Obama confers with G7 leaders over Russia, Middle East

Obama and other G7 leaders discuss weighty issues in the beautiful Bavarian Alps — (Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

President Obama arrived for a G7 summit in the German Alpine town Krün on Sunday, starting with lunchtime beers (nonalcoholic, it seems) and sausages with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and finishing the day with a talks and dinner with Merkel and the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Canada, and Japan. The leaders discussed the tenuous Greek bailout and other global economic concerns, and appeared to agree on renewing sanctions against Russia in the light of a crumbling cease-fire agreement in Ukraine.

One of Merkel's goals for the summit is to drum up agreement on stringent, legally binding goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions before a key United Nations meeting on climate change this fall. (Greenpeace activists, unable to get close to the summit, projected the message "G-7: Go for 100 percent renewables" on the side of a nearby mountain.) But Obama spent Monday morning huddling one-on-one with European leaders about problems in the Middle East, including the Iranian nuclear deal, Islamic State, and Libya.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.