Briefly

UNITED STATES

Topics announced for Trump-Biden debate

Chris Wallace, moderator of the first 2020 US presidential debate, on Tuesday announced topics for the faceoff between US President and Republican nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. Wallace, a veteran journalist and Fox News anchor, has selected the candidates' records, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in US cities, and the integrity of the November election as topics, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates. The debate, the first of three between Trump and Biden, will be held on Sept 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. The format calls for six 15-minute segments. Two other debates will take place in October.

AFGHANISTAN

Amid talks, violence troubling, envoy says

The level of violence in Afghanistan is unacceptably high and the United States expects further setbacks during talks, the special representative for Afghanistan said on Tuesday, as the Afghan government and the Taliban remained far apart on even basic issues 10 days into talks meant to end two decades of war. "By any measure, current levels of violence are too high," special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told a House of Representatives hearing. "We know that reductions are possible." The talks come as a result of a February pact between the Taliban and the US, allowing US forces to withdraw in exchange for Taliban promises on terrorism. The US is expected to reduce troop levels to 4,000 to 5,000 and will look at further reductions based on conditions.

AUSTRALIA

Number of stranded whales nears 500

More pilot whales were found stranded on a remote stretch of Australia's coast on Wednesday, raising the estimated total to almost 500 in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the country. Authorities had already been working to rescue survivors among an estimated 270 whales found on Monday on a beach and two sandbars near a remote west coast town on the island state of Tasmania. Another 200 stranded whales were spotted from the air on Wednesday less than 10 kilometers to the south, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service Manager Nic Deka said. About 30 whales in the original stranding were moved from the sandbars to open ocean.

Agencies - Xinhua