The meeting of the world's largest economies in Biarritz in France ended with some hope that China and the US could be moving to resolve the escalating trade war. President Trump also said he'd consider sitting down with Iran but warned of "violent force" if the Iranian leader didn't change his approach. Prime minister Scott Morrison, who attended the summit as an invited observer, declared he thinks Australia can reach a free trade agreement with the UK in less than a year.
Also at the summit international leaders agreed to provide 33 million dollars to help fight fires in the amazon rainforest. Raging wildfires fires in the world's largest rainforest have surged 83% so far this year. The funding was announced in Biarritz by French president Emmanuel Macron. Last week he described the fires as an international emergency. He also said an international initiative for the Amazon would be launched in the coming months at the United Nations.
The number of Australians dying from accidental drug overdoses has climbed by almost 40 per cent in the last decade. According to the annual overdose report from the Pennington Insitute in 2017 one thousand six hundred people died from an accidental drug overdose. The new figures reveal a dramatic spike in the number of overdose deaths involving heroin or stimulants such as methamphetamine in the last five years. But prescription opioids continue to cause the majority of overdose deaths.