Cristiano Ronaldo's mother got herself into trouble with the law recently when she was found to have been travelling with €55,000 in her hand luggage. according to reports in Spain.
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Monday, 8 June 2015
Podolski: I can add a lot to Arsenal
The 30-year-old moved to Inter on loan in January after failing to start a single Premier League game for Arsenal, but the Serie A outfit decided against a permanent move after a return of just one Serie A goal.
Photo: Lionel Messi chills with his family after champions league win
The Barcelona star shared this photo of himself with his son and his parents on instagram, showing him enjoying some well-deserved family time after helping his club secure the Champions League trophy in Berlin on Saturday June 6th.
Soldiers in gun battle with Boko Haram suspects in Kaduna
A soldier was feared killed in the early hours of Monday during a gun battle between the military and two Boko Haram suspects at Ungwan Keke-B, near Danbushiya suburb in Chikun Local Government area of Kaduna, residents of the area reported on Monday morning.
Witnesses who pleaded anonymity said the suspects, two brothers, moved to the area and lived in a rented apartment three years ago.
“We never knew that they are Boko Haram people.
“We just sighted a team of military personnel cordon the house, then gun shots filled the air at about 11:56 p.m. which led to their escape and the killing of one soldier after several hours of shooting.
According to witnesses, although the two Boko Haram suspects, whose names could not be ascertained, escaped, their wives were arrested by the security operatives after the gun battle that left their building shattered.
“One of the suspect got married to his wife who is from Bauchi eight days ago and brought her to Kaduna. Two of the wives have been taken away by the soldiers,” the witnesses said.
The Village Head of Keke B, Suleiman Mohammed, who confirmed the incident to journalists said he started hearing gun shots at about 1 a.m.
“The team of security operatives later announced that the neighbours should all come out of their houses and ordered them to leave the area,” he said.
The house was completely deserted, there were blood stains on the floor, but the security operatives had left the area when a correspondent left the vicinity Monday morning.
Efforts to reach the Deputy Director Army Public Relation of the 1 Army Division Kaduna, Abdul Usman, failed as his phone lines were unavailable. He is yet to respond to a text message sent to him.
The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has caused the death of over 20,000 people with hundreds of thousands still displaced mainly in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
BREAKING: APC Crisis: Governors call emergency meeting as Osinbajo meets Reps-elect
Governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have called an emergency meeting to seek ways of reuniting the ruling party that is threatened by a major crisis over the choice of new leaders for the Senate and the House of Representatives.
It was confirmed at the national secretariat of the APC that the meeting was called by the chairman of the APC governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha.
A source at the secretariat said the meeting would hold by 5p.m. Monday at the Imo state governors lodge in Asokoro Abuja.
The source said the meeting would discuss how to find a solution to the crisis generated by the election of a new Senate President and Speaker.
The APC had conducted a mock election to elect candidate for the two offices on Saturday and Messrs. Ahmed Lawan from Yobe and Femi Gbajabiamila were elected as Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively.
However, the two main challengers to the posts, Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, who are also members of the party, boycotted the election and rejected its outcome.
They also vowed to defy the party and seek for the mandate of their colleagues in an election billed for Tuesday.
The APC national secretary, Mai Mala Buni had on Sunday issued a statement urging Messrs. Saraki and Dogara to abide by the decision of the party.
The two contenders rejected the plea by the party leadership and vowed to challenge the party’s candidates on Tuesday.
Osinbanjo meets with Reps elect
Meanwhile, it was understood that after several failed attempts by the party leadership to persuade Messrs Saraki and Dogara to drop their ambitions, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has decided to wade into the matter.
One of the lawmakers loyal to Mr. Dogara confirmed that the Vice President had invited all members to a meeting, even as he said they would boycott it.
“We received text messages from the party informing us of a meeting with the Vice President today; however, we see no difference between the Vice President and those trying to impose leaders on the House of Representatives, so we would not be attending,” he said.
Nigerian govt. schools reject students displaced by Boko Haram over “academic documents”
Government schools in Abuja are turning away hundreds of students displaced by Boko Haram from northern Nigeria, denying them education on the grounds that they are unable to produce the appropriate documents they failed to grab as they fled the rampaging terrorists.
The FCT government secondary schools are demanding the originals of age declaration, birth certificate, testimonials, transfer certificate from the last school and junior school leaving certificate before the displaced students can be given admission.
Denied education, these students have resorted to odd jobs to fill their time and make ends meet. No papers, no education.
Back in December 2014, Jeremiah Andrew, 17, and many others ran to Abuja for safety, fleeing repeated Boko Haram attacks in the northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
Jeremiah said he fled his village – Gwoza, Borno state – with his uncle when the terrorists attacked.
“When the attack started, we had to run and the only place we found was under a tree,” he said. “We stayed there for days, till we spotted a bus. I and my uncle ran to it and joined (the passengers) to Abuja.”
Jeremiah said he was in senior secondary school when they fled. He is now a carpenter in Waru, an Abuja suburb popular with displaced persons.
When he arrived Abuja, he tried to continue his education at the Apo Government Secondary School, but he was turned away by the authorities because he could not produce the documents the school demanded.
“I can’t go back to Gwoza to get those credentials,” he said. “Now I’m a carpenter. I make furniture.”
A displaced mother of seven, Mary Paul, has two of her kids out of secondary school due to the rejections. She told PREMIUM TIMES that the registrar at the Apo Government Secondary asked parents affected by the insurgency to go back to their states to get the credentials before their kids can be admitted.
“When we got to the school the registrar said I should go and get the original age declaration, birth certificate and junior school leaving certificate before they can admitted into the school,” she said.
“When we were all running for our dear life, when would we even remember to get documents? Some of us could not even carry our clothes let alone certificates.”
Mrs. Paul’s story cuts across many IDP camps in Abuja.
In Waru, many school age kids loiter around the community. The girls turn to hairdressing while the boys become Okada riders.
Rules are rules
PREMIUM TIMES visited three schools in the FCT – Government Secondary School, Apo resettlement, Junior Secondary School, Jikwoyi and Government Secondary School, Karu – and found the claims of the displaced persons to be true.
The documents demanded by the school authorities were indeed a prerequisite for any of the IDP students to be admitted into a class. That condition could not be waived, the schools said.
The vice principal in charge of admissions at the Government Secondary School Apo told PREMIUM TIMES that it was rather unfortunate that the IDPs were affected by the insurgency but they had to bring the “necessary’ documents”.
“They need to get the original of their birth certificate, junior leaving certificate, age declaration, testimonial, and transfer certificate, or they should go to court to get the papers,” the vice principal, who refused giving his name, said.
The Education Resource Centre in Abuja, in charge of all government secondary schools in the city, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES the decision to keep IDP students away from school is backed by the authorities and inspired by the government’s inability to differentiate IDPs from regular admission cheats.
“In a case where they cannot provide those documents, then we ask them go back to the state and get a letter from the Ministry of Education to give to us here, and based on that we give them the admission,” Ramatu Ibrahim, the director of the centre told PREMIUM TIMES.
She explained that the reasons for demanding such documents was because a lot of people have hidden under the umbrella of IDP to seek admission into government schools.
“Unfair and unfortunate”
Some members of the civil society have condemned the government embargo on school admission for kids who are willing to go to school after they were displaced by Boko Haram.
They blamed the government for the unfortunate attack by Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast Nigeria, noting that the government had failed to provide security for its country.
Shola Okpodu, group managing director of School Hunters, told PREMIUM TIMES that the government is exposing the kids to grave danger by denying them education.
“Not giving them an opportunity to go to school simply means they may end up as miscreants, they may end up discouraged, this is like creating more thieves,” Mrs. Okpodu said. “I see no reason why those kids should be stopped from attending schools. Some of them, from my experience are going through depression. They are traumatised. So how do you expect them to go back to that same place they ran away from (to pick up documents).”
Mrs Okpodu argued that it was inconsiderate and unfair for the government to place such demands on the displaced school children.
A youth advocate, Samson Itodo, described the situation as “pathetic and unacceptable”.
He explained that if the children affected by the insurgency show interest in going to school and the government is giving them reason not to, then it should be condemned.
“If the government is asking them to go back to the state to get a letter from the Ministry of Education, are they willing to give them transportation fare?” he asked. “Will the government guarantee the safety of their lives?”
He argued that it was the government’s responsibility to identify each IDP and ensure they are properly attended to, rather than traumatise them.
Photos: Ramsey Noah, Monalisa Chinda at Desmond Elliot's inauguration
Photo: Nigerian student solves 30-year-old maths equation & breaks academic record at Japanese university
Independent UK reports
A Nigerian student has broken a 30-year-old maths equation and achieved the highest grades at a university in Japan for 50 years.
Ufot Ekong, who studied at Tokai University in Tokyo, achieved a first class degree in electrical engineering and scored the best marks at the university since 1965, the Flotilla Magazine reported.
He began his success early at the university, solving a 30-year-old maths equation in his first semester.
Throughout his university career Mr Ekong has won six awards for academic excellence. The brilliant mathematician worked two jobs alongside his studies to pay his way as a student.
Mr Ekong also speaks English, French, Japanese and Yoruba and won a Japanese language award for foreigners. He is currently working for Nissan and already has two patents for electronic car design to his name.
Tokai University is a prestigious private university based in the Japanese capital, which was founded in 1924. It is focused on the sciences and technology and roughly 60 per cent of all students are enrolled in these schools.
Huge 52nd birthday bash announced for TB Joshua in South Africa
The Nigerian cleric’s popularity in Southern Africa has shown no signs of waning, despite the tragic building collapse that claimed the lives of 84 South Africans in his church last year.
Indeed, family members of those who lost their lives and survivors of the incident are among those organising the celebration for Joshua, alongside ‘The SCOAN Family in Southern Africa’.
Joshua has uncannily not appeared in public since his crusade in Mexico last month. It was announced on his Christian network Emmanuel TV yesterday that the cleric had arrived back in Nigeria over a week ago but was “waiting for God's command on what to do next”.
Speculations are rife that Joshua may soon be leaving Nigerian shores on a more permanent basis, fuelled further by the message yesterday which stipulated no birthday celebration would be held within Nigeria.
Photo: Nassarawa gov adopts 6 years old disabled boy
Tempting Fate coming to the cinemas on July 17th (watch trailer)
A KevStel Production distributed by Silverbird Distribution and supported by
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Watch the trailer below...
Organizations Urge the President to Reinterpret Helms Amendment and Aid Nigerian Refugees
Catholics for Choice in partnership with the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) launched a campaign last week in response to more than 200 girls raped and impregnated by Boko Haram members, urging President Obama to reinterpret the Helms Amendment to include abortion care.
via Andrea
Over 400 women and children who were kidnapped by Boko Haram were returned earlier this year, many of whom are pregnant as the result of rape. Organizations hoping to aid these women are calling on President Obama to sign an interpretation of Helms that could allow for foreign assistance in providing abortion care. The law currently says, “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.” However, as abortion in the instance of rape, incest, or life endangerment is not a method of family planning or birth control, Catholics for Choice and CHANGE are urging the President to sign into effect an interpretation of Helms that would allow the girls in Nigeria, some of whom are very young, to access what could be life-saving abortion care.
While the Nigerian government has made abortion illegal except in the case of life endangerment, Nigerian officials signed the Maputo Protocol which demands “the right to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or where pregnancy would pose a danger to the woman’s physical health, mental health, or life.” Even so, there has not been U.S. pressure on the Nigerian government to act in accordance with the Maputo Protocol and allow for abortion in cases of war rape.
Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, domestic program director at Catholics for Choice said in a press conference on Friday, “This policy is a disgrace to who we are as Americans… The Obama administration knows this—Catholics for Choice and our partners have spent six and a half years pleading, prodding, but to no avail.”
Other organizations have been struggling to get the President’s attention as well. Last year, Rev. Harry Knox, CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, stated that the Helms Amendment, “… has been misused to deny compassionate abortion care to women and girls who face a pregnancy that results from rape.” He also said it was the United States’ “moral imperative” to provide abortion care.
The schoolgirls raped and impregnated by Boko Haram are running out of time to access safe abortions. Bea Arthur, a therapist and activist who often works with victims of sexual violence, warns of the long-lasting effectsthat denying a victim of violence can have. “Telling someone they can’t have a choice extends that trauma and denies them their own humanity, integrity, and basic human self-respect,” she says. Studies also indicate that women who are impregnated as a result of rape and bear children are especially vulnerable to mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress. There is also a strong likelihood of these women experiencing severe negative psychological consequences from facing stigma or isolation within their communities.
Why Ribadu Was Poisoned, Obasanjo Reveals
Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the ex-
chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was once poisoned in the course of his duties as anti-corruption czar..
Obasanjo disclosed this at an international forum on Third Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He also revealed that Ribadu created enemies for him because of the ruthlessness with which he carried out his responsibilities of tackling corruption in Nigeria.
Obasanjo, who spoke from the floor following a presentation on Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources made by Ribadu, affirmed that he had known from experience that the fight against corruption attracts a lot of enemies.
The former president declared that he has no fear of anyone still living in Nigeria, adding, “it is rather them that fear me.”
Saying that Ribadu took on a lot of highly connected persons in his fight against corruption, Obasanjo said that the former anti-corruption chief was once poisoned, causing a scare among concerned quarters.
“It was a matter of life and death,” the former president said, though further details of the incident were not given.
Obasanjo said that once Ribadu was appointed, he gave him a free hand and that Ribadu investigated him, his late wife and several persons close to him at that time.
He also narrated a story of how a serving minister, who was his senior in secondary school, was indicted and prosecuted by the EFCC, adding that when the minister was found wanting, “there was no issue of seniority again.”
On leadership,
Obasanjo, who is also the chairperson of the Tana Forum, re-echoed Ribadu’s submission that at the centre of anti-corruption fight there was the need for willing political leadership at the highest level.
He, however, added that the leader also needs relevant legislations to work with, narrating his experience with the bill establishing ICPC which, he said, was whittled down by lawmakers, who felt they could be victims of the law.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, thanked Ribadu for his presentation, which, he said, highlighted many good things about Nigeria different from what is portrayed in the media.
In his presentation, Ribadu offered measures African countries can take to tackle illicit financial flow and repatriate money already illegally taken out of the African countries.
He said that what Africa needs is honest and committed leaders who will set examples with themselves by eschewing corruption and close avenues of illicit financial flow.
According to him, it is the seriousness and commitment showed by the political leadership that will convince other foreign countries to work with them towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad.
Ribadu also emphasised the need for concerted effort among countries and a synergy between law enforcement agencies so that looters could be caught.
NLC lambasts David Mark-led Senate; says 46 Bills passed in 10 minutes ‘reckless’
The outgoing Senate led by David Mark, has come under heavy lashing by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which described the Senate’s unprecedented passage of 46 bills in 10 minutes last Wednesday as a “reckless path to lawmaking”.
The 46 Bills had earlier been passed by the House of Representatives and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.
In a rare move, the Senators on Wednesday set aside all known law making protocols to get the Bills passed into law, as they came under pressure to leave behind an impressive record of performance with the 7th Assembly session coming to a close.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, (APC-Akwa Ibom North-East), led the lawmakers to invoke Order 79 (1) (b) of the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) to adopt a special procedure on pending Bills for concurrence.
The Senate Standing Orders authorised the passage of the Bills without the draft laws having to pass the first, second and third readings on the floor of the Senate, while the concurred Bills were reproduced and circulated to all Senators before final passage.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, on Monday expressed “profound shock and disappointment at the action of the National Assembly”, saying the Senate’s passage of 46 Bills “without legislation” in ten minutes was “competing for the Guinness Book of Records for legislative infamy.”
Some of the Bills are the Office of the Nigerian Financial Ombudsman Bill, 2015; Institute of Chartered Trustees of Nigeria Bill, 2015; Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015; Federal Saving Bank Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015 and People’s Bank of Nigeria Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015.
The Senate also passed Federal Audit Commission Bill, 2015; Treasury Management Bill, 2015; Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and Investment, Securities (Amendment) Bill, 2015 Loan (State Development) Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015; Chartered Institute of Statisticians of Nigeria Bill, 2015 and Nigerian Metallurgical Industry Bill, 2015.
The National Assembly was criticised for spending over N600 billion in four years in passing only about 106 within the period.
Members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Wabba said, also took their turn the next day to pass 14 Bills transmitted by the Senate, without following the regular legislative procedures.
“Whoever advised our lawmakers to take this reckless path to law making has only succeeded in putting an indelible dent on whatever achievements that the 7th session of the National Assembly wished to be ascribed to it,” the NLC president said.
By this singular action, Mr. Wabba said the lawmakers not only displayed gross disdain for the philosophy of law making in a democratic setting, but have also exposed their manifest lack of interest in and commitment to the wellbeing of Nigerians.
Apart from ridiculing themselves, he said the Senators have unfortunately embarrassed the country in the eyes of the civilised global community.
By abridging the law making process and skipping the first, second and third reading process and public hearing on the Bills, he said the lawmakers denied Nigerians the opportunity to interrogate their desirability or otherwise of these bills.
With the manner the Bills were passed, the NLC urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign them into law, rather he should return them to the incoming National Assembly to be subjected to proper legislative procedures.
The NLC President called on the incoming 8th legislature to ensure that they departed from the opaque ways of the previous, particularly in being prudent, accountable, transparent and more effective in their legislative and oversight functions.
Specifically, he said it would be in the public interest if the huge resources committed to lawmakers’ welfare and other pecks of office, were reviewed drastically downward and re-directed to more demanding areas of the economy in line with current economic realities in the overall interest of all.
He promised to meet with the leaderships of both chambers of the 8th National Assembly in due course once they are put in place, to further engage them on these and other issues of national interest.
THE LATEST: BAVARIAN POLICE SAY G-7 LESS VIOLENT THAN FEARED
Eight officers were injured and 72 people were detained temporarily, but Bavarian police say the G-7 summit passed without significant disturbances, and with far fewer potentially violent protesters than expected.
Germany's dpa news agency quoted police spokesman Hans-Peter Kammerer as saying two men were jailed: an Austrian accused of throwing a soup dish at police, and a Ger man who threw a wooden spear at an officer.
Kammerer says that between 300 and 500 of the activists who gathered in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, near the summit venue, were believed to be potentially violent. Bavaria's top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said before the summit he expected 2,000 to 3,000 such demonstrators.
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5:36 p.m. (1536GMT; 11:44 a.m. EDT)
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says he was pleased that his country was no longer regarded as the sick man of Europe at the G-7 summit.
He told reporters that Italy was treat "as a protagonist - albeit with its limits."
In recent months, Italy began a gradual recovery after a lengthy recession, with growth recently projected by the OECD at 0.6 percent this year and 1.5 percent next year.
However, Renzi complained that Europe still isn't doing its part to shoulder the burden of taking in recent refugees, after a weekend that saw nearly 6,000 migrants rescued.
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5:27 p.m. (1527GMT; 11:27 a.m. EDT)
President Barack Obama has told a news conference before returning to Washington that G-7 leaders had discussed additional steps they could take if Russia were to "double-down" on aggression inside Ukraine. He says those discussions have been taking place "at a technical level, not yet at a political level," and said the first step was for the European Union to commit to extending the current sanctions during an upcoming summit.
In a direct jab at Vladimir Putin, Obama said the Russian leader must decide whether he wants to wreck his economy and further Russia's isolation "in pursuit of a wrongheaded desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire." Obama said it was ironic that Putin has insisted he's trying to protect the Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine.
Obama said: "Russian speakers inside of Ukraine are precisely the ones who are bearing the brunt of the fighting."
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4:59 p.m. (1459GMT; 10:59 a.m. EDT)
The Group of Seven major economies has pledged to increase vocational training for women in developing countries by a third by 2030.
The plan is part of a series of measures aimed at combating poverty and disease that G-7 leaders backed at their two-day summit in southern Germany.
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States also announced Monday that they will support plans to better fight outbreaks of deadly diseases, such as Ebola, and aim to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
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4:23 p.m. (1423GMT; 10:23 a.m. EDT)
The Nigerian government says new President Muhammadu Buhari has told France's leader at the G-7 summit that his country would welcome greater support from other nations in its effort to end Boko Haram's insurgency.
A government statement said Buhari also said Monday that Nigeria would like more intelligence on Boko Haram's links with the extremist Islamic State group, its movements and training and the sources of its weapons. It said that, at the meeting with French President Francois Hollande, Buhari reaffirmed his government's "total commitment to ending Boko Haram's insurgency in the shortest possible time."
The Islamic extremist uprising has killed an estimated 13,000 people and forced 1.5 million from their homes.
Buhari took office on May 29.
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3:29 p.m. (1329GMT; 9:29 a.m. EDT)
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has warned world leaders that efforts to fight terrorism can misfire if they don't respect fundamental rights.
Ban told the Group of Seven meeting in Germany on Monday that security measures and even military action may be necessary to combat violent extremists.
But he cautioned that "when counter-terrorism efforts ignore the rule of law and violate fundamental rights - which they do far too often - they not only betray the values they seek to uphold, but can also end up further fueling violent extremism."
Ban said targeting entire minorities increases bitterness, radicalism and extremism within those communities
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3:21 p.m. (1321GMT; 9:21 a.m. EDT)
President Barack Obama says it will take time but Islamic State militants will ultimately be defeated and driven out of Iraq.
Obama says the challenges remain significant in Iraq, where the IS group controls large swaths of territory and recently took the key city of Ramadi.
But the president adds that success against the militants will ultimately depend on an effective international coalition backing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Obama says he's "absolutely confident we will succeed" if the international coalition supports Abadi and the prime minister has a government that represents everyone.
Abadi thanked Obama and leaders from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies for their support. He also expressed confidence in ultimate victory.
The two leaders commented Monday as they met on the sidelines of the G-7 summit being held in Elmau, Germany.
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3:15 p.m. (1315 GMT; 9:15 a.m. EDT)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says there is "not a lot of time" to work out a deal over more bailout money for financially troubled Greece.
Merkel said at the Group of Seven summit in Germany on Monday that Greece needs to agree to take steps to straighten out its finances and economy, as it negotiates with other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund for more bailout loan money.
Greece is dangerously close to running out of money and defaulting on debt repayments to the IMF and the European Central Bank. A default could worsen Greece's situation and perhaps force it out of the euro
Merkel said that "we want Greece to remain part of the eurozone but we've got the clear message that solidarity... requires Greece to implement measures."
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3:05 p.m. (1305 GMT; 9:05 a.m. EDT)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed that the world should phase out the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century.
Merkel said Monday that the G-7 leaders committed themselves to the need to "decarbonize the global economy in the course of this century."
That is a technical term for ending the use of oil, gas and coal - but not nuclear power - and replacing them with alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar power.
Merkel had pressed for the G-7 to agree on the goal so it can be put forward at a summit on climate change later this year in Paris. Burning carbon-based fuels such as oil and gas releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is blamed for global warming.
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2:58 p.m. (1258 GMT; 8:58 a.m. EDT)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Group of Seven democracies have agreed that sanctions against Russia must remain in place until a cease-fire deal for eastern Ukraine is fully respected.
Merkel, closing a two-day summit in southern Germany, said Monday that the G7 was ready to step up the sanctions later if the situation called for it.
The European Union and the United States have imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its conflict with Ukraine. A cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk has been shaky, with the heaviest fighting in months breaking out in recent days between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
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12:25 p.m. (1125 GMT; 6:25 a.m EDT)
The White House says President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande are in agreement on some of the world's vexing problems, including Russia's actions in Ukraine and keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
The two leaders met Monday on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of Seven leading democracies being held in Elmau, Germany.
Obama and Hollande agreed that economic sanctions against Russia should stay in place until Russia fully implements terms of a peace accord with Ukraine. They also agreed to stay united in pursuit of a deal with several other world powers to restrict Iran's nuclear program.
France at times has taken a harder line and expressed more skepticism than Washington on the Iran talks.
The White House says the leaders also discussed climate change, trade, countering Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, and instability in Libya.
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12:20 p.m. (1120 GMT; 6:20 a.m EDT)
Activists have had a hard time sending their message to the G-7 leaders, who are tucked away in a secluded Alpine valley guarded by thousands of police.
So Greenpeace decided Monday to project its demands onto a nearby mountain.
The environmental group used green lasers to beam the words "G-7: Go for 100 percent renewables" onto the side of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak.
Greenpeace climate policy chief Martin Kaiser said he hopes German Chancellor Angela Merkel will manage to convince climate holdouts such as Japan's Shinzo Abe to drastically cut down on carbon emissions in the coming decades.
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11:50 a.m. (0950 GMT; 5:50 a.m. EDT)
The G-7 has opened its exclusive circle to meet with the leaders of Iraq and several African nations, along with the heads of various international organizations.
Key topics of discussion include the threat from terrorism and deadly diseases.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Arabi will brief leaders Monday on his country's fight against the Islamic State group, while African countries will talk about their efforts to stop the spread of Ebola.
The so-called "outreach" format also ensures that developing countries' views are heard on global issues such as plans to rein in global warming.
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11.15 a.m. (0915 GMT; 5:15 a.m. EDT)
Mystery solved: the mayor of the village where President Barack Obama was served a pre-lunchtime beer says it was alcohol-free.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Obama to Kruen, near the G-7 summit venue, a few hours before the meeting began on Sunday. It wasn't yet noon, but the president was served local delicacies including a tall glass of beer.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Sunday he didn't know what kind of beer Obama was served but he was confident the president didn't order a non-alcoholic version.
Kruen Mayor Thomas Schwarzenberger told news agency dpa Monday that German and U.S. officials had asked that the guests be given only alcohol-free beer, so that's what Obama, Merkel and her husband, Joachim Sauer, were given.
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10:45 a.m. (0845 GMT; 4:45 a.m. EDT)
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are searching for a common stance on climate change on the second and final day of their summit in southeastern Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is seeking agreement on eventually moving away from the use of carbon-based fossil fuels and an endorsement of goals to limit the long-term rise in global temperatures and provide financing to help countries deal with the impact of climate change. Her idea is to forge a united front going into a conference on climate change in Paris later this year.
Leaders at the annual meeting will also hold discussions Monday on combating terrorism. The G-7 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
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