The leaders of the G7 nations were to meet in southern France yesterday, with the burning Amazon, diving stock markets and their own stark divisions giving little grounds for optimism.
US President Donald Trump and fellow Western leaders were also to face protests as they arrived in the famed surfing town of Biarritz — although a heavy police presence was to keep them far from view.
Thousands were to march about 30km down the coast from Biarritz to denounce the leaders over poverty and environmental damage.
Photo: AFP
The summit was already shaping up to be a difficult encounter with relations badly strained by Trump, but images of billowing smoke above the Amazon rainforest have lent it a new, even darker mood.
“The Amazon is burning and it’s something that concerns everyone,” Macron said on Friday in an interview with the Konbini Web site.
He has called for emergency talks at the G7, which lasts until tomorrow, aiming for “concrete measures” to tackle the crisis.
“We are going to try and mobilize everyone to raise funding for reforestation as quickly as possible,” Macron said.
Talks in the beach resort will also be dominated by darkening clouds over the world economy.
Wall Street stocks tanked on Friday after Trump escalated his trade dispute with China.
“We see trade tensions as the single most important threat to global growth,” a top EU official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Trump continues to threaten European companies with trade tariffs, including Germany’s auto industry and France’s wine sector.
Last month, he promised “substantial reciprocal action” after French lawmakers backed a law imposing a sales taxes on US digital giants such as Google and Facebook.
“The president will raise the highly discriminatory digital services tax that France has decided upon,” a US official said ahead of the summit that is to see Trump and Macron hold talks.
The meeting will also be the full international debut of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is to meet Trump for the first time as leader.
“My message to G7 leaders this week is this: The Britain I lead will be an international, outward-looking, self-confident nation,” he said on the eve of the summit.
Although Johnson needs Trump’s support for a free-trade deal, he is at odds with him on a range of issues, including the Iran nuclear crisis, climate change and global trade.
Trump is to find himself under pressure from Europeans, particularly Macron, to ease off on his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran over its nuclear program.
Macron wants him to “pause” sanctions, an aide said, which would enable talks to take place to try to find a new diplomatic solution.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday said that Macron’s “suggestions” to find a way out of the impasse were “moving in the right direction.”
Yesterday, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Major General Hossein Salami said that Iran had test fired a new missile.
A total of 13,000 French security forces were on duty around Biarritz to guard against violence, with authorities wary about “yellow vest” protesters and anarchists.
On Friday evening, 17 people were arrested and four police officers were injured in the first clashes in the village of Urrugne near a camp of anti-G7 activists, local authorities said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number