US democracy summit ends with Biden predicting hard work ahead

US President Joe Biden on Friday wrapped up his two-day democracy summit, an event that was more about starting a global conversation about how best to halt backsliding than producing immediate results or expanding democracy’s reach.

Mr Biden and fellow leaders announced initiatives to enhance election integrity, bolster independent media, stop the abuse of big tech and other modest efforts that the president said would “seed fertile ground for democracies to bloom around the world".

But the US president also acknowledged the path ahead was difficult for democracies amid a rise of authoritarianism around the globe.

“We know how hard the work is that’s going to be ahead of us. But we also know that we are up to the challenge,” he said in closing remarks at the virtual meeting.

All told, Mr Biden pledged the US would spend up to $424 million in the next year around the world to support independent media, anti-corruption work and more.

The administration sought to frame the summit — a gathering Mr Biden had made a priority during his first year in office — as a launching point for international collaboration at a difficult moment for democracies.

Mr Biden said he wants to convene a follow-up gathering in person next year.

The president has repeatedly made the case that the US and like-minded allies need to show the world that democracies are a far better vehicle for societies than autocracies.

It is a central tenet of Mr Biden’s foreign policy outlook — one he vowed would be more outward looking than his predecessor Donald Trump’s “America First” approach.

But his first year in office has been a period that he says has been marked by a “backward slide” for democracy around the globe.

In recent months, Sudan’s prime minister was ousted in a military coup, Cuba tightened control of the internet after some of the biggest protests on the island in years and Myanmar’s military toppled the civilian government and jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Biden has repeatedly taken China and Russia to task and neither country was invited to the summit, something they say is stoking an ideological rift.

“No country has the right to judge the world's vast and varied political landscape by a single yardstick,” ambassadors to the US Anatoly Antonov of Russia and Qin Gang of China wrote in a joint essay last month.

As Mr Biden hosted the gathering on a wall of television screens in the White House, rival China trolled the summit with mocking propaganda, including a rap song in English saying that Americans "sell democracy like they sell Coca-Cola".

The summit was held as the Biden administration has been pressing Russia’s Vladimir Putin to step back after a build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border that has created growing concern in Washington and European capitals.

Mr Biden this week said he had warned Mr Putin of “severe consequences” if Russia invaded Ukraine.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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

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The bio

Who inspires you?

I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist

How do you relax?

Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.

What is favourite book?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times

What is your favourite Arabic film?

Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki

What is favourite English film?

Mamma Mia

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Uefa Nations League: How it works

The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.

The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.

Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.

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BRAZIL SQUAD

Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed

Rating: 1/5

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Price, base / as tested Dh12 million

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Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm

Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds

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Who was Alfred Nobel?

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.