Month: July 2024

Spain beats England 2-1 to win record 4th European Soccer Championship title

Berlin — Spain won a record fourth European Championship title on Sunday after Mikel Oyarzabal’s 87th-minute goal clinched a 2-1 victory over England, whose painful decades-long wait for a major trophy goes on. Oyarzabal slid in to poke home Marc Cucurella’s cross, just when the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion seemed destined for extra time after the latest show of resilience by England at the tournament. Substitute Cole Palmer equalized for England in the 73rd minute to cancel out Nico Williams’ opener in the 47th from 17-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal’s pass. Spain also won the title in 1964, 2008 and 2012. England …

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China, Russia start joint naval drills 

BEIJING — China and Russia’s naval forces kicked off a joint exercise Sunday at a military port in southern China, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine. The Chinese defense ministry said in a statement that forces from both sides recently patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean and that the operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations and didn’t target any third party. The exercise, which began in Guangdong province Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the …

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Carlos Alcaraz tops Novak Djokovic in a second consecutive Wimbledon final for a fourth Slam title 

London — Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the Wimbledon men’s final Sunday to collect his fourth Grand Slam title at age 21.    It was a rematch of last year’s championship match on the grass of the All England Club, which Alcaraz won in five sets.    This one — played in front of a Centre Court crowd that included Kate, the Princess of Wales, in a rare public appearance since announcing she has cancer — was much easier for Alcaraz, at least until he stumbled while holding three match points as he served for the victory at …

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France celebrates national day as political crisis rumbles on 

Paris — France celebrated military victories of the past at its annual Bastille Day parade Sunday, while its present political future appeared far from clear. President Emmanuel Macron inspected French and allied units which took part in France’s World War II liberation 80 years ago. And Paris welcomed the Olympic flame to the city, less than two weeks before it hosts the Summer Games. But behind the pomp — itself in a reduced format while Olympic preparations blocked the traditional Champs Elysees route — France’s tense search for a government appeared to be at a stalemate. All eyes were on the …

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Israel’s Holocaust memorial opens a facility to store artifacts, photos and more

JERUSALEM — Israel’s national Holocaust museum opened a new conservation facility in Jerusalem on Monday that will preserve, restore and store its more than 45,000 artifacts and works of art in a vast new building, including five floors of underground storage. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, serves as both a museum and a research institution. It welcomes nearly a million visitors each year, leads the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day and hosts nearly all foreign dignitaries visiting Israel. “Before we opened this building, it was very difficult to exhibit our treasures that were kept in our vaults. They were …

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Syria-Turkey rapprochement: Here’s what it might mean for the region

ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad have recently signaled that they are interested in restoring diplomatic ties that have been ruptured for more than a decade. Erdogan has said that he hopes to arrange a meeting with Assad soon for the first time since the countries broke off relations in 2011 as mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces in Syria spiraled into a still-ongoing civil war. Speaking at a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday, Erdogan said he had called on Assad two weeks ago to either come to Turkey for …

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