Switzerland: Biden and Putin agree: ′Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought′

The leaders' first in-person meeting since Biden became president took place at a lakeside villa amid soaring tensions between their two countries.

As talks ended after less than the five hours either side thought they would need, Biden gave a thumbs up. Members of the US team said the meeting had been "quite successful."

After the meeting, the two sides released a joint statement on one of the main topics of discussion, nuclear proliferation. The statement read, "Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."

Read more at: Biden and Putin agree: ′Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought′ | News | DW | 16.06.2021

Russia-US Relationbs: Kremlin hails ‘positive steps’ in US ties as Biden waives pipeline sanctions - by Luke Harding

Relations between the US and Russia have taken a tentative step forward after the Kremlin welcomed a decision by the Biden administration not to impose significant sanctions on a controversial Russian pipeline delivering gas to Germany.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday hailed what he called “positive steps” in ties with Washington, ahead of a face-to-face summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, due to take place in Europe in the next few weeks.

Read more at: Kremlin hails ‘positive steps’ in US ties as Biden waives pipeline sanctions | Russia | The Guardian

Coronavirus - EU: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination - by Eszter Zalan

A sluggish start to the vaccine roll-out has cast a long shadow on the online meeting of EU leaders, who on Thursday (25 March) discussed the bloc's vaccine strategy.

There has been a muted backing for the EU Commission's plans to tighten export rules, as the bloc wants to make sure pharmaceutical companies, particularly AstraZeneca, deliver on their EU contracts before exporting.

Leaders also resisted Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz's efforts to redistribute vaccines at the summit, which Kurz argued had been unevenly spread among member states.

Read more at: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination

Germany - China Relations: Coronavirus makes Germany′s EU-China summit go virtual

The EU-China summit was set to be a geopolitical high point of Germany's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, with Chancellor Angela Merkel playing host. The eastern German city of Leipzig was to be the stage for the three-day summit, when Chinese President Xi Jinping would have met together with all 27 EU heads of state for the first time.

Germany's government canceled the physical summit in June because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now only protesters are coming to Leipzig.

The summit is being held virtually and has been shortened to one day. Merkel, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will all be in attendance for Monday's video conference with Xi.

Read more at:
Coronavirus makes Germany′s EU-China summit go virtual | World| Breaking news and perspectives from around the globe | DW | 13.09.2020

EU summit: Talks entering 'crucial phase' as leaders meet for fourth day

Leaders left the marathon summit early Monday morning without an agreement and are set to resume talks at 16:00 CET. The summit was originally planned to end on Saturday.

Von der Leyen told reportershat "after three days and three nights of negotiation marathon, we're entering now in the crucial phase but I have the impression that European leaders really want an agreement."

"I'm positive for today, we're not there yet but things are moving in the right direction," she added.

Talks have focussed on a proposed €1.68 trillion package, a seven-year budget and a coronavirus recovery fund.

Read more at:
EU summit: Talks entering 'crucial phase' as leaders meet for fourth day | Euronews

EU - Coronavirus Bailout Fund: Spanish vs Dutch views on the EU Recovery Fund - by Monika Sie Dhian Ho and Charles Powell

Dutch PM Mark Rutte being stingy

The Netherlands and Spain are at opposite ends of the debate about the EU's recovery package. But they must realise they are in the same boat.

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented recession in Europe which has hit the EU at a delicate moment. It could be the toughest test for European integration yet. A strong, fast and coordinated, response is essential.

The European Central Bank has deployed an unprecedented asset-purchase programme, the European Commission has for the first time ever lifted restrictions on fiscal expansion and state aid, and the Eurogroup agreed new European Stability Mechanism credit lines, emergency measures to support those unemployed, and new funds for the European Investment Bank. Now it is time for the heads of state and government to rise to the challenge

The internal market, the monetary union and the Schengen travel zone are at risk, and populist anti-EU voices stand ready to exploit disagreements that have emerged among member-states.

A piece of unfinished business is the so-called EU Recovery Fund.

It is based on a Commission proposal, and is integrated into the EU's draft seven-year budget. It would allow for investment in the EU of almost two trillion euros, some of it in the form of debt issued by the Commission.

The sooner a deal is reached, the quicker the money can be The sooner a deal is reached, the quicker the money can be released and the faster the recovery will be.

Read more: 
Spanish vs Dutch views on the EU Recovery Fund

Hanoi Summit: Trump and Kim abruptly cut short summit after failing to reach nuclear deal - by Philip Rucker, Simon Denyer, David Nakamura

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un abruptly cut short their two-day summit Thursday after they were unable to reach an agreement to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.

Talks collapsed unexpectedly amid a disagreement about economic sanctions, with the two leaders and their delegations departing their meeting site in Vietnam’s capital without sitting for a planned lunch or participating in a scheduled signing ceremony.

Read more: Trump and Kim abruptly cut short summit after failing to reach nuclear deal

USA - Impeachment process Donald Trump kicked off: Trump’s bid for history in Hanoi is overwhelmed by Michael Cohen spectacle in Washington - by Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey

The Process has begun

President Trump spent Wednesday in Vietnam cozying up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over grilled sirloin and chocolate lava cake and reaching for the legacy he wants: the great dealmaker negotiating a historic nuclear arms accord.

But halfway around the globe, an entirely different legacy for Trump was thrust to the fore by his longtime personal attorney and fixer — that of an alleged con man, liar, racist and, ultimately, criminal.

Michael Cohen’s explosive testimony to Congress was not only potentially humiliating for Trump. It also portrayed the president as an unreliable and dishonest man at the very moment he is conducting diplomacy with the world’s most erratic and untrusting dictator. And it propelled Trump’s presidency into greater legal and political peril.

On a day when two events of potentially lasting importance played out simultaneously some 8,300 miles apart, the spectacle in Washington overwhelmed the one in Hanoi.

This reality came into sharp relief as Trump sat down with Kim for a one-on-one chat before dinner here on Wednesday evening. Trump had just boasted of his warm relationship with the North Korean dictator, whom he called “a great leader,” when a reporter asked for his reaction to Cohen’s testimony. Trump did not respond and simply shook his head. But shortly thereafter, that reporter and three others were banned by the White House from covering the dinner because of what Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders called “sensitivities to the shouted questions.”

Cohen’s testimony added to the investigative morass that has consumed Trump’s presidency and served as a reminder of its continual state of turmoil. Although he sat in a hearing room addressing the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, 

Cohen might as well have been talking directly to his former boss when he said:

“I have fixed things,” he said, “but I am no longer your fixer, Mr. Trump.”

Read more: Trump’s bid for history in Hanoi is overwhelmed by Michael Cohen’s spectacle in Washington - The Washington Post

EU Summit: Migrant Processing, Cooperation: as EU Members reach a deal on migrants early Saturday 29/6 morning

'Italy is not alone anymore': EU leaders reach agreement on migrant processing

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CBC News Report EU Migrant deal

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Russia-US relations: Trump and Putin to meet in Helsinki July16

Helsinki Summit Meeting is Set for Trump and Putin

For the complete report go to: 

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South Korea: Trump-Kim summit: South Koreans wary of losing US defense assurance

More important for South Korea were President Trump's statements during an hour-long press conference, in which he said that the US would be stopping joint military maneuvers with South Korea, as long as the talks with Pyongyang are ongoing.

For the North, this provides an incentive for the communication process to continue. Additionally, Kim promised to close another rocket testing facility. But for the South, an important defensive posture may be compromised.

Read more: Trump-Kim summit: South Koreans wary of losing US defense assurance | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 12.06.2018

North-Korea - US Summit: Full text of the U.S.-North Korea agreement signed by Trump and Kim

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement after their nuclear summit on Singapore on Tuesday. Here's the full text of the document, as released by the White House.

President Donald J Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held first historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

"President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive in-depth and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new US-DPRK relations and the building of a lasting an robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Convinced that the establishment of new US-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity
2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula
3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the US-DPRK summit — the first in history — was an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening up of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulation in this joint statement fully and expeditiously.

The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations, led by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the US-DPRK summit.

President Donald J Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new US-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world".

Note EU-Digest: Apart from being a PR Photo-Op; for a ruthless oppressive dictator, who has killed not only many of his own citizens, but also family members, and an ego-maniac President, this so-called "agreement" basically only reaffirms earlier US -North Korea agreements, and certainly does not deserve for Mr. Trump to get a Nobel Peace prize.

Read more: Full text of the U.S.-North Korea agreement signed by Trump, Kim

NORTH-KOREA - US summit cancelled by Trump

Trump cancels Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

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The North Korea- US Summit: A reality check on Korea nuclear talks

When President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in first agreed to meet in Washington Tuesday, they seemed to genuinely believe they might be on the brink of a major rapprochement with the North. Now, there are concerns over whether the much-touted summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un scheduled for Singapore on June 12 will happen at all.

With hindsight, Pyongyang’s announcement last week that it might pull out of the meeting should have been less of a surprise. North Korea has spent decades using similar tactics to shape the diplomatic agenda with the South and Washington, raising hopes of a breakthrough – then sparking a crisis and moving the goal posts.


It’s still less than a month since Moon and Kim engaged in what appeared a successful summit in the
 demilitarized zone, both pledging to work towards the complete denuclearization of the peninsula. Last week, however, Pyongyang furiously denounced Washington for demanding the North’s unilateral disarmament, particularly as a precondition for potential U.S. economic aid.


Read more: Commentary: A reality check on Korea nuclear talks | Article [AMP] | Reuters

Global Warming: World Bank won't back oil and gas projects after 2019

The World Bank has confirmed that it will stop financing upstream oil and gas projects after 2019 except under exceptional circumstances in the world's poorest countries.

The global financial institution made the announcement at climate summit in Paris on Tuesday, which took place roughly two years after the historic COP21 climate conference in the same city.

At Tuesday's summit, French insurance giant AXA announced that it will cease insuring the oilsands sector and new coal projects, and will divest more than US$3.5 billion from oilsands and coal companies. This includes divestment from energy giants TransCanada, Kinder Morgan and Enbridge, all of which have Canadian offices and are constructing major pipelines: Keystone XL, the Trans Mountain expansion and Line 3, respectively.

The announcements were among highlights of a one-day "One Planet Summit" attended by about 50 world leaders and 2,000 participants, including Canada and Quebec environment ministers, environmental organizations, business officials and public figures such as actor Sean Penn.

The goal was to find financial solutions to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and allocate more money to help developing countries that will help their transition to low-carbon economies in the fight against climate change.

“We’re determined to work with all of you to put the right policies in place, get market forces moving in the right direction, put the money on the table, and accelerate action,” World Bank president Jim Young Kim told the closing plenary.

Conference co-organizers, including the Government of France, the World Bank and the United Nations, called in advance of the summit for “concrete action” to reignite momentum as the United States remains absent from the historic Paris Agreement on climate change. Reached in December 2015, the accord aims to keep global warming below 2°C this century.

“We are losing the battle,” French President Emmanuel Macron told participants. “The agreement has become fragile and we’re not going fast enough.”

Several financially stable countries and multilateral institutions made important pledges to help developing countries meet their commitments under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord on climate action.

That roadmap calls for the world to raise US$100-billion every year to help such countries meet their emissions goals by 2020. Last year however, the OECD estimated that only US$43 billion had been pledged, including $2.65 billion in funding from the Government of Canada by 2021

The absence of the United States remained bittersweet and disappointing for most participants, including California Governor Jerry Brown and former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who talked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “irresponsible” decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

But former New York mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg said he thought it had increased momentum.

“There isn't anything Washington can do to stop us, quite the contrary, I think that President Trump has helped rally people who understand the problem to join forces and to actually do something rather than waiting for the federal government to do something,” Bloomberg said at a press conference.

Bloomberg and several other major economic leaders, including Bank of England governor Mark Carney, announced 237 companies worth more than $6.3 trillion had committed to participate in a wide-reaching Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

The task force aims to gather reliable data about the environmental metrics of its members, such as the carbon footprint of their operations.

According to the task force, only 20 per cent of major companies are currently reporting this kind of data. Bloomberg and his partners want to change that so CEOS, board members and shareholders can make informed decisions about their management practices and investment.

“Nobody would survive a board meeting where they said, 'I don't know that this risk is going to happen so let's just sit around and do nothing,'" said Bloomberg.

One of the task force members is AXA, the world’s third largest insurance company.

Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was among the world leaders who said private sector involvement in climate financing is urgent in the race against environmental catastrophe.

“We need to be smarter about this. We have to stop the old school way of thinking where governments are going to take actions,” she said at a panel. “We're missing a lot if we don't leverage the private sector.”

Responding to McKenna's comments however, Environmental Defense national program manager Dale Marshall emphasized that public financing will always be necessary.

“It's really hard to leverage private sector dollars to do adaptation work and that's really where governments need to step in with public money,” Marshall told National Observer.

Pembina Institute federal policy director Erin Flanagan made similar comments. National transitions to a low-carbon economy should be led by governments, she explained, and public policy must create a clear and assertive framework for the private sector, so it understands how it can support the green transition.

“If industry knows that the government is serious about achieving emissions neutrality by 2050, they will be less likely to build gas plants, they will be less likely to build new oil sands operations,” she told National Observer at the summit. “I think we still have a way to go at home to make sure that that consensus on the deadline is well developed.”

Meantime, McKenna unveiled a partnership with the World Bank to support developing countries’ transition away from traditional coal-fired electricity and toward clean energy. A press release said the parties would share best practices "on how to ensure a just transition for displaced workers and their communities."

The partnership announcement came just as a Canadian and German environmental organizations released a report listing six Canadian financial companies among the world's top 100 investors in new coal plants. Friends of the Earth and Urgenwald looked at the top 100 private investors putting money down to expand coal-fired electricity — sometimes in places where there isn't any coal-generated power at the moment.

Together, Sun Life, Power Corporation, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Royal Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have pledged $2.9 billion towards building new coal plants overseas, the report said.

Urgewald tracks coal plants around the world and reports there are 1,600 new plants in development in 62 nations, more than a dozen of which don't have any coal-fired plants now.

Read more: World Bank won't back oil and gas projects after 2019 | National Observer

G20 summit: When is it, what will happen, and what will Trump do this time? - by Tom Peck

An annual meeting of the leaders of the world’s largest economies - just about. Spain is a ‘permanent invitee’ without being an actual member. There are only, in fact, nineteen members.

The twentieth is the European Union, which partially explains the absence of other major economies, like the Netherlands.

Alongside the likes of Britain, France, Germany, China and the US, are Turkey, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia Saudi Arabia and others.

It is a larger and more significant meeting than the G8, which occurred earlier this year, not least as Russia is currently suspended from the G8 over its intervention in Crimea.

Ms Merkel has said she will make climate change, free trade and the management of mass migration the major themes of the summit, setting her, and potentially the whole of the EU up for a major clash with President Trump. On climate change the two are poles apart. On free trade Trump’s economic nationalism is distinctly distant from the European position. On mass migration, Merkel has welcomed more than a million migrants to Germany, primarily from Isis warzones, while in the US, Trump has sought to impose a ban on all Muslim immigration.

Between them, the membership accounts for 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and two thirds of its population.

Read more: G20 summit: When is it, what will happen, and what will Trump do this time? | The Independent

EU: Key European Union leaders to gather on Mediterranean island to plan a future without Britain - by Will Worley

The most powerful leaders of the remaining European Union states are to meet on a small Mediterranean island to discuss how to deal with the myriad issues the EU faces.

But Britain will not be attending.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will dine in Naples before flying to the island of Ventotene.

The meeting, to be held on 22 August, will be primarily dealing with how the EU should progress in light of the recent loss of the UK from the bloc, following the country’s vote to leave on 23 June. It will serve as an opportunity for the remaining leaders to establish a common set of goals before an informal Bratislava summit on 16 September.

With the exception of Britain, representatives of all EU member states will be in Bratislava for the event, which will aim to plot a course for the bloc after Brexit.

Besides losing one of their most powerful and wealthy members, the EU must also deal with a grinding refugee crisis, terrorism, and relations with their unpredictable neighbours, Turkey and Russia.

Note EU-Digest: Now that Britain, considered the EU's most obstructive and vocal member and also closest US ally is not part of the equation anymore, it would serve the EU well to do a total review of its foreign policy, Specifically its alignment with the US foreign policy, to avoid being dragged by the US into foreign military adventures, which so far have had disastrous consequences for Europe. 


Read more: Key European Union leaders to gather on Mediterranean island to plan a future without the UK | Europe | News | The Independent

EU Emergency Summit Leaders on Refugee Problems

Seeking solutions to the Mediterranean migrant crisis, European Union leaders have gathered for an emergency summit in Brussels.

Greece and Italy are the gateway to Europe for those fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

But with record numbers drowning in the attempt, including up to 900 migrants from one boat killed last Sunday, the EU as a whole is being urged to act now to stem the loss of life.

Read more: International news | euronews, latest international news

Ukraine Dispute: EU, Russia Cancel Planned Dinner, Cut Summit Short - by Juergen Baetz

European Union leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin have canceled a joint dinner and cut a long-planned summit short in the wake of their confrontation over Ukraine's future.

The summit was initially meant to start with the dinner and last until the following afternoon, but now the meeting with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and others in Brussels on Jan. 28 will only last about 2 ½ hours, the EU said Thursday.

The format has been changed "in light of the recent developments," and participants will have an "in-depth reflection" about the EU-Russia relationship rather than a discussion about specific issues, Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.

Russia in November lured Ukraine with financial incentives, including a $15-billion bailout loan, to snub the 28-nation bloc and seek closer cooperation with Moscow instead. The Ukrainian leadership's last-minute decision to side with Russia sparked weeks-long anti-government protests in Kiev and elsewhere in the country. The protests drew hundreds of thousands in the early weeks, and drew more than 20,000 into the streets on Sunday.

EU leaders have also been upset by Russia's efforts to lure other eastern European neighbors like Armenia back into its political and economic orbit and by what they say is the use of trade policies to discriminate against the EU's easternmost members along Russia's borders.

Russia remains a very important player on many international matters, such as Syria and Iran. And Russia and the European Union have very close economic ties and at times shared political interests, so neither side apparently wanted to cancel the summit — which will be the 31st and shortest such meeting since the late 1990s.

Read more: EU, Russia Cancel Planned Dinner, Cut Summit Short - ABC News

Banking supervision takes centre stage ahead of EU summit

France and Germany, traditionally leaders in such integrationist moves, are at loggerheads over parts of the plan, and there is little time left for the EU to meet a commitment to complete the framework for banking union by the end of the year.

Critical questions remain unanswered, such as how many banks the ECB should directly supervise and whether the central bank gets longer than one year, as planned, to fully take on its role.
After three years of piecemeal crisis-fighting measures, agreeing on a banking union would lay a cornerstone of wider economic union and mark the first concerted attempt to integrate the bloc's response to problem lenders.

But reaching a deal, which EU leaders want to sign off when they meet at a summit on Thursday and Friday, will require addressing the concerns of Germany, whose support is crucial, while also satisfying France and others with deep vested interests such as Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Read more: Banking supervision takes centre stage ahead of EU summit | EurActiv