北京时间7月18日，美国总统特朗普在白宫举行招待会，欢迎国际足联（FIFA）主席因凡蒂诺及足坛各界代表。
LONDON -- Microsoft’s purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard won final approval Friday from Britain’s competition watchdog, reversing its earlier decision to block the $69 billion gaming deal and removing the final obstacle for one of the largest tech transactions in history.The Xbox maker’s quest to acquire Activision — maker of other blockbuster games like Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch — could close imminently ahead of a Wednesday deadline. That would wrap up a merger delayed for close to two years by intense scrutiny from authorities around the world.The blessing from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority was expected after it gave preliminary approval last month to a revamped Microsoft proposal meant to address concerns that the deal would harm competition and hurt gamers, especially in the emerging cloud gaming market where players can avoid buying pricey consoles and stream games to their tablets or phones. “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers,” the watchdog said. Microsoft was grateful for the “thorough review and decision” on a tie-up that “will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide,” President Brad Smith said.Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says the game maker looks "forward to becoming part of the Xbox Team.”The deal will benefit gamers and be “productive for the gaming industry as a whole," said Josh Chapman, managing partner at venture capital firm Konvoy, which invests in video game startups.However, it also tilts the “balance of power significantly" in favor of Microsoft, whose Xbox console has lagged behind Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo, said George Jijiashvili, senior principal analyst at tech research and advisory firm Omdia. Microsoft “now has a big opportunity to dictate the future of the games industry,” he said. Since the deal was announced in January 2022, Microsoft has secured approvals from antitrust authorities covering more than 40 countries. Crucially, it got a thumbs-up from the 27-nation European Union after agreeing to allow users and cloud gaming platforms to stream its titles without paying royalties for 10 years.But the deal faced resistance from British and American regulators who worried it would stifle competition in the video game industry. Top rival Sony also feared it would limit PlayStation gamers’ access to Call of Duty, Activision’s long-running military shooter series. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission lost a court bid to pause the deal so that its in-house judge could review it. The FTC hasn't given up, appealing the decision and last month filing notice of its plan to resume that trial. That signals the U.S. regulator's intention to unwind the deal even after it closes. In the meantime, the U.K. regulator was the last major hurdle to the transaction going through. To gets its approval, Microsoft will sell off cloud streaming rights outside the EU and three other European countries for all current and new Activision games released over the next 15 years to French game studio Ubisoft Entertainment. British regulators had initially blocked the transaction over concerns Microsoft could withhold Activision titles from the cloud gaming market. Then, in an unprecedented move, the U.K. watchdog said it needed to reconsider.One factor was the EU’s approval, granted after Microsoft promised to automatically license Activision titles royalty-free to cloud gaming platforms. Another “material change of circumstance,” according to court documents, was an agreement Microsoft signed with Sony to make Call of Duty available on PlayStation for at least 10 years.But the regulator still criticized how the deal came together and warned other companies not to use the “tactics employed by Microsoft.”“Microsoft had the chance to restructure during our initial investigation but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work,” the watchdog's CEO, Sarah Cardell, said in a statement. "Dragging out proceedings in this way only wastes time and money.”The U.K. regulator “deserves credit for imposing a structural remedy on Microsoft that is significantly stronger than the weak commitments accepted by the European Commission," said Max von Thun, director of the Europe office of the Open Markets Institute, a proponent of stronger antitrust enforcement. But the CMA's flip-flopping makes the U.K. regulator look “weak and indecisive,” he said.“Moving forward, there is now a serious risk that in their dealings with the CMA, merging companies and their advisors will no longer take no for an answer,” von Thun said. ___AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien contributed from Providence, Rhode Island.。双方在致辞中高度赞盛了正在举办的2026年美加墨世界杯，称其在现场观众人数、全球收视率以及社会文化影响力上均刷新历史纪录，并共同期待即将到来的英法三四名决赛以及阿根廷对阵西班牙的巅峰决战。国际足联主席因凡蒂诺致辞“总统先生，亲爱的朋友们、同事们，女士们、先生们，来自世界各地的足协主席们。
B | 亲爱的总统先生，今天我们让世界在这里相聚。虽然站在这里的是来自世界各地的足球协会主席，但大家都深知，足球是世界上最重要的事情，因此，今天世界上最重要的一群人都汇聚于此。”“我们这项运动的传奇巨星们也在现场。
C | 他们曾让我们的心跳加速，曾让全球数十亿人的心为之狂热。当然，国际足联理事会的成员们也悉数到场。总统先生，今晚我们齐聚一堂，共同庆祝这届不可思议的FIFA世界杯。”“回想起2018年夏天，在承办决定公布后，我与总统先生首次会面。
D | 当时我向您承诺，我们会打造一届伟大的世界杯。
E | 而如今，这届世界杯在各个层面上都超出了所有人的预期。球场座无虚席，现场观赛人数达到了700万人，美国、加拿大和墨西哥的各大城市里聚集了数千万球迷，电视机前更有数十亿观众在瞩目。
F | 每个人都在以幸福、喜悦与和平享受着比赛，总统先生，美国梦在此时此刻成为了现实。”“我们让世界凝聚在了一起，我们在美洲大陆实现了世界的团结。
G | 当年我对您说我们会办好世界杯时，您告诉我美洲会欢迎全世界。你们确实做到了。每一个来到这里的人都乐在其中，每一个留在家中的人也通过这些美丽的东道主城市、以及世界各地球迷欢聚一堂的精彩画面，感受到了非凡的体验。他们在和平、幸福和喜悦中享受这一切。”“总统先生，我不知道您是否了解，国际足联的官方定义是：120年来，国际足联一直是全人类的‘官方快乐供应商’。（全场大笑）我们一直在传递着快乐与幸福——当然，除非支持的球队输了比赛（笑）。
H | ”“这一切的成功绝非偶然。我说这些是因为这就是事实。总统先生，您不需要别人刻意的奉承，但如果没有您，这届世界杯绝不可能取得如此惊人的成功。
I | 请允许我向您、您的政府团队、白宫的每一位工作人员、各个城市和各州政府致谢，是所有人共同努力，才创造了这样一个安全、稳妥且充满欢乐的环境，让世界见证了这前所未有的盛况。这不仅是有史以来最伟大的世界杯，更是人类、社会和文化史上绝无仅有的盛事，我们所有人都是其中的见证者。
J | 为此，总统先生，我非常感谢您，感谢您邀请我们来到这里。
K | ”“目前比赛还剩最后两场。明天将迎来英格兰与法国之间的季军争夺战，随后则是阿根廷与西班牙的巅峰决赛。届时将诞生一个新的世界冠军，但实际上，世界已经赢了，美洲赢了，国际足联也赢了。这个夏天，我们以这样一种方式将世界凝聚在一起，为全球数以亿计的人们带来了终生难忘的体验与回忆，这是我们将永远铭记的财富。谢谢大家。
L | ”
