Amazon fires could accelerate global warming and cause lasting harm to a cradle of biodiversity  

Amazon wildfires have spiked, sparking fears of land grabs for agriculture and the release of greenhouse gases that will accelerate global warming.

As fires devour Amazon rainforest, Brazils Jair Bolsonaro blames NGOs for blazes   -8%

Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil have ignited a firestorm on social media, with President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday suggesting green groups had started the blazes.Images of fires purportedly devouring sections of the world’s largest rainforest have gone viral on Twitter. #PrayforAmazonas is the top trending hashtag in the world on Wednesday, with 249,000 tweets.“No matter how successful we are, if our Earth dies, we all die,” posted one Twitter user.The virtual anguish…

Amazon fires could burn Brazil's bid to join OECD rich nations club   32%

Uncontrolled fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest could scuttle Brazil's chances of becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), worried business leaders said on Friday.

Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron optimistic on Ukraine but clash over Syria   8%

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday agreed that changes in Ukraine had bolstered the chances of peace in its east but clashed on Syria, as the Russian leader made a rare bilateral visit to a key EU power.Macron, who hosted Putin at his summer residence in southern France, made clear he wanted to keep contacts with Moscow alive on a range of issues even at a time of spiralling tensions with the West.Speaking as their talks got under way, the pair both expressed…

Brazil begins fighting Amazon fires after local and international outcry   1%

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has previously described rain forest protections as an obstacle to Brazil’s economic development

Photos: Heres how the Amazon wildfires and deforestation look from space   10%

Fires in the Amazon rainforest show up clearly and ominously in satellite imagery, showing the increased deforestation trends that are putting the planet's carbon savings account and bastion of biodiversity at risk.

What's happening in the Amazon?  

The Amazon is burning. How bad are the fires and who started them? Why are Brazilians talking about flying rivers and falling skies? And does this spell doom for the lungs of the Earth?

France says Brazil leader lied, escalating Amazon dispute   -3%

In a sharp escalation of tensions over fires ravaging the Amazon, France on Friday accused Brazil's president of having lied to French leader Emmanuel Macron and threatened to block a European Union trade deal with South American states including Brazil.

G7 Summit: Divisions expected at global meet   10%

As trade war looms large, G7 leaders gather in France for their annual summit. Global challenges up for discussion range from economy, to climate change.

Brazil's Bolsonaro authorises army to help fight Amazon fires   20%

President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorized the deployment of Brazil's armed forces to help combat fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, as a growing global outcry over the blazes sparks protests and threatens a huge trade deal.

How Jair Bolsonaro Emboldened Brazilian Agribusiness to Torch the Amazon & Attack Indigenous People   -10%

The United Nations is calling for the protection of the Amazon amid fears that thousands of fires raging across Brazil and some parts of Bolivia are rapidly destroying the world's largest rainforest and paving the way for a climate catastrophe. The fires have spread a vast plume of smoke across South America and the Atlantic Ocean that's visible from space. They're unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. Indigenous people in Brazil have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the destruction. Bolsonaro has worked to deregulate and open up the Amazon for agribusiness, logging and mining since he came into office in January. We speak with Andrew Miller, advocacy director at Amazon Watch.

CNN10 - 8/23/19   25%

Wildfires spread across parts of the Amazon Rainforest, deterioration takes its toll on an iconic ocean liner, and the ISS is increasingly open for business.

G7 Leaders Set To Discuss Fires In the Amazon, Fears Of A U.S. Recession   12%

The leaders of seven leading economies, including the U.S., meet this weekend at Biarritz, France. President Trump will meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the first time.

Macron posts Amazon fire photo thats not from this year, gets torched by Brazils Bolsonaro   6%

Across social media, people are sharing images of fires raging through the Amazon rainforest accompanied by cries for immediate action from world leaders. Emmanuel Macron answered, but with a misleading, old photo.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Brazil's indigenous people swear to fight for Amazon 'to last drop of blood'   -5%

Members of Brazil's Mura indigenous tribe painted their bodies with orange-red paint and took up long bows and clubs as they headed into the jungle this week, prepared for battle. Their enemy? The deforestation and destruction of their home, the Amazon rainforest.

France's Macron Urges Modi To Respect Rights In Kashmir, Avoid 'Escalation'  

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Paris is watching developments in Kashmir closely and urged him to respect the rights of people on both sides of the divided Himalayan region.

Trump arrives for G7 as global disputes threaten unity  

As the global economy shudders, the Middle East boils and the Amazon rainforest burns, world leaders are convening on France's Atlantic coast for a weekend of talks few believe can solve any of it.

Brexit: Corbyn backs Macron on Irish backstop   40%

Jeremy Corbyn says he agrees with President Emmanuel Macron of France that the backstop is indispensable.

Did Boris Johnson put his foot in it in talks with Macron?  

The prime minister has been criticised for putting his foot on a table in front of Emmanuel Macron.

Fires in Amazon rainforest rage at record rate   -100%

Fires are raging at a record rate in Brazil's Amazon rainforest and scientists warn it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change. CNN's Shasta Darlington reports.

Brexit: Boris Johnson's letter to the EU  

Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the Irish backstop Brexit plan as "anti-democratic".

I want a deal: UK PM Johnson presses for new Brexit negotiations, but French leader Macron rules out major compromises   1%

French leader Emmanuel Macron backed the idea of a month of further talks to find a solution to Brexit while ruling out major compromises as he met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for talks on Thursday.Like German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, Macron supported allowing another 30 days to find a solution to the vexed issue of the Irish border which has bedevilled negotiations since 2017.“We need to try to have a useful month,” Macron said alongside Johnson who insisted that…

Johnson and Tusk clash at start of G7 summit   -15%

Boris Johnson and European Council President Donald Tusk have clashed at the start of the G7 summit over who will be to blame if there is a failure to reach a Brexit deal.

Macron hosts Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for talks on nuclear deal   -6%

French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Iran’s foreign minister Friday ahead of a G7 meeting, where he will attempt to soothe tensions between Tehran and Washington at what risks being a stormy summit.

Zarif praises Macron nuke crisis suggestions   5%

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday that suggestions by French President Emmanuel Macron about defusing the crisis over Iran’s nuclear drive went in the right direction, but that more work needed to be done.

Arriving at G-7, Trump faces limits of go-it-alone stance   10%

US president finds himself increasingly isolated going into summit amid global economic slowdown, tensions over Iran

Bolsonaro says Brazil lacks means to fight Amazon fires, backtracks on NGO accusations  

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government lacks the resources to fight wildfires in the Amazon rainforest after satellite images showed a record number of burning spots this year.

India & Pakistan must solve Kashmir crisis among themselves, without 3rd party provocations Macron   3%

The Kashmir crisis can and must be solved bilaterally, between India and Pakistan, so any third parties seeking to interfere despite the risk of inciting more violence should stay clear, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Wildfires scorch Africa but worlds media stay focused on Brazils blazes   10%

Forest fires are tearing through the Amazon rainforest, prompting worldwide protests and demands for action to protect the “lungs of the world.” But, away from the spotlight, the Brazilian fires are dwarfed by blazes in Africa.
Read Full Article at RT.com

World leaders gather for G7 summit in France  

Summit takes place against backdrop of US-China trade war, UK's impending exit from EU, and concern over Amazon fires.

Why Norway And Germany Have Frozen Money Going To The Amazon Fund  

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Nature correspondent Jeff Tollefson about the Amazon Fund and the web of diplomacy aiming to prevent deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Brazil's Bolsonaro will send army to fight Amazon fires: governor  

The Brazilian army will be deployed to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest, the governor of the Amazon state of Roraima said on Friday.

Boris Johnson plants his foot on French President's table   1%

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apparently wasn't sweating it despite the high stakes subject of his talks with the President of France.

Emmanuel Macron Expounds as the World Burns   24%

It was a perfect late-summer evening when President Emmanuel Macron—tanned and super-energized in a dark-blue suit and crisp white shirt—held forth before the Elysée press corps on matters of international import. Posh Paris was largely out of town. Nearby, boulangeries, shops, and the French National Assembly were still closed for the August holiday. Tumbleweeds practically blew down the Boulevard Saint-Germain, its cafés filled with tourists and Instagram influencers.

But Macron had a message to deliver: I’m the last man standing, defender of multilateralism, ice-cool head in a hot and ever warming world.

It wasn’t a new message from him, but one that he felt bears repeating. On Tuesday, Macron met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today, he met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson—perfidious Albion incarnate—and the two clashed over Brexit; he will also meet separately with the Indian leader Narendra Modi and Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Then this weekend, Macron will host the G7 summit in Biarritz, at the bend in the Atlantic coast where France meets Spain. A 19th-century seaside resort at the end of the season is a good setting for a relationship in distress. Or many relationships in distress—the European Union, the transatlantic order, the global order.

“We are experiencing an absolutely historic period in our international order,” Macron said yesterday. There is, he said, a “very profound crisis of representative democracy” in Europe. There’s also a crisis of climate change, biodiversity, technology, and migration, to say nothing of “a crisis of inequality, which is the crisis of contemporary capitalism.” The global order is shifting and the world risks a “bipolarization between the United States and China,” Macron said. “The risk is a loss of sovereignty” in which other countries would become “vassals” of the two new powers. “I don’t want that for Europe or for France,” he said.

Macron was just getting warmed up—he followed 30 minutes of remarks with a two-hour question-and-answer session. But the more he spoke, the more he expounded so articulately on every question thrown his way, the more he asserted French and European power, the more it seemed the moment might be passing him by. Macron could look at a burning building and see it as an excellent opportunity to better understand the role of oxygen in combustion. He examines the flames, he describes them well, but is it in his power to put them out?

[Read: Macron and Salvini—two leaders, two competing visions for Europe]

There were his dealings with Trump, who earlier that day had called off a planned visit to Denmark apparently because it wouldn’t entertain the idea of selling Greenland to the United States. It was “very simple,” Macron said: Anything Trump pledged as a campaign promise is non-negotiable—the U.S. pulling out of the Iran deal and the Paris climate accords—but it’s still possible to “convince him” and “do real things” on other issues, such as Syria. When Trump slowed down a bit after announcing the U.S. would withdraw immediately from Syria, “I think it was our exchanges that let him stay,” Macron said.

Then it was on to Russia, and the importance of keeping Russia in the conversation (on Iran, Syria) and closer to Europe, and eventually back in the G8; Russia was kicked out after invading Crimea in 2014, but Macron didn’t spell out what the conditions would be for its return. Putin, Macron seemed to suggest, basically needed some back-slapping. After the Cold War, Russia needed to find a new enemy, an external conflict, but really, Macron said, they should lay off on the “cyberaggression.” “The Russian people live like a great power and a great European power,” Macron said. But Russia’s population is “declining and getting old, so it’s a country that has to choose a destiny.”

Then it was on to why India needs to be involved in fighting climate change, how artificial intelligence is the future, why Iran needs to stay in the nuclear accord, how the French police handled the “yellow vest” protests, the importance of economic development in Africa, how climate change threatens biodiversity—and lots and lots about le numérique, or technology, which seems to be French shorthand for It’s Google’s world, we just live in it. Macron is keen on Europe taxing Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which operate out of Europe via structures that largely allow them to avoid paying local taxes.

In all, Macron gave a command performance. All of Macron’s performances are command performances. He is nothing if not a gifted orator, with a brilliant command of policy details, an awareness of the historical moment, Europe’s dark past, what’s at stake. He is right. He is always right. He wants to remind you that he is always right. He seems to be saying: The world may be on fire, but don’t worry; I’m here. He’s a rational man, but these are irrational times. When world leaders meet in Biarritz this weekend to grapple with a new world order, will they listen to him? Will anyone?

World leaders begin arriving in France for G7 summit   -9%

Leaders of the G7 nations began arriving in France on Saturday for a summit as a US-China row over protectionism highlighted President Emmanuel Macron’s tough task in delivering real results on

African leaders join Macron at commemoration of WWII landings in Provence  

President Emmanuel Macron saluted Thursday a French army "that emerged from the shadows and exile" during the Allied landings on the Mediterranean coast 75 years ago and the sacrifices by fighters from France's former colonies in Africa.

Amazon fires lead to worldwide protests over Brazilian government inaction  

Demonstrators gathered outside Brazilian embassies to protest against inaction on Amazon wildfires.

Brexit: Donald Tusk and Boris Johnson clash over who is 'Mr No Deal'  

The European Council president and the PM will meet at the G7 summit on Sunday to discuss Brexit.

France's Macron says Europe looking at 'new tax cuts' to stimulate growth  

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday Europe will "probably" decide to launch new tax cuts to kick-start a flagging economy threatened by a tit-for-tat trade war between the United States and its global partners.

How luxury hotels such as Biarritzs Htel du Palais have helped shape history | Martin Kettle   25%

The venue for this weekend’s G7 summit played a pivotal role in Edwardian politics

Few hotels in the world can claim a more storied past than the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, where the G7 rich nation summiteers will sit in splendour to discuss world poverty this weekend. Guarded by hundreds of riot police, Emmanuel Macron and his guests will meet inside what the French newspaper Libération this week called their “gold bunker” – the ornate Second Empire hotel that stands on the beach at the heart of a luxury Atlantic coast resort town that is still, as Libé put it in the original Franglais, “une des capitales françaises du bling-bling”.

Related: G7 leaders need some clear-the-air talks rather than fake smiles | Larry Elliott