WORLD BRIEFING: July 28, 2024

Israel's air force says it has hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after 12 children and young adults were killed in a rocket attack while playing football in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has blamed the Lebanese militant group for Saturday's attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah has strongly denied any involvement. Early on Sunday, the IDF said it had conducted air strikes against seven Hezbollah targets "deep inside Lebanese territory". It is unclear whether there were any casualties. The rising tensions have the potential to trigger an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, whose forces have regularly exchanged fire since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October. Saturday's attack at the town's football pitch was the deadliest loss of life on Israel's northern border since the war began on 7 October. A UN statement said "maximum restraint" was crucial by all parties, with the risk of a wider conflict that would "engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief". - BBC

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has arrived in China for a four-day official visit to reset relations following her dramatic decision last year to pull Italy out of Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative. The Italian premier will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang as the two countries seek to stabilise ties after recent turbulence. Shortly before Meloni’s arrival, the Global Times, a Chinese Communist party newspaper, blamed Washington for Italy’s BRI exit and said economic and trade ties remained strong. Cui Hongjian, an analyst at China Institute of International Studies Research institute, said Beijing would also probably raise Italy’s support for European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. But its main priority would be to stabilise the relationship in the face of geopolitical uncertainties, including those stemming from the US election. China would tell the Italian side “we need some more resilience in the relationship”, he said. - FT

Venezuelans vote Sunday between continuity in President Nicolas Maduro or change in rival Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia amid high tension following the incumbent's threat of a "bloodbath" if he loses, which polls suggest is likely. Concerns were further stoked when Caracas blocked several international observers at the last minute, including four ex-presidents who had their plane held up in Panama Friday. Maduro, 61, is accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of rising authoritarianism. He is seeking a third six-year term at the helm of the once wealthy petro-state that saw GDP drop 80 percent in a decade, pushing more than seven million of its 30 million citizens to emigrate. Maduro lags far behind challenger Gonzalez Urrutia in voter intention, according to independent polls, but counts on a loyal electoral machinery, military leadership and state institutions in a system of well-established political patronage. Relying on its own figures, the regime is also said to be certain of victory. - France 24

The European Union diplomatic service is forced to cancel parties, shutter residences and forgo chauffeur cars and office stationery after blowing a €43mn hole in its annual budget, officials tell the Financial Times. The EEAS is in “dire straits” said one.

FIFA came down hard on Canada Soccer on Saturday for a drone spying scandal, deducting six points from the Canadian women's soccer team at the Paris Games and banning three staff members, including head coach Bev Priestman, for one year each. The punishments include a fine of $313,000 for the national federation in a case that has spiralled over the last week. Two staff members were caught using drones to spy on New Zealand's practices before the teams played their opening game last Thursday, a 2-1 Canada win. - CP

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban again ripped into the European Union, using a speech in a Romanian spa town to trumpet his nationalist-tinged agenda, including a full-throated embrace of former U.S. President Donald Trump. In his nearly two-hour speech on July 27, Orban said his visit to the country was positive, discussing with his Romanian counterpart a new high-speed railway between Bucharest and Budapest and Romania's membership in the Schengen visa-free zone. Currently, visa-free travel only applies to Bucharest’s air and maritime borders, something Romania trying to change. But Orban also touched on many of the same themes he has promoted as prime minister, a post he was soundly reelected to two years ago. He railed against policies in some Western countries promoting or protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and voiced support for what he asserted were Christian values. - RFE/RL

Over the past two years, Russia has been experiencing a consumer spending boom that has surprised economists who were expecting a radically different outcome at the onset of the war in Ukraine. But the economy risks overheating, the Financial Times reports. Elsewhere, observers says Russian has surprised skeptics with its ability to evade wave upon wave of sanctions and to flip the economy quickly to power the war effort

Marriage between bloodline cousins is widespread in many parts of Uzbekistan, and now authorities want to end to the practice, blaming the phenomenon for genetic disorders among newborns. The Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs has published draft amendments to the country’s Family Code, proposing that the parliament put a ban on marriage between cousins, including both first and second cousins. The amendments aim at “preventing babies being born with disabilities,” the document states. - RFE/RL

In other Olympics news…

• Medals have started to be handed out at the Paris Olympics, on the fourth day of the event. Australia are currently leading the medal table (5) with the US, followed by France (4), and China (3), who scooped the very first gold medal of Paris 2024 on Saturday.

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• Latest tests show Seine water quality was substandard when Paris mayor took a dip. The Olympics' first triathlon swimming training session was cancelled on Sunday due to pollution levels in the River Seine. Organisers say the cancellation was due to heavy rains in recent days but that they were "confident" water quality would improve before the triathlon competition takes place on July 30 - France 24

• Nine million tickets have been sold for the Games so far, Olympic organizers said. They also claimed 90 percent of French people considered the Opening Ceremony was “a success.” Earlier reporting showed that ticket sales were far below expectations. Today 30 Paris venues will be in operation with