The Italian state mint IPZS has begun producing medals that will now have up to twice the financial value of those won at the 2024 Paris Olympics

International News via Reuters:

For an Olympic athlete, the gleam of a medal is priceless, a reward for years of dedication and sacrifice. But with the recent surge in gold and other precious metal prices, these coveted symbols of success now also hold significantly higher monetary value than in the past. 

As the world gears up for the Milano Cortina Winter Games next year, the Italian state mint IPZS has begun producing medals that will now have up to twice the financial value of those won at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“The medals are tangible rewards for intangible efforts,” IPZS Chief Executive Michele Sciscioli told Reuters.

Gold medals were made of solid gold until 1912. Since then, however, as set out in the International Olympic Committee’s official guidelines, they are made of silver and coated with six grams of pure gold – a combination known as silver-gilt. 

At current prices, the gold medals that will adorn the necks of the 2026 champions will each contain just over $800 worth of gold.

Silver medals are primarily made of sterling silver, and bronze medals, since the latest Olympics in Paris, are made of pure copper, with a very low metal value.

According to Reuters data, gold rallied all year, reaching an all-time high on October 20. Similarly, silver reached all-time highs in early October, with the white metal up over 100% so far this year. 

DISCS OF ICE

IPZS will strike a total of 1,146 medals for the Olympics which run from February 6 to February 22. There will be 245 pieces each for gold, silver and bronze. In the Paralympics, 137 medals will be awarded in each of the three rankings the following month.

First unveiled in July in Venice, the medals have a very clean cut design and represent “discs of ice” made of two halves that join through the Olympic and Paralympic symbols in the middle.   

Matteo Taglienti, IPZS programme manager for the medals, told Reuters on Friday that work with the IOC and local organisers Milano Cortina Foundation had started a year ago, with production kicking off in the past months.

The two halves represent the individual athlete and the network behind their success, made up of family, team and coaches. They also have two different textures, a frosted and a polished one.

The Paralympic medals include braille lettering on the back to identify the discipline.

All of them will have a newly designed inlet that will hide the ribbon, without covering the face of the medal.

Reporting by Matteo Negri and Giulia Segreti in Rome; Editing by Joe Bavier

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the landslide winner of the October election after her main challengers were excluded, prompting protests

International News via Reuters:

Tanzania’s police said on Friday that nationwide demonstrations expected next week would be illegal, setting the stage for possible renewed clashes after bloodshed during protests over elections last month.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the landslide winner of the October election after her main challengers were excluded, prompting protests that were partly driven by what activists said was a wider crackdown on dissent.

Rights groups, opposition parties and the United Nations have said hundreds of people were likely killed in clashes between the protesters and security forces. The government denies suppressing dissent and disputes those figures as exaggerated.

Police Spokesperson David Misime said they were yet to receive any formal notifications from anyone wishing to hold demonstrations, after social media posts circulated calling for protests on December 9.

“The Police Force is banning these demonstrations, which have been given the name of “unlimited peaceful protests,” from taking place,” he said in a statement.

Misime said those mobilising for protest were among other things, urging participants to seize property, disrupt services at hospitals and to stay on the streets for an unlimited time to paralyse economic activity.

On Wednesday, a United Nations human rights experts group urged Tanzanian authorities and security forces to protect people’s right to assembly and prevent any more violations ahead of the planned demonstrations.

Hassan has promised to investigate the election violence and offered condolences to bereaved families, her most public acknowledgement of the turmoil, which has led to the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

“We hear there is another one planned … whenever they come, we are prepared,” Hassan told a meeting of elders in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, referring to the planned demonstrations.

The United States said on Thursday it was reviewing its relationship with Tanzania due to concerns over religious freedom, free speech, obstacles to U.S. investment and violence against civilians.

Writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Philippa Fletcher

Even when U.S. President Donald Trump made a landmark visit to China early during his first term in 2017 the trip was confined to the Chinese capital

International News via Reuters:

Chinese leader Xi Jinping accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron to Chengdu on Friday, a rare gesture seemingly reserved for the head of Europe’s second-largest economy that highlights Beijing’s focus on Paris in its ties with the European Union.

Even when U.S. President Donald Trump made a landmark visit to China early during his first term in 2017, and Xi lavished him with a private dinner within Beijing’s Forbidden City, the trip was confined to the Chinese capital.

But despite the apparent bonhomie between Xi and Macron, the French president’s visit so far has resulted in little beyond bolstering Beijing’s diplomatic credentials, as world leaders turn to China seeking economic assurances due to Trump’s tariffs, analysts say. It has also provided Macron with a chance to project statesmanship after a tough summer in domestic politics.

Investors are watching to see whether a day that began with the French president surprising fellow joggers in the city’s Jincheng Lake Park, before joining Xi at a historic dam site, will end with major commercial deals or a thaw in EU-China trade tensions, given that Macron has been joined on his fourth state visit to China by the heads of some of France’s biggest firms.

A meeting in the Chinese capital on Thursday only resulted in 12 cooperation agreements covering areas such as population ageing, nuclear energy and panda conservation, and no monetary total was disclosed.

“I think they (France) thought that Xi would be in a position to offer a lot because Europe is really preparing this economic security doctrine,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, senior fellow at the think tank Bruegel.

“Macron probably felt that given his weight and the fact that France is clearly the one that is pushing the most on economic security, that they would get a deal, but nope.”

Still, the French president will take the publicity win from receiving a rock-star welcome from students at Sichuan University, who crowded around him before a speech in which he urged China to reflect on its role in global affairs.

“We are at a moment of unprecedented rupture,” Macron said. “The world we built after World War II, which was based on what we call multilateralism and therefore cooperation between powers is cracking, fracturing.”

Macron also took aim at China’s notion that the West’s power is waning.

“Plenty of people will try to tell you that Europe is old,” he said. “That the rich countries you find in the G7 are arrogant. That the West is looking down on the Global South. But all of that is a narrative, a fabrication.”

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FACE POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS

Beijing may see friendly ties with France as a way into expanding its influence within the 27-strong EU, but is very constrained in its ability to offer Paris major concessions.

The Chinese leader was not expected to sign off on a long-anticipated 500-jet Airbus order, for example, as that would reduce China’s leverage in trade talks with the U.S., which is pressing for new Boeing commitments.

Xi is also unlikely to ease conditions for French cognac makers or pork producers, as doing so would weaken Beijing’s negotiating position with Brussels over tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

Nor can Xi offer Macron a breakthrough on the war in Ukraine for him to take back to Europe, with China having recently reaffirmed its support for Russia.

Recent visits by Spain’s King Felipe VI and German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil were similarly low on tangible outcomes.

Chinese government advisers say Beijing feels it has the upper hand and is waiting for Brussels to yield and accept a minimum price plan for its EVs rather than the tariffs currently levied on them.

“They (the EU) now recognise the complexity of the issue. After Trump became president again, they realised they are too dependent on the U.S…. Europe is now in need of more reciprocal trade with China,” one advisor said, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak with media.

“The EU should really reflect on its China policy and not tie it too closely to Russia and Ukraine,” he added.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Xi also did not raise the prospect of a trade deal with the EU with Macron – which China’s top diplomat Wang Yi brought up when Estonia’s foreign minister visited last month and the Chinese commerce ministry has touted – despite talks over a landmark EU-China investment pact having been frozen since 2021.

The vote on whether to adopt the European Commission’s EV tariffs divided the member states, with France voting in favour of the duties while Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, voted against.

China could seek to exploit such divisions.

“It is interesting that they (China) keep raising it (a trade deal) with the member states,” said a European Commission official. “We have no plans whatsoever to have any kind of trade agreement with China,” they added, also requesting anonymity.

Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Thomas Derpinghaus