G7 leaders warn Russia of fresh sanctions over Ukraine.

 

 G7 leaders want to send a strong message on Ukraine

Leaders of the G7 industrial nations meeting in Brussels say they are prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

A joint statement condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty.

The summit is the first since Russia was expelled from the G7 following its annexation of Crimea in March.

Earlier in Poland, US President Barack Obama warned Moscow against what he called its "dark tactics" in Ukraine.

Mr Obama is on a three-state European tour ending with the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be at the ceremony.

Although President Putin is not attending the Brussels summit, he will hold face-to-face talks with some G7 leaders - not including President Obama - in Paris afterwards.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels says diplomacy has intensified to try to resolve the biggest crisis in years between Russia and the West.

Angela Merkel said

G7 leaders gathered in Brussels on Wednesday evening for the summit's opening dinner.

"We are united in condemning the Russian Federation's continuing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the leaders said in a joint statement.

"We stand ready to intensify targeted sanctions and to consider meaningful additional restrictive measures to impose further costs on Russia should events so require."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters: "We can't afford a further destabilization of Ukraine."

"We have made clear that we want to continue with our three-step approach - support Ukraine in economic issues, talks with Russia, and should there no progress on all those issues... the possibility of sanctions, tougher sanctions, remains on the table," she said.

Earlier, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he expected the G7 to send a clear message of support for Ukraine.

The summit was originally to have been held in the Russian city of Sochi.

Speaking in Warsaw earlier to mark 25 years since the fall of communism in Poland, Mr Obama hailed Polish democracy as a beacon for neighboring Ukraine.

He also met Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko, and pledged support for plans to restore peace to the country.tougher sanctions against Russia were an option.

Mr Obama arrived in Brussels after pledging support to both Poland and Ukraine 

 Earlier Mr Obama met Mr Poroshenko, and called him a "wise selection" for leader of Ukraine 

 But he also condemned what he called Russian "aggression" in eastern Ukraine,

"How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th Century to define the 21st?" he said.

Mr Obama pledged $5m (£3m) of military assistance to Kiev including body armour and night-vision goggles.

Mr Poroshenko, a billionaire sweet manufacturer, was elected in May.

US President Barack Obama: "We stand together now and forever, for your freedom is ours"

He will be at the D-Day commemorations ahead of his inauguration on Saturday and said he did not rule out meeting Mr Putin.

Mr Putin told French TV he was "not going to avoid any of them" but said Mr Poroshenko needed to be serious about a dialogue with factions in eastern Ukraine.

"I think Mr Poroshenko has a unique opportunity. He still doesn't have blood on his hands. He still can stop this reprisal operation and start a direct dialogue with citizens of the south and the east of his country," he said.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, separatist rebels have taken two military bases in the eastern region of Luhansk.

Separatists seized a border guard base after days of combat, and a National Guard base after an attack which began on Tuesday.

Fighting continues near the towns of Krasny Liman and Sloviansk in neighbouring Donetsk region.

Ukrainian sources say rebels are trying to break out of encirclements by government forces.

Ebola death toll hits 208 in Guinea

 

 Most of the new cases were in the southern Guekedou region 

 Some 208 people have now died from the Ebola virus in Guinea after a deadly spike in recent days, world health officials say.

At least 21 people died and 37 new cases of suspected Ebola were found between 29 May and 1 June, bringing the total number of cases in the West African country to 328.

Of these, 193 have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola - one of the world's deadliest viruses.

More than half of the new deaths were in the southern Guekedou region, where the outbreak is centred.

Three confirmed and 10 suspected new cases were recorded in neighbouring Sierra Leone over the same period.

Six people are believed to have died there, as well as 10 in Liberia.

Medical charities say one reason for the increase is that some people are refusing to go to hospital for treatment, preferring to seek help from traditional healers.

Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever, can kill up to 90% of those infected and is passed on through contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.

But people have a better chance of surviving if it is identified early and they receive medical attention.

Experts from the World Health Organisation and the Doctors Without Borders charity are in the region, and about 600 people are under observation after having possible contact with Ebola.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus

Why Ebola is so dangerous

Continue reading the main story

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Oil prices dip on hopes of Ukraine crisis easing

SINGAPORE: Oil prices dipped in Asia Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin reached out a hand to crisis-hit Ukraine, raising hopes of an easing in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July, eased 20 cents to $102.44 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for July was down 10 cents at $108.30.

"Benchmark prices fell due to the easing of tensions between Ukraine and Russia," said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at consultancy firm EY.

Speaking to French media Wednesday, Putin said he was ready to meet Ukraine's newly elected president Petro Poroshenko as well as Western European leaders at the sidelines of World War II ceremonies in Normandy, France.

Group of Seven leaders, meeting without Putin as Russia was ejected from the G8 grouping in March, however urged Moscow to stop establishing Ukraine or face further sanctions.

The West has accused Russia of fomenting unrest in neighboring Ukraine since the ousting of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in February. Moscow denies the allegation.

Investors fear a full-blown conflict in the ex-Soviet state, a conduit for a quarter of European gas imports from Russia, will disrupt supplies and send energy prices soaring.

Analysts meanwhile said oil prices were also under pressure as dealers digested a mixed US supply report.

The US Department of Energy on Wednesday said that American commercial crude stocks fell 3.4 million barrels last week, far more than expectations for a fall of 100,000 barrels..

But gasoline stocks rose 200,000 barrels and distillate stocks jumped two million barrels; the latter was far above the 700,000 rise projected by analysts.

Mers virus: Saudi Arabia raises death toll to 282.

The Mers virus has been indentified in almost a dozen countries but has hit Saudi Arabia the hardest

 Saudi Arabia says 282 people are now confirmed to have been killed by the Mers virus, almost 100 more than initially thought.

The increase came after a national review of hospital data from the time the virus emerged in 2012.

The deputy health minister, who has been criticised for his handling of the crisis, was sacked on Monday.

Cases of the virus, for which there is no known cure, have been confirmed in almost a dozen other countries.

Saudi authorities said there had now been 688 confirmed Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) infections in the kingdom. Before the revision the number of cases was believed to be 575.

Saudi health ministry spokesman Tariq Madani said that despite the revised figures, fewer people were now contracting the disease.

"Though the review showed confirmed cases that needed to be added, we are still witnessing a decline in the number of newly registered cases in the past few weeks" he said.

 Deadly symptoms

Of those infected, the country's health ministry said, 53 were still receiving treatment.

Saudi Arabia has registered the largest number of infections of Mers.

The virus is from the same family as the common cold, but can lead to kidney failure and pneumonia.

What is Mers?

• Acronym for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

• A type of coronavirus which causes respiratory infections
• First death recorded in 2012 in Saudi Arabia
• Camels are suspected to be the primary source of infection for humans.
  The mystery virus with no known cure
  
  
  Cases have also been confirmed in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia, Egypt, the UK and, most recently, the US.
  Camels are suspected to be the main source of infection for humans. Saudi authorities have urged citizens to wear protective masks when dealing with the animals.
  The government's handling of the outbreak has been criticised, says the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher.
  Critics have accused it of rejecting outside scientific help that might have helped stem the spread of the virus, our correspondent says.
  
  
  
   Camels are suspected of passing the infection to humans
  On Monday, the day before the figures were revised, the Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish was sacked without explanation.
  In April Saudi's King Abdullah sacked the health minister as the death toll climbed.

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South Africa anger at 'worst maths and science' ranking.

 Opposition parties have accused the basic education minister of not doing enough to turn things around

 South Africa's ranking as worst in the world for its maths and science education is "a state of emergency", the opposition has said.

 

The Democratic Alliance called for a full skills audit of all maths, science and technology teachers.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) report on information technology assessed the economies of 148 countries.

But the government has rejected it, saying the findings were based on perceptions and not hard data.

The World Economic Forum's The Global Information Technology Report assesses how ready countries are to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technology and how they can use it to improve conditions.

For the overall quality of education, South Africa came 146th in the WEF ranking.

While not all countries were surveyed, South Africa was ranked below Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

'Frightening 'Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote"

The WEF report does not base its research on any actual tests or assessments”

Department of Basic Education

Annette Lovemore, shadow minister for basic education, said her government counterpart, Angie Motshekga, should answer questions in parliament about the "worsening" state of education.

"It is deeply disturbing. Not only are we failing hundreds of thousands of learners in our schools but we are certainly failing our economy that needs the skills that maths and science produce," South Africa's Eyewitness News quotes Ms Lovemore as saying.

Ms Motshekga's Department of Basic Education dismissed the report as "based on interviews conducted with business sector executives".

 "The WEF report does not base its research on any actual tests or assessments done by learners, they do not in any way intract with learners in the system or any credible education institutions to get their data," the statement said.

 

 WEF world ranking: Quality of maths and science education

"Credible international assessments into the state of mathematics, science and technology education in South Africa have consistently shown an improvement in the performance of the country in this regard," it said.

But Ms Lovemore said there had been no "false insinuation" in the report - and while there had been some improvements in recent years, the "overall picture is still frightening".

She said that 90% of 15-year-olds had failed to reach a "low level of achievement" in a 2003 world survey of maths and science - this figure was 76% in 2011.

"This is a state of emergency, and requires appropriate, urgent action," Ms Lovemore said.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says last year a special ministerial task team investigated the teaching of maths, science and technology and painted a bleak picture of the country's education system.

Opposition parties accuse Ms Motshekga, who is serving a second term, of not doing enough to turn things around since the task team's report, she says.

The worst-affected schools are those in rural areas where a lack of teaching materials and teacher absenteeism are the major problems.

• Top five: Singapore; Finland; Belgium; Lebanon; Switzerland
• Bottom five: Honduras; Egypt; Dominican Republic; Angola; South Africa