Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur

U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had a "friendly" phone call on Sept. 22 to defuse a deep row over submarine sales to Australia, promising to meet in person to repair the transatlantic relationship.

The United States and Britain sought on Sept. 19 to smooth tensions with Paris over a new security pact with Australia, with U.S. President Joe Biden requesting early talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that dozens of people in his inner circle at the Kremlin had tested positive for coronavirus, AFP reported. Earlier this week, the 68-year-old Putin said he was self-isolating after announcing an outbreak among members of his entourage. "Cases of the coronavirus were detected in my inner circle.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is self-isolating as a precaution after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, but is "absolutely" healthy and does not have the disease himself, the Kremlin said on Sept. 14.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not participate in face-to-face events for some time, but his self-isolation move won't impact the intensity of his work online, Kremlin told reporters on Tuesday.

"The self-isolation is not going to influence the president's work directly, there just won't be any face-to-face events for some time. his spokeman said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on a retreat in a Siberian region with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and will return to Moscow late on Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

A tender notice has been published by Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry to rent a hunting lodge built by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II in the eastern province of Kars for 49 years.

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Belgium's Royal Palace announced that King Philippe and Queen Mathilde have decided to reschedule or cancel their forthcoming engagements after a member of the royal family tested positive for Covid-19, news wires reported.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin does not rule out that Russia may apply for hosting the Olympic Games, possibly, at some venue in the Far East. However, he remarked that it was too early to discuss such a possibility at this point, because several conditions will have to be met.

"Peter the Great (1675-1725) did not fight in the Seven Years' War, but in the Great Northern War, which lasted 21 years," the boy told Putin.