LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized nations gathered beside the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, for a meeting Saturday that host country Britain called “a show of unity against global aggressors.”The U.K. is seeking elusive unity from the wealthy nations’ club in response to tensions with China and Iran, and what it says is “malign behavior” by Russia towards Ukraine. As a Salvation Army band played Christmas carols, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss greeted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other G-7 counterparts with fist bumps in the rotunda of the modernist Museum of Liverpool at the start of the two-day talks. Truss warned before the meeting, amid concern about a buildup of Russia's troops near Ukraine, that “free democratic nations” must wean themselves off Russian gas and Russian money to preserve their independence. She said the G-7 meeting of diplomats from the U.K., the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan would be “a show of unity between like-minded major economies that we are going to absolutely be strong in our stance against aggression, against aggression with respect to Ukraine.”

Source: Libya Today December 11, 2021 10:43 UTC