Ron Klain's appointment as Joe Biden's chief of staff reflects the president-elect's prioritisation of loyalty and experience and is the antithesis of Donald Trump’s approach over the last four years.
Mr Klain, 59, is a lawyer, political consultant and skilled Washington operator who started his journey in the US capital clerking for Supreme Court Justice Bryon White in 1987. His relationship with Mr Biden goes back to 1989 when Mr Klain was chief counsel at the Senate judiciary committee.
Mr Klain has accompanied Mr Biden through different chapters of his political life in Washington. He became his chief of staff as Vice President from 2009 to 2011, and then served as President Barack Obama’s Ebola response co-ordinator in 2014-2015. That experience will help Mr Biden push forward his top policy priority to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic that has already claimed over 240,000 lives in the United States.
It’s Mr Klain’s relationship with the president-elect, experience with an epidemic, ability to manage a bureaucratic operation and work across the aisle with Republicans in Congress that made his resume appealing.
In pictures: Joe Biden's career
“Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together … His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
The pick also offers a complete contrast with the Trump approach to choosing his chief of staff. In four years, President Donald Trump went through four appointments to the position: Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney and outgoing chief of staff Mark Meadows. Each of their tenures was marked with a level of chaos, flashy headlines and loud clashes with Mr Trump's inner circle, especially his family members.
With Mr Klain’s pick, Mr Biden is trying to highlight stability and steadiness in running the day to day operations from the White House. His pick is more similar to George W Bush appointing Andrew Card or Bill Clinton appointing Leon Panetta. Both had effective runs in one of the most powerful positions in Washington, and worked well with the legislative branch.
Mr Klain’s pick is also indicative of future nominations and appointments that Mr Biden will make. Other experienced names in US politics such as former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen and Senator Chris Coons have been floated for the Treasury and Secretary of State positions. Unlike Mr Klain, these positions require confirmation from Congress.
Mr Biden will also have to balance different wings in his party. Leftist Senator Bernie Sanders confirmed to CNN his interest in becoming the Secretary of Labour under Mr Biden. The president-elect’s former primary rivals Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren have also shown interest in serving in the next administration.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
MATCH INFO
Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)
Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16
Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)
Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28
Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs
At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
Score
New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs
New Zealand win by 47 runs
New Zealand lead three-match ODI series 1-0
Next match: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Friday
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Punchy appearance
Roars of support buoyed Mr Johnson in an extremely confident and combative appearance
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.
Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.
Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.
Company%20Profile
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Andor
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MATCH INFO
Manchester United 6 (McTominay 2', 3'; Fernandes 20', 70' pen; Lindelof 37'; James 65')
Leeds United 2 (Cooper 41'; Dallas 73')
Man of the match: Scott McTominay (Manchester United)
