america rescuers in guatemala find more bodies after landslides triggered by the storm it's a devastated areas in some of the country's most remote smiled since regions 60000 people have been forced to leave their homes. when they bring home dearest seats or has displaced around 1000000 people the storm has damaged thousands of homes forcing many people to take cover in shelters. and although most of them were like we need help because we're left on the street everything is flooded people are asking to be taken out of their houses because they were trapped. this is al jazeera and these are the top stories u.s. president elect joe biden has outlined his administration's 4 big priorities including the coronavirus pandemic he and the vice president elect's are pushing ahead with transition plans donald trump is still refusing to concede defeat this

team is preparing legal challenges to some of the counts senior republicans including former president bush and senator mitt romney are expressing concern i think what has to be careful of the choice of words either i think would you say that the election was corrupt or stolen or rigged but that's unfortunately rather rhetoric that gets picked up by authoritarians around the world and i think it also discourages confidence that our democratic process here at home and and with the battle going on right now between authoritarianism and freedom why i think i think it's very important that we not use language which which can encourage. a course in history which would be very very unfortunate. turkey has congratulated us there by john's president for taking control of a key city in the corner. as abrasions president ilham aliyev says his troops are now in control of shusha the city is the 2nd largest in the disputed region where azerbaijan is fighting against armenia armenian officials deny the city has been

captured turkey's finance minister says he's resigning due to health problems but al by iraq who is also the son in law president richard tayyip erdogan made the announcement on his instagram account the resignation comes 2 days after the central bank governor was sacked turkey's currency the lira has lost 30 percent of its value against the u.s. dollar since the start of the year. the us has reported 4 straight days of new corona virus infection records on saturday more than 126000 cases and around 1000 deaths were reported at least 230000 people are known to have died with covert 19 in the us it's a little infection cancer is nearing 10000000 well those are the headlines stay with us inside story is up next.

well it's. back to the white house joe biden has been declared president elect of the united states he says he's seeking to unify a divided country but can he and do some of donald trump's controversial policies at home and abroad this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. after days of uncertainty and a hard fought bitter campaign joe biden has been declared the winner of the u.s. presidential election he says he wants to restore the soul of america and unite a deeply divided nation biden received more votes than any other presidential

candidate in history but he's appealed to the 10s of millions of americans who did not vote for him to give him a chance after his victory in pennsylvania biden is projected to have a majority of the electoral college votes needed to win the white house here's some of what the president elect had to say in his victory speech on saturday night. it's time to put away the harsh rhetoric lower the temperature see each other again listen to each other again and to make progress we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies they are not our enemies they're american they're american am. the bought tells us to everything there is a season a time to build a time to repeat a time to sew and a time to hear oh this is the time to hail in america who and apart from bringing

a divided nation together biden has inherited huge challenges a battered economy a devastating coronavirus crisis and anger about racial inequality here some of what he plans to do when he takes office america called upon us to marshal the force of the decency the forces of fairness to marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope. in the great founders of our time. to better control the virus about a bill prosperity are about to secure your family's health care about our chief racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country by the in the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control. kamel harris is the 1st black woman of indian descent to become vice president elect her historic victory has inspired millions of americans and she to call for unity during her

victory speech. our very democracy was on the ballot in this election with the very soul of america at stake and the world watching you ushered in a new day for america. the you chose hope and unity decency. and yes the truth of the you shall joe biden as the next president was the. wall biden has struck a conciliatory tone president donald trump has been defiant and even refused to concede he's also threatened a legal challenge to the vote count but once biden becomes president he'll likely

face a divided congress ballots are still being counted but democrats are likely to retain control of the house of representatives while republicans could keep their majority in the senate making it difficult to advance his policies let's have a look at how biden plans to reshape u.s. foreign policy he wants to reverse trump's controversial america 1st agenda and restore washington's role on the world stage and his promise to repair relations with europe and opposes brags that biden intends to rejoin the 2 $1015.00 nuclear deal with iran return to the paris climate accord and restore u.s. membership in the world health organization he insists he'll take a much harder line on russia and be tough on china on maintaining cooperation with beijing on several issues biden says he'll only initiate talks with north korea's leader if he shows a will to abandon his nuclear ambitions and the president elect is likely to restore ties with palestinians and shift u.s. policy on saudi arabia.

all right let's bring in our guests in the moroccan city of it friend ms are miss ari associate professor of international studies at the university in oxford u.k. thomas gift director of university college london center on u.s. politics and joining us in istanbul matthew bryza a nonresident senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center and global energy center welcome to each of you thomas let me start with you it's being reported that joe biden is planning on quickly signing a series of executive orders once he's sworn in as the next president and that these orders would see america rejoin the paris climate accords reversed president trumps withdrawal from the world health organization in the muslim ban reinstate daca i'm curious to know from your perspective how much is joe biden going to have to rely on executive orders to try to implement his agenda and is

that something that he wants to do. well i think that the executive orders will be the primary mechanism by which biden will be forced to govern and that simply because it's looking increasingly like he will face divided government with republicans more likely than not maintaining the senate you know any time you have a divided government the default position is policy paralysis and gridlock and so increasingly what we've seen from presidents is using the executive order to try to get legislation through and i think that makes it unlikely that we will see any sort of ambitious legislative agenda that won't come to permission but the executive order will mean that policymaking won't totally grind to a halt in the wake of this divided government so as you said i expect biden to use the executive order quite aggressively in areas like the environment on immigration and so on and these are there are foreign policy experts who said that because of

joe biden's familiarity with international affairs because of his past as the head of the senate foreign relations committee and also as a former vice president that it's those qualities it's those things that will work to his advantage in repairing relationships with the international community do you agree that sultan in a sense for him it splits him on a different as many former presidents because he has the old. foreign policy expertise but i think that his priority will be to deal with the most sick. with the most sick politics because that. will be. he will be. a son as the minutes of the likely by a republican so he has to show his ability to lead the u.s. . and to heal the internal. wins that he has

that the u.s. has experienced over the last few years before he can for gold to go. far enough far enough as is usually a 2nd priority for us president and some mainly when this. first government there has to matthew alone get your take on this question you heard ms are there and he was saying that joe biden is going to have to really focus 1st on domestic policy when do you think joe biden can start focusing on repairing america's image in the eyes of the international community of repairing those frayed relationships. well while i agree that in general american presidents do place the domestic agenda as the number one priority and for now clearly the overwhelming priority for a president biden will be fighting the pandemic he's already said that tomorrow

will or monday he's going to announce his task force is going to be headed by a former surgeon general as well as head of the food and drug administration and that's going to become an international task by definition because the pen demick knows no boundaries so you know i think he's very quickly in the administration going to reconstitute the white house office and a global effort to fight pandemics and i think then that's going to start this this healing process that yes he talks about domestically as also a priority but also it'll begin very early on internationally i mean when when he returns the united states to the world health organization which i expect him to do in the 1st few days that already is going to be sending a signal that the united states wants to act responsibly and wants to help work with other countries to to to fight serious global problems thomas you heard matthew there talk about joe biden having expressed you know that he wants to start getting the nation on the road to healing. but i'm curious about your perspective

on the fact that you know joe biden's message is one of unity we all know that. but you know we have to remember that whatever joe biden's intentions may be as the next president tens of millions of people voted for donald trump i mean donald trump expanded the number of votes he got in this election sayst cycle virt versus 2016 so how difficult is it going to be for joe biden to try to bring the country together. well i think very difficult and repairing federal institutions and restoring trust in the federal government broadly especially if the backdrop of a polarized electorate will be an uphill battle biden has promised to govern from the center and he's pledged to heal divisions that's welcome rhetoric certainly but it's easier said than done and in many ways i think the kind of politics that we've

experienced under trump is symptomatic of deeper challenges that confront us to mock recy trump doesn't help that but he's not the only cause the ideological echo chamber of the 24 hour news cycle the cultural divide that splits red or blue america you know the accusations among republicans that biden is intent on pulling america toward socialism in the accusations among democrats that trump poses that next threat to a democratic culture all of that doesn't just disappear in the blink of an election so i think there are certainly deeper forces at work here that will make it hard for this doing ministration to heal wounds as they would like to there's our joe biden has pledged to rejoin the iran nuclear deal if iran returns to compliance can that actually happen or is there now just too much distrust because donald trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal and if it is possible how difficult is it going to be. it will be difficult but the other thing

that it is one of his objectives rouhani the iranian president reacts already to the election of biden saying that it is. it is an opportunity for the u.s. to go back on good on the on the positive track with iran so i think that this is an opportunity for both iran and the u.s. to reassess their relations. different future this want to be easier as you said no question it won't be easy. but i think also that there are. things that have been achieved with the. because of what was perceived among many foreign policy observers as too many concessions made by the obama administration to iran so i think. but i think that there is an

opportunity for the u.s. and iran to reestablish their relations. and to have the big deal the beginning was haitian the big bargain between the u.s. and iran taking place. something that can be possible under the by the not mr xi it want to be an achievement in the 1st year that's certainly not it will certainly not be the case in over the next 3 to 4 years removed i think that that is a possibility because the demonization of iran will cease right thing and we will not have these fronts against iran so that's a possibility than a serious possibility in the current near future by the not ministration matthew it looked to me like you were nodding to some of what is or was saying so i wanted to ask if if you want to jump in and add to what he was saying about that. yeah i did

want to thank you for the chance for coming i think it will be difficult for president obama to the chief of that objective of getting back into the j c p o n it brought president biden president elect biden but i've read about in part because under president trump you know politics have have shifted a bit and you know there is this a consensus for a hard line toward iran in making iran or including into the j c p o a framework iran support for 4 militant groups in the middle east and the very aggressive foreign policy that some would call you know aligned with terrorism and so that's a constraint but also there are constraints in iran i mean the iranian people but the iranian political elite maybe more decisively feel that rouhani was tricked by the united states that he made all these concessions and got nothing for it because trump just came in and you know tried to tear up the agreement earlies pulled the u.s. out so i think politically it's an uphill struggle in iran as well but eventually just just as we are i think that we'll see that alignment because there won't be

such a confrontational and healy even rhetorically bombastic approach from washington toward iran that demonizes iran we won't see any more demonization so you know that that obstacle will be removed thomas donald trump didn't just damage u.s. foreign policy around the world i mean he also essentially went to war against the foreign policy establishment inside his own government so i'm curious how does president elect biden begin to repair that i mean at a time when morale at the u.s. state department is so low what are the steps biden can take to start repairing that. well it's going to be difficult certainly i mean the 1st thing that joe biden will do is get his own people and those who he can trust and he's going to have to speak out essentially to those in these federal institutions that his administration represents

a change in course you know what we saw from the last 4 years are not the future 4 years that biden is going to pursue you know i think that there is going to be a lot of reassurance from the new president certainly that he wants to get up on the right track so a lot of this is just kind of rhetorical e trying to build bridges and repair some of this damage fabric but it's going to take a little bit of time in any case and i don't think that we should expect all of these you know healing of wounds to occur overnight and these are of course we all know that one of the most crucial relationships for donald trump his administration was with saudi arabia it's expected that joe biden would take a tougher line when it comes to saudi arabia how should we expect the u.s. saudi relationship to change under the administration of president elect by. the president by the new a by the administration will not when seek all the time.

that relations with saudi arabia things will be tougher for saudi arabia. the u.s. will be watching the sons of human rights and. all the political rights weapon the all the weapons purchases and. we'll. double check. the u.s. or be more of god's will so all of this will change but ultimately saudi arabia plays a crucial role in u.s. foreign policy in the region and the u.s. will not be. the will into relationship so there will be. there will be changes but those changes will not. the will not lead us to see a rupture between saudi arabia and the us or not lead us to see a u.s.

far more confrontation with saudi arabia far from that but there will be changes and the very warm relations personal relations between. the between trump and the royal family the will not be the same under a by the administration. we know that matthew what about what about america's relationship with turkey where does that go now. in the beginning it's going to be a bit rough president trump and president carter on has had a special personal bond just just like as we just heard muhammad been summoned in the royal family and president trump did president trump has simply refused to implement sanctions against turkey that he must under the countering america's adversaries through sanctions act because of turkey's purchase of the russian s 400 air defense system trump just haven't done it and so if you remove him from the picture then that break and a deterioration in u.s. turkey relations is gone and in washington right now i mean you know it's hard to say this but the brand turkey is toxic turkey i think had only one significant

friend in washington at least the turkish government and that's donald trump. vice president will not president elect biden but he is a candidate last december you know he said some pretty shocking things about how president ariel on needs to be removed albeit through a democratic process and candidate biden has been very tough on turkey for supposedly pushing azerbaijan to be more aggressive in his war against armenia and then finally biden has been outspoken in criticizing turkey for turkey's actions looking for oil and gas in the eastern mediterranean so in the beginning things are going to be rough but i think within a some period of time because biden is such a systematic strategic thinker and you know i've worked with him personally i was in the state department for 23 years he's a systematic strategic thinker and nato is at the center of his calculus so turkey with nato 2nd largest military is going to loom large finally on ukraine i mean you

recall that under president biden he was the point person after russia invaded ukraine an annex crimea he was the point person on ukraine and turkey and ukraine just recently have signed a very important strategic cooperation agreement with regard to military technologies that is changing the whole dynamic of relations around the black sea where russia has been the aggressor over the course of the last decade and a half thomas you know joe biden of course has a record of being. able to reach across the aisle being able to work in a bipartisan fashion alongside republicans in the senate in order to get legislation done i mean people who followed his record in the senate they know that but it's still unclear which party will control the senate i mean it's going to probably come down to these 2 senate seat runoffs in georgia come january i believe so how difficult is it going to be for joe biden if republicans are once again in control of the senate is he through his share political skill going to be able to win some of them over. well he has spent decades in the senate and that's certainly

to his advantage he's going to try to build on these relationships that he has been arresting for that long time to try to make compromise and i think that it is more likely that you could see a president biden getting together with mitch mcconnell and the republicans on some issues some issues though i mean certainly the republicans are just going to take an obstructionist of approach but you could also think about some areas like infrastructure for example like dealing with increasing cost of prescription drugs where you can see the $2.00 sides getting together but it is going to be difficult and the other aspect here is not just the negotiation that will unfold between joe biden and the republicans but also the negotiation that's going to unfold within the democratic party and one of the things that i feel hasn't necessarily gotten as much attention in the lead up to the election is the real significant divides that

split the democratic party on important policy issues between the progressives and the moderates and so i think that those are going to reemerge they're going to be certain progressives who want to pull joe biden further to the left to the extent that he can raise this that he said that he will but there are lots of different factions at play lots of different groups at play that he will have to appease and that will just make the next 4 years for him very tricky these are the us israel relationship under the obama administration was very tense a lot of that was due to the iran deal. under the troubled ministration it was very cozy people are now wondering what's going to happen next we've seen that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has in fact congratulated joe biden kamel harris but where do you see that relationship going. of certainly not we

certainly will not have a warm relations between the by the administration and israel as we used to have between trump and israel but i don't see major on the changes nothing similar to what's happened under george bush's administration the 1st bush bush the father her. and there were threats to cut. aid to israel. and things like that you are not going to see that israel figure is a prominent in the understanding or for the affairs of joe biden in that famous article he wrote a few months ago in foreign affairs. plays iran plays a role very important role in his vision and of what will happen in the world and he repeats of the even in that article his unshakeable support to the security of the city of the state of israel so. we shouldn't expect.

relations but israel security and safety and israel's future will be. protected by a by the night mr a should. i think. all the days of the progress that has been made in bringing in several states to establish relations with israel will be pursued also by the administration because that breakthrough and many israeli president u.s. president tried to trump succeeded in that in that pursuit all right we've run out of time so we're going to have to leave the conversation there thanks so much to all our guests newsarama sorry thomas gift and matthew bryza. and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our

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u.s. president elect joe biden gets to work on his priorities but donald trump is refusing to concede setting up a difficult transition of power. so that i'm how he and this is al jazeera life in doha also coming up. celebrations in azerbaijan after the government announced the capture of a city in the disputed nicola kind of our region. heading home after a year in exile.