Brazil rejects G7 aid to fight Amazon fires

VICTOR MORIYAMA / GREENPEACE / AFP

Brazilian officials say the government will reject more than $22 million pledged at the G7 summit to help fight the Amazon wildfires.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that the funding would be immediately released.

"We appreciate (the offer), but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe," Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to President Jair Bolsonaro, told the G1 news website. 

Earlier, Bolsonaro had accused Macron of adopting a "colonialist" mindset at the summit.

More from International news

  • UN chief calls New START expiration 'grave moment'

    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called the expiration of the New START Treaty a grave moment for international peace and security and urged Russia and the United States to negotiate a new nuclear arms control framework without delay.

  • 700 immigration agents withdrawn from Minnesota

    The Trump administration is withdrawing some 700 federal immigration enforcement agents from Minnesota, although about 2,000 agents will stay in place, White House border czar Tom Homan announced on Wednesday, a number the state's Democratic leaders say is still too high.

  • Xi, Putin hail ties in video call as Ukraine war nears anniversary

    China's President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin both hailed their ties during a video call on Wednesday held in the run-up to the fourth anniversary of Moscow's war in Ukraine.

  • Israeli strikes kill 21 in Gaza, health officials say

    Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 21 Palestinians including six children in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials said, the latest violence to undermine a truce in the enclave.

News