‘Energy must not destroy civilization’: Pope Francis tells top oil executives world must convert to clean fuel in closed-door conference

About 40 senior representatives from leading energy firms attended the private event at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Saturday

Pope Francis, addressing top oil company executives, said on Saturday that the world must convert to clean energy and warned that climate change risked destroying humanity.

“Civilisation requires energy but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” he told the high-profile group at the end of a secretive two-day conference in the Vatican.

He said climate change was a challenge of “epochal proportions”, adding that the world needed to come up with an energy mix that combated pollution, eliminated poverty and promoted social justice.

The unprecedented conference, held behind closed doors at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, brought together oil executives, investors and Vatican experts who, like the pope, back scientific opinion that climate change is caused by human activity and that global warming must be curbed.

“We know that the challenges facing us are interconnected. If we are to eliminate poverty and hunger … the more than one billion people without electricity today need to gain access to it,” the pope said.

http:// www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2150051/energy-must-not-destroy-civilisation-pope-tells-top-oil-executives

Vienna being discussed as host for Putin-Trump summit, says Kremlin

News of the possible meeting comes after the US leader called for Russia to be readmitted to the group of the world’s leading nations, the G7

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed during a visit to Austria this week the possibility of Vienna playing host to a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.

“It was mentioned that Vienna could be such a city” Peskov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti state news agency after being asked if Putin mentioned whether the city could hold such a meeting when he met Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday.

Peskov’s comments come a day after Trump called for Russia to be readmitted to the group of the world’s leading nations, known as the G7, a step that would end Russia’s international isolation over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Speaking from China where Putin was attending a regional security summit, Peskov said that in their last telephone conversation on March 20 the Russian and US leaders had also mentioned possibly meeting in Vienna.

“You know, the two presidents discussed the necessity of holding such a meeting in their last telephone call. Including that Vienna could be such a city” for the summit, said Peskov.

He added, however, that no concrete agreements have been reached and no concrete discussions were underway.

Under the conservative Kurz, Austria has strived to act as a mediator between Russia and the West.

While the EU-state imposed sanctions on Russia over Crimea along with the rest of the bloc, Austria did not expel Russian diplomats like other Western nations following the March poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Britain, an attack London has accused Moscow of being behind.

“We have continued our cooperation even during difficult times,” Kurz said after his talks with Putin on Tuesday.

http:// www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2150044/vienna-being-discussed-host-putin-trump-summit-says

>>1680506

It is a religion based solely on guilt which is why some will go along even if they don't like it.

>>1680539

Guess he needs to do something to take the focus off of his crimes.

Frenchman commits suicide at Mecca's Grand Mosque

RIYADH (AFP) - A Frenchman has committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city of Mecca, Saudi and French officials said on Saturday (June 9).

"A foreigner threw himself from the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca" to the courtyard below, "resulting in his instant death", Saudi police told the official SPA news agency.

A French foreign ministry official told AFP in Paris that the dead man was French but gave no further details.

The rare act was not the first of its kind to take place in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam - which, like other monotheistic religions, prohibits suicide.

The body was transported to hospital, with an investigation under way "to determine the victim's identity, what led to the act and how he was able to commit it despite the existence of a metal fence", SPA said.

Last year, a Saudi man tried to set himself on fire in front of the Kaaba - the square stone building in the centre of the mosque compound - but was stopped by security forces.

Every year, millions of Muslim pilgrims from across the world travel to Mecca and Medina, Islam's second holiest site, also in western Saudi Arabia.

https:// www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/frenchman-commits-suicide-at-meccas-grand-mosque

What do and have to do with the Trump-Kim Summit?

Read our A to Z guide to find out.

published: JUNE 8, 2018

https:// graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/Interactives/2018/06/Trump-Kim-A-to-Z/index.html