Trump and Biden do battle in first US presidential debate

1 / 2
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump participate in the first US US presidential debate hosted by CNN. (AFP)
2 / 2
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. (AFP pictures)
Short Url
Updated 30 June 2024
Follow

Trump and Biden do battle in first US presidential debate

  • For Trump, the 90-minute clash is a chance to drive home worries about 81-year-old Biden’s mental alertness — although the Republican, 78, has faced age concerns of his own
  • For Biden, the first ever debate between a sitting and former president will be an opportunity to underline the legal challenges engulfing Trump and to paint him as unfit for office

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden and Donald Trump square off for a historic US presidential debate this week, with the stage set for what could be a pivotal moment in the 2024 race as millions of potential voters tune in.
The showdown fires the starting gun on what promises to be a bruising summer on the campaign trail, in a deeply polarized and tense United States still convulsed over the chaos and violence that accompanied the 2020 election.
With only two debates this cycle, Thursday’s high-stakes clash takes on heightened significance, and both candidates have stepped up their personal attacks, with national polls showing the pair neck and neck.
“The debate is important because it’s an opportunity for two well-known candidates to ‘reintroduce’ themselves to a public that knows them well but hasn’t been paying attention,” said Donald Nieman, a political analyst and history professor at Binghamton University in New York state.
“The big question is how much of the public — beyond political aficionados — will pay attention to such an early debate.”
For Trump, the 90-minute clash is a chance to drive home worries about 81-year-old Biden’s mental alertness — although the Republican, 78, has faced age concerns of his own.
For Biden, the first ever debate between a sitting and former president will be an opportunity to underline the legal challenges engulfing Trump and to paint him as unfit for office.
The president will also be desperate to avoid any major gaffes — which, on this stage, could lose him the November election.

The debate comes in the wake of a criminal trial that has consumed Trump’s attention for months — with his sentencing on 34 convictions for falsifying business records scheduled for July 11.
Both candidates shunned the bipartisan commission that has run debates since 1988, deciding instead to go with CNN for a first showdown unusually early in the year, and another on ABC on September 10.
Abortion, the state of US democracy and foreign conflicts are all issues of concern to voters, although inflation and border security are likely to loom largest.
The last debates between the two men in 2020 were fraught, with Biden at one point snapping “will you shut up, man?” as Trump repeatedly interrupted him.
This time, moderators have more tools than usual to maintain decorum, with the microphones muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
“Trump is notoriously undisciplined and is likely to chafe at not being able to dominate the event by talking over his opponent and drawing out time with his long-winded, insult-laden tirades,” said political scientist Nicholas Creel, of Georgia College and State University.
“Biden is also counting on this debate reminding Americans of the chaos that was the Trump presidency, so Trump being unable to abide by the rules and performing poorly as a result is a very striking possibility.”

But debates are about soundbites on social media as much as policy arguments, and both candidates will look for explosive viral moments.
“I’ll be looking for whether former president Trump tries to become more ‘presidential’ in any respect, though the campaign trail would suggest the answer to that is no,” said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University.
The Biden campaign released an ad last week hitting Trump over his criminal convictions as the president headed to his mountainside retreat at Camp David to fine-tune attack lines and rebuttals.
Trump — who struggles in granular discussions of policy — huddled with aides and vice presidential hopefuls at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the emphasis was more on tone and broad substance than detail.
Trump would benefit by sticking to a script, highlighting Biden’s weaknesses on inflation and immigration and dialing down the bombast, said Nieman, the Binghamton analyst.
“It would disappoint his base, but it would go far to make inroads with suburban, college-educated women,” he told AFP.
 


Saudi doctors provide free eye surgery to hundreds of Sri Lankan patients

Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

Saudi doctors provide free eye surgery to hundreds of Sri Lankan patients

  • Doctors conduct 500 cataract removal procedures in Walasmulla on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka
  • Campaign will then move to the eastern city of Kattankudy, where another 500 patients will be treated

COLOMBO: Hundreds of Sri Lankan patients are set to receive eye surgery and specialist care this week under a blindness prevention program launched by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The Saudi Noor Volunteer Program, running between Nov. 4 and 9, is organized by KSrelief in the town of Walasmulla on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital Colombo. On Nov. 10-17, the campaign will move to the city of Kattakundy, further east.

Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness in Sri Lanka. Patients often have to wait for years to have them removed under government programs. At private clinics, the cheapest lens replacement procedure is too expensive for many patients in poorer parts of the country.

“There is big demand since poor people can’t afford surgery privately, which costs 100,000 rupees ($340) per person. There are many cataract patients in Sri Lanka but the facilities are few. There are long waiting lists for surgery,” M.S.M. Thassim, chairman of the Association of Muslim Youths — KSrelief’s local partner — told Arab News.

Patients wait for KSrelief-funded eye surgery in Kattankudy, Sri Lanka, on Nov. 5, 2024. (Association of Muslim Youths)

“We are doing it in two places; the first part is Walasmulla, which is finishing on Nov. 9, and we have already completed 400 surgeries and 100 more to go. Then at Kattankudy, which begins on Nov. 10, where another 500 will be performed.”

Some of the patients were already blind before the intervention of the KSrelief medical team, whose members have been praised for being “people friendly” and “committed” to their mission.

“The patients are full of gratitude to the Saudi government and the King Salman center for the noble intervention that restored their eyesight,” Thassim said.

The two-week eye care campaign in Walasmulla and Kattakundy is part of the Saudi government’s long-standing efforts to combat blindness in developing countries.

In Sri Lanka alone, 31,000 patients have undergone Saudi-sponsored surgery since 2001.


World must better adapt to ‘climate calamity’: UN chief Guterres

Updated 29 min 37 sec ago
Follow

World must better adapt to ‘climate calamity’: UN chief Guterres

  • Global efforts to adapt to climate change have not kept pace as global warming accelerates the frequency and intensity of disasters
  • Antonio Guterres: ‘Climate calamity is the new reality. And we’re not keeping up’

PARIS: The world is nowhere near ready for the “calamity” being caused by climate change and must urgently prepare for even worse in the future, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday.
Global efforts to adapt to climate change – from building defensive sea walls to planting drought-resistant crops – have not kept pace as global warming accelerates the frequency and intensity of disasters.
Floods, fires and other climate shocks have affected nearly every continent in a year the EU climate monitor says is almost certain to be the hottest ever recorded.
The amount of money going to poorer countries for adaptation measures was barely one-tenth of what they needed to disaster-proof their vulnerable economies, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new assessment looking at 2022, the latest year for which data is available.
“Climate calamity is the new reality. And we’re not keeping up,” said Guterres at the launch of UNEP’s annual Adaptation Gap Report.
Rich nations are under pressure at this month’s UN COP29 summit to substantially increase the $100 billion they pledged for climate action in developing countries, including for adaptation.
But some donor governments are under fiscal and political pressure, and major new commitments of public money are not expected at the conference in Azerbaijan.
A UN biodiversity meeting this month failed to reach a funding agreement and the election of Donald Trump – who opposes global climate cooperation – hangs over COP29.
Most of the public money committed to climate change goes to reducing planet-warming emissions, not adapting to its long-term consequences.
Some $28 billion in public finance was paid to developing countries for climate adaptation in 2022.
This was an increase on the year prior, but still a drop in the ocean: UNEP estimates between $215 billion and $387 billion is needed annually for adaptation in developing countries.
Rich countries had pledged to double the amount by 2025 to roughly $40 billion a year but even this would leave an “extremely large” adaptation funding gap, UNEP said.
Climate disasters hit poorest communities hardest but the cost of inaction was no longer borne by them alone, said Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation.
“From rising seas and extreme heat waves to relentless droughts and floods, the impacts of climate change now reach every corner of the globe. No nation, no community is immune,” he said in a statement.
Spanish authorities were accused of being inadequately prepared when a major storm brought flooding that killed over 200 people last month.
Climate scientists say that global warming is fueling more frequent and severe extreme weather.
“We can’t postpone protection. We must adapt – now,” Guterres said.


Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump

  • Parolin’s comments were the first diplomatic reaction from the Holy See to Trump’s win for the White House against Democrat Kamala Harris

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican’s secretary of state congratulated US president-elect Donald Trump Thursday, while expressing doubt that the Republican had a “magic wand” to end conflicts quickly as promised during the campaign.
“We wish him a lot of wisdom because that is the main virtue of leaders according to the Bible,” Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.
Asked about Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours,” Parolin replied: “Let’s hope, let’s hope. I believe that not even he has a magic wand.”
“To end wars, a lot of humility is needed, a lot of willingness is needed, it really is necessary to seek the general interests of humanity rather than concentrate on particular interests,” he said.
To overcome divisions in American society, Parolin said he hoped Trump would be “the president of the whole country.”
He also hoped he would be “a factor that reduces tension... in the current conflicts that are bloodying the world.”
Parolin’s comments were the first diplomatic reaction from the Holy See to Trump’s win for the White House against Democrat Kamala Harris.
Pope Francis has not reacted.
In September, the Argentine pope criticized both candidates, accusing them of being “against life” in different ways: for Harris’ support of abortion, and for Trump’s anti-migrant policies.
During his first term in the White House, in May 2017, Trump was received by the Pope at the Vatican for a half-hour meeting.


NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump

  • ‘What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China, and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine’

BUDAPEST: NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday he aimed to work jointly with returning US leader Donald Trump in confronting the “dangerous new developments” linked to North Korea’s entry into the Russian war on Ukraine.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China, and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte told reporters at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“This is more and more a threat, not only to the European part of NATO, but also to the United States — because Russia is delivering the latest technology into North Korea,” he warned.
“I look forward to sit down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.
North Korea has become one of the strongest backers of Russia’s full-scale offensive in Ukraine, and the West has long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow.
Based on intelligence reports, Western powers now believe Pyongyang has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia, suggesting deeper involvement in the conflict.
Iran meanwhile stands accused of supplying Russia with missiles and drones, while China is suspected of helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on technologies for use in the war against Ukraine.


Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight

  • Russia has systematically targeted the Ukrainian capital with drone and missile barrages
  • Kyiv was targeted by drone attacks on six days in the first week of November and 20 days in October

KYIV: Kyiv was targeted by another “massive” Russian drone attack that wounded two people, damaged buildings and sparked fires in several districts, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.
Officials meanwhile in the south and east of the country said Russian attacks had killed two Ukrainian civilians in Kherson and Sumy.
Russia has systematically targeted the capital with drone and missile barrages since the first day of its invasion launched nearly three years ago on Febr. 24, 2022.
The capital was targeted by drone attacks on six days in the first week of November and 20 days in October, officials said.
“The attack took place in waves, from different directions, with drones entering the city at different altitudes — both very low and high,” the city administration said.
It added that more than 36 drones had been downed over the capital and the surrounding area and that falling debris had fallen on six districts of Kyiv and wounded two people.
AFP journalists heard air raid sirens ring out over the capital beginning shortly after midnight Kyiv time and the alert lasted some eight hours.
The reporters also heard drones buzzing over the city and air defense systems working to shoot down the drones.
The attack caused a fire in a 30-story residential building in the city center, and residents had to be evacuated, the mayor’s office said.
The head of the Kherson region meanwhile said the body of a deceased man was recovered from the rubble of a house destroyed by the attack in a Russian attack overnight.
In the eastern Sumy region, the body of another killed person was recovered following a Russian airstrike hours earlier, the interior ministry said.