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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa’s policies as anti-American. Analysts say Rubio’s absence reflects the Trump administration’s indifference to organizations promoting international cooperation, but Rubio has also directly rejected South Africa’s priorities for its G20 presidency. The hosts have picked “solidarity, equality, sustainability” as the theme of the G20 this year. South Africa, the first African nation to hold the group’s presidency, says it will try to advance the interests of poor countries,...

Terrorists take over the G20 summit with President Sutton, bringing her governing and military experience to defend her family, company, and the world. (trailer is hilarious. If Michelle O. was president...)

Secretary Marco Rubio @SecRubio I will NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote “solidarity, equality, & sustainability.” In other words: DEI and climate change. My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.6:54 PM · Feb 5, 2025 ·

Brazil’s first lady Janja Lula da Silva, 58, set off a diplomatic firestorm after she delivered an expletive comment to Elon Musk at a panel on disinformation and regulating social media at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. After a ship’s horn sounded, she made what was apparently meant to be a quip, saying: “I think it’s Elon Musk. I’m not afraid of you, – you, Elon Musk.” The comments reminded her audience of the bitter battle waged between the tech billionaire and Brazil’s Supreme Court over free speech on Musk’s X platform earlier this year, which...

RIO DE JANEIRO — President Biden missed a group photo of world leaders at the G20 summit on Monday — as a perplexed pool reporter could be heard telling colleagues that the commander in chief was “behind the palm tree!” Biden, 81, skipped the family picture after buzz ahead of time that he would do so to avoid being seen smiling alongside Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during the ongoing Ukraine war. The White House blamed “logistical issues” afterward and said it was simply a matter of bad timing that Biden missed the photo. “Oh my God… they took it!”...

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the radical leftist President of Brazil currently hosting the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, will tell attendees Monday the time has come for a global taxation impost on ultra wealthy individuals. At a July meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio, the world’s wealthiest nations agreed to start a “dialogue on fair and progressive taxation, including of ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” despite fierce resistance from the United States and Germany. Now Lula says the time has come for action as he hopes to move the wealth tax plan forward as the money raised from billionaires will...

The United States is reportedly hoping that Brazil’s radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva uses his “influence” to convince Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro to commit to a “free and fair” election following his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. The “free and fair” presidential election agreement — which the Maduro regime and Venezuelan opposition signed in 2023 and Blinken has repeatedly promoted over the years — has, so far, resulted in a major blunder for the Biden Administration. Venezuela’s political situation was one of the subjects reportedly discussed in Blinken’s meeting with Lula,...

In his first address to officials from the Group of 20 leading economies since his invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin on Wednesday rebuffed criticism that the war’s aggression was “shocking” and accused Western nations of a double standard because of their response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Appearing at a virtual meeting of the G20, he called the war in Ukraine “a tragedy” that must be stopped and said Russia had “never refused” to engage in peace negotiations. For Mr. Putin, it was a rare interaction with Western leaders since the start of the war last...

Washington -- US President Joe Biden has said that he is convinced that one of the reasons why Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel was because of the recent announcement during the G-20 Summit in New Delhi on the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that integrates the entire region with a network of railroad. Israel has launched a massive counter-offensive against Hamas after unprecedented attacks by the militant group on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people. Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his analysis is based on...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is currently stuck in India after his aircraft experienced a technical issue, according to his office. Trudeau was attempting to leave India on Sunday after the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi when the Canadian Armed Forces discovered a mechanical issue, CTV News reported. "Upon our departure for the airport, we were made aware by the Canadian Armed Forces that CFC001 was experiencing technical issues," Trudeau's office said in a statement obtained by CTV News.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up Sunday a G20 summit that played down deep divisions over the war in Ukraine and climate change, but gave him a moment in the diplomatic spotlight. ... On Sunday, Modi formally closed the summit by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country will take the bloc's presidency in December. "We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions," Lula said, an implicit reference to wrangling over the Ukraine war. "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 Summit in India in person, Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. The format of Putin’s participation would be determined later, he said. India is hosting the G20 Summit and the main event will be held in New Delhi on September 9-10. The summit is likely to be attended by 29 heads of states as well as top officials of the European Union and invited guest countries and 14 heads of international organisations. Putin did not attend the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa as well. He was represented by Russian...

NEW DELHI: Invites sent by Indian President Droupadi Murmu calling herself "President of Bharat" for a dinner on the sidelines of the G20 summit have stirred speculation that the government may be about to change the country's name. WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT INDIA'S NAME? By convention, invitations issued by Indian constitutional bodies have always mentioned the name India when the text is in English, and the name Bharat when the text is in Hindi. However, the invites - in English - for the G20 dinner called Murmu the President of Bharat. An official at the president's office said they...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has replaced the name India with a Sanskrit word in dinner invitations sent to guests attending this week’s Group of 20 summit, in a move that reflects his Hindu nationalist party’s efforts to eliminate what it sees as colonial-era names. Indian President Droupadi Murmu is referred to as “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in the invitation sent to G20 attendees. The nation of more than 1.4 billion people is officially known by two names, India and Bharat, but the former is most commonly used, both domestically and internationally....

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday joined a group of millionaires in their call for Group of 20 (G20) nations to tax the ultrarich. In an open letter to G20 heads of state, Sanders, along with more than 300 millionaires, economists and politicians, called on the world’s largest economies to enact new tax regimes — at both national and international levels — that will prevent the “ultra-rich” from being able to “avoid paying their dues.”

Asserting that the country’s foreign policy should always be based on reciprocity, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday if China does not accept “one India” policy, New Delhi should reconsider support to Beijing’s ‘One China’ policy. Asking why China should have a problem with any meeting in Jammu and Kashmir or any other part of India, the National Conference Vice President said if China continues with this stance, India should also raise questions on Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong. “I think it’s extremely unfortunate that the government of India keeps repeating its (adherence to )...

The Russian president faces arrest if he travels abroad on a warrant accusing him of war crimes in Ukraine, issued by the International Criminal Court. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit in India next month, the Kremlin has announced. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that travel is currently not on Putin’s agenda because he is concentrating on the special military operation, which is what the Kremlin calls Russia’s war against Ukraine. But another issue is keeping him at home. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin accusing him of war...

GANDHINAGAR, India, July 17 (Reuters) - Debt restructuring talks made little progress during the third finance meeting of the G20 countries in India as the bloc was unable to overcome key differences and low attendance due to domestic issues adding to the roadblocks. The finance ministers of the G20 countries gathered in the western Indian state of Gujarat, hoping to push for agreements on debt restructuring for vulnerable countries, global minimum taxation and reforms on multilateral development banks. "We are not making much headway with the debt restructuring issue," a senior official, who is part of the meeting, told Reuters...

During an event in New Delhi, where he had been taking part in talks among the G20 group of industrialized nations,...In a session that was part of the "Raisina Dialogue 2023" series, Lavrov was asked by one audience member how the war had affected Russia's energy strategy. "The war which we are trying to stop and which was launched against us," Lavrov said, before laughter rang out among the audience.

President Biden next week will call for the African Union to get a permanent seat as part of the Group of 20 (G-20), which would give African nations a seat at the table on key economic matters and diversify the organization of major economies. Biden will make the announcement during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, which is taking place in Washington, D.C., next Tuesday through Thursday, national security council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday. “We need more African voices in international conversations,” Kirby said, saying the inclusion of the African Union would allow the continent to be better represented...