Delia Smith Wants to Do for Catholicism What She Has Done for Cooking

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Delia Smith, a devout Catholic, has said she would like to switch the nation on to spirituality in the same way she has done with cooking.

The television cook attends Mass every day and has written cookery books with religious themes including A Feast for Lent and A Feast for Advent as well as a book on prayer called Journey into God.

Once named one of the UK’s top ten most influential Catholics, she has now hinted that she might turn her handing [sic] to promoting the religion in some way.

She told a Sunday newspaper: “I can reach people who would like to cook but are finding it difficult. It’s the same with the spiritual. If people want it, I would like to be able to point them in the right direction.”

Smith converted to Catholicism at the age of 22 having been influenced by a friend who later became a priest, but has rarely spoken about her beliefs in public.

She regularly joins worshippers at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Norwich after watching her beloved Norwich City, of which she is the joint majority shareholder with her husband of 40 years, Michael Wynn-Jones, and dedicates an hour a day to silent contemplation. » | Victoria Ward | Monday, November 21, 2011

Nackter Protest in Ägypten: Nur mit einer roten Schleife im Haar
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: 20.11.2011 · Eine ägyptische Studentin fordert die sexuelle Revolution. Mit ihren Nacktbildern im Internet protestiert Alia Magda al Mahdi kurz vor der Wahl gegen die Unterdrückung der Frauen in Ägypten.

Mit roten Lackschuhen, einer roten Schleife im Haar, Nylonstrümpfen und sonst nichts: So präsentiert sich die zwanzig Jahre alte Studentin der Kunst und Medienwissenschaften Alia Magda al Mahdi in ihrem Internetblog, per Twitter und auf Facebook. Das heizt die Stimmung in Ägypten, eine Woche vor der Parlamentswahl, zusätzlich an. Wie nicht anders zu erwarten, reagieren konservative Kräfte auf die Aktion der Studentin mit Drohungen. Liberale distanzieren sich von der Aktion, um nicht in den Ruch zu kommen, Nacktheit zu propagieren. Die Jugendbewegung 6. April, die zum Sturz des Mubarak-Regimes beigetragen hat, teilte mit, dass Alia al Mahdi der Gruppe nicht angehöre, wie es etwa der Sender Al Arabija berichtet hatte. » | Von Michael Hanfeld | Sonntag 20. November 2011

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Danielle Mitterrand dans le coma

leJDD: A 87 ans, la veuve de François Mitterrand a été conduite dans un hôpital parisien et placée en coma artificiel samedi. Danielle Mitterrand avait déjà subi une intervention en septembre. Son fils, Gilbert Mitterrand, est à ses côtés.

Hospitalisée vendredi, Danielle Mitterrand a été placée en coma artificiel samedi. Après une intervention médicale pour insuffisance respiratoire en septembre, l'épouse de l'ancien président de la République François Mitterrand, ne s'était semble-t-il pas totalement remise, son entourage confiant qu'elle était fatiguée ces derniers jours. Son fils, Gilbert Mitterrand, l'a rapidement rejointe après son entrée dans un établissement parisien. » | A.G. (avec AFP) - leJDD.fr | vendredi 18 novembre 2011

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi 'Pretended to Be a Camel Herder' When Captured

THE GUARDIAN: Captor says dictator's son, who was caught trying to flee to Niger, tried to disguise himself to evade arrest

The man who led the fighters that captured Saif al-Islam has said that the late dictator's son tried to escape arrest by pretending to be a camel herder.

"When we caught him, he said, 'My name is Abdul Salem, a camel keeper,'" said commander Ahmed Amur on Sunday. "It was crazy."

His unit, from Zintan's Abu Bakar al-Sadiq brigade, had been patrolling the vast southern desert of Libya for more than a month when it was given a tip-off late last week that Saif al-Islam was close to the town of Obari.

"We knew it was a VIP target, we did not know who," said Amur, who worked as a professor of marine biology in Tripoli before the war. » | Chris Stephen in Zintan | Sunday, November 20, 2011

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Saif Gaddafi's Fear of His Fate Exposed in Recording‎

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: In the final act of the Libyan drama, the country's former intelligence chief was arrested on Sunday, as a recording of Saif Gaddafi revealed the favoured son's fear of meeting the same end as his father.

Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi was captured on Sunday in the same southern region as the slain Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's heir was found a day earlier, an official in the National Transitional Council confirmed.

Saif spent Sunday secreted in the militia stronghold of Zintan, as Libya's interim rulers ignored world pressure and insisted that he be tried inside the country rather than at the International Criminal Court.

Reports have surfaced that he was discovered in the deep south of the country heading to Niger, wearing Tuareg robes and turban and pretending to be a camel herder named "Abdul Salem".

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi flitted between fear of being lynched and bravado at the prospect of being executed like his father when his Libyan captors flew him to their mountain stronghold.

And as a mob outside bayed for his blood, he even found time to worry about the dangers of passive smoking. » | Sunday, November 20, 2011

'Chilling' Footage of Protesters at UC Davis Being Pepper Sprayed Prompts Outrage
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Footage of protesters being blasted with pepper spray by a police officer while demonstrating on the UC Davis campus, has prompted international outrage and calls for the chancellor's resignation.


The video shows a member of the university police force, displaying a bottle before spraying its contents on the seated protesters in a sweeping motion while walking back and forth. Most of the protesters have their heads down, but several were hit directly in the face.

Some members of a crowd gathered at the scene scream and cry out. The crowd then chants, "Shame on You," as the protesters on the ground are led away. The officers retreat minutes later with helmets on and batons drawn.

Nine students hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene, two were taken to hospitals and later released, university officials said.

The protest was held in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley who were jabbed by police with batons on November 9.

As the video images circulated on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter over the weekend, the university's faculty association called on University's Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign, saying in a letter there had been a "gross failure of leadership."

"The Chancellor's role is to enable open and free enquiry, not to suppress it," the faculty association said in its letter.

It called Ms Katehi's authorisation of police force a "gross failure of leadership." Read on and comment » | Josie Ensor | Sunday, November 20, 2011

Egypt Police Move to Evict Cairo Protesters
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Egypt's cabinet was forced to hold crisis talks on Sunday as military police battled with protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding an end to army rule.


Hundreds of soldiers and police, backed by armored personnel carriers, used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to evict several thousand protesters, presenting Egypt's ruling generals with their biggest security challenge yet, a week before parliamentary elections.

Demonstrators in Cairo chanted: "The people want to topple the regime" as they rushed at police, who fired rubber bullets and teargas. Protesters clashed with police in two other cities.

Two people were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes on Saturday night reminiscent of some of the worst violence during the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February. » | Sunday, November 20, 2011

Britain Will Have to Join the Euro, Says Tory Grandee Lord Heseltine

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Britain will soon have no choice but to join the euro, Tory grandee Lord Heseltine has claimed, as tensions grow over the eurozone's slow-moving efforts to get a grip on the spreading debt crisis.

The former deputy prime minister, a long-time supporter of the single currency, said the public had "no idea" about the potential impact its collapse would have on the UK.

But he believes Franco-German determination will secure the euro's future and pave the way for Britain to sign up.

Both the Coalition and the Labour Party have ruled out adopting the euro in the foreseeable future.

Last month Prime Minister David Cameron suffered the biggest ever Conservative revolt over Europe as more than 80 Conservative MPs defied his orders and backed a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Lord Heseltine, the peer in charge of the Government's £1.4 billion regional growth fund, acknowledged that the Eurozone was in crisis, but said he was confident they would pull through to create a stronger economy.

He told BBC1's Politics Show: "I think we will join the euro. » | Josie Ensor | Sunday, November 20, 2011

BBC: UK will ultimately join euro says Lord Heseltine: Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has said he still expects the UK to eventually join the euro. » | Sunday, November 20, 2011

Eurozone Crisis: European Union Prepares for the 'Great Leap Forward'

THE OBSERVER: As EU politicians desperately try to save euro, plans emerge to deepen the union, widening Brussels regulatory powers

As the skies over euroland darken, at least the jokes in Brussels are getting better. At a recent gathering to discuss the crisis that threatens to unravel the euro, one former member of the European parliament observed acidly: "They ought to give this year's Charlemagne prize [for services to European unity] to the bond markets. Who has done more for the cause?"

The black humour was a way of stating a bald truth: in the de facto capital of the European Union, the ongoing near-death experience of the European single currency is concentrating minds in unprecedented fashion. As governments across southern Europe buckle under the pressure of paying back their debts at ever-higher rates of interest, and even formerly "respectable" economies such as France and the Netherlands feel the chill wind of market scrutiny, the custodians of Europe's future have belatedly found their voice.

Last week the normally dour and pragmatic German chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced that the EU faces "perhaps the toughest hour since the second world war. If the euro fails, then Europe fails, and we want to prevent and we will prevent this. This is what we are working for, because it is such a huge historic project."

As the stakes rise higher than anyone thought they could, the British are increasingly seen as an irritation and even an irrelevance. On Friday David Cameron rushed between overseas meetings with three key players in this monetary psychodrama: Angela Merkel, leader of the only country with the economic heft to sort the mess out; José Manuel Barroso, the Portuguese president of the European commission which is charged with giving Brussels a plan for salvation; and Herman Van Rompuy, the hitherto invisible president of the European council of ministers, the inter-governmental body that will adopt that plan.

Cameron hoped to extract a promise that the City will not be targeted by a future financial transactions tax and a pledge that countries such as Britain that are outside the eurozone will retain their influence in the turbulent times ahead. The prime minister will have discovered that, as the European dream of integration via monetary union teeters on the brink of catastrophe, the concerns of the semi-detached are at the top of no one's agenda. The UK's decision not to directly assist bailout funds for Greece and Portugal went down badly; the subsequent exhortations from Downing Street to sort the euro mess out were greeted with exasperation. » | Julian Coman | Sunday, November 20, 2011

Erdogan's Moment

TIME: Red carpets, honor guards and gun salutes are for garden-variety visiting politicians and monarchs: for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cairo put on the kind of reception usually reserved for rock stars. Turkey's Prime Minister was greeted at the airport by thousands of cheering fans, many holding aloft posters of their hero. Fusillades of flashbulbs turned night into day. Journalists eager for a quote thrust microphones into Erdogan's face, but he was drowned out by the chanting throngs. "Erdogan! Erdogan! A real Muslim and not a coward," went one incantation. Another: "Turkey and Egypt are a single fist."

Totalitarian regimes routinely orchestrate massive, faux-spontaneous welcomes for visiting dignitaries, but the beleaguered interim administration in Cairo didn't need to rent a crowd for Erdogan: the Turkish leader is genuinely popular across the Arab world. He was ranked the most admired world leader in a 2010 poll of Arabs by the University of Maryland in conjunction with Zogby International. His stock has soared higher still since the Arab Spring. In countries where young people have risen against old tyrannies, many cite Erdogan as the kind of leader they would like to have instead.

A good politician knows how to milk his moment: the Cairo visit was the first leg of Erdogan's triumphant mid-September sweep through the newly liberated North African states. There were tumultuous welcomes, too, in Tunis and Tripoli. Then it was time for Erdogan to take a bow on the biggest stage. The trip culminated at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, where President Obama, ignoring Erdogan's recent criticism of U.S. policy in the Middle East and his flaming diplomatic row with Israel, lauded him for showing "great leadership" in the region. » | Bobby Ghosh, Istanbul | Monday, November 28, 2011

Saif al-Islam Goes from Fugitive to Facing the Libyan People

THE GUARDIAN: Wherever Muammar Gaddafi's son stands trial, he will be defending not just himself but his whole family

Even on the run, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the 39-year-old son of ColonelMuammar Gaddafi, continued to insist on his innocence of crimes against humanity for which he has been indicted, contacting the international criminal court late last month through an intermediary.

It was suspected then that Saif was in Libya's vast desert areas close to the border with Niger, perhaps travelling in a convoy. In reality, it appears, Saif was travelling with only a handful of bodyguards when he was caught by National Transitional Council forces near the southern town of Obari. Now it seems likely that he will have to prove his innocence not in The Hague but in Tripoli, the capital he fled, in what is certain to become a show trial. Saif will be answering not only for himself but for his whole family.

The ICC had sought Saif on an international warrant as an "indirect co-perpetrator of murder and persecution as crimes against humanity", accusing him of "assuming essential tasks" to enact a plan, between 15 and 28 February this year, to launch attacks on Libyan civilians.

Saif was flown by pro-government forces to Zintan, where an angry crowd attempted to storm the plane. Dressed in a Tuareg scarf, heavily bearded and with a bandaged hand, he refused, however, to confirm his identity to a Reuters correspondent who saw him and described the prisoner as looking like Saif.

A commander in Zintan and the country's interim justice minister confirmed his capture. The ICC said that it was in discussions to ensure he was treated appropriately.

If Saif makes it safely to trial – not a certainty, given the deaths of his father and his brother Mutassim after their capture in Sirte – that court appearance will be the culmination of a long and extraordinary journey for the man many once believed was the reformer in the Gaddafi clan.

It was a journey that took Saif, a handsome and plausible figure with an excellent command of English, German and French, from the London School of Economics, where he studied, to meetings with high-ranking international figures. » | Peter Beaumont | Saturday, November 19, 2011

Egyptian Blogger Aliaa Elmahdy: Why I Posed Naked

CNN: Cairo, Egypt -- Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy has become a household name in the Middle East and sparked a global uproar after a friend posted a photo of her naked on Twitter.

The photo, which the 20-year-old former student first posted on her blog, shows her naked apart from a pair of thigh-high stockings and some red patent leather shoes.

It was later posted on Twitter with the hashtag #nudephotorevolutionary. The tweet was viewed over a million times, while Elmahdy's followers jumped from a few hundred to more than 14,000.

Her actions have received global media coverage and provoked outrage in Egypt, a conservative Muslim country where most women wear the veil. Many liberals fear that Elmahdy's actions will hurt their prospects in the parliamentary election next week.

Elmahdy describes herself as an atheist. She has been living for the past five months with her boyfriend, blogger Kareem Amer, who, in 2006 was sentenced to four years in a maximum security prison for criticizing Islam and defaming former president Hosni Mubarak.

Here she talks exclusively to CNN in Cairo about why she posed nude.

CNN: Why did you post a photo of yourself nude photo on Twitter, and why the red high heels and black stockings?

Elmahdy: After my photo was removed from Facebook, a male friend of mine asked me if he may post it on Twitter. I accepted because I am not shy of being a woman in a society where women are nothing but sex objects harassed on a daily basis by men who know nothing about sex or the importance of a woman.

The photo is an expression of my being and I see the human body as the best artistic representation of that. I took the photo myself using a timer on my personal camera. The powerful colors black and red inspire me. » | Mohamed Fadel Fahmy for CNN | Sunday, November 20, 2011

Boris Johnson Warns That David Cameron's 'Bazooka' Plan Will Wreck Democracy In EU

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Boris Johnson today sparks a fresh clash with David Cameron by declaring that the Prime Minister's preferred solution to the eurozone crisis would end up wrecking democracy and creating a German-dominated Europe.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph the London Mayor hit out at Mr Cameron's call for the European Central Bank to deploy a "big bazooka" - effectively printing money - to help bail out the stricken economies in the south of the continent.

Mr Johnson also attacked plans, backed by the British government, for the 17 eurozone countries to share closer fiscal links, making them more unified on tax and spending.

"What I don't think you can do, is just pretend that you can create an economic government of Europe, effectively run by Germany," the Mayor added.

He described the replacement of elected leaders in Greece and Italy with governments led by technocrats as "completely mad" and warned that if the rest of the EU went ahead with a plan to impose a "Tobin" tax on financial transaction, even without British participation, it would be seen as a "hostile act" because it would still hit so many deals in the City of London.

Mr Johnson also outlined his own "orderly" solution to the crisis - which was miles away from anything suggested by any member of the British government. » | Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor | Saturday, November 19, 2011

Interview: Why Turkey's President Abdullah Gul Believes His Country's Moment Has Come

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Abdullah Gul believes Turkey can bring dynamism to the Euro-club and mediate with its strife-torn neighbours, reports Harriet Alexander in Ankara

Looking out from his presidential palace, high on a hilltop above the Turkish capital, President Abdullah Gul can see trouble at the farthest gates of his nation.

In the south, Syria's bloody uprising grows more violent by the day, while to the east Iran continues its dangerous nuclear dance, frustrating and frightening world leaders. In the west, Greece is struggling to keep its entire economy from collapsing.

And yet Mr Gul believes that, despite being in the middle of such drama, this is Turkey's moment.

"We are between Asia and Europe – we are like a bridge," he said. "Some of us are in Asia, some in Europe. We are at the very centre of both sides."

That the nation of 79 million is a strong, integral part of Europe – and should be accepted as a member of the EU - is Mr Gul's mantra. The Turkish president will be in London this week on a three-day state visit, staying at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen - and the affable, British-educated president will certainly not lose the opportunity to emphasise Turkey's potential to contribute to the EU club.

"Turkey is a natural part of Europe," he told The Sunday Telegraph in the elegant, cream marble surroundings of his Ankara palace.

"Being a member of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights; being one of the oldest members of Nato, as well as being part of European culture and art - this is a natural path Turkey is flowing into." » | Harriet Alexander in Ankara | Saturday, November 19, 2011

Stupid Is as Stupid Does! EU Bans Claim That Water Can Prevent Dehydration

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.” » | Victoria Ward and Nick Collins | Friday, November 18, 2011

Spanish Right Heads for Biggest Election Victory in Decades

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Spain’s conservative party is set to win the biggest election victory since Spain’s transition to democracy as voters angry over the economic crisis go to the polls on Sunday.

Mariano Rajoy, 56, the man expected to become the next prime minister of Spain, called on financial markets to grant a period of grace to turn around the economy, after a week that saw Spain’s borrowing rate edge closer to the critical 7 per cent.

“Those who win should have a minimum margin, more than half an hour” to enact swift reforms, he said Friday on the last day of campaigning, amid market pressure that treatened to make Spain the next victim of the Euro crisis.

Polls have consistently placed the Popular Party (PP) 15 points ahead of the ruling Socialists, but a mid-week survey conducted by Sigma Dos predicted an even greater lead, with the PP securing 48 per cent of the vote against 28 per cent for the PSOE.

Such a result could help calm the markets, handing Mr Rajoy’s party the absolute majority deemed necessary to push through a new round of austerity measures and job-creation incentives intended to cut the public deficit while creating economic growth.

With more than 34 million Spaniards entitled to vote, the PP looked set to secure between 195 and 202 in the 350-seat congress. » | Fiona Govan, Madrid | Saturday, November 19, 2011

Libya Trial Pledge Over Gaddafi Son

THE INDEPENDENT: David Cameron revealed tonight that he has received assurances from Libyan leaders that captured fugitive Seif al-Islam will be tried in line with international standards.

Britain will offer "every assistance" to Libya's government to ensure Muammar Gaddafi's son is brought to justice over his role in the "barbaric" reign of terror, the Prime Minister added.

Al-Islam was seized in southern Libya with two aides, who were trying to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger, officials confirmed today.

Mr Cameron said: "The Libyan government's announcement of Seif al-Islam's arrest shows we are near the end of the final chapter of the Gaddafi regime.

"It is a great achievement for the Libyan people and must now become a victory for international justice too.

"He could have contributed to a more open and decent future for his country, but instead chose to lead a bloody and barbaric campaign against his own people. The fate of the Gaddafis should act as a warning to brutal dictators everywhere.

"Britain will offer every assistance to the Libyan government and the International Criminal Court to bring him to face full accountability and justice for what he has done. » | AP | Saturday, November 19, 2011
Related »

Cheikha Moza, aux limites de "l'islamiquement correct"

LE MONDE: LE CAIRE, CORRESPONDANCE - "Comment peut-on sincèrement parler de la participation politique des femmes au Moyen- Orient où elles sont devenues un produit cyniquement utilisé pour servir de caution à des régimes dans lesquels elles n'ont aucun pouvoir réel ?". Celle qui s'exprime ainsi, en mai 2007, devant les étudiants de l'Université Rice de Houston (Texas), n'est pas une militante féministe occidentale. Celle qui se cabre, gracile à son pupitre, avec un sourire de défi, n'est autre que la cheikha Moza Bint Nasser Al-Misnad, deuxième des trois épouses de l'émir du Qatar, la seule à paraître en public.

Les Qataris ont découvert cheikha Moza à la télévision un soir de 2003, aux côtés de son époux, le cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thani. Devenue depuis la meilleure VRP du richissime petit émirat, elle sillonne le monde pour prêcher la bonne parole du "dialogue des cultures" et de "l'alliance des civilisations". Elle défend à longueur de conférences les intérêts de son mari, en donnant des gages de sa propre indépendance. Car au-delà de son discours consensuel, la première dame du Qatar est une personnalité complexe et ambiguë.

Son parcours est celui d'une femme traditionnelle du Golfe issue d'un milieu aisé et mère de sept enfants. Celle que ses biographes font naître au Qatar à la fin des années 1950 sans plus de précision est la fille du plus célèbre opposant à la dynastie au pouvoir, Nasser Al-Misnad, décédé en 2007. Diplômée en sociologie à l'Université du Qatar, elle est mariée à 18 ans dans le cadre d'un arrangement politique. Il a permis au futur émir de se réconcilier avec le clan des Al-Misnad qui avait été exilé au Koweït après s'être illustré dans des grèves historiques dans les années 1950. Une fois son époux parvenu au pouvoir, à la faveur du coup d'Etat de 1995, elle a su asseoir son influence au sein de la famille régnante et s'impliquer au grand jour dans la vie politique de l'Emirat. » | Cahier Géo&Politique du "Monde", daté du dimanche 20 - lundi 21 novembre 2011

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi: From Heir Apparent to Prisoner of Libya's New Rulers

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has just been captured by Libya's new government, had long been seen as the likeliest successor to his father.

Now the 39-year-old, who occupied no formal political office but wielded vast influence, is a prisoner of his country's new rulers - arrested in the southern desert by forces of the National Transitional Council.

He had been on the run and in hiding for almost a month since the last towns held by troops still loyal to his father fell in mid-October.

For years he had been seen as a western-leaning and reformist figure inside the Gaddafi regime, and was courted by western politicians and businessmen who had high hopes for the future.

But once the rebellion in Libya got under way he became increasingly vocal in support of the regime's violent crackdown.

"Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms, we will not be mourning 84 people, but thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya," he said in February, soon after the uprising began. » | Telegraph reporter |Saturday, November 19, 2011

Related »

WIRTSCHAFTSWOCHE: Gaddafis prominentester Sohn gefasst: Der Sohn des früheren libyschen Machthabers Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, ist offiziellen Angaben zufolge im Süden des Landes gefasst und festgenommen worden. Er galt einst als Reformer und Hoffnung des Westens. » | rtr/dpa | Quelle: Handelsblatt Online | Samstag 19. November 2011

LE MONDE: Saïf Al-Islam Kadhafi a été arrêté dans le sud de la Libye : Saïf Al-Islam Kadhafi, capturé samedi dans le sud de la Libye, sera jugé équitablement en Libye pour des crimes graves passibles de la peine de mort, a déclaré le ministre libyen de la justice Mohammed al Alagy. Seif Al-Islam était le dernier fils encore en cavale de l'ancien dirigeant Mouammar Kadhafi, tué le 20 octobre. » | LEMONDE.FR avec AFP et Reuters | samedi 19 novembre 2011

Video Shows Saif al-Islam Gaddafi On Board Plane After His Arrest
The footage shows Saif al-Islam wearing traditional robes with a scarf pulled over his head sitting on board a plane bound for Zintan after his capture.

Read short article here
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Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Captured in Libya

THE GUARDIAN: Interim Tripoli government says son of Muammar Gaddafi was arrested while attempting to flee to neighbouring Niger

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of Libya's deceased former dictator, has been arrested in southern Libya, according to officials from the country's new government.
Libyan state TV reported that Saif has arrived in captivity and unhurt at an army base in the town of Zintan, 90 miles south-west of Tripoli.

Muammar Gaddafi's second and highest-profile son was captured along with several bodyguards by fighters near the town of Obari in Libya's southern desert, said the interim justice minister and other officials.

Saif was said to be in good health, according to the justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi.

"We have arrested Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in [the] Obari area," the minister told Reuters.

Saif was captured near the southern city of Sabha with two aides trying to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger, militia commander Bashir al-Tayeleb said. » | Chris Stephen in Tripoli and David Batty | Saturday, November 19, 2011

Photo of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi »

Saudi Moral Committee Threatens to Cover “Tempting” Women’s Eyes

BIKYAMASR: Women with sexy eyes in Saudi Arabia may be forced to cover them up, according to the spokesperson of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

Spokesman of the Ha’eal district, Sheikh Motlab al-Nabet said the committee has the right to stop a women whose eyes seem “tempting” and order her to cover them immediately.

Saudi women are already forced to wear a loose black dress and to cover their hair and in some areas, their face, while in public or face fines or sometimes worse, including public lashings.

The announcement came days after the Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported that a Saudi man was admitted to a hospital after a fight with a member of the committee when he ordered his wife to cover her eyes. The husband was then stabbed twice in the hand. » | Manar Ammar | Wednesday, November 16, 2011

HT: Always On Watch »

Egypt’s “Nude Photo Revolutionary” Just That, Revolutionary

BIKYAMASR: CAIRO: Despise Aliya Mahdy or not, she has done what few revolutionaries in Egypt have been able to do: take revolutionary action. Her public display of her naked body in a blog post has seen attacks from the conservative Islamists and the liberals alike. Nudity, especially female nudity, leaves people queasy. Had she been a man, would the reaction have been so virulent against her? Doubtful. The man would likely have been praised for his use of his body as expression. Mahdy, unfortunately, is a woman living in Egypt.

Women are objects in many conservatives’ views. Things that can be owned and used for a man’s pleasure when he desires and when he wants. This is why we have seen the growth of polygamy, the shoving aside of a woman’s ability to choose her life’s goals, and the unending “debate” over the causes of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Whether we agree that one’s body should be a form of protest – which so many of Egypt’s liberals disagree with – is irrelevant. The reality is that Mahdy has been able, with her body, [to] debunk all myths of Egyptian liberalism. Her naked image, which has seen over one million hits, has shown that Egypt is not ready for free expression.

Liberal activists online lamented that the 20-year-old university student has “ruined” her life, is “young and doesn’t know what she has done.” But in an inherently conservative society, Mahdy has created something only the truly revolutionary in today’s world can do: showing the hypocrisy of the so-called freedom fighters for expression.

In the ultra-male dominated society of Egypt, women are too often told what they should put on their bodies. Wear the veil, wear loose clothes, don’t wear this, don’t wear that, and so on. Mahdy has shown that nobody has a right to tell her, or other women for that matter, what is appropriate for a woman. Her body is her own and she can do what she likes with it, and that includes putting nothing over top it and publishing it online. It’s her right. Read on and comment » | Joseph Mayton | Thursday, November 17, 2011

Britain 'Will Join Euro Before Long’, Says German Finance Minister
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain will have to abandon the pound and join the single currency “faster than people think”, Germany’s finance minister has said.

Wolfgang Schäuble said that, despite the current crisis in the eurozone, the euro will ultimately emerge as the common currency of the entire European Union. He said he “respects” Britain’s decision to keep the pound, but insisted that the survival and eventual stabilisation of the euro will convince non-members to join the currency club. “This may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles currently believe,” he added.

Mr Schäuble also said Germany will stand firm on its call for a financial transaction tax that Britain believes would badly harm the City of London. » | Bruno Waterfield, in Brussels and Christopher Hope in Berlin | Friday, November 18, 2011

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Germany Tightens the Screw on 'Isolated' Britain as Tensions Soar

THE INDEPENDENT: Talks between Merkel and Cameron lay bare fundamental differences over plan for euro

An anti-British backlash gathered pace in Germany yesterday as David Cameron and Angela Merkel struggled to disguise the gulf between them on how to tackle the eurozone crisis.

The Prime Minister returned from talks in Berlin with the German leader having made little progress in agreeing emergency action to stop the financial contagion spreading.

Tensions were inflamed after a close ally of Ms Merkel predicted Britain would eventually adopt the euro.

The German media joined the clamour, with the mass-circulation newspaper Bild questioning whether it might be better for Britain to leave the European Union altogether.

Behind the leaders' smiles at a joint press conference yesterday, they acknowledged fundamental differences remained on three key issues: » | Nigel Morris and Tony Paterson | Saturday, November 20, 2011

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Newt Overtakes Mitt. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

THE INDEPENDENT: Republican challengers to Romney have crumbled under media scrutiny. Now it's Gingrich's turn...

He is the new flavour of the moment in the race for the Republicans' presidential nomination, but former Speaker Newt Gingrich is discovering what many of his rivals know well already. No sooner do you bob to the top of the popularity polls than a tempest of media scrutiny and investigation threatens to push you back under again.

But then Mr Gingrich, who was Speaker of the House for much of Bill Clinton's span in the White House, is – as he likes to remind all of us often – wiser than any of the other runners for the nomination, and is a historian. He therefore cannot be too surprised. "Everything is legitimate," he told reporters this week. "This is the presidency."

As Herman Cain, the former pizza tycoon, has faded after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women, so Mr Gingrich has risen, and he is now in high orbit alongside Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts. A new Fox television poll released yesterday put him at 23 per cent, against 22 per cent for Mr Romney and 15 per cent for Mr Cain.

His is a space ship heavily stacked with baggage, however, some of which Republican voters, who begin choosing their nominee in Iowa in just 45 days, may have trouble overlooking. The latest has to do with the very lucrative relationship he struck after retiring from Congress in 1999 with Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage lending agency that conservatives have long excoriated for helping create the housing bubble and its collapse. » | David Usborne | Friday, November 18, 2011

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Barack Obama Assassination Attempt: Oscar Ortega-Hernandez Says He Is 'Modern Day Jesus'
The man charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama described himself as "a modern day Jesus" in a rambling video tape sent to the Oprah Winfrey channel.

Read the article here | Raf Sanchez | Friday, November 18, 2011
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Egypt's Naked Blogger Is a Bomb Aimed at the Patriarchs in Our Minds
THE GUARDIAN: By posing naked, Aliaa Mahdy has brilliantly challenged the misogyny and sexual hypocrisy of Egypt's leaders

When a woman is the sum total of her headscarf and hymen – that is, what's on her head and what is between her legs – then nakedness and sex become weapons of political resistance. You can witness how nudity sears through layers of hypocrisy and repression by following Aliaa Mahdy, a 20-year-old Egyptian who lit the fuse of that double-H bombwhen she posted a nude photograph of herself on her blog last week.

It was in Egypt, after all, that the ruling military junta stripped women of both headscarves (detained female activists were made to strip) and hymens when it subjected them to "virginity tests" last March, by which a soldier inserted two fingers into their vaginal opening. What are the military's "virginity tests", but a cheap tactic to humiliate and silence? When sexual assault parades as a test of the "honour" of virginity, then posing in your parents' home in nothing but stockings, red shoes and a red hair clip is an attack towards all patriarchs out there.

Supporters and detractors quickly lined up to comment on her blog, where the counter for pageviews outpaces a pendulum many times over. Far from the immature naïf some have tried to paint her as being, Mahdy knows exactly where it hurts – and kicks. She wrote:

"Put on trial the artists' models who posed nude for art schools until the early 70s, hide the art books and destroy the nude statues of antiquity, then undress and stand before a mirror and burn your bodies that you despise to forever rid yourselves of your sexual hangups before you direct your humiliation and chauvinism and dare to try to deny me my freedom of expression".

She might have been born 10 years into Hosni Mubarak's rule, but Mahdy understands the way personal freedoms have steadily shrunk in Egypt. The double whammy of military rule – in place since 1952 – along with the growing influence of Islamism, ensured that. Mubarak would fill jails with Islamists, but would fight their ideas not by giving civil and personal liberties room to express themselves, but through conservative clerics employed by the state. When the only two sides fighting are conservative – even if one of them is just conservative in appearance – then everyone loses. And women don't just lose; they're also used as cheap ammunition.

Witness the ultra-conservative Salafi party's use of female candidates on their list: it looks good when you have female candidates; you can tell the feminists who decry your misogynistic ideology to shut up. But the said candidates have no face, and no voice. On election pamphlets, a rose represented one Salafi female candidate – and soon after, the rose was replaced by a picture of the candidate's husband. There are reports that if Salafi women win parliamentary seats, their husbands or a male guardians will speak on their behalf because Salafis consider a woman's voice to be sinful. » | Mona Eltahawy | Friday, November 18, 2011

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Cameron-Besuch in Berlin: Ein nettes "No"

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Man schätzt sich, man braucht einander - dennoch kommen Kanzlerin Merkel und der britische Premier Cameron im Kampf gegen die Euro-Krise nicht voran. Die Differenzen bleiben auch nach dem Treffen in Berlin bestehen, vor allem die Finanztransaktionsteuer ist mit London nicht zu machen.

London/Berlin - Im Englischen klingt das sehr hübsch: "We agreed to disagree" sagt man, wenn zwei Konfliktparteien ergebnislos auseinander gegangen sind, aber weiterhin im Dialog an den Differenzen arbeiten wollen.

Genau so ist es Angela Merkel undDavid Cameron am Freitag in Berlin ergangen: Die deutsche Regierungschefin und Großbritanniens Premier haben sich im Kanzleramt an einen Tisch gesetzt, über den Zustand der EU und die Euro-Krise gesprochen und notwendige Konsequenzen erörtert. Dabei wurde abermals klar, dass sich für sie unterschiedliche Handlungsaufforderungen ergeben. Also lautete die Botschaft bei der anschließenden Pressekonferenz: Deutschland und Großbritannien brauchen einander, genau wie Europa und die Insel, man schätzt sich - aber die Differenzen bleiben ungelöst.

Vor allem bei der Finanztransaktionsteuer geht es nicht voran: Merkel ist dafür, Cameron dagegen. Klipp und klar.

Wie sich die beiden dennoch umschmeichelten, ist zweifellos ein gutes Signal für Europa und die Märkte. Weil es dafür spricht, dass im Verhältnis zwischen London und Berlin kein grundsätzlicher Bruch entstanden ist. "Was wollen die Engländer eigentlich noch in der EU?" fragte am Freitag die "Bild"-Zeitung an prominenter Stelle. Cameron gab im Kanzleramt die Antwort: Der gemeinsame Binnenmarkt innerhalb der Union sei für sein Land von zentraler Bedeutung, sagte er - "und wir haben ein Interesse an einem starken Euro". Merkel wiederum lobte die Briten als engen Partner. » | Von Florian Gathmann und Carsten Volkery | Freitag 18. November 2011

Politischer Akt: Nackte Studentin erzürnt Ägypter

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mut oder Leichtsinn? Eine ägyptische Kunststudentin versetzt ihr Land in Aufruhr, weil sie aus politischem Protest nackt im Netz posiert. Kurz vor den Parlamentswahlen gehen jetzt selbst liberale Kräfte auf Distanz zu ihr - und Freunde fürchten um ihre Sicherheit.

Rote Lackschuhe, Nylonstrümpfe, eine Schleife im Haar. Mehr trägt Alia Magda al-Mahdi, 20, Studentin der Kunst- und Medienwissenschaften, nicht auf dem Foto, das in ihrem Heimatland Ägypten ein Tabu gebrochen hat. Ihre provokante Aktion hat ihr Drohungen, aber auch Solidaritätsbekundungen beschert - und die ohnehin gereizte politische Stimmung gut eine Woche vor dem Start der Parlamentswahlen weiter angeheizt.

Das Foto hat die Studentin der Amerikanischen Universität in Kairo in ihrem Blog veröffentlicht, gemeinsam mit weiteren Aktbildern. Eines zeigt einen nackten Mann mit Gitarre und dann wieder Mahdi mit gelben Balken vor Augen, Mund und Scham. Die Rechtecke stünden für "die Zensur unseres Wissens, Ausdrucks und Sexualität", kommentiert sie in dem Blog, das sie mit "Tagebuch einer Rebellin" betitelt hat. Sie wehre sich "gegen eine Gesellschaft von Gewalt, Rassismus, Sexismus, sexueller Belästigung und Heuchelei" - mit einem Aktporträt, das sie nach eigenen Angaben vor Monaten im Haus ihrer Eltern aufgenommen hat.

Für europäische Verhältnisse wirkt das eher altmodisch als revolutionär. Doch in der konservativen ägyptischen Gesellschaft, wo sich Paare in der Öffentlichkeit nicht küssen dürfen und Frauen auf der Straße nicht einmal ihre nackten Arme zeigen, hat die Aufnahme eine Lawine der Entrüstung losgetreten. » | son/dop/AP | Freitag 18. November 2011

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Archbishop ‘Very Disappointed’ with Gay Marriage Move

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has said he is “very disappointed” with David Cameron’s plan to legalise gay marriage.

In his most detailed public comments on the controversial move, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols warned against the proposal to “annexe the territory of marriage” for same-sex couples and “weaken” an institution at the heart of society.

He also expressed some support for the activists camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral, saying that protest can help start important debates, but added that they needed to make their demands clearer.

And in response to the current scandals involving abuse committed by Catholic clergy, the Archbishop of Westminster admitted that the Church’s response to victims has been “inadequate”.

His comments highlight the fact that the Prime Minister will face strong opposition from traditional religious groups over the next year, despite receiving praise for his commitment to allow full marriage for same-sex couples for the first time.

Homosexuals have been allowed to enter into civil partnerships since 2005, giving them the same legal rights as heterosexuals.

From next month [they] will be able to hold the ceremonies in places of worship, providing the governing body of the faith group agrees. » | Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, November 18, 2011

Crise: Londres et Berlin pas d'accord
LE FIGARO: Les chefs des gouvernements allemand et britannique ont émis des signaux différents vendredi sur la manière de résoudre la crise de la dette dans la zone euro. Ils ont reconnu ne pas avoir réussi à rapprocher leurs positions concernant l'introduction d'une taxe sur les transactions financières en Europe.

Lors d'une conférence de presse à Berlin, le Premier ministre britannique David Cameron a estimé qu'il fallait un pare-feu crédible à la zone euro et que le bloc monétaire devait utiliser toutes ses institutions pour lutter contre la crise. La chancelière allemande a au contraire prôné une approche "pas à pas". » | avec Reuters | vendredi 18 novembre 2011

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Eurozone Crisis: David Cameron Admits He And Angela Merkel 'Don't Agree On Everything' After Meeting In Berlin – David Cameron attempted to play down tensions with Angela Merkel in a joint press conference on Friday, but the two leaders admitted there had not been any progress on a European-wide financial transaction tax. ¶ "We've had very good discussions between very good friends", the prime minister said. "There are many things where we are in absolute agreement - on the importance of the single market, on the need for budget discipline, on the need for all countries to deal with their debt and their deficit. This is where we are in absolute agreement... we share the same plan." ¶ Merkel is frustrated with Cameron and George Osborne for resisting calls for a Europe-wide financial transaction tax, which the UK say will hit the City of London hardest. » | Huffington Post UK | Friday, November 18, 2011

Une manifestation très suivie au Caire contre les militaires

LE FIGARO: Plus de 50.000 Egyptiens se sont réunis vendredi sur la place Tahrir, au Caire, pour exiger que les militaires transfèrent rapidement le pouvoir.

«Protéger la démocratie et le transfert du pouvoir». Tel était le thème de la manifestation organisée vendredi par une quarantaine d'associations et partis politiques. A quelques jours des élections législatives du 28 novembre, l'appel a été entendu par les Egyptiens. Ils étaient au moins 50.000, peut-être plus, venus de tout le pays, à manifester sur la place Tahrir, au Caire. » | Par lefigaro.fr | vendredi 18 novembre 2011

Qatar, the Tiny Gulf State That Has Turned Into a Big Player in the Great Game

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Qatar has emerged as the pea-sized power behind the Arab League's tough new stance over Syria.

Almost exactly a year ago, the Queen hosted a state dinner for one of the world’s more colourful couples, the portly Emir of Qatar and his spectacularly attired wife, Sheikha Mozah. I wrote at the time that there were two interesting things about their tiny country, which few Britons could pinpoint on a map and even fewer pronounce properly. One was banal: it was very rich. The second struck me as odd, but it was what a number of people had told me: one diplomat said, “Everyone suddenly seems to hate Qatar.”

In the intervening 12 months, the emirate has become much better known. Its jets have flown alongside our own over Libya. It has showered largesse on pro-democracy movements, even as its pet television station, Al Jazeera, publicised their revolutions. At home, the Emir announced the statelet’s first elections. Yet the dislike has only got worse. What has the poor old nouveau riche country done?

I’m not just talking about winning the right to host the World Cup in 2022 back in December – although the subsequent abuse of its culture, temperature, and manner of victory did, in retrospect, set the tone. Even though football fans never went so far as to burn the Qatari flag, that is what a lot of Arabs have been doing. At first, it was because they were paid to: dictators such as Colonel Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak, seeing the Qatari hand in the revolutions that were bringing their reigns to an end, got out the bovver boys. But now there are protests in democratic Tunisia against Qatar’s interference in its politics, while in Libya, even those who have most cause to be grateful are complaining. Read on and comment » | Richard Spencer | Thursday, November 17, 2011

China Bristles as Obama Woos ASEAN Nations

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has set a course for confrontation with Beijing, as he described an East Asian summit as the best mechanism for tackling the region's seething row over the South China Sea.

The Chinese government has declared that the long-running dispute should be off-limits at talks to be held on Saturday, which will be attended by Mr Obama, China's Premier Wen Jiabao and 16 other nations including several with claims over the waterway.

But Mr Obama said the gathering, held this year on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, "can be the premier arena for us to be able to work together on a wide range of issues - maritime security or non-proliferation".

The president has irritated China with a drive to enhance the US role as a regional power, positioning Marines in northern Australia and pushing for a potentially transformational trans-Pacific trade pact.

Beijing sees the initiatives as intruding into its own sphere of influence, with the dispute over the South China Sea putting the two major world powers' differences into stark focus.

On Friday, Wen again warned against interference by "external forces" in the wrangle. » | Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Friday, November 18, 2011

My comment:

Obama is playing with fire. Two of the dumbest things he did this week were telling the world that the US is not afraid of China, and then going to Australia and advertising the fact that the US was going to expand its military in the region to protect the Australians from the Chinese. Is there no end to this man's cack-handedness? Is there no end to his naïveté? Is there no end to his lack of understanding?

If the US is truly not afraid of China, it is worrying, because it should be. Meddling in the region which is traditionally China's sphere of influence will lead to no good place. Is Obama trying to set the stage for the third world war, or what?

This is troubling indeed! – © Mark

This comment also appears here.

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US Military Pact Raises Tensions at Summit
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AAP – The Chinese premier has warned against external interference in a dispute over the South China Sea, fuelled by Australia's new military pact with the US, as world leaders prepare to discuss the issue in Bali.

The meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will widen on Saturday into the East Asia Summit, which also takes in Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and, for the first time, the US and Russia.

But while existing priority areas of finance, education, environment, disaster management and health will feature in discussions, an increasingly tense dispute over sovereign rights in the South China Sea is set to steal much of the focus.

Maritime security is not formally on the summit's agenda, but it is expected to be discussed in a retreat session under what has been called "an exchange of ideas on regional and international issues".

China and four ASEAN countries - Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam - have staked territorial claims over the crucial sea lane, which handles more than a third of the world's seaborne trade and half its traffic in oil and gas.

The expected "exchange of ideas" on the long-running dispute comes after the issue was fuelled this week by the announcement that the US will use Australia as a base for an increased military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, viewed as a hedge against China's growing influence. » | Karlis Salna, AAP South-East Asia Correspondent | Friday, November 18, 2011

SPIEGEL ONLINE: China weist USA in die Schranken: Die USA wollen ihre Präsenz im Pazifik ausbauen, jetzt kommt die Replik aus China. Die Amerikaner müssten die Interessen der Volksrepublik respektieren, verlangt Premierminister Wen mit ungewöhnlich deutlichen Worten - und stellt klar: In Südostasien dürften "fremde Staaten" keinen Einfluss nehmen. ¶ Peking/Washington/Bali - Bis hier und nicht weiter: China reagiert scharf auf denStrategiewechsel der USA im Südchinesischen Meer. Peking respektiere zwar die "berechtigten Interessen" der Amerikaner in Ostasien, hieß es in einer Mitteilung des Außenministeriums. Doch im Gegenzug werde erwartet, dass Washington auch die Interessen Chinas berücksichtige, stellte der Sprecher Liu Weimin klar. » | als/Reuters/dpa | Freitag 18. November 2011

New EU War of Words: German Politician Upsets British with Comments

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The swipe aimed at Britain by Volker Kauder, a senior member of Germany's Christian Democrats, has caused trouble in United Kingdom, where the press says Berlin and London have fallen out over the euro crisis. Friday's meeting between Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Cameron could be tense.

Volker Kauder is now a famous man in Great Britain -- but that doesn't necessarily mean the senior Christian Democrat is popular on the other side of the North Sea.

"Just looking for their own advantage and not being prepared to contribute -- that cannot be the message we accept from the British," Kauder said at the conference of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Leipzig on Tuesday, in reference to British opposition to a European Union-wide financial transaction tax favored by Germany. Although the United Kingdom is not in the common currency zone, as a member of the EU itself it "also carries a responsibility for the success of Europe," Kauder said.

With his remarks, Kauder has managed to wake the slumbering British media beast. '"Controversial claim from Merkel ally that EU countries all follow Berlin's lead -- and Britain should fall into line" was how the headline in the tabloid Daily Mail interpreted his remarks. Kauder's word will certainly cause trouble in the UK, especially among euroskeptic members of the Conservatives. The Times [£] [sic] newspaper is already writing of a clash between London and Berlin. » | dsk -- with wires | Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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Cameron Warned His Eurozone Stance Risks Forcing Two-speed Europe

THE GUARDIAN: Angela Merkel wants quick revision of Lisbon treaty to underpin euro and will advise Cameron to table only modest proposals

David Cameron will be warned that he risks creating an unstoppable momentum behind a "two-speed Europe", which would be dominated by France and Germany, if Britain demands too many concessions during the eurozone crisis.

In a series of meetings in Berlin and Brussels, the prime minister will be advised that Britain should table modest proposals next year when EU leaders embark on a small treaty revision to underpin the euro.

Cameron will have breakfast in Brussels with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission. He will then meet Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council, before flying to Berlin to meet Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

Merkel, who said earlier this week that the eurozone crisis showed the need to create a political union in Europe, is pressing fellow EU leaders to agree to a narrow and quick revision of the Lisbon treaty. This is designed to place tougher fiscal rules for the eurozone on a legal footing.

Der Spiegel reported that Berlin would like the European Court of Justice to take action against eurozone members that break the rules. A six-page German foreign ministry paper, published by Der Spiegel this week, calls for "a ('small') convention that is precisely limited in terms of content" to present proposals "rapidly". These would then be agreed by all 27 members of the EU.

Merkel warned the prime minister at an emergency European council meeting in Brussels on 23 October that she would reluctantly have to side with France if Britain overplayed its hand in the negotiations. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, wants a treaty to be agreed among the 17 members of the eurozone, excluding Britain and the other nine EU members outside the single currency. » | Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent | Thursday, November 17, 2011

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