Brazil's president accuses Leonardo DiCaprio of financing Amazon fires

SAO PAULO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed on Friday that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio financed fires being set in the Amazon rainforest, without presenting any evidence, the right-wing leader's latest broadside in casting blame over forest fires that have generated international concern.

"This Leonardo DiCaprio is a cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon," Bolsonaro said on Friday during brief remarks in front of the presidential residence.

Bolsonaro appeared to be commenting on social media postings claiming that the environmental organization the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had paid for images taken by volunteer firefighters that it then supposedly used to solicit donations, including a $500,000 contribution from DiCaprio.

The Brazilian leader talked about DiCaprio on Thursday during a live webcast. The president said the WWF paid the firefighting NGO to take pictures of forest fires in the Amazon.

"So what did the NGO do? What is the easiest thing? Set fire to the forest. Take pictures, make a video," the president said. "(WWF) makes a campaign against Brazil, it contacts Leonardo DiCaprio, he donates $500,000."

"A part of that went to the people that were setting fires. Leonardo DiCaprio, you are contributing to the fire in the Amazon, that won't do," Bolsonaro said.

The WWF has denied receiving a donation from DiCaprio or obtaining photos from the firefighters.

DiCaprio denied having donated to the WWF. In a statement, the actor lauded "the people of Brazil working to save their natural and cultural heritage." But, he said, "While worthy of support, we did not fund the organizations targeted."

DiCaprio has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of combating climate change, speaking frequently about environmental issues including the Amazon forest fires. His Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which is focused on projects that "protect vulnerable wildlife from extinction," is part of the Earth Alliance.

Four members of the nongovernmental organization Alter do Chão Fire Brigade were arrested on Tuesday with police accusing them of purposefully setting fires in order to document them and drum up more donations. They were released on Thursday on a judge's order.

Politicians and other NGOs fiercely criticized the arrest, saying it was part of a concerted attempt by Bolsonaro's government to harass environmental groups.

Scientists and activists blame land speculators, farmers and ranchers for setting the fires to clear land for agricultural use, saying that deforesters are being emboldened by Bolsonaro's rhetoric of promoting development and farming over preservation.

The Amazon rainforest is considered a bulwark against global climate change.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly lashed out at various factions in casting blame for the forest fires.

In a Facebook live post on Aug. 21, he said, "everything indicates" that NGOs were going to the Amazon to "set fire" to the forest. When asked then if he had evidence to back up his claims, Bolsonaro said he had "no written plan," adding, "that's not how it's done."

One day later he admitted that farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze, but roughly a month later he attacked the "lying media" for saying that the rainforest was being devastated by the fires.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Amazon fires drive spike in child breathing problems in Brazil - study

BRAZIL—The surge in fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest this year fueled a spike in young children being treated for breathing problems as smoke clouded the air throughout the region, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Roughly 5,000 children aged 9 or younger were treated each month in May and June in 36 areas within Brazil's so-called "arc of deforestation," the area partially encircling the Amazon where destruction of the forest is the highest, according to a study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a public health research institute.

That is double the monthly average for the past 10 years, with the study linking the rise to the forest fires.

The study only examined cases for May and June, the latest data available, when the number of fires were slightly higher than the previous year. But that period is well before the surge in August when fires in the Amazon nearly tripled compared to the same period a year ago.

The number of forest fires in the Amazon for the year had surged to their highest point since 2010 by August, drawing global outcry that Brazil was not doing enough to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest.

Environmentalists and researchers say that farmers and others destroying the forest were purposefully setting the fires. Brazil's government sent in the military to fight the fires and launched an investigation into the causes.

Cristovao Barcelos, one of the researchers who wrote the study, said it stands to reason that with the increase of fires starting from July that the number of cases could also show an increase.

"There's a sequence that starts with deforestation, then comes fires and breathing problems," Barcelos said.

In areas recording more fires than usual, a child is 36 percent more likely to develop respiratory problems, the study said. Barcelos added that 2 percent of the children who sought treatment later died.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global disputes likely to thwart unity at G7 summit in France

PARIS - Leaders of the G7 nations arrive in France on Saturday for a summit as a brewing US-China confrontation over protectionism highlighted President Emmanuel Macron's tough task in delivering meaningful results on trade, Iran and climate change.

The 3-day meeting in the Atlantic seaside resort of Biarritz takes place amid sharp differences over a clutch of global issues that risk further dividing a group of countries already struggling to pull together.

Summit host Macron wants the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States to focus on the defense of democracy, gender equality, education and climate change, and has invited leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America to join them for a global push on these issues.

But with the trade war between China and the United States escalating, European governments struggling to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran and global condemnation growing over illegal fires in the Amazon, his agenda could be eclipsed.

US President Donald Trump's history of pugnacity at multilateral gatherings, which brought last year's G7 summit to an acrimonious conclusion, means there is scant hope for substantive agreements. France has already decided that, to avoid another failure, there will be no final communique.

"French President Emmanuel Macron... bills the meeting as a chance to relaunch multilateralism, promote democracy and tame globalization to ensure it works for everyone," Stewart Patrick of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote.

"More likely, the gathering will expose the political, economic and ideological fault lines threatening Western solidarity and international cooperation."

Trump's walkout at the Charlevoix summit in Canada last year prompted foreign policy observers to dub the Group of Seven nations the G6+1.

US officials said Trump would tout his policies of tax cuts and deregulation and press allies to follow his example to stave off problems with the global economy.

Hours before leaving for Biarritz, Trump reacted angrily to China's move to impose retaliatory tariffs on more US goods, even saying he was ordering US companies to look at ways to close their operations in China. The president cannot legally compel US firms to abandon China immediately.

"Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years," Trump tweeted. "We don't need China and, frankly, would be better off without them."

China's President Xi Jinping is not among the Asian leaders invited to the Biarritz summit.

JOHNSON'S WORLD DEBUT

Adding to the unpredictable dynamic between the G7 leaders are the new realities facing Brexit-bound Britain: dwindling influence in Europe and growing dependency on the United States.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson will want to strike a balance between not alienating Britain's European allies and not irritating Trump and possibly jeopardizing future trade ties. Johnson and Trump will hold bilateral talks on Sunday morning.

Even so, diplomats played down the likelihood of Trump and Johnson joining hands against the rest, citing Britain's close foreign policy alignment with Europe on issues from Iran and trade to climate change.

"There won't be a G5+2," one senior G7 diplomat said.

Johnson said ahead of the summit that Britain would not retreat from its responsibilities on the world stage after Brexit, nor sacrifice its belief in the global order.

The remarks were a riposte to those who say leaving the European Union will diminish Britain's influence on the global stage and force a pivot towards Trump's unorthodox and often confrontational approach to diplomacy.

France will deploy more than 13,000 police officers, backed by soldiers, to keep protesters away from the summit venue.

Macron will host a dinner on the waterfront on Saturday before the leaders get down to talks on Sunday and Monday on the global economy, tackling inequality and climate change.

EU leaders on Friday piled pressure on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over fires raging in the Amazon rainforest.

Macron said Bolsonaro had lied in playing down concerns about climate change at a G20 summit in Japan in June, and threatened to veto a trade pact between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc of South American countries.

Greenpeace called the deforestation an emergency that highlighted the G7 leaders' need to act on ending fossil fuels and protecting forests.

"Once again, Emmanuel Macron is making bold statements which have yet to be matched by actions," said Greenpeace France Executive Director Jean-François Julliard.

"France and other developed countries are responsible for the dire Amazon situation through their economies and contribution to imported deforestation, fueled by ill-designed policies in sectors like agriculture, timber and bio-energies."

A French diplomatic source said advisers to the G7 leaders were working on concrete initiatives to respond to the fires.

source: news.abs-cbn.com