Putin hugs German ex-chancellor

29 April 2014 Last updated at 13:33 Mr Schroeder stands next to Mr Putin (centre), who has his back to the camera Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has hugged Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, despite the imposition of more Western sanctions on Russia.

Mr Schroeder has long had close ties to Mr Putin and runs a pipeline venture bringing Russian gas to Germany.

Their embrace was photographed as Mr Schroeder celebrated his 70th birthday.

He held his Russian party as Nato states accused Russia of helping pro-Putin militias in eastern Ukraine.

Russia's state monopoly Gazprom pumps gas to Germany via the Nordstream pipeline under the Baltic Sea, and Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller was reportedly among Mr Schroeder's guests at the Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg.

Three German officers are among seven military observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) currently held captive by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. The German government has demanded their release.

The OSCE sent in unarmed observers after the rebels seized Ukrainian official buildings.

Criticism

German media commentators criticised Mr Schroeder on Tuesday for his closeness to Mr Putin.

The Russian leader speaks fluent German, having served as a KGB secret service officer in communist East Germany during the Cold War.

Mr Schroeder was chancellor from 1998 to 2005. He used to lead the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are now in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Roland Nelles of Spiegel Online said the former chancellor "apparently forgets that one must still act responsibly for one's country as a former government leader".

"It would help if the ex-chancellor could use his influence to bring some sense to his friend Putin. Perhaps he is doing that too, but unfortunately you don't get any sense of that whatsoever. Pity," he wrote.

In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung another commentator, Thomas Holl, said "the pictures of a laughing Schroeder, being hugged and cuddled by his friend Vladimir in the former tsarist palace, while German army soldiers are held hostage by fanatical Putin admirers, look macabre".

A senior German government official quoted by Reuters news agency said Mr Schroeder "does not represent the German government" and he "left active politics some time ago".

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Test: Buyers to have access to German and UK listings on eBay.it

24 June, 2011 | 03:37PM BST

Hello,

Beginning this week (20 June 20110), we?re running a test that will show listings from the UK and Germany to buyers on eBay.it in all categories. Your listings may be shown on eBay.it if you are a top rated seller, have defined Italy as a country you ship to and your listings are being searched for by Italian buyers.

This test will help to increase the visibility of your listings to eBay.it. In addition, you should ensure that you offer delivery to Italy, or worldwide, as one of your postal options. If you don?t want to post to Italy, you should amend your listings to exclude it. Amend your listings now

Depending on the feedback received, we may, in time, expand this feature to other markets.

Regards,
The eBay Team

20 June, 2011 | 11:56AM BST

Hello,

We?re pleased to announce you can now add Gift Aid to your eBay Checkout donations, increasing their value by 25% at no cost to you.

Simply make a Gift Aid declaration , ticking the box to say you?d like to add Gift Aid to your donations. MissionFish, eBay?s partner charity, will then claim Gift Aid on the eBay Checkout donations you have made, and pass it on to your chosen charities.

eBay users have given over ?4.5m to UK charities through Give at Checkout. Last year alone, 1.3m of you made donations.

If all eBay users who?ve donated at eBay checkout make a Gift Aid declaration, UK charities would receive more than ?1 million.

Thank you for supporting your favourite charities through eBay for Charity.

Regards,

The eBay team

01 June, 2011 | 03:29PM BST

We?d like to make members aware of an upcoming feature on My eBay. We?ll be introducing the ability for members to archive items from the ?Purchased? section of their eBay accounts. At this point we don?t have an exact date, but hope to include this later in the summer.

We?d like to take the opportunity to remind members that ?Won? items can now be found in the ?Purchased? section of your account and that you can customise your default My eBay page by using the ?General Settings? option on the top right side of the My eBay page.

Regards,
The eBay Team

24 May, 2011 | 09:51AM BST

Hello,

New features are now available in My eBay and can help you manage your purchase history, payment and postage activity, and watched items more easily. Now you can:

See up to 3 years worth of purchases. Whether you need to keep an eye on local and international purchases, identify sellers you want to buy from again, or retrieve information for tax purposes, you can now see? all your purchases on eBay going back three years. To view, click ?Purchase History? on the left in My eBay and select the purchase history period.Get improved payment and postage reminders. If you?ve yet to pay for an item you?ve won, you?ll see a reminder that identifies purchases not yet paid for. If you?re selling an item, you?ll be alerted when your buyer?s payment has cleared, so you can go ahead and post their purchase. Both types of reminders show a picture of the item in My eBay.Sort lists by most-recently added. If you like creating lists in My eBay (such as a ?Watched Items? list or a ?Shoes? list), you now can sort them by most-recently added within ?Watch List & Other Lists? in My eBay. It?s the easy way to view and compare your latest finds.

The modules for Unsold, Sold, and Active selling items have been removed from the Summary page. This information is still available under the Selling menu or in Selling Manager.

Regards,
The eBay team