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Protesting and policing at the summit are both more difficult than usual this year because of Covid restrictions.

More than 5,000 extra officers - on top of 1,500 from Devon and Cornwall - will police the summit.

A cruise ship has docked in nearby Falmouth to accommodate all the extra security officers.

Demonstrators have been told they can gather in four approved protesting sites, including one in Exeter - more than 100 miles away.

Police have said they are "not naïve enough to expect that every protest will take place solely in those four sites".

Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion has planned a number of demonstrations, including a march from Plymouth to Carbis Bay.

BBC Spotlight

Local suppliers from across the South West have been called upon to provide for the visiting world leaders at the G7 summit.

They include gift hampers for the world leaders, bespoke fountain pens made from South West Coast Path wood and cups made from recycled Cornish ice cream tubs.

Some of them described how when they received the call from the Cabinet Office they thought it was a joke.

Sun, sea and a wasrhip in the bay...reporter Nomia Iqbal explores Carbis Bay, the Cornish village that's hosting the G7 summit.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team are arriving at Cornwall Airport in Newquay ahead of the G7 talks.

Their arrival comes amid tensions between the European Union and UK over the Northern Ireland protocol and post-Brexit trade arrangements.

While in Cornwall, G7 leaders may be able to feast their eyes on a sculpture of themselves shaped like US leaders at Mount Rushmore, which has been erected in Cornwall ahead of the summit.

It has been named "Mount Recyclemore", is made of electronic waste and seeks to highlight the damage caused by the disposal of electronic devices.

Sculptor Joe Rush says he hopes it will show they need to be made more easily reusable or recyclable.

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

Carrie Johnson will take on a key role hosting the spouses of world leaders at the G7 summit in Cornwall this weekend.

It will be the first major public event for Mrs Johnson since she married the prime minister in a secret ceremony last month.

At 33, she is the youngest of the partners, but will not be the only G7 rookie among the world leaders and their entourages.

Other first-timers include US First Lady, Dr Jill Biden, Mariko Suga, the wife of Japan's prime minister Yoshihide Suga, and Maria Serena Cappello, the wife of the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi.

And while the full itinerary has not been released, Saturday night's barbecue on the beach in Carbis Bay will be a chance for leaders and their entourages to mingle over scallops and Curgurrell crab claws.

Here is a guide to the spouses and partners of the G7 leaders and what they might chat about.

Seven people have been arrested after two vehicles were stopped and searched about three miles from the G7 summit venue in Cornwall, police have said.

Officers found paint, smoke grenades and loud hailers after stopping a car and a van near Loggans Road in Hayle on Thursday.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the seven people who were arrested remain in police custody.

Image source, Justice4Harry19

One topic that came up between the leaders of the US and UK yesterday was the ongoing issues surrounding the death of Harry Dunn.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he and President Biden are "working together" to end the row over whether Anne Sacoolas should face trial over the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn.

Sacoolas, an American citizen, claimed diplomatic immunity after the teenager died in a collision with her car almost two years ago.

Speaking at the G7, Johnson said the president was "extremely sympathetic" and "actively engaged" in the case.

The confirmation of talks comes after Biden's predecessor Donald Trump refused to intervene.

Crucially, it will raise hopes for the Dunn family that Ms Sacoolas could still be stripped of diplomatic immunity in order to face a British court over the death.

The prime minister says his counterpart has his “own personal reasons for feeling very deeply about the issue”.

Biden lost his first wife, Neilia Hunter, and their one-year-old daughter Naomi in a car crash in 1972.

Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden does not travel lightly. The US president has an array of specialist vehicles to help him move around in safety and comfort, on land and in the air.

And none is more iconic than the presidential plane - Air Force One.

The aircraft landed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk on Wednesday, where Biden met US personnel stationed at the base before flying to Cornwall.

Inside the aircraft, there is 4,000 sq feet (372 sq m) of floor space spread over three levels.

Aside from a presidential suite, there are also medical facilities, food galleys, and space for advisers, Secret Service protection officers and journalists.

You can read more about Biden’s various modes of transport here.

Draghi - G7's central figure?published at 09:10 British Summer Time 11 June 2021

09:10 BST 11 June 2021

Mark Lowen
BBC Italy Correspondent

Image source, EPA

He may already be well known to the other G7 leaders having served for eight years as president of the European Central Bank, but this is Mario Draghi’s first summit as Italy’s prime minister - and he’ll be keen to establish his authority around the table in Cornwall.

Italy is sometimes perceived as punching below its weight in international affairs. The influential figure of Mario Draghi changes that image.

As the first country in the West to be crushed by the pandemic, Italy led the push for a significant EU recovery fund and is its largest recipient.

Draghi will be keen to keep the issue of post-Covid rebuilding on the agenda. And as joint host with the UK of COP26, the UN environment conference, efforts to combat climate change will be central to Italy’s aims at this G7.

Italy also presides over the G20 this year, so it is responsible for taking any pledges from Cornwall to October’s summit with other key world leaders in Rome.

Image source, PA Media

The UK's Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy says there is a moral, economic and health case for Britain to help vaccinate the world against coronavirus.

She tells BBC Breakfast Boris Johnson's pledge ahead of the G7 summit to donate 100 million surplus vaccine doses to some of the world's poorest countries was "welcome" but says there needs to be a plan not just an ambition.

"What we need over the next 48 hours is not just ambitions to get the world vaccinated but an actual plan," she says.

"That would be in Britain's interest as well, the International Monetary Fund says that this would represent the biggest return on investment in modern history for wealthier countries because of the economic fallout if we don't deal with this."

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi says the pledge will be delivered in stages, with five million doses to be donated by the end of September and 25 million by the end of the year.

But even with the G7 donation pledges he agrees there is "fundamentally a shortage" of vaccine and calls on manufacturers to increase production.

Why does the G7 summit matter?published at 08:49 British Summer Time 11 June 2021

08:49 BST 11 June 2021

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

Image source, Reuters

Do summits like this matter? “Occasionally!” comes the answer from a former government insider who worked for years at the very top.

They warn that global get-togethers - however glamorous the location, however acute any particular political emergency, however good the freebies for the thousands of attendees - can descend into “waffelage”.

As the most powerful elected people in the world occupy a tiny Cornish bay for a few days, will this be an occasion that makes a difference to any of our lives or will it be waffle in the end?

A senior diplomat closely involved in the preparation was confident "this will be very meaningful".

It is the first time the new American president has met the relatively new British prime minister in person - a big moment by any measure.

And it's the first time that the leaders of the world's biggest democracies have gathered like this since their countries were hit by a genuine emergency - Covid.

Read more from Laura Kuenssberg here.

If you are wondering what the G7 is all about then Jon Kay has summed it all up in 60 seconds for you here.

Image source, PA Media

Among the topics high on the agenda in Cornwall is the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Ahead of the talks starting Boris Johnson says the UK will start donating coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries in the next few weeks.

More than 100 million surplus doses will be delivered in the next year, he says.

It follows a pledge from US President Joe Biden of half a billion doses of Pfizer vaccines to 92 low and middle-income countries and the African Union.

The first five million doses from the UK will be given by the end of September, with another 25 million by the end of the year.

The prime minister says: "As a result of the success of the UK's vaccine programme we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them.

"In doing so we will take a massive step towards beating this pandemic for good."

He hopes his fellow leaders at the summit will "make similar pledges so that, together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year".

Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson insists the US president has not rebuked him over post-Brexit tensions in Northern Ireland – despite Joe Biden being said to have “deep concern” over the situation.

The president has previously warned the new arrangements – the Northern Ireland Protocol – should not jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement, a peace deal signed in 1998 that helped end decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Asked if Biden had expressed his concerns, Johnson says: "No, the president didn't say anything of the kind."

The prime minister suggests the way the EU is implementing the agreed arrangement is "excessively burdensome" and says while the UK, the US and the EU want to preserve the balance in Northern Ireland, a resolution to the issue is unlikely to be found in the coming days.

However, he adds that the different sides will be able to "work it out".

Image source, Reuters

You may be wondering why world leaders are gathering at a seaside resort in south-west England.

No, they’re not on holiday. Rather, they’re meeting to discuss global problems at the G7 (Group of Seven) summit.

It’s being held in the UK because its government holds the G7 presidency this year.

It was announced in January the event would take place at the Carbis Bay Hotel near St Ives in Cornwall.

The UK government said it was important for world leaders to meet in person and regular Covid testing would take place.

While the G7 summit proper starts today the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden have already held talks.

Johnson tells the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg the alliance between the US and the UK should be known as the "indestructible relationship".

The prime minister has previously said he preferred to use a new term for the “special relationship”, as it has previously been known.

Johnson says the UK and US shared a belief in human rights, the rules-based international order and the transatlantic alliance.

"It's a relationship that has endured for a very long time, and has been an important part of peace and prosperity both in Europe and around the world," he says.

Image source, PA Media

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the G7 summit.

World leaders have travelled to Cornwall for the talks, which start today, with vaccines and climate change on the agenda.