Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion have chained themselves at the gate of the G7 media centre to protest against what they say is a lack of action in climate change policy.

The G7 gathering in a luxury resort in Puglia, Italy is formally focused on migration, global conflicts and the spread of artificial intelligence.

Italy is hosting the summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations, hosted by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Borgo Egnazia.

In nearby Fattizze d’Arneo, activists have gathered in a campsite to protest and hold thematic panels.

The G7 summit is focused on global conflicts, the spread of artificial intelligence and Africa, in particular Italy’s longstanding concern about uncontrolled migration to Europe from the continent.

Climate change will also be discussed however. In Greece on Thursday the authorities had to close down the Acropolis in Athens during the afternoon for a second day as the country sweltered under unseasonably high temperatures.

According to the Climate Analytics policy institute, G7 countries are responsible for 21% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021.

Its members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The G7 is an informal forum with an annual summit to discuss economic policy and security issues.

• Cambodian authorities have destroyed over seven tons of illicit drugs and ingredients.
• 4.1 tons of the destroyed substances were drugs like heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine.
• Gen. Meas Virith said the destroyed drugs had a wholesale value of $22.7 million and a street value of nearly $70 million.

Cambodian authorities on Friday destroyed more than seven tons of illicit drugs and the ingredients for them, as a drug-fighting official said educating people about their danger is the best way of combating the illegal trade.

Some 4.1 tons of the destroyed items were drugs including heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine that had been confiscated from traffickers across the country, the National Authority for Combating Drugs said. The remaining 3.2 tons were various chemicals and other ingredients used to produce illegal drugs, it said.

Gen. Meas Virith, secretary general of the drug-fighting agency, said the drugs that were burned in a brick kiln at a ceremony on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, had an estimated wholesale value of $22.7 million and a street value of nearly $70 million. Had they not been seized, they could have harmed millions of people, he said.

CAMBODIA’S PIONEERING POST-KHMER ROUGE ERA PHNOM PENH POST NEWSPAPER WILL STOP PRINT PUBLICATION

He said the best way now to fight illegal drugs is by educating Cambodians from all walks of life about the dangers they pose. To teach people not to use or traffic illicit drugs is better than just cracking down on those criminally involved, he said.

“As you are aware, if we use only crackdown measures, then we need to do so repeatedly. Let’s say this year we burn these things, and next year we will do it again,” he said. “But if we invest in drug education, awareness and protection, then drug activities would be reduced.”

Meas Virith said the authorities pursued more than 3,800 drug-related cases in the first five months of this year, arresting more than 10,000 people, including foreigners.

The production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamine, are at record highs in Southeast Asia and pose a major threat to its societies, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Seizures of crystal methamphetamine have increased year-by-year in Cambodia for the seventh year in a row, reaching over 1.4 tons in 2023, showing the ongoing expansion of the market for the drug in the country,” the U.N. agency said in a report last month.

“The amount of heroin seized doubled in 2023. This increase in heroin seizures was observed in multiple countries in East and Southeast Asia, possibly indicating a reinvigoration in the heroin market in the region after declining seizures the previous year.”