Moscow first introduced “the concept of providing collective security in the Persian Gulf area” in July as tensions between Washington and Tehran neared an all-out crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin officially proposed Thursday that “a security and cooperation organization be created in the region almost from scratch.” He suggested that “Russia, China, the U.S., the EU, India and other interested countries could join as observers.” Asked about this idea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang declined to “offer a principled response before checking for more information” at a press conference Tuesday, but said Beijing was open to such considerations....

Initially, this was a direction signifying the great wane, the beginning of the end in the life of a professional footballer when he dips below the horizon of 30, setting where the sun rises. However, as seen in last week’s puzzling transfer involving Cedric Bakambu, and in the latest rumours swirling around Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, there is now a great deal more ambition in target selection. Bakambu, on the cusp of 27, certainly isn’t finished, and neither is Aubameyang at 28....

Despite not being a member of the Group of Seven, China still sought to “participate” from behind the scenes. Before departing for Europe, President Joe Biden stated that how to deal with China would top the agenda. Prior to this, in response to concerns about forced labor in Xinjiang and the suppression of human rights in Hong Kong, several G7 and European Union countries imposed sanctions on certain Chinese companies and individuals, after which Beijing imposed counter-sanctions on the countries in question....

China’s rapid economic expansion has exposed many frailties in its education system, especially on the vocational side. The country can’t produce enough skilled workers. In part that’s because it invests far more in academic than vocational programs. Though it has 1,300 vocational colleges and 14,000 high schools, these date to the days of the planned economy, with staff who are out of touch. And funding has fallen significantly since the 1990s....

Mr Xi’s visit in October 2015 made the front pages of many national and local newspapers as he mingled with political and footballing heavyweights – taking a selfie with then UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero – and was granted a tour of the Etihad Stadium. Later he would meet with former City star Sun Jihai, a Chinese trailblazer who was just being inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame....

“A lab employee infected in the field while collecting samples in a bat cave—such a scenario belongs both as a lab-leak hypothesis and as our first hypothesis of direct infection from bat to human,” he told Danish state-owned television station TV2 in a documentary that aired last Thursday. “We’ve seen that hypothesis as a likely hypothesis.” Now he tells us. Embarek sang a very different tune in an interview with Science in February....

This week, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) led a five-member bipartisan delegation to Taipei for a two-day trip. The Communist Party’s Global Times published a dire threat to the members of the delegation. Earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a high-profile trip to the Taiwan capital. Hu Xijin, formerly Global Times’ editor and now China’s “most famous propagandist,” threatened a shoot-down of the speaker’s plane. The harsh tone of Chinese propaganda issued in connection with both delegations is in line with China’s white paper on Taiwan, released last Wednesday....

Xi opened his virtual address Thursday at the U.S.-organized Leaders Summit on Climate by thanking President Joe Biden for hosting the event, which involved some 40 heads of state, including Xi and Russia President Vladimir Putin, both of whose countries are currently undergoing a period of heightened tensions with Washington. In his remarks, however, Xi focused on paths toward cooperation. “It is good to have this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with you on climate change,” Xi said in remarks directed toward Biden, “and to discuss ways to tackle this challenge and find a path forward for man and nature to live in harmony....

The world’s two most dangerous actors, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, are meeting in the middle of this month. The in-person get-together, the 39th since Xi became Chinese president in 2013, will take place in the Silk Road city of Samarkand, in Uzbekistan. China has not confirmed the meeting with Putin, but it will undoubtedly take place at the summit of the China-sponsored SCO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, on the 15th and 16th....

Addressing a plenary meeting of the fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress on Tuesday, Xi emphasized self-reliance, innovation and optimization among the world’s largest standing armed forces, the People’s Liberation Army, in order to realize national goals. He praised the military’s successful achievements of last year’s goals, as well as its contribution to the defeat of COVID-19 in China, but warned of more troubling times ahead as the People’s Republic continues its rise to superpower status....

The Republican senator for South Carolina is leading the congressional delegation, or CODEL, which was greeted on the tarmac by Taiwanese officials including Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. The group of six U.S. legislators includes New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, their visit an unmistakable signal of solitary with Taiwan’s leadership at a time of increasing political and military pressure from Beijing. Washington severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979. It established formal relations with Beijing in part to take on their once common Cold War foe, the Soviet Union....

In an unprecedented Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference that lasted for over an hour, its senior spokesperson, Hua Chunying, told reporters that China’s leaders hadn’t made contact with Ukrainian officials in the hours after Russian forces were ordered across the border for a multi-front offensive. “Everybody is busy now,” Hua said. At the start of the event, she balked at the term “invasion” and said Beijing wouldn’t “rush into a conclusion” about the nature of the ongoing military offensive....

The defender took part in a battle between England and France at the Stade de France on Tuesday, in which 10-man France overcame a red card to defeat England, 3-2. Cahill has been among those criticised for the performance against a France side that spent most of the second half down a man after Raphael Varane was sent off for a professional foul, but he took to Twitter to defend his performance against at least one fan Wednesday....

The fourth-seeded Golden Bears (23-10), wracked this week by the firing of an assistant coach after a sexual-harassment investigation, faces Hawaii on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region. MORE: Worst-seeded teams who made a Sweet 16 run UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: The team later confirmed the Yahoo report, announcing on Twitter that Wallace would miss the rest of the tournament. At 6-6, Wallace represented a matchup challenge for most teams....

Fellaini, who had not started in almost four months due to a knee injury, was given the nod over Pogba, who despite having picked up a training-ground knock last Friday had recovered sufficiently to play some part in Monday’s pre-game session. The result was United turning in an utterly abysmal showing as Wissam Ben Yedder came off the bench to strike twice in the second half and hand the Spanish side a 2-1 aggregate victory....

Al Gore is 100 percent right: the American public does not know him (“Al Gore’s Best Hope,” National Affairs, May 24). Which is to say he played the role of vice president perfectly and didn’t try to overshadow or upstage the president. But the time has come for Gore to define himself. He has to learn how to fight; he has to know his best punches and throw them hard and often....

South Lake Tahoe’s Barton Memorial Hospital took heed of the warning and evacuated 36 patients with skilled nursing needs and 16 in acute care on Sunday. The patients were sent to other facilities away from the blaze, public information officer Mindi Befu said. The medical facility evacuated the rest of its patients and staff on Monday in alignment with safety recommendations. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below....

On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, standing up a Flood Operations Center. “California is mobilizing to keep people safe from the impacts of the incoming storm,” Newsom said in a statement. The weather front is the third storm to hit the west coast in recent weeks; one that broke over the state on New Year’s Eve caused serious flooding and left at least two people dead....

“Extreme fire weather threats will continue across Southern California through Friday. Decreasing winds by Friday in Northern California will provide at least a day of lower fire weather threats. However, another storm system is poised to bring increasing winds again later in the weekend for Northern California”, the National Weather Service warned in a post on its official Twitter account. “Meanwhile, an expansive high-pressure system in the western U.S. will continue to promote favorable conditions for the spreading of wildfires from northern California into southern California for one more day today,” the National Weather Service’s Weather Protection Center said on its official website....