President leaves other leaders open-mouthed with defiant farewell
Daily Telegraph (UK) Jul 10, 08 8:00 AM CDT
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George Bush concluded the last G8 summit of his presidency with a defiant final joke: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter," he quipped. The president then punched the air, his mouth fixed in a huge grin, the Daily Telegraph reports. Bush, who has faced international condemnation for years for his reluctance to fight climate change, then left the summit, as fellow leaders Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.
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Developing countries show impotence of conference
Financial Times (UK) Jul 9, 08 8:40 AM CDT
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Neither China nor India agreed to adopt the G8's targets for cutting carbon emissions by 2050 at their joint meeting today. Asia's two big developing economies, joined by Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa, said carbon reductions would endanger their growth and exacerbate poverty, and that rich nations should clean up the mess they had created. The emerging economies' holdout was only one of many signs that the G8 is losing clout, reports the Financial Times.
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ANALYSIS
'Fuzzy-minded' declaration on climate change sinks hopes for immediate action
Time Jul 9, 08 2:08 AM CDT
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G8 leaders are hailing an agreement to cut carbon emissions in half by 2050 as "major progress" in combating climate change—but their failure to come up with concrete shorter-term goals is a major letdown, Bryan Walsh writes in Time . The agreement, so vague it doesn't even say which year is to be used as a starting point, is unlikely to spur the immediate changes needed to avert possible catastrophe.
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Opinion
Medvedev's election may signal real political change, so ease back on the bullying
Washington Post Jul 8, 08 11:41 AM CDT
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Dmitry Medvedev has more power than some in the West believe, and Russia's political system is still evolving as Vladimir Putin moves from president to prime minister, Henry Kissinger writes in the Washington Post —and it behooves the US to throttle back. "The pace of such an evolution will inevitably be Russian," he writes. "We can affect it more by patience and historical understanding than by offended disengagement and public exhortations."
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But doesn't settle on any interim goals
BBC Jul 8, 08 7:17 AM CDT
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The G8 leaders have resolved to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050, something they’d only agreed to “seriously consider” before. But the US has resisted setting any interim goals, the BBC reports, leading environmentalists to deride the pact. The group will also try to convince some 200 other UN members to agree to the target, to address US concerns that climate efforts must be broad.
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Luxe meals by 60 chefs follow starvation talks
Independent (UK) Jul 8, 08 5:12 AM CDT
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The global food crisis tops the agenda at this year's G8 summit—and the talks seem to be hungry work, reports the Independent . The 18 dishes at the eight-course luxury dinner served to the leaders last night included caviar, sea urchin, and Kyoto beef—followed by a "G8 fantasy dessert" for those who still had room after the dinner feast and the six-course working lunch.
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Commander-in-chief his ever-so-diplomatic self at G8 summit
Reuters Jul 7, 08 12:22 PM CDT
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Mixing Texas diplomacy with the high diplomacy of the G8 summit in Japan, President Bush showed off his characteristically casual behavior today by introducing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to another leader with a "Yo, Harper!" Bush landed British PM Tony Blair in hot water at a 2006 summit with a similar greeting, then proceeded to shock German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a brief back massage.
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Tokyo will showcase conservation ethic, technology
New York Times Jul 4, 08 7:26 AM CDT
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Next week the leaders of the developed world will meet at a resort in northern Japan for this year's G8 summit. With oil prices topping the agenda, Japan—by most measures, the most energy-frugal developed nation on earth—is hoping to use the international platform to promote its energy conservation program. As the New York Times reports, the meeting offers Japan a rare opportunity to take the lead on one of the world's most pressing issues.
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Greenback posts record advances ahead of G8 meeting
Bloomberg Jun 13, 08 5:21 AM CDT
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The dollar posted its biggest gain in almost 3 years this week, soaring 2.5% against the euro and 2.8% against the yen. This morning in London the dollar was trading at $1.54 against the euro, with analysts predicting a rise as high as $1.45 by year's end. European politicians are delighted with the greenback's resurgence; Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, called it "very satisfying."
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Warns change will be irreversible if something isn't done now
Guardian (UK) Mar 14, 08 3:44 AM CDT
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Former British prime minister Tony Blair will seek to privately broker a new international agreement to cut carbon emissions by 50% before 2050 that would include China, India and the US, reports the Guardian . Blair has been working on the project with climate change experts since he left office last summer. He's convinced global warming is the biggest threat the world faces and that action must be taken in the next two years or it will be too late to reverse the problem.
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Zoellick calls for fast funds and alternative energy sources
Reuters Oct 22, 07 8:25 AM CDT
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Robert Zoellick has outlined a new strategy for the World Bank, including giving the private sector a bigger role in development, speeding aid to countries coming out of conflict, and promoting green energy alternatives, Reuters reports. The new president has been quick to reposition the global bank's mission following the turmoil over former president Paul Wolfowitz's resignation under duress.
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After lunch with Putin, French boss sways and slurs at press conference
Guardian (UK) Jun 13, 07 9:23 AM CDT
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Vladimir Putin may have tested out some liquid diplomacy at the G8 summit. After a long meeting with the Russian leader, freshly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy showed up late to a press conference and appeared inebriated, fumbling for words, giggling, and swaying at the podium.
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$250M pilot program will reward "avoided deforestation"
Wall Street Journal Jun 11, 07 10:04 AM CDT
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The World Bank is planning a $250-million fund to pay countries to refrain from cutting down tropical forests. The plan, which won approval at the G-8 summit last week, depends on companies to contribute to the fund, but that's not likely to happen unless rules governing carbon emissions credits are changed to include spared forests, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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