Tag: summit

NATO leaders anger Trump with on camera mockery

by Dave CLARK Agence France Presse WATFORD, United Kingdom (AFP) — The leaders of Britain, Canada, France and the Netherlands were caught on camera at a Buckingham Palace reception mocking US President Donald Trump’s lengthy media appearances at the NATO summit. The footage, shot by the British host’s camera pool on Tuesday evening and spotted and subtitled by Canadian broadcaster CBC, set the tone for the allies’ summit in Watford, just outside London. British Prime […]

SE Asia leaders snub US meeting after Trump skips ASEAN summit

  by Jenny VAUGHAN / Joe Freeman Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Several Southeast Asian leaders snubbed a meeting with US officials on Monday after President Donald Trump decided not to attend a regional summit in Bangkok. Just three leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) showed up to the session, along with a host of foreign ministers. Trump has been accused of turning his back on Asian allies for […]

US says it is ‘extremely engaged’ in Asia after Trump skips ASEAN meet

  by Joe Freeman Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross insisted Monday that his country remained “extremely engaged” with Asia despite Donald Trump skipping a regional leaders summit. Ross and US national security advisor Robert O’Brien are the most senior members of the Washington delegation in Bangkok for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting, also attended by Indian, South Korean and Japanese leaders. Previous meetings have been […]

SE Asia leaders to push for progress on China-backed trade pact

  by Jenny VAUGHAN / Dene-Hern CHEN Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Southeast Asian leaders will race to get a sprawling China-backed trade pact over the line at a regional meeting in Thailand this weekend, as Beijing’s bruising trade war with Washington rumbles on. If signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the world’s largest trade pact and is seen as a way for Beijing to cement trade ties in Asia […]

Global leaders, tycoons attend Saudi ‘Davos in desert’

  by Anuj Chopra RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Top finance moguls and political leaders attended a Davos-style Saudi investment summit on Tuesday, in stark contrast to last year when outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder sparked a mass boycott. Organisers say 300 speakers from over 30 countries, including American officials and heads of global banks and major sovereign wealth funds, are attending the three-day Future Investment Initiative (FII), nicknamed “Davos in the desert”. A […]

Russia tells US not to release Trump-Putin transcripts

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Russia on Friday urged the United States not to publish Donald Trump’s conversations with Vladimir Putin after a growing scandal led the White House to release a transcript from a call with Ukraine’s leader. “As for transcripts of phone conversations, my mother when bringing me up said that reading other people’s letters is inappropriate,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations. “It is indecent,” […]

G7 pledges millions to fight Amazon fires

BIARRITZ, France (AFP) — The G7 will give $20 million (18 million euros) to send firefighting planes to tackle the blazes engulfing parts of the Amazon, the presidents of France and Chile said Monday. “We must respond to the call of the forest which is burning today in the Amazon,” France’s Emmanuel Macron said as President Sebastian Pinera of Chile, a guest of the G7, underlined that “countries of the Amazon are in dire need […]

UK pledges £10 mn for fire-ravaged Amazon

BIARRITZ, France (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday pledged £10 million ($12.3 million) to help restore the Amazon rainforest which has been ravaged by fires, sparking a wave of global concern. The money would be made available immediately to help restore the habitat, including areas that have been hit by the fires, the British government said in a statement released at the G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz. The pledge […]

G7 wrestles with Iran, Amazon fires and trade, but own unity shaky

  by Adam Plowright, Sebastian Smith and Stuart Williams Agence France Presse BIARRITZ, France (AFP) — G7 leaders close their summit Monday with discussion of world problems including the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest, but overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s trade wars and questions over the group’s unity. The summit in Biarritz, a high-end surfers’ paradise in southwestern France, saw a dramatic shift of focus Saturday when Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew in […]

Tears and shouting as Australia dilutes Pacific climate warning

  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A Pacific summit has descended into tears, recriminations and shouting between pro-coal Australia and low-lying island nations facing an existential threat from climate change. The annual Pacific Island Forum wrapped up in Tuvalu late Thursday with Australia and the group’s 17 other members sharply at odds, potentially undermining Canberra’s efforts to curb China’s growing influence in the region. “There were serious arguments and even shouting, crying, people, leaders were […]

Australian coal use an ‘existential threat’ to islands: Fiji PM

  SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Fiji on Monday challenged Australia to do more on climate change ahead of a regional summit of Pacific nations this week, warning Canberra’s  reliance on coal posed an “existential threat” to low-lying islands. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said Australia should recognize the threat climate change poses to Pacific island nations. “I appeal to Australia to do everything possible to achieve a rapid transition from coal to energy sources that do […]

Pompeo says US not asking ASEAN allies to ‘choose’ on China

  by Francesco FONTEMAGGI / Dene-Hern Chen Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that Washington was not asking Southeast Asian nations to “choose” between his country and rival power China, as he trailed a rebooted security and trade strategy at a Bangkok summit. The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, a bitter trade war between the superpowers and open access to contested seas dominated talks between Pompeo […]