Unity Only Goes So Far

G-8 Update

Jim VandeHei writes for washingtonpost.com: "President Bush and seven other world leaders pledged Friday to double African aid and spend $3 billion to facilitate peace talks between Israel and Palestine, wrapping up an economic summit in what British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the 'shadow of terrorism.' . . .

"Blair, who triumphed in his campaign for more Africa aid, failed to convince Bush to embrace mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions and settled for a watered-down pledge by leaders of eight industrial nations to take other steps to combat global warming. . . .

"Blair did not convince Bush and others to spend 0.7 percent of each country's Gross Domestic Product on Africa by 2015. The United States provides more money than any other nation to Africa, but when measured against U.S. wealth, it ranks near the bottom of industrialized nations."

Juliet Eilperin got a copy of the joint statement on climate change yesterday, and wrote in this morning's Washington Post: "Leaders of the world's eight major industrial nations have agreed to take immediate steps to curb global warming as part of this week's Group of Eight summit, though they will not set concrete heat-trapping gas reductions or specify how much money they will spend.

"The leaders' joint statement, which was obtained by The Washington Post and will be released today, represents a qualified political victory for the White House. Bush officials resisted calls from allies to adopt a more ambitious framework for addressing climate change; foreign leaders managed to include a limited endorsement of mandatory carbon-emissions cuts and language linking global warming to human activity. . . .

"U.S. officials managed to excise swaths of text that called for 'ambitious' greenhouse gas reductions and committed G-8 countries to spending a specific amount on environmentally friendly projects. They managed to eliminate the opening sentence, 'Our world is warming,' as well as lengthy descriptions of how melting glaciers and rising sea levels reflect recent climate change."

Fiona Harvey and Caroline Daniel write in the Financial Times: "The developing nations attending the summit of the Group of Eight leading economies sent a strong rebuff to the US on climate change yesterday.

"They strongly endorsed the Kyoto protocol on climate change, which the US has rejected, and called on developed nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, in a joint statement ahead of the G8's expected communiqué on climate change."

Here's a White House photo of the G-8 leaders, six of them shirt-sleeved, sitting around a table yesterday.

The White House "fact sheet" on the summit's accomplishments declares: "Today the President, with his G-8 partners, brought the Summit to a successful conclusion, with respect for the victims of yesterday's savage attacks and in defiance of the perpetrators. The leaders took significant steps to make the world better and safer and improve human life, in contrast to the terrorists who seek to destroy it."

Oval Office Visit Update

Reuters reports: "A Venezuelan opposition figure who was received by President Bush will go on trial with three colleagues accused of conspiring to change the government using U.S. funds, a judge ruled on Thursday.

"Maria Corina Machado and three other members of her Sumate group, which helped organize a referendum against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nearly a year ago, are being charged with 'conspiracy to change Venezuela's republican system.' "

Cheney's Heart

The Associated Press reports: "Vice President Dick Cheney will undergo a routine exam Friday to check the condition of a high-tech pacemaker that was placed in his chest in June 2001.

"Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the tests at George Washington University Medical Center would include a physical exam, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and a stress test. The vice president planned to be back at work later in the day, she said."

Late Night Humor

Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight Show": "What does a bicycle have in common with the war in Iraq? President Bush doesn't know how to stop either one of them."