Africa bigger, US smaller as UN votes to adopt a new world map

ABC News -AFP, 4 September 2026 

Mercator's Projection shows Greenland and Africa as the same size,

when in reality Africa is 14 times the size of Greenland. (Getty: Interim Archives)

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. 

Aimed at "a more accurate representation" of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the US voted against it and six other states abstained. 

The new map — known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection — "is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world", the resolution said.  

The new map was supported by 164 countries, while the US voted against it. (AFP)

It urges member states to adopt the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. 

Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which drove the resolution, said: "[Maps] guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions. 

"They are therefore never neutral, when they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that are passed down through generation." 

The US, however, slammed the resolution, saying such moves are "the reason this institution is losing its credibility".

"Instead of focusing on genuine problems … this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice," US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said ahead of the vote. 

'Distorted representation' 

The Mercator projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses, but their relative sizes were often inaccurate, in part due to the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional map. 

It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America. 

A group of cartographers launched the Equal Earth projection in 2018. 

It makes Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania appear much larger. 

"Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents and, as much as possible, shows their shapes as they appear on a globe," one of the cartographers, Bojan Savric, told AFP in 2025. 

France — which co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map — announced Friday that it would abandon the Mercator projection. 

"[In that map] the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or south-east Asia, [while] Greenland appears almost as big as Africa," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. 

"Changing maps obviously doesn't change the world. 

The initiative comes as France is seeking to improve relations with Africa, particularly in former colonies with which it has prickly ties.

AFP

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How Big is Africa? Believe It When You See It…

US, EU call for 'full commitment' from WHO to prevent sexual violence

Yahoo – AFP, Tedros Adhanom, October 1, 2021 

The abuses were committed by local and international WHO personnel in the
country to fight the 2018-20 Ebola outbreak (AFP/Fabrice COFFRINI) 

Washington and Brussels joined with other Western capitals on Friday to call for "full commitment" from the World Health Organization to reform, after a damning report detailed rape and sexual abuse by its workers sent to fight Ebola in DR Congo. 

"The governments of Australia, Canada, the European Union and its member states, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States of America... expect full commitment from the WHO to prevent and address such acts, including through fundamental reforms to the WHO," the governments said in a joint statement. 

Calling it a "dark day for WHO", the UN body's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had on Tuesday told victims he was "sorry" and that it was "top priority that the perpetrators are not excused but held to account". 

On Friday, the member state governments said that "we will ensure that the WHO leadership’s commitments lead to accountability, increased capability, action, and swift change", calling for an "immediate, thorough and detailed assessment" of what went wrong. 

The report centred on accusations against local and international personnel deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight an Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020. 

It cited "individual negligence that may amount to professional misconduct". 

The authors also said they found "clear structural failures and unpreparedness to manage the risks of incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse" in the poor central African country. 

Among the 83 suspects identified, 21 were employed by the WHO. 

Four have had their contracts terminated and are banned from future employment at the WHO, while two senior staff have been placed on administrative leave. 

The agency will also refer rape allegations to the Congolese authorities and those of other concerned states, Tedros said.

Putin, Erdogan agree ceasefire in Syria's Idlib

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mainville and Maria Panina, March 5, 2020

The Syrian government's attempt to take Idlib has forced close to a million
civilians to flee their homes (AFP Photo)

Moscow (AFP) - Turkey and Russia agreed on Thursday to halt fighting in northern Syria that has sparked a humanitarian disaster and raised fears of their armies clashing, with a ceasefire due to take effect within hours.

After more than six hours of talks in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on the ceasefire from midnight on Friday.

The agreement will also create a security corridor along the key M4 highway in northern Syria, where Turkish and Russian forces will launch joint patrols from March 15.

The deal aims to put a stop to intense fighting in Idlib, the northwestern province of Syria where Ankara is battling Moscow-backed government forces.

Nearly a million civilians have fled their homes due to the violence and dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed.

Putin told a joint press conference after the talks that the agreement would "serve as a good basis for ending fighting" in Idlib and for "stopping the suffering of the civilian population".

"The object is to avoid the humanitarian crisis getting worse," Erdogan said, though he added that Turkey reserved the right to "retaliate with all its strength against any attack" by Damascus.

The situation in Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria's nine-year civil war, had become critical as Ankara for the first time launched a direct offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Putin (R) and Erdogan (L) agreed the ceasefire at Moscow talks (AFP Photo/
Pavel Golovkin)

More Turkish soldiers killed

Turkey has long backed certain rebel groups against Assad but its priority now is to stop an influx of refugees among those fleeing an offensive the regime has been pressing on Idlib since December.

Ankara has demanded the European Union support its actions in Syria and last week opened its border with EU member Greece to migrants -- a move decried by some in the bloc as "blackmail".

Despite supporting opposing sides in the war, Russia and Turkey have worked to try to resolve the conflict and avoid direct confrontation.

The two countries agreed a deal in the southern Russian city of Sochi in 2018 that created a "de-escalation" zone in Idlib and allowed for the deployment of 12 Turkish observation posts.

In the run-up to Thursday's talks, the two sides had traded accusations of violating the deal.

Ankara said Russia was not fulfilling part of the agreement that guaranteed no attacks on Idlib and the status quo on the ground.

Moscow in turn said Turkey was breaching the agreement by supporting "illegal armed groups" and accused Turkish forces of mingling with "terrorists" in Idlib.

Turkey officially declared an operation against the Assad government over the weekend, after 34 Turkish soldiers died in an air strike blamed on Damascus.

It has since downed three Syrian warplanes and killed dozens of soldiers and allied fighters, according to monitors.

Two more Turkish soldiers were killed by Syrian regime fire in Idlib, the defence ministry said, just hours before the ceasefire was due to take effect.

Turkey warned Europe it must support Ankara in Syria to avoid a repeat of the 

2015 migration crisis (AFP Photo/Ozan KOSE)

Migrants mass on border

The deal leaves open the fate of the Turkish observation posts in Idlib, which have been surrounded since Damascus launched its offensive.

But it does mark the first time Russian and Turkish forces will operate jointly in Idlib.

The security corridor along the M4 highway, which connects second city Aleppo to the coast through Idlib, will run six kilometres deep both north and south of the highway.

The joint Russian-Turkish patrols will operate between the town of Tronba in Idlib and a village in Latakia province, a regime stronghold.

Fighting continued elsewhere in Idlib on Thursday, with Russian air strikes killing at least 15 civilians gathered outside the town of Maaret Misrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Erdogan warned Europe on Wednesday that it must support Turkey's "political and humanitarian solutions in Syria" if it wants to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis.

Thousands of migrants have massed at the Turkish-Greek border since Erdogan gave them the green light to try to enter Europe, leading to clashes with Greek police.

Turkey hosts roughly 3.6 million refugees from Syria -- and hundreds of thousands from elsewhere -- and Erdogan's move has sparked concern in Europe of a renewed influx of migrants.

EU court says Israel settlement goods must be labelled

Yahoo – AFP, Damon WAKE, November 12, 2019

France published guidelines in 2016 saying products from Israeli settlements in the
West Bank and Golan Heights must carry labels making their precise origin
clear (AFP Photo/HAZEM BADER)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court ruled Tuesday that food products from occupied Palestinian territories must be labelled as such, drawing an angry response from Israel which slammed a "double standard".

The European Court of Justice said that under EU rules on food labelling, it must be clear where products are from -- particularly if they come from Israeli settlements.

That way, it said, consumers can make choices based on "ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".

The ECJ ruling effectively backs the EU guidelines issued in 2015 on labelling goods from Israeli-occupied areas, which also prompted a furious response. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared them to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.

The Luxembourg-based court ruled after France's top tribunal asked for clarification of rules on labelling goods from the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied Palestinian land, as well as the Golan Heights, which Israel took from Syria in 1967.

"Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin, accompanied, where those foodstuffs come from an Israeli settlement within that territory, by the indication of that provenance," said an ECJ statement announcing its decision.

France published guidelines in 2016 saying products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights must carry labels making their precise origin clear.

This was challenged by the Organisation Juive Europeene (European Jewish Organisation) and Psagot, a company that runs vineyards in occupied territories.

Israel's foreign ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying it "strongly rejects" the ruling.

"The ruling's entire objective is to single out and apply a double standard against Israel," it said.

"There are over 200 ongoing territorial disputes across the world, yet the (European Court of Justice) has not rendered a single ruling related to the labelling of products originating from these territories."

But a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, insisted the ruling "does not concern products from Israel itself". It would not affect the privileged trading status the Jewish state has under its association agreement with the bloc, she added.

"The EU does not support any form of boycott or sanctions against Israel and the EU rejects attempts by the campaigns of the so-called Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to isolate Israel," spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said.

Elsewhere, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the ruling but urged the EU to go further.

"Our demand is not only for the correct labelling reflecting the certificate of origin of products coming from illegal colonial settlements, but for the banning of those products from international markets."

'Ethical considerations'

The court said that labelling products as from the "State of Israel" when in fact they come from "territories... occupied by that State" could mislead consumers.

The court added that EU regulations on labelling the origin of goods were intended to allow consumers to make "informed choices" -- not just on health, economic, environmental and social grounds, "but also to ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".

"Such considerations could influence consumers' purchasing decisions," the ECJ said.

On the issue of Israeli settlements, the court said "they give concrete expression to a policy of population transfer conducted by that State outside its territory, in violation of the rules of general international humanitarian law".

Consumers might be misled if it was not made clear that products originated in these settlements, the court added.

But Francois-Henri Briard, the lawyer for Psagot, condemned the ruling, saying it catered to "political prejudices".

"If such labelling is applied to Israeli products, surely it will also need to be applied to scores of other countries around the world who could be argued to be in violation of international law," he said in a statement.

Francois Kalifat of the CRIF umbrella association of French Jewish groups called the ruling "discriminatory and intolerable".

He said it would strengthen the BDS movement, which calls for a broad-ranging boycott of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.

Lagarde urges policymakers to resolve manmade economic threats

MSN – AFP, 20 September 2019

Eric BARADAT Outgoing IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde gives an
exclusive interview to AFP journalists at the IMF headquarters in Washington
on September 19, 2019

Accustomed to being the first woman in influential leadership positions and speaking frankly to men in power, Christine Lagarde says manmade threfinats to the global economy can be "man-fixed."

Lagarde only last week left her post as head of the International Monetary Fund after eight years, the first woman to serve in that role, and she is expected to put another "first" on her resume by the end of the year: first woman to serve as president of the European Central Bank.

Eric BARADAT Christine Lagarde is expected to take over
leadership of the European Central bank and calls for
 policymakers to address manmade threats to global growth

She sees a world economy where growth is "fragile" and "under threat" from trade frictions and Brexit, and perhaps an over-reliance on the efforts of central banks like the ECB.

But while she tried to urge action during her time at the IMF -- she took over in 2011 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis -- she said a central bank should "stick to its mandate," which perhaps is a clue to how she will run the ECB.

Or perhaps not.

She carefully avoided a commitment about how she would use her influence in the new post.

Manmade problems can be 'man-fixed'

In perfect English and always engaging and crisply professional, Lagarde sat down with AFP on Thursday to review her legacy at the Washington-based crisis lender, where she arrived after being the first woman finance minister of France.

In bare numbers, her record is impressive: the IMF helped to avoid a global depression, 90 countries -- nearly half of its members -- benefitted from some form of lending or credit line during the crisis, and the lending capacity was doubled to $1 trillion.

One of her main regrets is that she ran out of time to convince the member governments to increase those resources further, since the IMF, which sits "right at the core, at the center of the global financial safety net," may not have enough cash to address the next inevitable crisis.

Still, the IMF remains influential over economic and financial policy matters.

"I think we have spoken truth to power, not always to the power's pleasure," Lagarde said.

But as she leaves Britain is poised to crash out of the European Union, with no deal to cushion the blow in place as yet, while "America First" President Donald Trump has waged a multi-front trade war primarily targeted at China.

Those threats have undercut confidences and business investment as well as exports, and global growth could by some estimates fall to the slowest pace since 2008 at the start of the financial crisis.

But Brexit and trade frictions "are manmade and can be man-fixed," and Lagarde quipped, "A bit of woman wouldn't hurt."

Where are the roof fixers?

She has often urged governments to "fix the roof while the sun is shining," borrowing from former US President John F Kennedy, pushing for spending while times are good to fix long-term problems and help people left behind by globalization and technological change.

Yet even amid a worldwide wave of anger against trade and globalization, officials who control the purse strings of governments have not done enough, Lagarde said.

Instead central banks have done much of the heavy lifting in preventing the financial crisis from becoming a depression.

"I think central bankers have done an awful lot and were for many years regarded as the only game in town," she said.

If confirmed, Lagarde will step into her new post as one of those central bankers in an environment where Trump has maintained a relentless campaign against the US Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates aggressively to stimulate growth, while others in Europe have criticized outgoing ECB President Mario Draghi for cutting rates further into negative territory to juice a sluggish EU economy.

Experience shows that when politicians meddle with central bank independence it "doesn't pan out very well," she cautioned, but at the same time "a central bank has to do the job that it is assigned to do... they should stick to facts and data so that they could be predictable."

In her new post leading the ECB, she pledged to focus on job creation and stability, but stability alone may not be enough in the lives of real people.

Germany asks Polish forgiveness 80 years after WWII outbreak

Yahoo – AFP, Anna Maria Jakubek and Stanislaw Waszak, September 1, 2019

"We want to, and we will, remember. And we will bear the responsibility that our
history imposes upon us," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
(AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.

Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.

That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Polish.

"I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness," Steinmeier said at pre-dawn ceremonies in the western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell 80 years ago.

"It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself," Steinmeier said alongside his Polish counterpart.

Polish Andrzej Duda said the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak 

of WWII will "go down in history of Polish-German friendship" (AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

The line appeared to be a reference to the German far-right, whose co-leader Alexander Gauland once called the 12-year Third Reich a "speck of bird poop" on an otherwise glorious German past.

Polish President Andrzej Duda for his part denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, calling it "an act of barbarity" and "a war crime" but also hailed post-war reconciliation.

Duda later on Sunday slammed recent Russian military attacks against its neighbours as "imperialist tendencies" at state ceremonies in Warsaw attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.

Sanctions

The Polish leader did not specifically name Russia, but referenced Moscow's actions against "Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 that altered borders."

He urged "the leaders of Europe and the world, NATO and EU members" to guard against appeasing aggressors.

Tadeusz Sierandt, an eyewitness to the bombing of Wielun, holds a picture 

of the destroyed town (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"There must be sanctions, resolute actions, it must be obvious that any military aggression will be met with a firm reaction," Duda said.

"Closed eyes are not a good recipe for keeping the peace; it's a good way to encourage aggressive personalities, to give the green light for new attacks."

Polish authorities said they had not invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sunday's ceremonies because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"80 years after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, let us remember the explosion of the Second World War that devastated our Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.

"The fight for peace and our values is more important than ever," he added.

Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came one week after Berlin and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Eastern Europe between them by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Hitler's attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939, led Britain and France to declare 

war on Nazi Germany (AFP Photo)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a separate dawn remembrance ceremony on Sunday in Westerplatte, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on a Polish fort 80 years ago to the day.

'Demand compensation'

Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.

After the Nazis tore up their pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although it has been 80 years since the war started, there are still unresolved matters according to Poland, which says Germany owes it war reparations.

Map showing the start of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. (AFP 

Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

A parliamentary commission is currently working on a new analysis of the extent of Poland's wartime human and material losses.

"We have to talk about, remember and demand the truth regarding those losses. We have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said on Sunday at the Westerplatte ceremony.

When it comes to reparations, however, Berlin believes the case is closed.

US President Donald Trump had planned to attend the war commemorations but cancelled at the last minute so that he could monitor Hurricane Dorian.

"We love our Polish friends, and I will be there soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday, confirming a visit was still in the offing.

King Willem-Alexander starts off the festivities. Photo: Anneke Janssen via HH

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Kings and World War II veterans mark the start of 75 years of freedom

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Trump ready to meet Iranian president in potential breakthrough

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, Adam Plowright and Stuart Williams, 26 August 2019

Donald Trump said he would meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan
Rouhani 'if the circumstances were correct'

US President Donald Trump said Monday at the G7 summit that he is prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart within weeks in what would amount to a stunning change of direction in the two countries' smouldering standoff.

The potential breakthrough was announced by Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he would facilitate the first face-to-face meeting between the US president and the Iranians.

The surprise news came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a dramatic, unscheduled appearance on the sidelines of the summit held in Biarritz on Sunday at the invitation of Macron.

The 41-year-old French leader said the "conditions for a meeting" between Trump and Iran's Hassan Rouhani "in the next few weeks" had been created through intensive diplomacy and consultations.

"If the circumstances were correct, I would certainly agree to that," Trump said at a press conference with Macron at the end of three days of G7 talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to the G7

Asked if he thought the timeline proposed by his French counterpart was realistic, Trump replied: "It does."

Trump was equally confident that Rouhani would be in favour.

"I think he's going to want to meet. I think Iran wants to get this situation straightened out," he added.

Both men will be in New York for the UN General Assembly at the end of September which could provide the stage for the talks.

Trump has put in place a policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme via crippling sanctions that critics see as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East between the United States and Iran.

The US president last year unilaterally pulled out of a landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for trade, investment and sanctions relief. Trump said the deal gave the Iranians cover to keep pursuing a secret nuclear military programme which they insist does not exist.

Earlier this month, Trump lambasted Macron for sending 'mixed signals' on Iran

Rouhani appeared to accept the idea of opening to talks with Washington.

"I believe that for our country's national interests we must use any tool," Rouhani said of Zarif's Biarritz visit in a speech aired live on state television on Monday.

But hardliners criticised the initiative, with the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper saying the trip was "improper" and sent "a message of weakness and desperation."

'Real progress'

Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, and has raised the possibility of a new credit line to enable exports.

In return, Iran would return to complying with the 2015 deal.

Commenting on the talks about Iran at the G7, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "It's a big step forward. Now there is an atmosphere in which talks are welcomed."

Raging fires in the Amazon rainforest were on the G7 agenda

Macron and Trump hailed the common ground found by G7 leaders at their summit, which was dominated by the Iranian nuclear crisis, global trade tensions and fires in the Amazon.

"We have managed to find real points of convergence, unprecedented, very positive, that will allow us to go forward in a very useful way," Macron told the press conference.

Trump said Macron had done a "fantastic job" at the G7.

"This was a very special, a very unified two and a half days and I want to thank you," Trump told his host.

Just a few weeks ago, Trump lambasted Macron for sending "mixed signals" on Iran, and at the end of July the US administration imposed sanctions on Zarif.

Macron acknowledged there had been "nervousness" ahead of the summit because of tensions between the US and Europe on a host of issues.

"A lot depends on the return to the United States of Donald Trump and the way he manages everything," analyst Thomas Gomart from the French foreign affairs think-tank IFRI told AFP.

US-China tariff hikes

Trade war worries

Commenting on his escalating trade war with China, Trump held out hope of a deal to thaw the bruising year-long dispute that has seen tariffs imposed on billions of dollars' worth of goods by both sides.

"I can say we are having very meaningful talks, much more meaningful, I would say, than at any time," he had said at a press conference with Merkel.

Trump said senior Chinese officials had been in contact, though there was no confirmation from the Chinese side.

"I'm not sure they have a choice (on making a deal)," he said. "I don't mean that as a threat. I don't think they have a choice."

Trump arrived in the famed surfing town of Biarritz on Saturday shortly after upping the ante in his trade war with a new round of increased tariffs on Chinese goods.

European leaders have lined up to urge caution and warn about the danger of recession from the conflict.

Macron met Brazil's indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo people

for talks in Biarritz on Monday evening

'Preserve our lands'

On the final day of the summit, the G7 agenda also included action to help fight fires destroying swaths of the Amazon.

The members agreed to spend $20 million (18 million euros) on the world's biggest rainforest, mainly to send firefighting aircraft to tackle blazes.

Macron said later they also hoped to raise "at least 30 million" dollars for a reforestation plan, to be discussed at the UN in September.

On Monday evening, he held talks in Biarritz with Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire who said he had asked the French leader to "help us preserve our lands".

Trump was less vocal on this issue than his partners.

He also stood out from the rest of the G7 leaders in his budding friendship with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has given freer rein to industrial farmers and loggers who have made the country an agribusiness power -- at a huge cost to the environment.

Macron had threatened to block an extensive new trade deal between the European Union and Latin America unless Bolsonaro takes serious steps to combat global warming.