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By Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WOODSIDE, California (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping

Georgia Stanway stood on her own, isolated in a pocket of space. With her hands in the air, she saw the move before it unfolded. England had been searching for the gaps against Colombia, but going behind only sharpened their focus. After the explosion of Colombia’s goal, England could have lost their heads, but Stanway found hers and then the space. One thumping finish from Alessia Russo later and England were heading towards the semi-finals of the World Cup. Arguably, no one deserves this semi-final more than the Bayern Munich midfielder. Stanway had to be disciplined when Keira Walsh was injured, constrained when Lauren James was given the keys to England’s creative output. With James suspended, Stanway was released. With the bite in midfield to combat Colombia’s physicality, then the cool to pick holes in their defensive shape. Having to play through four games on a yellow card has meanwhile forced Stanway to do it all on a knife-edge, controlling the aggression when one wrong moment would have taken her semi-final away. The Lionesses also had to earn it, in a difficult contest that passed by in waves of England control and frantic Colombia pressure. The atmosphere fed into it: Colombia turned up in their numbers, dominating the 75,000 capacity stadium and its soundtrack; hostile when England had possession, electric when Colombia flew forward, the noise rising further when Linda Caicedo drove them on. England faced the battle they had been expecting. Then Colombia scored and a tournament that has been defined by obstacles was presented with a new one, as England trailed for the first time in the World Cup. But Stanway epitomised how England responded and took to their task. It was a different type of resilience to what England showed at the end, continuing to show, on the ball and off it. She showed her intelligence, baiting Colombia players in and waiting a moment, before releasing it. As a whole, there wasn’t a panic. Lauren Hemp’s equaliser was scrappy, arriving in a mess in the penalty box, but it had been coming. If anything, going behind sharpened England. England’s plan was clear enough: they had their control and build-up, neat passages of play as they found the gaps in Colombia’s shape, threading passes through for Stanway and Ella Toone to turn. England were sharper than against Nigeria, even if the final ball was missing. With James’s two-match ban forcing another rethink for Wiegman, the England manager combined something new with something old. The midfield three returned, with Stanway and Toone deployed as twin eights in front of England’s back five. But Colombia reached the quarter-finals by ensuring those spells do not last for long. Between England’s passing moves, Colombia rattled them and threatened with their quality, thriving off the match being in a scrappy and disrupted state. The South Americans broke England’s passing up and tore whatever momentum they were building down, a series of fouls to pause England’s flow. Then there were the challenges: Ana Guzman barging into Hemp, then leaving an arm on Rachel Daly, Santos pulling Stanway back by the arm. And in those spells England were sloppy, five-yard passes hit straight out of play, allowing themselves to take the safe or easy option, turning down the chance to turn. When Santos’s cross drifted in over the head of Mary Earps, England were faced with the worst. The response was crucial. In the six minutes of added time at the end of the first half, England stuck to how they had set up to play. The way Colombia were positioned allowed England to have those gaps in midfield and there was always a player to find. England had to be patient, to move it quickly enough and have the confidence to do more when they could turn. Hemp everywhere across the frontline, taking pressure off England with bursts downfield, Russo struggling to hold the ball up, but producing the devastating finish when it counted. England dropped deep, perhaps too early, but they did so safe in the knowledge that they had Millie Bright in this form. Bright was faultless as England defended their box, alongside the exceptional Alex Greenwood. It wasn’t the perfect team performance but this tournament has been about finding a way through. England are enjoying it, while Stanway just offers them that bit more. Read More England set up old rivalry on new stage thanks to Alessia Russo magic How many games will Lauren James miss at Women’s World Cup after red card? Who and when do England play next? Lionesses’ route to the World Cup final ahead of semi-final

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More than 40 people have died in wildfires that have engulfed swaths of land in nine Mediterranean countries, destroying homes, livelihoods and forests. Thousands of firefighters worked to contain the blazes as searing temperatures scorched parts of Greece, Italy, Spain, Gran Canaria, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia and France, as well as Algeria and Tunisia. Authorities ordered the fresh evacuations of several communities in central Greece on Wednesday as they battled new fronts in the fires that have been spreading for 10 days. High winds hampered firefighting efforts, and combined with the heatwave, they created a “perfect storm” that allowed flames to spread. Sixty-one wildfires erupted across Greece in just 24 hours, the fire brigade said, with the worst outbreaks near the central town of Velestino, where officials ordered precautionary evacuations. Follow our live coverage of the wildfires and heatwave here But as Athens recorded 40C and northern Turkey 43C, there were hopes the mercury may now have peaked. The entire island of Rhodes, where more than 20,000 holidaymakers and locals were forced to flee at the weekend, was put into a state of emergency. At least seven people have been killed in Italy, which suffered extreme heat in the south and violent storms in the north, and in Algeria, 34 people including 10 soldiers have been killed by flames or smoke in recent days. Those fires also spread to forests in Tunisia, where some cities recorded 49C this week. On the island of Sicily, two elderly people were found dead in a home consumed by flames near Palermo airport, which had been closed temporarily because of encroaching flames, according to news reports. Another woman died after fires prevented an ambulance from reaching her home. Homes and hotels were also evacuated in the Italian regions of Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria. It comes after two Greek pilots were killed in a crash during a low-altitude water drop on Tuesday. The wildfires have released record greenhouse gas emissions this month, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) said. The megaton of carbon was nearly double the previous record, set in 2007. Fire crews have been battling more than 500 fires for almost two weeks. Several people have been arrested or fined for accidentally starting fires, but scientists and EU officials say the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires is down to the climate crisis. Without human-induced climate change, wildfires would have been extremely rare, according to World Weather Attribution, a global team of scientists. On Rhodes, a nature reserve was damaged, and fires also burned in Vati and Gennadi. “The fires have started again,” a fire official told The Independent. “A little wind and the fire returns … that’s the problem.” Dozens of firefighters were trying to tame a firefront in the south. Greece’s civil protection agency extended its state of emergency to the whole of Rhodes for six months “to deal with emergencies and manage the consequences of catastrophic forestry fire”, minister Vasilis Papageorgiou said. In the sleepy town of Malonas, volunteers ventured out again to try to keep the fires at bay – having fought back the flames as they approached the night before. “We have no energy, we have no power – not enough to stop this ... We are waiting for the wind to calm down to try again tonight to finish the job, but it is very difficult because after 10 days everyone is very tired,” said a volunteer named Panos. However, a “level 5” alert on Crete on Tuesday was dropped to level 4 on Wednesday, and one fire official said the wildfires that had raged across Greece for more than a week abated on Wednesday. The Greek government tried to contain damage to the reputation of its tourism industry. Tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni stressed that wildfires had affected only a small part of the island. A fire brigade spokesperson, Ioannis Artopoios, said tackling the fires was a significant financial burden for Greece, with firefighting on Rhodes alone costing about €7.5m (£6.4m) so far. In Italy, the government was meeting to declare a state of emergency in regions worst hit and introduce a furlough scheme for workers most exposed to the heatwave. The country’s firefighters said they had battled nearly 1,400 fires between Sunday and Tuesday, including 650 in Sicily and 390 in Calabria, where a bedridden 98-year-old man was killed as flames consumed his home. Planes were also trying to douse the flames on the hills around Palermo on Wednesday. In Croatia, water-dropping planes and more than 100 firefighters held back a blaze before it reached houses in the walled town of Dubrovnik. In Portugal, more than 500 firefighters tackled a blaze near Lisbon. Around 90 people were forced to leave their homes, along with 800 animals taken from farms under threat. Read More Where are the wildfires? The nine affected countries mapped Greece wildfires: What is the Fire Weather Index and which areas could face wildfires in the future?

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