Trump Agrees to Fox News Offer of Debate with Harris on Sept. 4

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
TT

Trump Agrees to Fox News Offer of Debate with Harris on Sept. 4

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has agreed to an offer from Fox News to hold a debate with Democratic US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 4, he said in a post on Truth Social late on Friday.

"Rules will be similar to the rules of my debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his party, but with a full arena audience," Trump said, referring to President Joe Biden, who has since dropped his reelection bid.

According to Reuters, the post was removed for a few minutes before being reposted, with Trump deleting his proposal for a "major" town hall gathering on the same date if Harris was "unwilling or unable to debate".

Harris had responded last month that she was "ready" after Fox News proposed the presidential debate between the two candidates on Sept. 17.

After Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and backed Harris, Trump said he would not debate her because she was not the official candidate.

As proof of her lack of support, he added that former President Barack Obama had yet to endorse her. But Obama did so a day later, and on Friday, she secured the delegate votes needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.



Cyprus Prepares to Help People Evacuate from Mideast in Case War Expands

A Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut's Ramlet al-Baida beach as it approaches Beirut International Airport on August 2, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
A Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut's Ramlet al-Baida beach as it approaches Beirut International Airport on August 2, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
TT

Cyprus Prepares to Help People Evacuate from Mideast in Case War Expands

A Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut's Ramlet al-Baida beach as it approaches Beirut International Airport on August 2, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
A Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut's Ramlet al-Baida beach as it approaches Beirut International Airport on August 2, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)

Cyprus’ foreign minister said Friday that authorities are in touch with the diplomatic missions of nations that may opt to evacuate their citizens through the east Mediterranean island nation if the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip expands to engulf neighboring countries.

Minister Constantinos Kombos said agencies have been mobilized as part of the country’s long-standing evacuation action plan called ESTIA. He said there’s a “serious danger” of conflict expanding further, which would affect the entire region.

Kombos said Cyprus’ role is to “operate as a bridge of safety” in the region in the event of mass evacuations of third-country citizens from the Middle East.

Since October, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged strikes near-daily over the Lebanon-Israel border, killing more than 500 people in Lebanon — including about 100 civilians — and 22 soldiers and 25 civilians in Israel. They include 12 children and teenagers killed by a missile that hit a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Saturday.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike; Hezbollah denied responsibility. Days later, Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in a rare strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs for which Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, triggering fears that the conflict could spiral out of control.

In 2023, Cyprus acted as a waystation for third-country evacuees from Sudan and Israel after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The island nation also helped in the evacuation of tens of thousands of third-country nationals during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict.