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Hello, this is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news, seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising.

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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

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I'm Alex RedZone. And in the early hours of Sunday, the 8th of November, these are our main stories. Joe Biden, the president elect of the United States, has made his victory speech to the nation and to the world.

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My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken. They've delivered us a clear victory. We've won with the most votes ever cast from presidential ticket and the history of the nation.

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His new vice president will be, for the first time, a woman and a person of African-American and Indian heritage, Kamala Harris.

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It was the vote count in the key state of Pennsylvania that clinched it for the Biden Harris team.

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Also in this podcast, President Trump says he'll go to the courts on Monday and he shows no sign of conceding. And his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, accuses the election authorities in the state of not checking any of the postal votes.

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Those mail in ballots could have been for anybody that was mail in ballots, could have been for anybody they wrote in those mail in ballots, could have been written the day before by the Democratic Party hacks. Joseph R. Biden will be the 46 president of the United States of America, and a few hours after his election victory had become clear, he addressed the nation at an event in Wilmington, Delaware. He was introduced by his running mate, Kamala Harris, who's the first female vice president elect, as well as the first non-white person to take the position, a feat she attributed to the women that came before her.

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I am thinking about the generations of women, black women. Asian, white, Latina, Native American women. Throughout our nation's history. Paved the way for this moment tonight, all the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century. Tonight, I reflect on their struggle and I stand on their shoulders.

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Harris then handed the stage over to Joe Biden. My fellow Americans. Folks, the people of this nation have spoken, they've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people we've won with the most votes ever cast some presidential ticket in the history of the nation. Seventy four million. Well, I must admit, it surprised me. Tonight, we're seeing all over this nation, all cities and all parts of the country, indeed across the world, an outpouring of joy, of hope, renewed faith, and tomorrow bring a better day.

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And I'm humbled by the trust and confidence you placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn't see red states and blue states only sees the United States work with all my heart, with the confidence of the whole people to win the confidence of all of you.

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And for that is what America, I believe, is about. It's about people and that's what our administration will be all about. I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again.

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Did you notice here at home, it's the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for that vision and now the work of making that vision is real. It's a task, the task of our time. For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I've lost a couple of times myself, but now let's give each other a chance.

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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 Americans. They're Americans. The Bible tells us everything, there is a season, a time to build, a time to reap and a time to sow and a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.

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So what else did Mr. Biden say and how did his speech go down? I asked our correspondent, Nather Taufiq, who was at the event.

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This speech was a love letter to America, and Joe Biden did not make this speech about him at all. But again, talking about the greatness of the country, if you can. He said you define America with one word possibilities that America never gives up and never gives in. And you saw so many different themes throughout this speech thanking the diverse coalition that brought him to this point and the fact that people went out to vote in record numbers. And I thought the other thing that was really important here was that he said, you know, we always send the moral arc of the universe toward justice.

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He really thinks that this is an inflection point, the moment in America where they will turn the page and will heal as a nation. That was the other big thing. He kept focusing on healing because he thinks that's part of the mandate that Americans gave him when they elected him to cooperate with Republicans, to work together to make sure that people in this country have a fair shot, that people can get health care battles with pandemic help, restore the economy, fight climate change, fight racial justice.

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He really touched on all of the crises he's going to face once he steps into office.

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Now that Taufiq Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, his victory event in Wilmington, in Delaware, it was Mr. Biden's unassailable lead in the state of Pennsylvania, which took him to a minimum of 273 Electoral College votes, three above the threshold for victory.

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After four years, the Donald Trump presidency took four days to be brought to an end. Four days of painstaking vote counting, four days of waiting, four days of uncertainty. In those four days, President Trump attempted to pull cascades of distrust on the voting process as his lead dwindled and was eventually surpassed. Despite the president offering no evidence of malpractice, some of his supporters took to the streets angry Republican voices echoing that leader's accusations.

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But now, though, it's the Democrats who are celebrating every counted.

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We believe that our hearts and what's best for the United States and made history come along. Yes, that's right. First of all, we broke the record of people voting. People came out of the woodwork. We can't function in a democracy like that. He's not a dictator. We're not tolerating it. So I'm so happy that we broke the voting record. Will unite the U.S.. We can't be a red state. Blue state. We had one state that we all together.

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So it's taken an awfully long time. But finally, the 2020 U.S. presidential election has moved fully in Joe Biden's direction. And in Washington, D.C., politicians, officials and pundits, not to mention the thousands of ordinary people who see to their every need, are now pondering a future without Donald Trump. Will Grant was in the Black Lives Matter Plaza outside the White House for us. Jonathan Savage asked him if the picture there was similar to Delaware.

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Yes, it absolutely is. The scene in front of me sounds very much like the one in Denver where there are all manner of groups of people who have turned out to show that joy, unbridled joy, that Donald Trump has been removed from the white or will soon leave the White House, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won that race. Their groups are varied. They're a cross-section of the diversity of the United States. And here in Black Lives Matter Plaza, which is being considered, if you like, to be the center of anti Trump opposition here in the capital of the United States.

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With me is Charles, a student at George Washington University, studying premed students. Why were you as a first time voter, as a young African-American? Was it just so important to be the current president of the White House removed from office? Yeah, I mean, like like earlier stated. I mean, what makes America great isn't just, you know, the monotony of one person or anything, you know, or make this nation as great as it is.

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It's just the conglomerate of different ideas, values and cultures that are all here, you know, in one country that all call themselves Americans. And the president currently in the White House is what his values don't reflect that of America, you know. And so it's so important that everybody can, you know, just for voting in the presidential election for the first time, just so I see that my vote mattered and I was able to help make this change.

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It's just it's. Amazing and I mean, I hope it inspires other people in my generation to continue to vote because voting is one of the most powerful things that we have under our Constitution. And everybody needs to do this right that they have. President Trump, of course, has said that everybody's jumping the gun, that this will be a long legal battle ahead. How to you, again, as a first fundraiser, having contributed to that sort of moment that you're saying, how do you feel about that?

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Do you think this can be sway this to be changed to the legal battles will make any difference whatsoever? I mean, I don't think that much will change. You know, the numbers for Joe Biden out there in substantial amounts across states. I mean, maybe for the exception of Georgia. But, you know, men like women like Trump lied, but the numbers do not. And he lost this election fair and square. You know, this is democracy at its finest.

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The people spoke and they did not want him as our president anymore. And so because of that, we voted him out and Joe Biden will be our next president. Thank you, Charles. It really is an extraordinary scene. You got the sense of not just the past few tumultuous days and weeks, but, of course, for a lot of people here, this has been about four years of opposition to a single president, clearly, really the most divisive, polarizing president of the modern times of modern era.

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And on a sort of outpouring of celebration, of joy that I'm witnessing here really does reflect that this is and that they want to see they didn't want him to leave any other way with a clear message from the American people.

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And they certainly believe that that's what he got today will grant in Washington. This was Joe Biden's third bid for the White House. The former vice president during the Obama administration is a long time Washington insider with solid foreign affairs credentials. Our correspondent Nick Bryant has this assessment.

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Joe Biden was the candidate who offered soft jazz after the heavy metal of the Trump years, easy listening, moderation, a presidency Americans could have on in the background.

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But I think eight years of Donald Trump can fundamentally change who we are. I really mean it in a significant way.

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He was never the most inspiring of candidates, but his geniality made him hard to demonize working out here. It's great to see you smile is almost his philosophy.

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Mr Biden with the BBC and ABC. I'm Joe Biden.

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The White House has long been the target of his ambitions. He announced his first presidential bid in 1987.

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Today. I announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America, and he tried again in 2008, but ended up getting the second slot as the vice president to Barack Obama, the best vice president America's ever had.

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Mr. Joe Biden, despite the generation gap they developed to bond like brothers, it's also gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our bromance. It was sealed when Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom recognition to this pillar of the Washington establishment of his decades in public service and get it to indebted to your friendship.

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His personal narrative is one of recurring grief. In the early 70s, he lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car accident. Five years ago, he had to bury his grown up son, Beau, who died of cancer. It's a life story that found a mournful echo in the sorrowful times.

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The president says no one saw this coming. Well, that's just not accurate. The coronavirus meant he spent much of the year sequestered in his Delaware home.

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He almost became the invisible candidate, is trying to stand out, is trying to take back our democracy at a time when the method of campaigning became a campaign issue in itself.

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He kept his social distance holding Kabul and rallies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Always.

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He tried to cast himself as the anti Trump, almost portraying this election as a battle of good versus evil.

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If you can trust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I'll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. It's time for us, for we, the people to come together. At the age of 77, Joe Biden will finally fulfill his personal American dream to become the occupant of the White House.

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May God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Nick Bryant in Washington. The advent of President Biden also marks a big step for women and for people of color. That's because Kamala Harris is about to become the first person from that demographic to hold the office of vice president. And given Mr. Biden's age, she's even more under the spotlight than usual. Namir Iqbal looks at the vice president elect, Kamala Harris.

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The nation was born with the words, all men are created equal, it's taken more than two centuries for that promise to begin to be realized by a woman. Kamala Harris struggled when she ran to be the Democratic Party's pick for president, but later found a role as a progressive counterweight to Joe Biden's more establishment candidacy.

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Joe Biden and I are proud, patriotic Americans.

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Who share the values with the vast majority of the American people who want a president of the United States who speaks truth, she was born in California to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother.

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Do you solemnly swear to support defend the Constitution? Honestly, I did.

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Four years ago, she was elected to the Senate of the back of a successful career as a prosecutor.

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We avast that there would be a meaningful discussion of the Justice and Policing Act in that committee. None has occurred. It was something that later damaged her support among some liberals who thought she'd been too tough on African-American defendants.

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She graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., one of the nation's top historically black colleges, and her elevation to the nation's second highest office is viewed as hugely symbolic here.

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I have to admit, I'm still in a bit of shock about it. Like I'm thrilled I wanted this to happen. I think there are many black women and many people who are women and minorities wanted it to happen, but were worried that it might not. So I'm absolutely delighted by it.

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Professor Aconitia Grant teaches political science at Howard, so I imagine that she's going to take all the things that she learned over her lifetime and put them into policy, which will make her again more than a symbol. It'll make her a politician of substance.

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David is a student here and says Kamala Harris victory is important for black women.

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All that black women do for the Democratic Party and itself do for voters in America in itself. It's just a testament to the plight and power of the black community, of black women and leadership. It's not Camela.

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It's not come out, not come out a lot.

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But as a woman of color, she still has to teach the country how to say her name. I'm Kamala Harris and was openly and consistently attacked by her Republican rival.

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And I thought she was the meanest, the the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate.

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If Kamala Harris had been born more than 100 years ago, she would not have been able to vote. And as a black woman, she would have had no rights. But now she's set to become the most powerful and influential woman in American political history. Namir Iqbal.

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Still to come in this podcast, President Trump wants to go to court on Monday, giving no sign that he's ready to concede. The City of Brotherly Love, as Philadelphia is known, is used to playing a starring role in the history of the United States in 1776, it witnessed the writing of the Declaration of Independence for 10 years. After that, it was the temporary capital of the new nation state. And today it's center stage again at arguably another defining moment in America's journey into the future.

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For days now, the eyes of the world have been on Pennsylvania's biggest city as it's played host to the vote count that could decide the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Namir Iqbal is there and told Jonathan Savage about the situation.

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It sounds like a bit of a music festival here, a real party atmosphere. And to be honest, there's been a party atmosphere for quite a couple of days because Philadelphia is a Democratic stronghold and it's not very hard to find Joe Biden supporters here. People are just so excited about just celebrating when that news came through of that projection. But there are Trump supporters here as well. They're just on the other side of the square waving their flags, playing that very loud music.

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We have got police in the middle of the square making sure things don't get out of control, speaking to them. They don't accept the loss. They don't accept that Donald Trump lost the election similar to him. But really, right now, they're completely outnumbered by Joe Biden supporters who are just so excited that he is on course to become the next president when Pennsylvania was projected for Joe Biden. Did you sense the mood changing suddenly there, or was it more of a gradual thing over recent days?

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I think that the mood the past few days has been very optimistic. You know, I think there was a real sense of anxiety by some who just wanted the state to project as soon as possible. You'll get some people here saying that they should have been called a lot earlier on. But, of course, there were lots of ballots to get through. But this morning, you know, more than 96 percent of the ballots have been counted. Joe Biden had more than 29000 votes ahead of Donald Trump.

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So, you know, there was a bit if I can just hear the classic behind this, there's a lot of kind of heckling of each other going on here, Trump supporters versus Biden supporters. But, yeah, I think that the mood just it just really ramped up as soon as that projection came through that Joe Biden had won Pennsylvania, because, of course, it doesn't matter now what the other states like Pennsylvania is the one with the 20 electoral votes that took him over that threshold.

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Noemia Ekpo in Philadelphia. And it was in Philadelphia that President Trump's lawyers held a news conference about the legal action he's planning over the counting of votes in Pennsylvania. His personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, accused the election authorities in the state of not checking any of the postal votes. There was no inspection of a single mail in ballot.

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Those mail in ballots could have been for anybody that was mail in ballots, could have been for anybody. They wrote in those mail in ballots, could have been written the day before by the Democratic Party hacks that were all over the convention center. What I'm saying to you is not a single one was inspected as the law required, even when a court order was obtained to allow the Republican inspectors to get six feet closer. They move the people counting the ballots six further feet away.

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Meanwhile, Mr. Trump himself went to one of his golf courses in Virginia, his first departure from the White House since Election Day. But the Trump campaign issued a statement accusing Joe Biden of rushing to falsely pose as the winner. It said the election was far from over and it would pursue its case in court. Mr. Trump has so far given no indication that he would uphold convention by giving a concession speech. Our correspondent Gary O'Donahue has more.

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It's important to realize that the concession speech is in many ways, the signal to the bureaucracy, to the nation that here on begins the transfer of power. It's a way of saying this is what happens from now on in. And of course, the new president doesn't take office until January 20th. And there's meant to be cooperation, period, where the new administration is in on the briefing, sits in the Situation Room when there are difficult decisions being made and makes that transfer of power as easy as possible.

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And as things stand, it doesn't look like anything like that might happen. So there's going to be a lot of confusion, I think, in the bureaucracy in Washington over the coming weeks. And of course, that is a moment of vulnerability for the United States if there is confusion.

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Gary O'Donahue in Washington, what then of the man who has over the past four years single handedly redefined the boundaries of presidential power? Donald Trump set the tone for his presidency at his inauguration in what some commentators described as one of the angriest speeches ever, the heart of it was a pledge to put America first. But there was a darkness to his vision to North America editor John Sopel considers his term in office the glib phrase when Donald Trump won in 2016 was that the presidency would change him wrong.

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He's changed the presidency, the impulsive decision making, the divisiveness, the fights and scraps that go with your gut, not what your experts tell you were all hallmarks of the Trump presidency, a unique chapter in America's history, but an aberration, though some might wish that.

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The striking thing is that though the president has lost this election, he secured more votes than he did four years ago. His brand of economic nationalism, populist rhetoric, tough stance on immigration still resonate with a sizable chunk of the American public. Arguably, had the pandemic not come along, he'd have cruised to victory. This election wasn't a repudiation of Trump ism. A Biden presidency will see governance taken into calmer waters for sure. His goal is to lower the political temperature in the U.S. to be a healer, a unifier.

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The former senator was known for working across the aisle and as a former vice president. Some are talking about this really being Barack Obama's third term. That's too simplistic in this campaign. Joe Biden has been all things to all people. His instincts are centrist, but he has a progressive wing that will not accept the status quo. And it looks like the Senate is going to remain Republican controlled, limiting his room for maneuver. The Democrats failure to win enough seats to take back control means that the upper house will be a brake on Joe Biden's ambitions.

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It will undoubtedly be a different style of governing, but he might not find it any easier than his predecessor, John Sopel.

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Joe Biden will now be the next American president, but he won't step into the role until January the 20th. Donald Trump will continue to be leader. And as he's such an unconventional politician, no one is sure exactly how he'll behave. Charlotte Gallagher looks at what happens next.

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In the months before the election, preparations began for a transition of power in the event Donald Trump lost after one term in office. It's usually a smooth process, but Mr Trump has refused to talk about a peaceful transition, claiming he'd only lose if the vote was rigged as he's currently contesting the vote. We don't know if and when he'll make a concession speech and how will behave. It's believed if he does concede, it won't be in the traditional sense.

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But people within his circle have dismissed suggestions that he'll refuse to leave behind. The scenes work is well underway with staff from the Biden campaign and Trump's team in the White House planning what happens next until the inauguration in Washington, DC, in late January. Joe Biden won't have any presidential powers. He'll spend the time with his transition team, picking people to serve in his cabinet and refining his policies. After the inauguration, he'll make his way to the White House to begin his four year term in office.

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Charlotte Galica, supporters of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are celebrating in towns and cities across the U.S.. Let's end this podcast with the reaction of some of them to the news. So excited.

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Fight America. Stop. We won't have counted. We believe that our hearts and what's best for the United States and made history come along. Yes, we are. I'm so relieved. It's a real weird feeling, so many emotions right now.

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I mean, I think we were traumatized for the last four years as a country.

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And there's hope, again, is a really good day. It's amazing to be in New York right now. I feel, well, an American. But this is just incredible. I think it's a huge deal. I think anyone here who is right of any religion or gender or race that he has criticized, it's an amazing feeling and absolutely everything, especially for women. We have Kamala Harris now, the first woman vice president, madam vice president, in 243 years.

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There is a woman in the White House, the celebrations of supporters of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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And that's all from us for now. But there'll be an updated version of the global news broadcast in a few hours when the president elect has addressed the American people. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC, DOT CEO, Dot UK. I'm Alex Ritson. The producer of this podcast was all of about how the studio manager, Jack Griesbach and the editor Karen Martin.

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Until next time. Goodbye.