G8 set new global warming targets

The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries are meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, from July 8 to July 11. On Wednesday, the group announced that it had agreed to a cut in carbon emissions.

The G8 agreed to a target to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, though interim targets were not defined.

“I believe we’ve made some important strides forward as we move towards Copenhagen,” said United States President Barack Obama. “I don’t think I have to emphasise that climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The science is clear and conclusive and the impacts can no longer be ignored.”

On this day July 20, 2001

Giuliani in Genoa clash

An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot dead by police during the demonstrations against the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy.

Carlo Giuliani was born in Rome, the son of Giuliano Giuliani, a CGIL trade union activist, and Haidi Giuliani, a Senator for the Communist Refoundation Party.

He was killed on during a violent clash between protesters and Italian Carabinieri in Piazza Alimonda, in the Genoa downtown. A Carabinieri vehicle became stuck and some protesters (wielding metal poles and wooden boards) attacked the car.

In the midst of this clash, Carlo Giuliani, who was wearing a blue ski mask, picked up a fire extinguisher, allegedly intending to throw it at the officers inside the police Land Rover Defender, he was shot in the face at point blank range by one of the officers. The Land Rover then drove once backwards and once forwards over Giuliani’s body.

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Italian officers found guilty over G8 protest brutality

Fifteen Italians including police officers, doctors and prison guards were found guilty of abusing and beating protesters at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. A judge handed down jail terms between five months’ and five years’ imprisonment.

The charges include abuse, fraud, criminal coercion and inhuman and degrading treatment. Another thirty defendants were cleared of charges, including assault.

Protest near site of G8 summit

Photo Author Muji Tra from Sapporo City, Hokkaido, JAPAN

Hundreds of antiglobalization protesters marched on the streets of Hokkaido, Japan, around the scene of the current G8 summit. The 2008 G8 summit, a gathering of the leaders of France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada, began yesterday in Hokkaido, Japan.

Some of the protesters were wearing helmets and masks, and according to NECN.com, were shouting “crash the summit.”

There was a large police presence at the scene of the protests, with some of the officers being equipped with riot gear. They claimed that some of the protests violated Japanese law.

In addition to the protests, activists in Mali held the Poor People’s Summit at a time to coincide with the G8 summit.

2008 G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan

The 2008 G8 summit of the leaders of the world’s eight most powerful nations launched today in Hokkaido, Japan. During the first day of the summit several issues were discussed, including the current situation in Zimbabwe, which UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said was ruled by an “illegitmate regime.”

The summit was launched at a press conference that involved the US president George Bush and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Before the press conference, the two leaders met to discuss international affairs. Fukada said that they had a very substantive meeting with President Bush for about an hour. He also said that “in the meeting, we first shared the view that peace and stability in this region in the past decades have been maintained, thanks to the Japan-U.S. alliance.”

G8 reaches deal on African aid

G8 leaders at the 33rd G8 summit have announced a deal pledging US$60 billion in aid to Africa. The deal, to which all the leaders agreed, called “Growth and Responsibility for Africa” is a commitment to fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria on the continent. It is similar to the pledge made at the G8 at Gleneagles two years ago.

The communique says the G8 will “implement a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care” to achieve “as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “We are aware of our responsibility and we will honour our commitments.”

Critics have noted, however, that the document, “Growth and Responsibility for Africa,” estimates that it will “support life-saving anti-retroviral treatment through bilateral and multilateral efforts for approximately five million people.” The United Nations says that 9.8 million people need such care, 7 million of whom live in Africa.

Groups advocating for Africa aid say it falls short of United Nations targets. “While lives will be saved with more money for AIDS, this represents a cap on ambition that will ultimately cost millions more lives,” said Steve Cockburn of the Stop AIDS Campaign.

“Do they think we can’t read or count?” asked musician/activist Bono. “We are looking for accountable language and accountable numbers: we didn’t get them today.”

Bush falls ill during G8 Summit

United States President George W. Bush has fallen ill and has missed the morning session of the G8 Summit, but has returned to the day’s events.

“The President had a good rest this morning. He’s feeling better, not 100 percent, but he feels good enough to rejoin the meeting. He just left his suite a short while ago, so we are back on schedule,” said a spokesman for the White House, Tony Fratto.

Earlier Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor stated that Bush was dressed and ready for the meeting when he began to feel sick and that his condition is likely a “stomach virus, a light touch of food poisoning or something else” and called the situation “not serious.”

Fidelity Test
Despite being ill, Bush still taped his weekly radio address to the people of the U.S., and managed to meet with Nicolas Sarkozy, the newly elected president of France, but only on a private level and in Bush’s hotel room.

Sarkozy had graciously agreed to meet Bush in his “private quarters,” said Bartlett, adding: “The president (Bush) felt that they had a real personal rapport.” This was the first meeting between the two leaders since Sarkozy was sworn in as French president last month.

Sarkozy told reporters after the talks that Bush was “slightly indisposed this morning and will rejoin the working meeting as soon as he can.” Officials said Sarkozy and Bush had discussed the situation in Lebanon, Kosovo and Darfur.

Sarkozy has suggested that a decision on the final status of Kosovo should be postponed for six months to allow Serbian and Kosovar leaders to study alternative ideas.”I have just come out of a meeting with president Bush who is slightly unwell. He will join the working session when he can,” said Sarkozy to reporters as he was leaving the meeting with Bush.

New arms race has begun

Just one day before the G-8 Summit is scheduled to begin, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during an interview on Sunday that Russia will point their nuclear missiles at major European cities if the United States sets up any kind of missile defense system in Europe. Putin also said that a new cold war has begun with “the west” and that a “new arms race” has begun.

This statement came after the U.S. announced plans to build several missile defense systems based in Poland and the Czech Republic. These defense systems will include radars and missile interceptors. The U.S. states that the planned defense system is to stop incoming nuclear missiles from North Korea and Iran.

Putin says the planned missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic will put “an integral part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal” on Russia’s doorstep and upset the world strategic balance.

When Putin was asked by a reporter if Russia would consider pointing their nuclear missiles at Europe, Putin replied “of course we are returning to those times. It is clear that if a part of the US nuclear capability turns up in Europe, and, in the opinion of our military specialists will threaten us, then we are forced to take corresponding steps in response.”

Putin continues: “What will those steps be? Naturally, we will have to have new targets in Europe. We want to be heard, we want our position to be understood. But if that does not happen, we lift from ourselves any responsibility for the steps we take in response, because we are not the ones who are initiating the arms race in Europe.” Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Russia removed European targets from its rocket guidance systems.

Putin will be meeting directly with President Bush during the G-8 summit, which begins Wednesday.