Month: July 2024

Russia set to postpone World Friendship Games, once seen as rival to Paris Olympics

Paris — A Russian sports event widely regarded as an attempt to rival the Paris Olympics is set to be postponed to next year, organizers said Tuesday. The World Friendship Games had been due to take place in Russia in September but will now move back to unspecified dates in 2025, the International Friendship Association, a body set up to organize the games, said in a statement. It added the decision is subject to approval by the Russian government. “The main reason for reconsidering the Games dates is the insufficient recovery time for top athletes participating in major international tournaments in …

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Meloni seeks better terms for Italian firms in China 

BEIJING — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to China to boost co-operation with the world’s second-largest economy and reset trade ties, she said on Tuesday, during a visit to burnish relations after leaving the Belt and Road scheme. Meloni, making her first visit to China as prime minister, which comes after Italy left Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship initiative last year, said the euro zone’s third-largest economy wanted to rebalance ties with Beijing. “Today, Italian investment in China is about three times as much as Chinese investment in Italy,” Meloni told reporters. “We clearly want to work to remove obstacles …

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Macron warns Iran against support of Russia’s Ukraine war

Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron urged his new Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday to not support Russia’s “war of aggression” against Ukraine, in talks between the two leaders, his office said.  Macron also told Pezeshkian that “all must be done to avoid a military escalation” between Israel and Lebanon after a deadly rocket strike in the Golan Heights blamed on Tehran-backed Hezbollah, calling on Iran to “cease its support of destabilizing actors” in the Middle East. The French leader asked Iran to call for restraint, saying that a new war would have “devastating consequences for the region,” which is …

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