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France
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron told Australia’s prime minister that he had broken the trust between their two countries and that it was up to Canberra to repair relations with “tangible actions,” the Elysee said this week.
France has accused its allies of stabbing it in the back when Australia opted for nuclear-powered submarines to be built with US and British technology instead of a multibillion- dollar French submarine programme.
While France has sought to mend fences with Macron meeting US President Joe Biden yesterday in Rome, it had frozen its contacts with Australia.
| Reuters
Immigration
THE flow of immigrants to developed countries fell at its fastest pace ever at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report this week.
Some 3.7 million people immigrated last year to the 38 leading developed and emerging economies that make up the OECD, the lowest level since 2003, it said in its annual migration report.
“The Covid-19 crisis caused the sharpest drop on record in migration flows to the OECD, of more than 30%,” the report added. | AFP
COP26
A GROUP of 60 countries has signed a pledge led by the EU and US to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week.
The pledge would see countries commit to slash their joint methane emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels.
Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan are among those that have joined the pledge, which is due to be launched at the UN COP26 summit, which runs from tomorrow and ends on November 12. | Reuters
Sweden
SWEDISH prosecutors said they were charging dozens of people over a violent riot in that erupted after a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest last year.
The protest, which saw thousands gather in the southern city of Gothenburg in June last year, unfolded calmly and was ended by the organisers, the authority said.
But a crowd broke off when they reached a public square in central Gothenburg, the situation escalated.
Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said 36 people have been charged over the incident. | AFP