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- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
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- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
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- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
- Obama stumps for Harris, Trump talks US protectionism
- New-look France ease past Israel in Nations League
- Belgium fight back to draw with 10-man Italy in Nations League
- 'Get a life': Hurricane whips up US election storm
- Japan stay perfect in World Cup qualifying
- Relief as Lebanon evacuees dock in Turkey
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- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
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- Civilians flee Gaza's Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 18
- At least 10 dead in Florida from tornadoes caused by Hurricane Milton
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- Three-time NBA champion Green retires
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- S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN
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- Windies sweat on injury to 'crucial' Taylor at World Cup
- Lebanon says 11 dead, 48 injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut
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- 'Good opportunity': Nagelsmann upbeat despite Germany's long injury list
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- Ramharack picks four wickets as Windies beat Bangladesh in Women's T20 World Cup
- France's City of Light switches to climate-resilient power cables
France's Macron heads to Amazon on three-day Brazil trip
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday kicks off a visit to Brazil in the Amazon city of Belem, the host of 2025 UN climate talks, where he and Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will seek to reset frayed ties.
Macron is the first French president to visit Brazil in 11 years and he is seeking a fresh start after spats with former president Jair Bolsonaro over environmental destruction and insults directed at his wife, Brigitte.
France, the seventh largest economy in the world, and Brazil, the ninth largest, are considered key players in a geopolitical scene marked by rivalry between China and the United States.
Paris sees Brasilia as a bridge to large emerging economies whose voices Brazil is trying to amplify through its presidency of the G20, and membership of the BRICS+ group.
"We are living in a Franco-Brazilian moment," said the Elysee presidential palace, highlighting "many points of convergence" with Lula, particularly on "major global issues."
"France is an essential, unavoidable actor for Brazilian foreign policy," said the head of Brazilian diplomacy for Europe, Maria Luisa Escorel de Moraes.
- Amazon chief to be honored -
Lula and Macron will meet in Belem in northern Brazil, which in 2025 will host the COP30 climate talks.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon halved in 2023 after soaring under Bolsonaro, as Lula's government stepped up environmental policing.
The world's largest tropical forest plays a key role in the fight against climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions.
In Belem, Macron will award tribal chief Raoni Metuktire with the Legion of Honor, the highest French distinction, for his role as an "international figure in the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and the culture of indigenous peoples," according to the French presidency.
Metuktire left his home in the Amazon over 30 years ago to travel the world with his warning of the threats posed by the destruction of the rainforest.
A striking figure with his large wooden lip plate and yellow feather headdress, he has taken his message to popes, royals and presidents, with his stature as an environmental campaigner rising with growing awareness of the climate emergency.
- Mercosur and Ukraine -
France and Brazil are working together to manufacture four conventionally powered submarines, the third of which will be launched on Wednesday by both leaders at the Itaguai naval base, near Rio de Janeiro.
Brasilia could also call on Paris to help it develop nuclear propulsion on a fifth submarine.
Then there are the more sticky topics, such as the long-stalled free trade agreement between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc, which has recently run into fierce resistance from European farmers.
Macron said in January that France opposes the deal because it "doesn't make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours."
While Lula is expected to reiterate his call for the rapid signing of the deal, both Paris and Brasilia have indicated the two-decade old negotiations would not be a major focus of Macron's trip.
The war in Ukraine, which Macron wants to be a key focus of the G20, is another point of contention.
Lula, who has positioned himself as a champion of the "global South", has insisted that Kyiv and Moscow share responsibility over the conflict and has refused to take a stand against Russia.
F.Dubois--AMWN