California voters will decide on Tuesday if they will remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in the second gubernatorial recall in the state's history.
Polls opened at 7am Pacific time and will close at 8pm, but many Californians chose to vote by mail.
Voters are asked two questions in the special election: whether to keep Mr Newsom and, if he is removed from office, who should replace him.
If a majority of Californians vote “yes” to recall Mr Newsom, the top vote-winner in the second part of the ballot will become governor.
Radio talk show host Larry Elder, a Republican, is leading the field of 46 candidates running to replace Mr Newsom.
But recent polling suggests Mr Newsom is in a strong position heading into Tuesday's Republican-led recall. The “no” option leads “yes” by 15 points, a compilation of polls by FiveThirtyEight showed, meaning it would take an extraordinarily large polling error for Mr Newsom to lose.
Mr Newsom won his 2108 election over Republican John Cox in a landslide victory with more than 61 per cent of the vote. Democrats also hold the majority of state offices — both US senators, Alex Padilla and Barbara Feinstein, are Democrats, and both the minority and majority leaders in the House of Representatives - Republican Kevin McCarthy and Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, respectively - are from the state.
US President Joe Biden joined Mr Newsom at an event in Long Beach on Monday night to mobilise supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, and former president Barack Obama have also campaigned for the governor.
The recall initiative, which has cost the state roughly $276 million, was sparked by Republicans angry with the governor's mask mandates and Covid-19 lockdowns. The petition gained traction after Mr Newsom was pictured having dinner at a restaurant, seemingly in breach of his own rules.
Mr Newsom and his supporters have portrayed the recall as a power grab by supporters of former president Donald Trump, emboldened by the Stop the Steal rally.
“We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism,” Mr Newsom said on Monday night.
Mr Biden said: “I'm going to make this as simple as I can. You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you'll get Donald Trump.”
Mr Elder, who has openly supported Mr Trump, promised to repeal vaccine and mask mandates as the Delta variant rages in California. He has belittled women, derided the Black Lives Matter movement and is sceptical of climate change as the state continues to battle raging wildfires.
We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism
California Governor Gavin Newsom
In recent days, Mr Elder has also questioned the integrity of the election results, suggesting “there may very well be shenanigans” in the recall, echoing Mr Trump's baseless fraud claims from the 2020 presidential election.
Mr Elder did not commit to accepting the results of the recall election during an interview with NBC on Monday.
In a statement released on Monday, Mr Trump insinuated the California recalled was rigged.
Much of the Republican criticism of California’s elections has focused on the wide use of mail-in ballots, which have been automatically sent to all active registered voters for state elections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. About 8.6 million of the state's 22 million voters have already cast mail-in ballots for the recall vote.
The Elder campaign cried fraud at the weekend, complaining about a website that urges people to sign a petition saying he lost an election that was not over.
No widespread voter fraud issues have surfaced.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won California's first gubernatorial recall in 2003. He won re-election in 2006, the last time a Republican candidate won a statewide election in California.
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Canada
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match info
Southampton 2 (Ings 32' & pen 89') Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Son 45', 47', 64', & 73', Kane 82')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Supercharged%203.5-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20400hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20430Nm%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh450%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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 who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Release Date: April 10
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Johnstone, Pickford, Ramsdale
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Godfrey, James, Maguire, Mings, Shaw, Stones, Trippier, Walker, White
Midfielders Bellingham, Henderson, Lingard, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse
Forwards Calvert-Lewin, Foden, Grealish, Greenwood, Kane, Rashford, Saka, Sancho, Sterling, Watkins
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
