G7

Finance Minister of the Britain, George Osborne sees the debt crisis in Greece leading to a generalized problem for the Eurozone. The Minister’s statements come just a few hours prior to the crucial Eurogroup meeting. He also reiterated that the Eurozone needs to find a commonly acceptable solution, while the UK should continue its monetary policy which has “kept it safe”.

Merkel against lifting of sanctions

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is against the lifting of sanctions imposed on Russia.

She stated that "the annexation of Crimea" and the events in Eastern Ukraine are violations of international law and shared values.

The European Commission on Thursday said that it was aware that a video showed workers at Varna harbour in Bulgaria making room for more pipes to be used for the construction of the pipeline, EurActiv reported.

The video was published by Dnevnik, which said the first batch of pipes had arrived by sea on August 14 from Germany.

President Barack Obama vehemently refused to apologize Thursday for doing a prisoner trade with the Taliban to free a US soldier, despite a fierce political storm over the deal in Washington.        

West threatens Russia with more sanctions

BRUSSELS -- Leaders of the seven most developed countries have warned Russia they are ready for new sanctions if there is no progress in resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

World leaders urged Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to stop destabilising Ukraine or face further sanctions as they met without a Russian president for the first time since the 1990s.
      
Putin reached out a hand despite being banned from the Group of Seven summit following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, saying that he was ready to meet Ukraine's president-elect.

President Barack Obama met Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko on June 4, in a show of U.S. support for Ukraine's right to chart its own future, before an encounter with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The G7 group of economic powers has agreed to intensify sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

A G7 statement gave no detail of the sanctions, but US officials said they could announce measures by Monday, reports BBC.

Meanwhile, negotiators are trying to secure the release of international observers seized by pro-Russia gunmen.