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Reuters
37 minutes ago
- Reuters
Blistering heat, empty chairs and the C-word mar UN's flagship development event
SEVILLE, July 4 (Reuters) - Brutal heat scorched Spain this week, a blistering reminder of the climate change that is battering the world's poorest countries - stretching their finances even as government debt climbs to new heights. But at a once-a-decade UN development finance conference in Seville, two key ingredients were in less abundance: money and power. Just one G7 leader - France's Emmanuel Macron - attended the event, where he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed rooms filled with dozens of empty chairs. Organisers initially said they expected 70 heads of state; that was whittled to 50 as the conference got underway. Back in Washington, Paris, London and Berlin, rich-country leaders are slashing aid and cutting bilateral lending in a pivot to defence spending and rising debt at home. "The mood is ... I would say realistic, but also a sense of unity and of pragmatism," said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development, adding the question on everyone's mind this week was how to do more with less. "How can we come together, or think out of the box, or create new type of ways of really stretching it more?" The Financing For Development meeting is a flagship UN conference, charting the trajectory to help tackle changes the world must make to tax policies, aid spending or key areas such as debt, health and education. Its outcomes guide global aid funding and UN policies for the decade to come. Few disagree over the need for action; hundred-year floods and storms are happening with alarming regularity, and rising debt-servicing costs are siphoning money away from health, education and infrastructure spending in the developing world. But even top developing-world leaders Mia Mottley, the Barbados prime minister and prominent global climate champion, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently chairing the Group of 20 major economies, backed out of the event at the last minute. The media room was stacked with bored-looking Spanish press gossiping about a domestic political scandal while disillusioned civil-society leaders stalked the halls, upset with the watered-down agenda and the lack of fiscal or political firepower. "We are facing a backsliding of many agendas that we had advanced a few years ago," said Henrique Frota, director of ABONG, a Brazilian association of NGOs. "Developed countries are reducing their investment in (official development assistance) and European countries are not fulfilling their commitment ... they are giving less and less money right now for every kind of agenda." Event leaders were relieved to produce an outcome document - despite gnawing fears in the past months that Washington would torpedo any deal. In the end, U.S. officials backed out altogether. "The entire community was very afraid of coming here because one country wasn't attending," said UN Assistant Secretary General Marcos Neto. "But the document ended up working out ... I'm leaving happy, with more optimism than I thought I would leave with." Neto highlighted significant steps toward implementing climate and development goals, including the Seville Platform and multiple agreements from public and private sectors to leverage funds for the biggest possible impact. The Seville Commitment included tripling multilateral lending capacity, debt relief, a push to boost tax-to-GDP ratios to at least 15%, and get more rich countries to let the IMF use "special drawing rights" money for countries that need it most. But in Seville, only host nation Spain signed on to commit 50% of its "Special Drawing Rights" for the purpose. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed acknowledged that the attendance was not as star-studded as hoped, and that public funds are under pressure. "But there's innovative financing, there's the private sector, there's the triple lending of MDBs ... so the resources are there," she said. "We just have to have the political will to leverage through these mechanisms that have come out of the platform of action and continue moving with them." U.S. President Donald Trump, despite his country's absence, loomed large over the event; his climate change scepticism, hostility toward diversity initiatives and pledge to review U.S. participation in multilateral organizations made some keen to strip the "c-word" - climate change - and rebrand initiatives as focused on resilience, education or health. Still, some say the gloomy backdrop should not deter leaders focused on progress. "Ultimately the important thing is doing it," said Jose Vinals, former group chairman of Standard Chartered and co-chair of both the FFD4 Business Steering Committee and the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. "The private sector is, for the most part, still willing to walk the talk."
Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump: National Parks will be 'About America First' with new tourist tax
Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep with his 'America First' agenda increasing entry fees with a tax on foreign nationals at U.S. national parks, while making it less expensive for citizens. The additional revenue generated by higher fees from foreign tourists will raise hundreds of millions of dollars for conservation and deferred maintenance projects to improve national parks, the White House said in a statement. Trump spoke about the change at his wild rally at the Iowa State Fair Thursday , meant to serve as an introduction to his celebration of America's 250th anniversary. 'To fund improvements and enhanced experiences across the park system, I've just signed an executive order to raise entrance fees for foreign tourists while keeping prices low for Americans,' he said. 'The national parks will be about America first.' The executive order directs the Interior Department, parent agency of the Park Service, to increase entrance fees paid by park visitors from abroad, but does not say by how much or when the rates would go into effect. It also directs the Park Service to ensure that U.S. residents receive priority access over foreign visitors in any of its permitting or reservation systems. 'It is the policy of my Administration to preserve these opportunities for American families in future generations by increasing entry fees for foreign tourists, improving affordability for United States residents, and expanding opportunities to enjoy America's splendid national treasures,' Trump wrote. Trump also revoked a 2017 memorandum from Barack Obama that promoted diversity in the parks service. Currently, U.S. citizens in effect pay more than foreign tourists to visit the nation's scenic natural wonders and historic landmarks because their admissions fees and a portion of their U.S. tax dollars support the cost of national parks, the statement said. The executive order comes as the Trump administration has proposed cutting more than $1billion from the Park Service budget in fiscal 2026, which would represent a reduction of more than a third of the agency's budget from the prior year. The administration's cuts to the federal workforce have already aggravated a staff shortage in national parks across the country. It was one of the announcements as Trump took a victory lap after Congress passed his 'Big Beautiful Bill' Thursday night in Iowa , where he pledged to give the United States a big, beautiful birthday. A year from Friday, the United States will turn 250 years old, and Trump's stop at the Iowa State Fairgrounds kicked off the 'America 250' celebration, with events planned all year leading up to July 4, 2026. During his remarks he recalled how he had promised Iowans - ahead of the all-important Iowa caucuses - that he would kick off America's birthday in the Hawkeye State if he was elected again. 'Two years ago I came to Iowa and promised that the festivities would begin right here at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and tonight here I am, OK?' Trump said. 'Promises kept.' The crowd cheered. 'There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago when Congress passed the one Big, Beautiful Bill to make America Great Again,' Trump said. Earlier Thursday, the president achieved his biggest domestic win of his second term thus far, with the narrow GOP-controlled House of Representatives passing the massive legislative package that includes the top Trump agenda items . Trump had pushed lawmakers to deliver the bill to him by July Fourth. The president will sign the bill around 5 p.m. ET on Friday, amid the White House's Fourth of July festivities, including flyovers with B-2 bombers, which were used in the recent aerial strike of Iran. Ten days from now, Trump will also mark the anniversary of the Butler, Pennsylvania rally where he nearly was assassinated last year on the campaign trail. He calmed the crowd and then cracked a joke when a loud popping noise could be heard during his speech Thursday night.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Republicans celebrate as Trump's ‘Big, Beautiful Bill' passes in House
Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" was passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday, 3 July 2025, with a vote of 218 in favour to 214 against. The legislation features sweeping cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance programmes. It also extends the 2017 tax cuts and includes funding for 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and 3,000 Border Patrol agents. Mr Trump has set a loose deadline of 4 July to sign the bill into law. Watch the video in full above
