The Latest: UK police detain 7 driving near G7 summit venue
The Latest on the Group of Seven nations meeting being held in England:
FALMOUTH, England — British police say seven people were arrested after officers found two vehicles carrying paint, smoke grenades and loudspeakers close to the Group of Seven summit venue in southwest England .
Police said Friday that officers searched a car and a van about seven miles (11 kilometers) from the Carbis Bay Hotel on Thursday afternoon and found the items inside.
Four men and three women were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and possessing an article with intent to commit criminal damage. All seven remain in police custody.
Police said they support safe and legal protests but criminal activity and public disorder are not tolerated.
Security is tight around the G-7 venues near St. Ives, England, where leaders of the world's wealthy nations are gathering for three days of talks. Armed soldiers guarding the main sites and some 5,000 extra police officers from around the U.K. deployed to the area.
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HAYLE, England — U.S. first lady Jill Biden and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, are touring a preschool in southwestern England and learning how the children care for some rabbits.
The women also plan to take part in a talk about early childhood education. The White House says it’s the first time they’ve met.
Biden and the former Kate Middleton are visiting with 4- and 5-year-olds at Connor Downs Academy in Hayle, England. Biden carried a bowl of carrots when they went outside to see the bunnies.
Biden is a longtime English teacher who focuses on education, as does Kate, a mother of three young children.
The first lady is traveling with her husband, President Joe Biden, who is attending a Group of Seven summit of the world’s largest economies opening Friday in Carbis Bay.
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CARBIS BAY, England — Workers are carefully raking the sand on the beach where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will greet Group of Seven leaders at the start of their summit in southwestern England.
The backdrop for the greetings and family photo on Friday is an idyllic view of Carbis Bay, with the event's huge security operation just out of sight.
A Royal Navy destroyer is moored in the bay, and armed police and snipers are ringing the seaside resort where leaders of seven wealthy nations are meeting for the first time in two years.
The G-7 nations are f Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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PLYMOUTH, England — U.S. President Joe Biden is going to be hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House next month.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Friday that Merkel, who is leaving office later this year, will visit Washington on July 15.
Psaki, in a statement, said the meeting will affirm ties between the two nations and the leaders will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and international security.
Merkel will be the first European leader to visit the White House.
She and Biden were set to meet later Friday at the Group of Seven summit, a gathering of some of the world’s wealthiest nations, taking place in England.
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FALMOUTH, England — The mother of a British teenager killed in a road accident involving a U.S. diplomat’s wife says she is hopeful of progress in the stalled case after Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the case with President Joe Biden at the G-7.
Harry Dunn, 19, died in 2019 when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Anne Sacoolas near a military base in England used by the U.S. Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the United States after the crash. She has been charged in England with causing death by dangerous driving but is refusing to come back to Britain.
The U.K. government said Johnson discussed the issue with Biden when they met Thursday, “and reiterated that the U.K. wants to see justice done for the family.” Johnson said the president was “extremely sympathetic” to the family’s plight.
Dunn’s mother, Caroline Charles, said she hoped Biden’s personal experience of similar tragic loss would help U.S. authorities take a “different view” of the case.
Biden’s first wife and their 1-year-old daughter died in a car accident in 1972.
“It is almost two years since we lost Harry in August 2019 and it would be lovely to think that all parties can now come together to help bring this living nightmare to an end so that we can try to rebuild our shattered lives,” Charles said.
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BERLIN — The German government says a member of the country’s advance team to the G-7 summit has gone into precautionary quarantine after a coronavirus case was reported in their hotel in the Cornish town of St. Ives.
The government said in a statement Friday that the incident would have no impact on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her delegation’s trip to the summit in Carbis Bay.