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OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Protesters are causing major traffic issues across the Bay Area, including in Oakland and on the Golden Gate Bridge, as part of a worldwide economic blockade in solidarity with Palestine. The first protest Monday morning happened on northbound I-880 in Oakland at 5th Ave., where Protesters brought barrels filled with concrete onto the highway and chained themselves to the barrels. Law enforcement had to cut through the barrels before they could arrest the protesters. Only one lane has been opened. Southbound I-880 has also closed as hundreds of protesters made their way onto the highway with...

Biden Blunders Through 20 Minute Insipid Speech at APEC People Think Reading is Easy, But Not For Biden https://vimeo.com/showcase/10566932/video/888136700 Can't Pronounce Name of a Company Which Is Critically Important https://vimeo.com/showcase/10566932/video/888136531 CEOs Have Better Things to Do Than Listen to Biden at an Economic Summit https://vimeo.com/showcase/10566932/video/888136932

The APEC Summit opened on Friday in Thailand, the last of three world summits hosted in the region this month. Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for stability, peace and the development of a “more just world order.” French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok. This was despite the fact that France is not a member of the APEC nations. Macron is a graduate of the “Young Global Leaders” program of the World Economic Forum. Macron called for a new global order where neither the US or China side wins. Emanuel Macron: "Are you...

The CIA claims that it never saw the storm coming, but Canadian intelligence sure did. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird landed in Vladivostok, Russia, earlier this month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and had barely stepped off the plane when he announced that Canada would be pulling its diplomats out of Iran and closing its embassy while kicking all Iranian diplomats out of Canada. At the time, some thought that maybe the minister had a few too many mini vodkas on the ride over. Several days later, when protests and embassy attacks erupted in Islamic nations, and the...

Singapore will toughen its protest laws ahead of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to reduce the number of civil disobedience acts, state media reported on Saturday. Wong Kan Seng, Singapore's interior minister, told the pro-government Straits Times newspaper the city-state will look to enact regulations in the coming months giving police greater power to prevent protesters from gathering. Singapore will host an APEC ministerial meeting in July and the annual summit in mid-November. It hopes to avoid a controversy like the one in 2006 when an opposition politician was prevented from holding a march during the World Bank...

The President attended the APEC Summit in Australia on Saturday returning to the US that evening with a refueling stop in Hawaii where he made a private visit to injured troops. Today he attended the ceromonial swearing in of Jim Nussle as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget . He also attended a meeting in the Oval Office along with the Vice President to talk about the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety's initial report and the group's next steps in enhancing the safety of imported products. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Asia-Pacific climate change agreement was a milestone because it marked the first time the world's biggest polluters had pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Australia's Prime Minister said on Sunday. "This is the first such agreement involving the major polluters -- the United States, China and the Russian Federation," John Howard told a news conference following the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. "And (it) is therefore a very important component, along the hard march of mankind towards reaching a sensible, workable, international agreement to cover the period post-Kyoto, that is 2012 onwards," he said. Pacific Rim...

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he may resign if he fails to win parliamentary approval to extend the country's mission in Afghanistan. Mr Abe said he would do the utmost to keep his promise to the US on the mission, but had "no intention of staying" as PM if MPs blocked the move. He was speaking in Sydney, at a summit of Asia Pacific leaders (Apec). The opposition controls the upper house and can stall talks on the mission beyond its expiry date on 1 November. The mission involves Japanese vessels in the Indian Ocean providing refuelling and...

The pilot behind a security scare in Sydney airspace this afternoon is being questioned by authorities. A small Cessna aircraft had to be escorted by two F/A-18 Defence fighter jets into Sydney's Bankstown Airport, after failing to respond in restricted APEC airspace above Sydney. A witness has told commercial radio the fighter jets fired flares at the plane. He says shortly before 3:00pm AEST he saw the plane enter restricted airspace over the western suburb of Penrith before flares were fired at it by two F/A-18 jets. "This light plane came over in restricted airspace because of APEC and these...

SYDNEY, Australia (CP) - Leaders of some of the world's fastest-growing economies are on track toward a "sensible" international agreement to curb climate change, Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Saturday. But the hard-won consensus at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum includes no targets for emissions reductions and oceans of wiggle room even within the non-binding APEC communique. Canada and Japan are explicitly singled out for credit in the body of the text for their efforts in getting the agreement, given the divisions within the disparate APEC forum. "We and a couple of others stood firm," said a senior Canadian...

US President George W Bush got out of his motorcade and onto a mountain bike in Sydney's north this afternoon, a US Embassy official says. The president took advantage of a break in his schedule of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of this week's APEC conference to indulge his passion for mountain biking. "I can confirm he went mountain bike riding this afternoon," a US Embassy official told AAP. President Bush got out of his motorcade and onto a mountain bike in Sydney's north this afternoon, a US Embassy official says. The president took advantage of a break in his...

SYDNEY, Australia - President Bush used an address before an audience of Pacific Rim business elite to discuss the war on terror. Chinese President Hu Jintao talked about the business opportunities that China's growth is producing. The messages, and the reviews they received this week, underscore how Washington and Beijing are now being perceived in the Asia-Pacific region, where the U.S. role seems to be slipping, while China is seen as the power of the future. "Politics does not exist in a vacuum, and whenever there is a vacuum, somebody else is going to fill that, whether it is China...

Leadership: Australian Prime Minister John Howard is the last man standing in the terror war's "coalition of the willing." His unflinching allegiance goes deeper than politics and should make Americans grateful. 'America could ask for no better friend and more steadfast ally than Prime Minister John Howard," President Bush told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation at its annual meeting in Sydney this week. Bush spoke wisely, because for as long as Howard has been in office — some 12 years — he has stood by his alliance with America. His stance on the Iraq War is unique. "Our commitment to Iraq...

The APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit officially began today in Sydney Australia. President Bush addressed the Summit this morning, thanking Prime Minister John Howard for his hospitality. (Transcript) The president then had lunch with ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, which included the presidents of Vietnam, the Philippines and the prime minister of Thailand among other leaders. ASEAN has the fourth largest trading relationship with the United States. (Transcript) President Bush later met individually with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Transcript) and South Korean President Roh Moon-Hyun (Transcript). Apparently there was a “miscommunication” during the meeting with the...

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- President Bush had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at the Sydney Opera House. He'd only reached the third sentence of Friday's speech to business leaders, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, when he committed his first gaffe. "Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit," Bush said to Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Oops. That would be APEC, the annual meeting of leaders from 21 Pacific Rim nations, not OPEC, the cartel of 12 major oil producers. Bush quickly corrected himself. "APEC summit," he said forcefully,...

YO, Bush! Welcome to Sydney. Forgive the informality, but you're a Texan and Australia is a pretty laid back as you'd know from the Aussies you've met over the years and though you're only visiting briefly, a lot of us hope you get to experience something of the flavour of the country we love while you're here. You've had an opportunity to see something of the Harbour, the Bridge and the Opera House and perhaps you'll get a chance to see Bondi and some other famous beaches before you leave. I certainly hope so. As you know from your escapades...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit appeared deadlocked on Thursday over what their "Sydney Declaration" on climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions should say. China's President Hu Jintao gave only qualified support to Australia's initiative on climate change, while some developing nations criticized Australian and U.S. moves to put climate change at the top of the agenda of the APEC gathering in Sydney. President George W. Bush raised climate change with Hu during a bilateral in Sydney and said he would support a strong climate statement by the 21 leaders and urged Hu to do the same....

SYDNEY, Australia - President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, leaders of two of the world's worst polluting nations, called Thursday for greater international cooperation in tackling climate change without stifling economic growth. Bush also was to push for expanded trade with Pacific Rim nations and appeal for help in getting stalled global trade talks going again. He was laying out his views on the environment, energy security and the economic costs of terrorism in a speech to business leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Climate change was high on the agenda of the U.S. and Chinese presidents in...

President Bush arrived in Sydney, Australia yesterday to attend the annual Asian-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). Today he met again with his friend and ally Australian Prime Minister John Howard as they toured Sydney Harbor. The two leaders then met with Australian troops on Garden Island Naval Base where they joined them for lunch. President Bush personally thanked the troops for their continued service in the War on Terror. (Transcript) Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino: “[The president] said he was very proud to be with them, they're very courageous. And one of the things I overheard him say to some...

After his surprise trip to Iraq yesterday where he met with the troops in Anbar Province President Bush flew to Sidney, Australia to attend the APEC summit Today President Bush commended the Senate for confirming Jim Nussle as OMB Director I thank the Senate for its strong bipartisan vote confirming Jim Nussle as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Jim's confirmation comes at a critical time for our Nation's budget as Congress considers this year's annual spending bills. With less than a month until the new fiscal year begins, Congress has not sent any of the twelve appropriations...