Pope Francis celebrated an opening Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday with global attention newly focused on the forest fires that are devouring the Amazon.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said Saturday that Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers should have included the Arab Gulf states, and addressed its ballistic missile program and support for armed groups.
Some 60 world leaders gather at UN for a "climate emergency" summit aimed at reinvigorating the faltering Paris agreement, at a time when mankind is releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than at any time in history.
Daniel Wilkinson, managing director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, says President Jair Bolsonaro has put "defenders of the [Amazon] forest at serious risk."
Trump aide says US is keen to tackle blazes engulfing parts of the world's largest rainforest but it prefers a plan that includes a discussion with Brazil's government.
The announcement suggests Bolsonaro has dropped an earlier demand that French President Emmanuel Macron withdraw "insults" made against him before he would accept a G7 offer to help put out the fires in the world's largest rainforest.
G7 countries pledged $20 million to fight the blaze destroying the world's largest rainforest at the Biarritz summit hosted by French President Macron, who insisted the Amazon should be discussed as a top priority.
President Hassan Rouhani told the US to "take the first step" by lifting all sanctions against Iran, a day after US President Donald Trump said he was open to a meeting to resolve tensions between the two countries.
Bolsonaro and Macron have repeatedly locked horns in the past week over the fires ravaging the Amazon basin, one of the main topics at the G7 summit the French president is hosting in Biarritz.
UK PM Boris Johnson pledged $12.3 million to help restore the Amazon which has been ravaged by fires. Brazilian warplanes have been dumping water on the blaze in Rondonia, after a global outcry over the destruction of the world's largest rainforest.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's presence had not been announced and represented a gamble by French host Emmanuel Macron who is seeking to soothe spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.
Some 44,000 troops will be available for "unprecedented" operations to put out the fires, and forces are heading to six Brazilian states that asked for federal help.
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