United Kingdom

(Reuters) --- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday said she hoped that a new Group of Seven task force can present first infrastructure projects in developing countries in 2022.

The world's seven most advanced economies signalled during the summit a desire to build a rival to China's multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative.

(Reuters) --- Western democracies are in a race to compete with autocratic governments, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday.

"We're in a contest, not with China per se, ... with autocrats, autocratic governments around the world, as to whether or not democracies can compete with them in a rapidly changing 21st century," Biden told a news conference at the conclusion of a Group of Seven leaders' summit in Britain.

On China specifically, Biden said: "I think you're gonna see just straightforward dealing with China.

(Reuters) --- U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was correct to say that relations between their two nations were at their lowest point in years.

"Let me make it clear I think he's right it's a low point, and it depends on how he responds to acting consistent with international norms, which in many cases he has not," Biden told reporters at the conclusion of a Group of Seven leaders' summit in Britain.

(Reuters) --- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged the Group of Seven countries to help finance the World Health Organization’s programme to boost COVID-19 testing, diagnostics and vaccines, the presidency said on Sunday.

Ramaphosa, who has joined a summit of the club of rich democracies in England and addressed them on Saturday, said the G7 countries, which together account for more than half of global output, should support the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator to plug the $16.8 billion funding gap for this year.

FALMOUTH, England (AP) — Britain accused European Union leaders on Sunday of holding the “offensive” view that Northern Ireland is not fully part of the United Kingdom, as Brexit cast a shadow over the Group of Seven summit.

Britain and the EU are in a spat over post-Brexit trade arrangements that could see British sausages banned from entering Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that borders the 27-nation bloc. The dispute is raising political tensions in Northern Ireland, where some people identify as British and some as Irish.

(Reuters) --- French President Emmanuel Macron offered on Saturday to reset relations with Britain as long as Prime Minister Boris Johnson stands by the Brexit divorce deal he signed with the European Union.

Since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year, relations with the bloc and particularly France have soured, with Macron becoming the most vocal critic of London's refusal to honour the terms of part of its Brexit deal.

(Reuters) --- Britain will do "whatever it takes" to protect its territorial integrity in a trade dispute with the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday, threatening emergency measures if no solution was found.

Since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year, relations between the two have soured, with both accusing the other of acting in bad faith over part of their Brexit divorce deal that covers border issues with Northern Ireland.

FALMOUTH, Britain, June 11 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday urged fellow leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) to tackle inequality and build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson's statement came as the first in-person G7 summit kicked off in Britain's southwestern resort of Carbis Bay, Cornwall, in almost two years.

CARBIS BAY, England (AP) — The United States plans to push democratic allies on Saturday to publicly call out China for forced labor practices as the Group of Seven leaders gather at a summit where they will also unveil an infrastructure plan meant to compete with Beijing’s efforts in the developing world.

11 June 2021; MEMO: China's far western region of Xinjiang has become a "dystopian hellscape" where Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities face systematic and state-organised "mass internment and torture amounting to crimes against humanity", human rights group Amnesty says.