Headlines: Liverpool to host world’s foreign ministers at G7 summit

Liverpool is to host a high profile meeting of G7 Foreign and Development Ministers in December.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will host counterparts from the world’s biggest economies for three days.

The Museum of Liverpool will be the primary location for the talks.

The city was chosen due to its history as a port with a global outlook, its links around the world, and thriving cultural life.

Liverpool will be in the global spotlight as leaders from the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and the EU take part in discussions and experience first-hand some of the city’s major attractions.

The event will also include delegates from India, South Korea, South Africa and Australia, as well as – for the first time at a G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting – several South-East Asian countries.

The Liverpool G7 meeting follows other major summits hosted around the UK in 2021, including COP26 in Glasgow in November and the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, in June.

The Foreign Ministers will meet to discuss a range of global issues, including economic resilience post-COVID, worldwide health and human rights.

Liverpool City Council and Merseyside Police are working with partners to minimise any disruption residents and businesses face in the run-up to and during the event.

Taxi driver says it’s a ‘miracle I’m alive’ after bomb blast

Liverpool taxi driver David Perry, who survived a bomb blast inside his cab on Remembrance Sunday, has spoken out for the first time since the incident.

The cabbie has been widely praised for his actions, which led to Emad Al Swealmeen detonating a homemade device inside the taxi rather than in what is believed to have been his intended target, Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

In a letter, David Perry and his wife Rachel thanked the public for their “amazing generosity”.

On fundraising site GoFundMe, a fund that was created to help Mr Perry has already surpassed its intended target of £20,000 and is well on the way to its new target of £50,000.

Mr Perry also said it was a “miracle” he had survived the terror attack.

“On behalf of myself, Rachel and our family, we would like to say thank you to everyone for all your get-well wishes and for your amazing generosity. We are completely overwhelmed with it.

“A special thanks to the staff at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, the staff and medical team at Aintree Hospital, Merseyside Police and Counter Terrorism Policing, who have all been amazing.

“I feel like it’s a miracle that I’m alive and so thankful that no one else was injured in such an evil act.

“I now need time to try to come to terms with what’s happened and focus on my recovery both mentally and physically.

“Please be kind, be vigilant and stay safe.”

Liverpool leaders write open letter to ‘proud and multi-cultural’ city

A week on from the terror attack at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, city leaders have written an open letter to the people of Liverpool and Merseyside.

Signed by the Mayor, the Metro Mayor, Chief Constable and Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner, locals have been praised for pulling together following the explosion.