Race for medals heats up on last day of 47th WorldSkills Competition

At the final day of the 47th WorldSkills Competition in the French city of Lyon, the race for medals heated up, with participants from roughly 70 nations showing their mettle.

Formerly known as the International Vocational Training Organization, WorldSkills is an international charity, which organizes national championships for vocational skills. Every two years, the organization hosts a competition, attracting competitors from around the world.

This year's competition ran from Wednesday to Saturday, with the closing ceremony on Sunday. The event brought together approximately 1,400 participants from nearly 70 countries and regions to compete in 59 skill categories spanning vocations ranging from artwork to welding.

China sent 68 participants to participated in 59 different disciplines.

Teams say it is a collaborative environment, but winning gold can help make their professional career's sparkle.

"I think it's for their career, for the whole of their life. And then they can join this field and they can have a very good start of their journey, their life," said Zou Ningxin, a jewelry expert of Team China.

Medals may be up for the grabs but the goal of the biannual Workskills Expo is also for crowds here to draw inspiration.

This event is designed to give people a little taste of different parts of the working world and what ingredients are needed to be successful in a chosen career.

The expo also gives delegations the opportunity to learn from one another.

"They're able to come here and see how they match up against other countries. It's a benchmarking system as well as an individual assessment of the competitors who are representing their nation," said Shawna Bourke, director of Marketing and Communications of the WorldSkills International.

This biannual event is seen as an opportunity to try and address shared problems like water pollution.

"Urban water sewage treatment and industrial water reuse are the fundamental ways to solve this problem. So water technology is very important today," said Wang Zhan, water technology expert of Team China.

Several days of tough competition culminates in a medal ceremony. And the hope is that these competitors will inspire a new generation of skilled workers to come out of the woodwork.

Shanghai is scheduled to play host to the competition's 48th edition in September 2026.

Race for medals heats up on last day of 47th WorldSkills Competition

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza Strip has risen to 50,423, with 114,638 injured, after nearly 18 months of Israeli military operations, Gaza health authorities said Wednesday.

Local medical sources noted that since the Israeli army resumed its operations on March 18, the number of fatalities has reached 1,066, while 2,597 have been injured.

In the past 24 hours alone, hospitals in Gaza received 24 fatalities and 55 injured. Many bodies remain trapped beneath the rubble, with ambulances and civil defense personnel struggling to reach them.

According to a report by the Times of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday that it had carried out strikes on over 50 sites belonging to Hamas and other militant groups, ahead of a major ground push into the southern Gaza Strip. During the day, dozens more strikes were carried out across Gaza.

In addition, the IDF issued a statement on Wednesday night that it had intercepted two rockets launched from northern Gaza. Air raid sirens were activated in areas near the Gaza Strip, and local media said that there are no reports of injuries or damage in the attack. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Palestinian media reports on Wednesday, the Israeli air force targeted a medical facility operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The head of Gaza-based health authorities reported on the same day that 19 people were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military stated on Wednesday that it had struck a Hamas command center in Jabalia.

On Wednesday night, Al Jazeera quoted relevant sources as saying that Hamas officials had received Israel's response to the ceasefire proposal, which had been put forward by mediators and accepted by Hamas. Based on this response, they concluded that Israel had rejected the proposal.

Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 50,423