Merkel in combative speech about Brexit, Trump before G20

Berlin

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel championed Europe, dismissed Brexit and said efforts to fight climate change are irreversible in a combative speech ahead of the Group of 20 summit that's shaping up to be a confrontation over the direction of global policy.

Mrs Merkel, in a speech to lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament on Thursday, noted that "the world has become less united" and acknowledged that discussions at the G20 meeting in Hamburg on July 7-8 "will be very difficult".