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Minggu, 08 November 2020

Saudi Arabia finally congratulates Biden on his win - CNA

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia finally congratulated Joe Biden on Sunday (Nov 8) over his election victory, more than 24 hours after he defeated Donald Trump, who had close personal ties with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The former US vice president pledged in his campaign to reassess ties with the kingdom, demanding more accountability over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Riyadh's Istanbul consulate and calling for an end to US support for the Yemen war.

As other Arab states raced to applaud the Democrat challenger, the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remained silent on the US vote even as he sent warm words to the president of Tanzania on his re-election.

At 1932 GMT on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's king Salman and his son, the crown prince, congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on winning the presidential election, state news agency SPA reported.

"King Salman praised the distinguished, historic and close relations between the two friendly countries and their people which everyone looks to strengthen and develop at all levels," SPA added.

Prince Mohammed's relationship with Trump had provided a buffer against international criticism over Riyadh's rights record sparked by Khashoggi's murder, Riyadh's role in Yemen's war and the detention of women activists.

Those areas may now become points of friction between Biden and Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter and buyer of US arms.

"The only thing worse than COVID-19 would be BIDEN-20," wrote Saudi Twitter user Dr Muna, while many other Saudi users of the social media platform simply ignored the result in the initial hours after US networks called the election for Biden.

A Saudi political source played down the risk of a falling out between the kingdom and the United States, pointing to Riyadh's historic ties with Washington.

But Saudi Arabia's Okaz newspaper offered a sense of the uncertainty about how the future plays out for the kingdom. "The region is waiting ... and preparing ... for what happens after Biden’s victory," it wrote in a front page article.

The kingdom may not have to wait long. Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at Britain's Chatham House think-tank, said the Biden administration would likely seek to signal early on its discontent with Saudi domestic and foreign policies.

"The Saudi leadership is concerned that a Biden administration and a hostile Congress will carry out a full review of relations, including re-evaluating defence ties and therefore will likely make positive sounds and moves towards ending the Yemen conflict," he said.

Saudi Arabia was an enthusiastic backer of Trump's "maximum pressure" of tough sanctions on regional rival Iran. But Biden has said he would return to a 2015 nuclear pact between world powers and Tehran, a deal negotiated when Biden was vice president in Barack Obama's administration.

Abu Zaid, a cashier at a supermarket in Riyadh, said he hoped Biden would take a different approach. "I am not happy with the Biden win, but I hope he learns from Obama's mistakes and realises that Iran is a common enemy," he said.

A Saudi political source said the kingdom had "the ability to deal with any president because the US is a country of institutions and there is a lot of institutional work between Saudi Arabia and the United States".

"Saudi-US relations are deep, sustainable, and strategic and not prone to change because a president changes," he said.

Prince Mohammed had denied ordering Khashoggi’s killing but in 2019 he acknowledged some personal accountability by saying that it happened on his watch. Riyadh has jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years in the case.

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2020-11-08 21:32:43Z
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COVID-19: What is preventing countries lifting border restrictions to travellers from Singapore? - CNA

SINGAPORE: While Singapore has relaxed restrictions on travellers arriving from a few countries and territories with low COVID-19 rates of infections, so far Hong Kong is the only one which is putting in place reciprocal arrangements.

From Friday (Nov 6), Singapore has accepted visitors from mainland China without the need for stay-home notices.

This means that general travellers from five countries can now enter Singapore: Mainland China, Australia, Brunei, New Zealand and Vietnam. Authorities here have said that the risk of importing COVID-19 cases from these places is low.

COVID-19: Singapore to lift border restrictions for visitors from mainland China and Australia's Victoria state from Nov 6

Commentary: Hong Kong and Singapore air travel bubble could be a game-changer

However, Hong Kong is so far the only destination which is opening up to travellers from Singapore with the establishment of a travel bubble, possibly by the end of the month.

With many people in Singapore keen to venture overseas for a holiday, questions have been asked about what is stopping China, Australia, Brunei, New Zealand and Vietnam from putting in place similar arrangements.

Professor Dale Fisher, an infectious diseases expert from the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine said that Singapore now has mask-wearing and systems in place to shut down transmission, and has very few COVID-19 cases each week.

"We see the economic and societal impact of closed borders as something that is important and can be safely addressed without compromising health," he said.

This is not the case with other countries, even those with low infection rates.

"It seems other countries (some with zero cases and possible eradication) fear their current capacities to manage an imported case and are very risk averse," Prof Fisher said in emailed responses to CNA's queries..

"At this stage I believe they fear uncontrolled transmission should even one case appear. We feel that the very small risk is worth the enormous benefits of loosening border restrictions with very low risk countries."

He thinks that other countries will have to loosen their borders eventually to mitigate the economic and societal impacts of tight border restrictions.

Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health said that the countries Singapore has opened to are mostly large and the impact of Singapore travellers on their economies is probably relatively small in absolute terms, so it may not be a high priority for them to open themselves up to visitors from here.

COVID-19: Visitors with travel history to Estonia, Norway to serve stay-home notice at dedicated facilities

READ: 7 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, all imported

He said that the risk in Singapore is now probably a lot lower than it appears.

"The headline figure (total number of infections) is high because of the dormitory outbreaks, but recreational travellers have a much lower risk than dormitory residents to have infection," he said.

"Also, currently we’re still seeing infections, but these are mostly now in travellers into Singapore, and therefore do not reflect community transmission. These imported cases still appear in our national numbers."

TRAVELLERS TO SINGAPORE

On Friday, Singapore welcomed 22 visitors from mainland China following the lifting of border restrictions for short-term visitors from the country, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said on Saturday.

When these travellers enter Singapore, they have to take a COVID-19 test and they can go about their activities here without having to serve a stay-home notice if the test is negative.

They need to apply for an Air Travel Pass (ATP) from Singapore and they must also have remained in the country they flew from in the last 14 days to qualify.

Visitors must download and register for the TraceTogether app on their mobile devices before departing for Singapore, keep it activated during their stay here, and not delete it for 14 consecutive days after leaving Singapore.

Since Sep 1, when the ATP applications opened, 2,613 have been issued to applicants from Australia, Brunei, mainland China, New Zealand and Vietnam.

Of these, 811 passengers had entered Singapore as at Nov 6 – 106 from Australia, 232 from Brunei, 22 from Mainland China, 115 from New Zealand and 336 from Vietnam.

Another 1,465 passengers have yet to travel, and 337 ATPs have expired. All the visitors who have arrived in Singapore have tested negative for COVID-19.

The embassies and authorities of mainland China, New Zealand and Australia confirmed to CNA that their border restrictions - including quarantine for overseas visitors - remain in place. Vietnamese and Bruneian authorities did not respond to queries.

Commentary: Removing travel restrictions isn’t as scary as it sounds

"New Zealand’s border restrictions remain in place for most travellers apart from New Zealand citizens and residents and people who have been granted an exception to travel to New Zealand," said an Immigration New Zealand spokesperson.

"This is to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of New Zealand’s population."

She added that New Zealand is in regular contact with Singapore as a close partner on both countries’ COVID situations and responses, but travellers from Singapore currently still need to be granted a border exception before they are able to travel to New Zealand.

New Zealand and Brunei had been the first two countries Singapore had lifted border controls for back in August.

READ: Singapore to waive stay-home notice for New Zealand and Brunei travellers, will test them for COVID-19 on arrival

A spokesperson from the Australian Border Force said that any decision on opening the Australian border will be made and announced by their government in due course.

An attache from the Chinese embassy in Singapore said that "the policy of entering China is decided in view of the regional and global COVID-19 situation".

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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2020-11-08 22:01:51Z
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George Bush toasts Biden, urges Americans to 'come together' - CNA

WASHINGTON: Former US president George W Bush has offered his "warm congratulations" to President-elect Joe Biden, calling the Democrat "a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country."

The two-term Republican, in a statement issued by his presidential centre in Dallas, also congratulated loser Donald Trump for his "extraordinary political achievement" in winning 70 million votes.

Bush's statement made him one of the country's most prominent Republicans to acknowledge Biden's victory, declared on Saturday, and offer him congratulations.

His brother Jeb Bush - the former Florida governor who had himself aspired to the presidency until Trump grabbed the party's nomination in 2016 - earlier sent Biden his own congrats.

"I will be praying for you and your success. Now is the time to heal deep wounds. Many are counting on you to lead the way,"

Republican senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have also extended congratulations to Biden, while many other Republican officials are calling that premature, saying not all votes have yet been counted and not all challenges resolved.

Former president Bush agreed that Trump had "the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges".

But he added: "The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear".

Sounding a message of unity that echoed Biden's own words, Bush added: "We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbours, and for our nation and its future.

"There is no problem that will not yield to the gathered will of a free people."

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2020-11-08 19:52:06Z
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Five reasons why Biden won and Trump lost - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - As the dust settles following the 2020 US presidential election with democratic candidate Joe Biden ousting President Donald Trump from the White House, we take a look at some of the reasons that caused the incumbent to lose the race and led to Mr Biden becoming America's 46th president.

Why Mr Biden won and Mr Trump lost

1. Covid-19

The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic fall out played a central role in Mr Biden's campaign, allowing him to highlight the incumbent's missteps.

With record surges of Covid-19 infections in the weeks leading up to the election, and with the President catching the virus himself, the Trump administration was seen to have botched handling the crisis.

In the US, Covid-19 has already claimed more than 230,000 lives and the number of new cases continues to rise, with the past few days seeing more than 100,000 new infections daily.

The pandemic has weighed on Mr Trump's approval ratings, which according to a Gallup poll, dipped to 38 per cent at one point in June - something the Biden campaign exploited.

From the President's repeated downplaying of the deadly virus to unsubstantiated claims that Covid-19 was "going to disappear... like a miracle", confidence in the incumbent took a hit, with another poll by Pew Research in October showing that Mr Biden held a 17 per cent point lead over Mr Trump when it came to confidence about their handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mr Biden, on the other hand, laid out his approach to address the disease based on "bedrock science" since the start of his campaign.

He presented to voters detailed plans to combat the virus, including nationalising mask wearing, ramping up on Covid-19 testing and introducing proposals for health care and economic recovery.

2. Less-is-more campaigning

Mr Trump's presidency has been marked by his often controversial and sensationalist statements, some of which were made during his breakneck-paced presidential campaign that saw him criss-crossing the country in recent weeks.

At one point, Mr Trump visited three states in a single day - holding rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Las Vegas.

In contrast, Mr Biden adopted a less frenzied campaigning schedule. In recent months, he did the unprecedented, taking entire days off from rallies and events, which drew some criticism.

One thing to note is that Mr Biden is not without slip-ups over the course of his nearly 50 years in public office. And scaling back on his campaign schedule could have been an attempt to limit his verbal stumbles and gaffes, reported Vanity Fair.

Some of his missteps include mixing up living former British prime minister Theresa May with deceased former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and saying that "poor kids" were as smart as "white kids" in a 2019 speech - a slip-up that some read as revealing of antiquated views on race and class.

3. Anyone but Trump

The election also became something of a referendum on Mr Trump.

Mr Biden's winning message was simply that he was "not Trump", wrote BBC's North American reporter Anthony Zurcher.

"Biden bet his political fortunes on the contention that Trump was too polarising and too inflammatory, and what the American people wanted was calmer, steadier leadership," he wrote.

"After four exhausting years, many voters simply wanted a presidency they could have on in the background - an occupant of the White House who would behave in a more conventional manner. They had tired of the infantile name-calling, the ugly language and the ceaseless confrontation. They wanted a return to some kind of normalcy," added BBC's New York correspondent Nick Bryant.

Mr Bryant said Mr Trump won the presidency in 2016 partly because he was a "norm-busting political outsider" who was prepared to say what had previously been "unsayable", but this is also the same reason he lost the race in 2020.

Meanwhile, CNN's senior political commentator David Axelrod said Mr Trump's antics over the course of his presidency have not only inflamed his own base but inspired a massive coalition of Americans who are "determined to end his stormy, divisive rule".

He wrote: "Joe Biden pitched himself from the start as the antidote to Trump's hard-edged politics - a healer, not a divider."

4. Stay in the centre

In the lead-up to becoming the Democratic candidate, Mr Biden stuck with a centrist strategy, refusing to back universal government-run healthcare, free college education, or a wealth tax.

His game plan was to hug the middle and propose incremental changes to various policies, while at the same time staying clear of the most far-reaching progressive demands.

"This allowed him to maximise his appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans during the general election campaign," wrote BBC's Mr Zurcher.

This strategy was reflected in Mr Biden's choice of running mate. He chose Ms Kamala Harris when he could have opted for someone with more support from the Democratic party's left wing.

Ms Harris, who is now Vice-President elect, had in the past rebuffed some demands of the party's rising progressive wing and this might have helped appeal to moderate swing voters in states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

But Mr Biden did move closer to the left on the environment and climate change, perhaps calculating that the benefits of appealing to younger voters for whom the issue is a priority outweighed the risk of alienating voters in energy-dependent, swing-state industries, wrote Mr Zurcher.

5. More money, fewer problems

The Biden campaign had the financial advantage over Mr Trump's in the final weeks leading up to polling day, raising a record US$493.8 million (S$665.9 million) in the two months before the Nov 3 election.

Armed with a total haul of US$761.2 million in 2020, the campaign went on a spending spree buying up television, radio and digital advertising in an attempt to milk the advantage over the Trump campaign that was on a cash crunch during the final stretch.

While the Trump campaign and its shared committees with the Republican National Committee managed to raise US$1.5 billion since 2019, Mr Trump burnt through much of that money in the early stages of the race when voters were not paying much attention, reported the Financial Times.

Mr Trump's campaign began October with just US$63.1 million cash in hand left, an almost 50 per cent drop from the US$121.1 million it had going into September.

Mr Biden's campaign had almost three times as much - US$177.3 million - having ended August with US$180.7 million in the bank.

While a sizeable financial lead is not the sole reason for the win, it gave the Biden campaign an advantage in reaching out to voters and pushing his message until the very end.

The impact of such outreach was amplified due to social distancing and lockdown measures as more Americans stayed at home and consumed more media on various platforms.

For live updates and results, follow our US election live coverage.

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2020-11-08 09:25:00Z
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Dealmakers see divided US government favouring mergers and acquisitions - CNA

NEW YORK/: Joe Biden's projected win of the US presidency and the Republican Party potentially retaining control of the US Senate could drive a pickup in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that took a hit amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmakers said.

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 dealmaking 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 US Senate would restrain Biden's most interventionist policies.

READ: Commentary: The world has big expectations for a Joe Biden presidency

"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.

"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.

All major US TV networks projected Biden would win the presidency on Saturday (Nov 7), though Trump vowed to continue to challenge the outcome in the courts.

Two runoff US Senate races in Georgia, which will decide which party will control the upper chamber of Congress, will take place on Jan 5, with Republicans favoured to retain control based on this week's tally.

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

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

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 per cent year-to-date to US$2.84 trillion, according to data provider Refinitiv. Deal volume involving US companies being acquired is down 32 per cent year-to-date to US$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 per cent to 39.6 per cent for those making more than US$1 million. This would have made it more expensive for corporate owners to cash out on their holdings.

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

BARRIERS TO CHINESE ACQUISITIONS TO STAY

Scrutiny of Chinese takeovers of US 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 US 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 US 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.

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 fuelled 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 US energy sector as much as he might have," said Vito Sperduto, global M&A co-head at Royal Bank of Canada.

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2020-11-08 06:31:13Z
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Sabtu, 07 November 2020

Trump does not plan to concede any time soon, aides and allies indicate - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - After the declaration on Saturday (Nov 7) that Democrat Joe Biden had won the race for the White House, Republican President Donald Trump and his allies made one thing clear: He does not plan to concede any time soon.

The President, who has spent months trying to undermine the election results with unproven allegations of fraud, pledged on Saturday to go forward with a legal strategy that he hopes will overturn state results that gave Mr Biden the win in Tuesday's vote.

Trump aides and Republican allies, while somewhat conflicted on how to proceed, largely supported his strategy or remained silent.

"The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor," Mr Trump said in a statement released by his campaign around mid-day.

The President's allies and advisers privately admitted that the former New York businessman's chances of overturning the election results and staying in the White House were slim.

While preparing for an eventual concession, they called for time to let the legal challenges run their course.

"He should allow the recounts to go forward, file whatever claims there are, and then if nothing changes, he should concede," said one Trump adviser.

The Trump campaign and Republicans have brought numerous lawsuits over alleged election irregularities. Judges tossed cases in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada.

In Pennsylvania, judges sided with Republicans and ordered some provisional ballots set aside and granted Republican observers greater access to vote counting.

Legal experts said the legal challenges were too narrow in scope to have an impact on the outcome of the election.

Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to raise at least US$60 million (S$81 million) to fund legal challenges, sources told Reuters.

"He should make sure every vote is counted and demand transparency. That puts him on solid rhetorical grounds," said another former White House official.

Mr Trump was at his golf property in Virginia when the race was called for Mr Biden.

Clusters of Biden supporters lined two blocks of his motorcade's route back on Saturday afternoon. Mr Trump re-entered the White House wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, looking glum with a mobile phone in his hand.

Mr Trump re-entered the White House wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, looking glum with a mobile phone in his hand. PHOTO: REUTERS

Mr Biden supporters gathered and celebrated loudly near the White House.

Republicans worried that Mr Trump could tarnish his legacy if he does not eventually make a graceful exit, eroding his future political power.

"It will be impossible for him to run again in 2024 if he's seen as a sore loser," a congressional Republican source said.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham, a staunch Trump defender, on Friday urged the President, if and when the time came, to accept an unfavourable outcome with "grace and composure".

The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board wrote that Mr Trump "needs evidence to prove voter fraud".

"If Mr Biden has 270 Electoral College votes at the end of the counting and litigation, President Trump will have a decision to make. We hope in that event he would concede gracefully," it said.

Mr Biden crossed that crucial threshold on Saturday by winning the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

One Trump adviser said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would likely be the aide who would raise with Mr Trump the idea of conceding. Mr Meadows came down with the coronavirus this week and is under quarantine.

Another former adviser said Vice-President Mike Pence or senior adviser and Mr Trump's son-in-law, Mr Jared Kushner, would have the job of telling the President when it was time to concede.

Indeed, CNN reported late on Saturday that Mr Kushner had approached Mr Trump about conceding. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"President Trump is entitled to take the time he wants to absorb this. It was close and it's not productive to demand an immediate concession," said Mr Ari Fleischer, who was a White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration.

"The best thing to keep this country together is to give the President a reasonable period of time to accept the results."

For live updates and results, follow our US election live coverage.

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2020-11-08 05:11:29Z
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Indians in Kamala Harris' ancestral home wake up to her victory - CNA

THULASENDRAPURAM, India: After rooting for Kamala Harris as President-elect Joe Biden's running mate, people in her small ancestral Indian village woke up on Sunday (Nov 8) morning to the news of her making history.

Most of them had gone to sleep by the time Biden clinched the winning threshold of 270 Electoral College votes.

Live updates: Biden wins US presidential election, networks project

"Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our village. Vanakkam (Greetings) America," one female resident wrote in colour powder outside her residence.

"We all have been waiting for this day. Congratulations," Aulmozhi Sudhakar, a village councillor, said.

The village of Thulasendrapuram, population 350, planned to celebrate Harris' success with singing, dancing and firecrackers at a temple later on Sunday.

Already in the morning hours, groups gathered at street corners reading newspapers and chatting about the Democrats' victory before moving to the temple for prayers.

READ: Kamala Harris becomes first black woman elected as US vice president

Cutouts and posters wishing Harris a "grand success" adorned the village walls.

"Kamala Harris is the daughter of our village. From children to senior citizens, each one of us is awaiting the day she would take oath as the vice president of the US," said Sudhakar.

J Sudhakar, who organised prayers on Election Day, expressed his wish that Harris should now visit the village. As Americans voted, nearly 50 residents, with folded hands, lined up in the temple that reverberated with the sounds of ringing bells, and a Hindu priest gave them sweets and flowers as a religious offering.

Election 2020 Harris India — Indian women prepare a kolam congratulating US vice president-elect Kamala Harris in the hometown of Harris' maternal grandfather, in Thulasendrapuram, south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India, Nov 8, 2020. (Photo: AP/Aijaz Rahi)

Women in the village, located 350km from the southern coastal city of Chennai, used bright colours to write "We Wish Kamala Harris Wins" on the ground, alongside a thumbs-up sign.

The lush green village is the hometown of Harris' maternal grandfather, who migrated to the US decades ago.

Inside the temple where people have been holding special prayers, Harris' name is sculpted into a stone that lists public donations made to the temple in 2014, along with that of her grandfather who gave money decades ago.

Harris' late mother also was born in India, before moving to the US at the age of 19 to study at the University of California. She married a Jamaican, and they named their daughter Kamala, Sanskrit for "lotus flower".

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet described Harris' success as path-breaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for her relatives but also for all Indian-Americans. "I am confident that the vibrant India-US ties will get even stronger with your support and leadership."

READ: Biden declares 'clear victory' in US election; pledges to be president who will unify, not divide

There has been both excitement – and some concern – over Biden's choice of Harris as his running mate.

Modi had invested in President Donald Trump, who visited India in February. Modi's many Hindu nationalist supporters also were upset with Harris when she expressed concern about the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, whose statehood India's government revoked in August last year.

Harris stood by Pramila Jayapal, another US congresswoman of Indian origin, when India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar refused to attend a meeting in the United States over her participation last year. Jayapal had earlier moved a resolution on the Kashmir issue critical of India in the House of Representatives.

Rights groups accuse India of human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where insurgent groups have been fighting for independence or merger with neighbouring Pakistan since 1989.

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2020-11-08 03:58:30Z
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