International
The debate from the inside: two podiums, stopwatch of lights and a thousand journalists in a stadium
The logistics of a presidential debate in the United States is not a simple thing and even less in the first and decisive face-to-face that democrat Joe Biden faces Republican Donald Trump this Thursday.
These are the studies inside where this historic day will be held in the city of Atlanta, which were already armored by the Police with several surrounding streets cut off to traffic.
The debate will begin at 9:00 p.m. local time (01:00 GMT on Friday) in a CNN television studio on the Techwood campus, in downtown Atlanta, with no public presence and will last 90 minutes with two advertising breaks.
The candidates, the oldest in history, will debate standing on two podiums separated by 2.4 meters and will have behind them a set with the slogan ‘CNN Presidential Debate’.
By lot, it was up to the Democratic campaign to choose the position of the candidates and opted for Biden to be on the right side of the television screen and Trump, on the left side.
Candidates will access the study by opposing entries and it is unknown if they will greet each other by shaking hands.
Right in front, the moderators of the debate, journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be sitting at a table, who will ask the questions to the candidates and they will have two minutes to answer.
Biden and Trump will not have a stopwatch as such: above the cameras they will see lights that will turn yellow when they have 15 seconds left of their turn of speech, they will blink when five seconds remain and they will be red when their time has run out.
Only the microphone of the candidate who has the turn of the word will be turned on and his rival will have it off. Anything he says will be practically inaudible to viewers.
This is how it is tried to prevent the repetition of the screams and interruptions that led the two tense face-to-face between Biden and Trump of the 2020 elections.
None of the candidates will be able to talk to their advisors during the two breaks and they are prohibited from taking previous notes, although they will have a notebook and a pen to take notes.
About a thousand journalists from several dozen different countries have been accredited for the debate, a demonstration of the great international interest of this event, which could break audience records.
But the reporters will not be in the CNN studio, but in an adjoining basketball stadium, the Hank McCamish Pavilion, where the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets usually play.
It is not an unusual press room. Journalists work from the stands where spectators usually watch the matches, but this time what they will see on the giant screens of the stadium is the face-to-face between Biden and Trump.
The court where the games are played has been lined with a red carpet to house the famous ‘spin room’ and the programs of the major American television networks.
It will be in that space, where the advisors of both campaigns will walk to give interviews and pull arguments to convince journalists that their candidate was the clear winner of the day.
International
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll from recent rains and floods across several central states has risen to 66, while the federal government has activated air bridges and prioritized assistance in 191 isolated communities.
“Unfortunately, 66 people have died, and 75 remain missing,” the president said during her morning press conference. She added that the official death toll will be updated later in a new report.
As of Tuesday, authorities had reported 64 fatalities. Sheinbaum also announced the creation of a public information center to centralize official data on the deceased, missing persons, damaged homes, and cut-off communities.
According to the president, the number of missing persons has decreased thanks to coordination with state authorities.
“Through calls to phone line 079, 103 people who had been reported missing have now been located,” she explained.
Priority Municipalities
The president noted that the federal government has classified 191 communities as ‘priority’, a designation based mainly on the percentage of homes affected.
International
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities are investigating two explosions that occurred early Wednesday, one on a road in the southern part of the country and another under a bridge in Guayas province. These incidents follow the car bomb explosion in the coastal city of Guayaquil, also in Guayas, which occurred the day before and left one person dead and 30 injured.
Press reports indicate that one person was injured and several vehicles were damaged in the explosion on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje road in the south.
“Besides yesterday’s explosion in Guayaquil, we have received reports of explosives placed on bridges along the Guayaquil-Machala and Machala-Cuenca routes to disrupt traffic,” said Roberto Luque, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT).
On his X social media account, Luque reported that authorities have been deployed to the sites to assess the damage and determine the current condition of the structures.
“What they haven’t achieved with their call for a strike, some are trying to achieve through terrorism,” he stated, referring to the 24 days of protests organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) against rising diesel prices and other demands.
The protests, called at a national level, have Imbabura province as their epicenter. Roadblocks have also been reported in the northern part of Pichincha province, whose capital is Quito, while activities in the rest of the country continue normally.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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