Trump and other leaders clash on trade, climate at G7

Leaders from the world's major industrialized nations began talks on Friday at a G7 summit in Sicily which is expected to expose deep divisions with U.S. President Donald Trump over trade and climate change.

The two-day summit, at a cliff-top hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, began a day after Trump blasted NATO allies for spending too little on defense and described Germany's trade surplus as "very bad" in a meeting with EU officials in Brussels.

After receiving warm receptions in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump's confrontational stance with long-standing partners in Europe cast a cloud over the meeting in Taormina, where leaders are due to discuss terrorism, Syria, North Korea and the global economy.

"No doubt, this will be the most challenging G7 summit in years," Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who chairs summits of European Union leaders, said before the meeting.

White House economic adviser Gary Cohn predicted "robust" discussions on trade and climate.

Trump was elected in November after a campaign in which he rejected many of the tenets that the Group of Seven has stood for, including free trade, multilateralism and the liberal democratic values.

European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Emmanuel Macron, had hoped to use the summit to convince Trump to soften some of his stances.

But diplomats conceded as the talks began that the United States was unlikely to budge, meaning the final communique could be watered down significantly compared to the one the G7 unveiled at its last summit in Japan.

TRADE AND CLIMATE

The summit kicked off with a ceremony at an ancient Greek theater overlooking the sea, where war ships patrolled the sparkling blue waters. Nine fighter jets soared into the sky above Taormina, leaving a trail of smoke in the red-white-green colors of the Italian flag.

The leaders then adjourned to the San Domenico Palace, a one-time Dominican monastery that is now a luxury 5-star hotel. During World War Two, it housed Nazi air force chiefs.

Italy chose to stage the summit in Sicily to draw attention to Africa, which is 140 miles (225 km) from the island at its closest point across the Mediterranean.

More than half a million migrants, most from sub-Saharan Africa, have reached Italy by boat since 2014, taking advantage of the chaos in Libya to launch their perilous crossings.

But trade and climate, to be discussed on Friday afternoon, are the most contentious issues.

Trump, who dismissed human-made global warming as a "hoax" during his election campaign, is threatening to pull the United States out of a 2015 climate deal clinched in Paris in 2015.

Fellow G7 leaders are trying to convince him to stay in. Cohn and other administration officials have said Trump will wait until after the summit to decide.

"This is the first real opportunity that the international community has to force the American administration to begin to show its hand, particularly on environment policy," said Tristen Naylor, a lecturer on development at the University of Oxford and deputy director of the G20 Research Group.

On Thursday in Brussels, with NATO leaders standing alongside him, Trump accused members of the military alliance of owing "massive amounts of money" to the United States and NATO - even though allied contributions are voluntary.

The remarks went down badly with European leaders, who had hoped Trump would use the opportunity to confirm his commitment to Article 5, the core NATO principle that an attack on one member is viewed as an attack on all.

"When an American president cannot commit clearly to Article 5 at a time when everyone is expecting him to do this then there is the risk that Moscow interprets this as meaning it is no longer valid," said Jan Techau of the American Academy in Berlin.

"VERY BAD"

In a private meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Trump also denounced the German trade surplus as "very bad" and complained about the large number of German cars being sold in the United States, officials said.

Juncker tried to play down the comments ahead of the summit. But they underscored ongoing policy divisions between Trump and his partners four months after he took office.

Trump is attending his first major international summit but is not the only G7 newcomer. Macron, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and British Prime Minister Theresa May will also be attending the elite club for the first time.

May is expected to leave a day early, following Monday's suicide bombing at a concert in northern England that killed 22 people carried out by a suspected Islamist militant of Libyan descent who grew up in Britain.

G7 leaders were expected to issue a separate statement on terrorism on Friday, before issuing their formal communique on Saturday. Italian officials have suggested the final communique will be shorter than 10 pages. At the last G7 summit in Japan it totaled 32 pages.

One country that will not be present is Russia. It was expelled from the group in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Trump called for improved ties with Moscow during his election campaign.

But accusations from U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the U.S. election to help Trump, and investigations into his campaign's contacts with Russian officials, have hung over his four-month-old presidency and prevented him from getting too close to Moscow.

On Thursday, the Washington Post and NBC News reported that Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was under scrutiny by the FBI because of his meetings with Russian officials before Trump took office. One of Kushner's attorneys said her client would cooperate with the investigation.

Kushner and his wife, Trump's daughter Ivanka, have returned to Washington after accompanying the president for the first part of his first foreign tour.

Source: Reuters

Canada suspends Brazil meat imports from two plants in food scandal

Canada suspended meat imports from two Brazilian plants under investigation in a meatpacking scandal, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Tuesday, becoming the latest buyer to distance itself from the world's top beef and poultry exporter.

The food inspection agency said both plants were approved to export meat to Canada but neither had done so for six months.

Other nations, including China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Japan and Switzerland, have also curtailed meat imports from Brazil after a probe into corruption by health inspectors and the alleged sale of rotten products.

Source: Reuters

Canadian PM says mosque shooting a 'terrorist attack on Muslims'

Six people were killed and eight wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Quebec City mosque during Sunday night prayers, in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a "terrorist attack on Muslims".

Police said two suspects had been arrested, but gave no details about them or what prompted the attack.

Initially, the mosque president said five people were killed and a witness said up to three gunmen had fired on about 40 people inside the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Police said only two people were involved in the attack.

"Six people are confirmed dead - they range in age from 35 to about 70," Quebec provincial police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe told reporters, adding eight people were wounded and 39 were unharmed.

The mosque's president, Mohamed Yangui, who was not inside when the shooting occurred, said he got frantic calls from people at evening prayers.

"Why is this happening here? This is barbaric,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement: "We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge".

“Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country."

The shooting came on the weekend that Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States on national security grounds.

A Canadian federal Liberal legislator, Greg Fergus, tweeted: "This is an act of terrorism -- the result of years of sermonizing Muslims. Words matter and hateful speeches have consequences!"

The premier of Quebec province, Philippe Couillard, said security would be increased at mosques in Quebec City and Montreal.

"We are with you. You are home," Couillard said, directing his comments at the province's Muslim community. "You are welcome in your home. We are all Quebecers. We must continue together to build an open welcoming and peaceful society".

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said police were providing additional protection for mosques in that city following the Quebec shooting. "All New Yorkers should be vigilant. If you see something, say something," he tweeted.

'NOT SAFE HERE'

French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack.

"The terrorists wanted to attack the spirit of peace and tolerance of the citizens of Quebec," Hollande said in a statement on Monday. "France stands shoulder to shoulder with the victims and their families".

Like France, Quebec has struggled at times to reconcile its secular identity with a rising Muslim population, many of them from North Africa.

In June last year, a pig’s head was left on the doorstep of the cultural center.

"We are not safe here," said Mohammed Oudghiri, who normally attends prayers at the mosque in the middle-class, residential area, but did not on Sunday.

Oudghiri said he had lived in Quebec for 42 years but was now "very worried" and thinking of moving back to Morocco.

Mass shootings are rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States, and news of the shooting sent a shockwave through mosques and community centers throughout the mostly French-language province.

"It’s a sad day for all Quebecers and Canadians to see a terrorist attack happen in peaceful Quebec City," said Mohamed Yacoub, co-chairman of an Islamic community center in a Montreal suburb.

"I hope it’s an isolated incident."

Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.

In 2013, police investigated after a mosque in the Saguenay region of the province was splattered with what was believed to be pig blood. In the neighboring province of Ontario, a mosque was set on fire in 2015, a day after an attack by gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris.

Zebida Bendjeddou, who left the Quebec City mosque earlier on Sunday evening, said the center had received threats.

"In June, they'd put a pig's head in front of the mosque. But we thought: 'Oh, they're isolated events.' We didn't take it seriously. But tonight, those isolated events, they take on a different scope," she said.

Bendjeddou said she had not confirmed the names of those killed, but added: "They're people we know, for sure. People we knew since they were little kids."

Source: Reuters

European Commission hopes for agreement from Wallonia on Canada trade deal

The European Commission president on Wednesday said he hoped to see an agreement with a region of Belgium that was blocking a large trade deal between the European Union and Canada.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Jean-Claude Juncker said he hoped the Belgian government would reach an agreement with the Wallonia regional government by the end of the day.

Source: EFE

Canadian college to launch marijuana cultivation course

A college in the Atlantic Canadian province of New Brunswick plans to institute a program on marijuana cultivation so that students can be trained to work at local companies that produce the drug, a school official said on Tuesday.

The French-language College Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick will launch the course sometime next year, said Michel Doucet, executive director of continuing education and customized learning.

Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned last year on a promise to legalize recreational marijuana and the government has said it would introduce legislation by the spring of 2017.

Medical marijuana is already legal across Canada, and companies in that relatively small sector have been eyeing the larger recreational market with expansion in mind.

In August, the government of New Brunswick, where the college has five campuses, said it invested C$4 million ($3.03 million) in a medical marijuana company that will create up to 208 jobs in the region.

Doucet said the school was still determining the exact details of the program, including class size and the length and frequency at which it will be conducted.

"This is not a mainstream program," he said. "We're looking at training qualified employees to meet the needs of industry, versus training students at large."

Colleges in Canada differ from universities and grant mainly diplomas instead of degrees. Doucet said the school had not yet determined whether it would be a full diploma program.

New Brunswick, with a population of roughly 750,000, has suffered from a weak economy, and westward migration has caused a brain drain and shrinking population.

Source: Reuters

Quebec prime minister visits Cuba to tighten economic ties

The prime minister of the Canadian province of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, on Tuesday began an official visit to Cuba to tighten economic links and strengthen cooperation in strategic sectors such as agriculture, energy, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

The head of the French-speaking region arrived on the island with a delegation of representatives from 43 companies to seek business opportunities in Cuba, where Canadian firms already have an important presence in sectors like mining and oil exploration.

Source: EFE

Polícia turca prende quatro pessoas após morte de criança síria

Os quatro suspeitos, com nacionalidade síria e idades entre 30 e 41 anos, foram presos na estação turca de Bodrum
A polícia turca deteve nesta quinta-feira (3) quatro suspeitos de tráfico de imigrantes após o naufrágio que provocou a morte de 12 pessoas que se dirigiam à Grécia, incluindo o garoto sírio de três anos, Aylan Kurdi, informaram jornais locais. Os quatro suspeitos, com nacionalidade síria e idades entre 30 e 41 anos, foram presos na estação turca de Bodrum (no Sudoeste do país), de onde partiram as duas embarcações que naufragaram quando se dirigiam para a ilha grega de Kos, segundo a agência noticiosa Dogan.

De acordo com a agência Dogan, os suspeitos deverão se apresentar ao tribunal ainda nesta tarde. Na madrugada de hoje, 12 refugiados sírios morreram afogados quando tentavam entrar na Grécia, segundo a guarda-costeira turca.

A foto do corpo do garoto Aylan em uma praia espalhou-se pelas redes sociais e jornais de vários países, provocando emoção e indignação sobre o destino dos migrantes e refugiados que tentam alcançar a Europa.

Há vários meses, milhares de migrantes e refugiados, sobretudo sírios, afegãos ou africanos, tentam atravessar em condições muito precárias o mar Egeu para alcançar as ilhas gregas, porta de entrada para a União Europeia (UE).

Canadá

A família da criança síria, cujo corpo foi encontrado em uma praia turca, pretendia ir para o Canadá, afirmou a tia do garoto, citada hoje pelo diário Ottawa Citizen.

Teema Kurdi vive em Vancouver (oeste do Canadá) há cerca de 20 anos. Ela disse que tinha reunido, em janeiro, os documentos necessários para solicitar abrigo para o irmão e a família dele (esposa e dois filhos) ao programa de refugiados. Em declarações ao jornal canadense, Teema Kurdi relatou que tentou, com a ajuda de amigos e vizinhos, coletar dinheiro necessário para trazer a família para o Canadá, mas não conseguiu.

Em junho passado, o pedido foi recusado pelos serviços de imigração canadenses devido, segundo Teema Kurdi, à complexidade dos pedidos de asilo provenientes da Turquia. Com a rejeição da candidatura, a família decidiu embarcar e tentar a sorte no Mediterrâneo.

Oriundo da cidade curda de Kobane (norte da Síria), o pai da criança síria relatou hoje, pela primeira vez, os momentos que antecederam a morte de sua família.

“Tínhamos coletes salva-vidas, mas o barco virou de repente, porque as pessoas se levantaram. Segurei a mão da minha mulher. Mas os meus filhos escorregaram das minhas mãos”, afirmou Abdallah Ebdi, em declarações à agência de notícias turca Dogan. “Estava escuro e todas as pessoas gritavam. Foi por isso que a minha mulher e os meus filhos não podiam ouvir a minha voz. Consegui nadar até a costa graças às luzes, mas, uma vez em terra, não consegui encontrar a minha mulher e os meus filhos”, disse Abdallah Ebdi, pai de Aylan Kurdi (3 anos) e Galip (5 anos), que morreram no naufrágio.

“Fui para o hospital e só aí recebi a má notícia”, recordou.

Ainda em declarações à agência turca, Abdallah Ebdi contou que já tinha tentado em outra ocasião levar a família para a Grécia, mas a embarcação em que viajavam foi interceptada pela guarda costeira grega.

O ministro da Imigração canadense, Chris Alexander, afirmou, antes da divulgação das imagens da criança síria, que “o número [de refugiados no país] aumenta rapidamente”, através do programa governamental e do apoio dos cidadãos.

Chris Alexander disse que na mesma ocasião “cerca de 2.500” refugiados sírios tinham sido recebidos no Canadá este ano.

De acordo com os últimos dados oficiais, divulgados no final de julho, 1.002 sírios foram efetivamente instalados no Canadá.

Fonte: http://www.correio24horas.com.br/detalhe/noticia/policia-turca-prende-quatro-pessoas-apos-morte-de-crianca-siria/?cHash=5f85afa39b7e35840c90771cb181ab26