US presidential debates planned

The campaign organisations of President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry have tentatively agreed to a series of three debates, a person familiar with the debate negotiations said.

The agreement, not yet final, calls for the presidential debates to be spread over a two-week period beginning on September 30. The Bush campaign denied that there was a deal.

The source said the two campaigns had agreed on the dates and sites proposed by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates: September 30 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida; October 8 at Washington University, in St Louis; and October 13 at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona. The election is on November 2.