Joe Biden 'underlined the strategic importance of the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel'. Reuters
Joe Biden 'underlined the strategic importance of the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel'. Reuters
Joe Biden 'underlined the strategic importance of the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel'. Reuters
Joe Biden 'underlined the strategic importance of the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel'. Reuters

After 100 days, how is Biden faring domestically?


Willy Lowry
  • English
  • Arabic

When President Joe Biden took office in January, America was in the throes of a devastating pandemic, an economic crisis and racial and political tension.

He promised swift new policies to get America back on track and, so far at least, most Americans approve of his actions.

As Mr Biden marks his 100th day in office on Thursday, he can boast of making good on some of the promises he made while campaigning – from tackling Covid-19 to fighting climate change to securing financial assistance packages for Americans.

In a survey produced by Ipsos for Reuters, he had a 55 per cent overall approval rating. While that’s higher than Donald Trump managed to receive after his first 100 days, it’s less than other recent presidents, underscoring America’s deep partisan split.

Still, Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University, said the buzz around Mr Biden has been palpable.

"In terms of how the American people are taking to Biden's legislative packages and programmes, we haven't seen this kind of energy since Ronald Reagan," Mr Balcerski told The National.

Since Mr Biden took office, about 100 million Americans have received both doses of vaccine against Covid-19, easily surpassing his goal of administering 100 million initial shots in his first 100 days. The US reached 100 million shots on day 59 of his presidency.

According to the poll, Americans support his handling of the pandemic, with 65 per cent of the population – including 39 per cent of Republicans – expressing approval.

On the legislative front, Mr Biden’s most significant accomplishment has been his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, the largest stimulus bill in US history, which included direct payments of up to $1,400 for most Americans.

“The American Rescue Plan, his Covid relief bill, is to the delight of most Americans. It has wide popular approval,” Mr Balcerski said.

His next big push, which faces hurdles in Congress, is a major spending plan that would put $2tn towards “historic” investments in infrastructure, clean energy and other areas.

The "Build Back Better Recovery Plan" will be Mr Biden's first big test. Americans generally approve of the proposal but Republican members of Congress say it costs too much and that they will oppose it at every turn.

“Infrastructure is another [area] where we’re seeing broad 60 to 65 per cent support. We’re seeing all 50 states benefiting from it and we’re seeing it fit within a long history of government support,” Mr Balcerski said.

Climate change and immigration

Mr Biden rejoined the Paris climate accord on his first day in office, fulfilling a campaign pledge and delivering on his longer-term goal of making climate change a national priority.

He also signed a series of executive actions to address climate change issues, established an Office of Domestic Climate Policy at the White House, scrapped the Keystone XL oil pipeline and stopped drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Last week, he held a virtual climate summit for world leaders.

Biden’s biggest political vulnerability so far is immigration, with apprehensions on the US-Mexico border up sharply, including an increase in unaccompanied minors.

Mr Biden fulfilled a promise of stopping construction on Mr Trump’s border wall, but strict immigration policies for asylum seekers at the southern border remain in place.

However, he did reverse Mr Trump’s “Muslim Ban”, a rule barring visitors from several Muslim-majority countries, on his first day in office.

Racial justice

A makeshift tombstone for George Floyd near the spot where he was murdered by former police officer Derek Chauvin. Willy Lowry / The National
A makeshift tombstone for George Floyd near the spot where he was murdered by former police officer Derek Chauvin. Willy Lowry / The National

The president has been outspoken in his support of racial equality and is pushing for Congress to pass police reforms.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would hold law enforcement more accountable for misconduct and ban certain training and techniques, including the use of choke holds.

Mr Biden has a close relationship with the family of George Floyd, whose murder by a Minneapolis policeman last year sparked a summer of protests across the US.

“I assured the Floyd family that we’re going to continue to fight for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act so I can sign it into law right away,” he tweeted.

Wide approval among supporters and progressives

According to the Ipsos poll, about 90 per cent of Democrats approve of Biden, while 8 per cent disapprove. Among independents, 51 per cent approve and 39 per cent disapprove.

Domestically, the previously centrist president has swung left. Even detractors within his party have been surprised.

“President Biden has definitely exceeded expectations that progressives had,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House of Representatives. “I’ll be frank, I think a lot of us expected a much more conservative administration.”

What's next?

The next 18 months will be crucial for Mr Biden and they likely won’t be as smooth as the first few months.

"Looking forward, things are more dicey," Cliff Young of Ipsos told The National. "If you look at the issues landscape as the pandemic recedes in importance, the other issues are more problematic and more divisive for the Biden administration."

While Mr Biden won some support among Republicans for his handling of the pandemic, the majority are not pleased with his overall performance. According to the Ipsos poll, only 20 per cent of Republicans expressed support for Mr Biden and conservative politicians have been hammering home the message that he represents the “radical left”.

"Republicans are united," Rick Scott, a senator from Florida, told George Stephanopoulos on This Week. "We don't like the Biden agenda. Republicans like a secure border, open schools."

Mr Scott, who is leading his party’s fund-raising for the 2022 midterm elections, believes Mr Biden is helping Republicans.

“I know we’re going to have a big win in ‘22 and Biden is helping us each and every day,” he said.

Both Mr Young and Mr Balcerski agree: the president only has until the 2022 midterm elections, which tend to favour the party not in power, to set his agenda.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors

Power: Combined output 920hp

Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic

Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km

On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025

Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo

Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm

Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: from Dh209,000 

On sale: now

EA Sports FC 26

Publisher: EA Sports

Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S

Rating: 3/5

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

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

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Liverpool's all-time goalscorers

Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228

Saturday's results

Women's third round

  • 14-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-2
  • Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
  • 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4. 6-0
  • Coco Vandeweghe (USA) beat Alison Riske (USA) 6-2, 6-4
  •  9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 19-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
  • Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 7-6, 6-1
  • Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
  • 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-0

Men's third round

  • 13-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1, 6-1 -- retired
  • Sam Queery (United States) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
  • 6-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat 25-Albert Ramos (Spain) 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
  • 10-Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Sebastian Ofner (Austria) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
  • 11-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
  • Adrian Mannarino (France) beat 15-Gael Monfils (France) 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%3A%20Zywa%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202021%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Nuha%20Hashem%20and%20Alok%20Kumar%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20UAE%3Cbr%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%3Cbr%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%243m%3Cbr%3ECompany%20valuation%3A%20%2430m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company info

Company name: Entrupy 

Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist

Based: New York, New York

Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.  

Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius. 

Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place. 

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
List of alleged parties

 May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members

May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party

Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff

Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson

Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party

Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters

Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz

Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party

Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed

Based: Muscat

Launch year: 2018

Number of employees: 40

Sector: Online food delivery

Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception 

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

Engine: 80 kWh four-wheel-drive

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 402bhp

Torque: 760Nm

Price: From Dh280,000

FORSPOKEN
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The%20Legend%20of%20Zelda%3A%20Tears%20of%20The%20Kingdom
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Starfield
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MATCH DETAILS

Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90 6)

Genoa 1 (Kouame 40)

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

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

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)

PRO BASH

Thursday’s fixtures

6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors

10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters

Teams

Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.

Squad rules

All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.

Tournament rules

The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.

 


 

Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950

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