whatever happens on November 5, 2024, it won't be a rematch between two of the most unpopular men in America — and that is a good thing. This country deserves better.

Company profile

Date started: January, 2014

Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe

Based: Dubai

Sector: Education technology

Size: Five employees

Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.

Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

BIOSAFETY LABS SECURITY LEVELS

Biosafety Level 1

The lowest safety level. These labs work with viruses that are minimal risk to humans.

Hand washing is required on entry and exit and potentially infectious material decontaminated with bleach before thrown away.

Must have a lock. Access limited. Lab does not need to be isolated from other buildings.

Used as teaching spaces.

Study microorganisms such as Staphylococcus which causes food poisoning.

Biosafety Level 2

These labs deal with pathogens that can be harmful to people and the environment such as Hepatitis, HIV and salmonella.

Working in Level 2 requires special training in handling pathogenic agents.

Extra safety and security precautions are taken in addition to those at Level 1

Biosafety Level 3

These labs contain material that can be lethal if inhaled. This includes SARS coronavirus, MERS, and yellow fever.

Significant extra precautions are taken with staff given specific immunisations when dealing with certain diseases.

Infectious material is examined in a biological safety cabinet.

Personnel must wear protective gowns that must be discarded or decontaminated after use.

Strict safety and handling procedures are in place. There must be double entrances to the building and they must contain self-closing doors to reduce risk of pathogen aerosols escaping.

Windows must be sealed. Air from must be filtered before it can be recirculated.

Biosafety Level 4

The highest level for biosafety precautions. Scientist work with highly dangerous diseases that have no vaccine or cure.

All material must be decontaminated.

Personnel must wear a positive pressure suit for protection. On leaving the lab this must pass through decontamination shower before they have a personal shower.

Entry is severely restricted to trained and authorised personnel. All entries are recorded.

Entrance must be via airlocks.

MATCH INFO

Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')

Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')

UFC Fight Night 2

1am – Early prelims

2am – Prelims

4am-7am – Main card

7:30am-9am – press cons

MATCH INFO

Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)

TV: BeIN Sports

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20Znap%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarted%3A%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Uday%20Rathod%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%241m%2B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EInvestors%3A%20Family%2C%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster with a decades-long career in TV. He has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others. Karam is also the founder of Takreem.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

Facebook | Our website | Instagram

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

THE SPECS

      

 

Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
War and the virus
WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Updated: July 14, 2022, 1:25 AM`