Ukraine-Russia peace summit starts with no Russia

Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. I recommend you begin with our stories on how big brands like Nike and Lego are reaching Russian stores despite restrictions and the Gen X music fans who are getting into shape so they don't peter out at all-day music festivals. And our World News podcast Saturday edition focuses on the precarious state of healthcare in Gaza.

No Russia at the Ukraine-Russia peace summit

Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives in Obbuergen. Alessandro Della Valle/Pool via REUTERS

North of the Alps: World leaders meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a resort near Lucerne this weekend to explore ways of ending Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia is not attending, and Ukraine took about a second and a half to reject Vladimir Putin's suggestions, which include Kyiv dropping its ambition to join NATO and handing over four provinces to Russia. China is not attending, despite heavy lobbying by the U.S. and others to show up, and is pushing a rival peace plan.
South of the Alps: The G7 meeting in Italy served a mixed grill of policy positions. Leaders pledged to tackle what they said are China's harmful business practices and agreed to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine backed by interest from frozen Russian assets. They also left out direct references to abortion in their final communiqué after Italy refused to yield to France's pressure to include the word.

U.S. sanctions Israeli group that attacked Gaza aid trucks

Tsav 9: Washington says the group, which has ties to Israeli army reservists and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, has blocked, harassed and damaged aid shipments to Gaza. Food supplies to southern Gaza are at risk because of Israeli military operations, a U.N. official said, and in the north, residents say acute shortages of vegetables, fruit and meat mean they are living only on bread. Traders there are demanding $70 for a kilo of onions and $90 for a kilo of green peppers.
Findings: Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the war, and Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses, a U.N. inquiry found. Its reports found that both sides committed war crimes including torture, murder or willful killing, outrages upon personal dignity, and inhuman or cruel treatment.

Winging rightward all the way across Europe

Quite a shift: A generation of young Europeans that has grown up amid constant crises is seeking new answers and finding them in far-right parties and their populist leaders, as last weekend's European Parliament elections showed. One top issue among many young voters is foreigners in their midst, as some recent videos from Germany with a very unsubtle message demonstrate.
And in America: A new class of social-media influencers are portraying migrants illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico as dangerous and burdensome to build support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Cost of helping developing nations fight climate change: [$??]

COP29: Five months remain before the latest edition of the U.N. climate summit, and countries cannot agree on the size of the global funding bill for the developing world, let alone how to split the tab. Representatives from recipient nations said it was hard watching wealthy countries pay their standing commitments late while quickly approving new military funding and subsidizing CO2-emitting energy sources.
Politics: Canada's parliamentarians grilled the heads of Canada's big banks over what steps they are taking to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and steer away from fossil-fuel funding. The executives said they are working on it, but they cannot expect results too soon. In the U.S., a congressional committee accused Wall Street firms of colluding with advocacy groups to force companies to shrink their emissions. And activists at the G7 meeting I mentioned above said the summit failed to produce concrete climate commitments.

Before I forget…

- An estimated 756,000 people in Sudan face catastrophic food shortages by September, and more than half the population will deal with critical shortages, a famine watchdog said.
- For the first time since Nelson Mandela negotiated an end to white minority rule, former sworn enemies are coming together in South Africa under a pledge to overcome ideological differences.
- Abortion opponents' efforts to restrict the use of the drug mifepristone may not be over despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that keeps it on the market with no new restrictions.
- Tesla's largest outside investor changed its stance to vote in favor of Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, contributing to the passage of the record-setting arrangement.
- It's the roll you don't want: U.S. safety investigators want to know why a Southwest Boeing 737 MAX did a "Dutch Roll" during a flight at 34,000 feet from Phoenix to Oakland last month. The FAA is investigating a Southwest 737 MAX 8 passenger flight that came within about 400 feet of the ocean off the coast of Hawaii after the pilots bypassed a landing attempt in Kauai. Boeing discovered that hundreds of fasteners were incorrectly installed on the fuselages of some undelivered 787 Dreamliners.
Kate, Princess of Wales, made her first public appearance since surgery five months ago revealed the presence of cancer.

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