europe

58 items, displayed chronologically.

Arrests in Spain 'linked to Iraq'

Spanish police early Monday arrested 14 people suspected of recruiting and indoctrinating others to be sent to fight against Western forces in Iraq, according to a government anti-terrorist source. The 14 are of various nationalities.

Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.

Lords rule against use of torture evidence

Information which may have been obtained by foreign states using torture cannot be used as evidence against terror suspects in British courts, the Law Lords ruled today.

COALITION OF THE QUITTTING: E. European support waning in Iraq

Some of the former East bloc's largest contingents in the US-led coalition are slated to bow out of fighting after Iraq's parliamentary elections in December.

Raised as Catholic in Belgium, She Died as a Muslim Bomber

Muriel Degauque, believed to be the first European Muslim woman to stage a suicide attack, started out life as a good Roman Catholic girl in this coal mining corner of Belgium known as the black country. She ended it in a grisly blast deep inside Iraq last month.

Female Belgian Bomber in Iraq Marks Grim First

An Islamic extremist from Belgium has achieved a grim milestone by becoming the first female European convert to commit a suicide bombing in Iraq, police said Wednesday after arresting 15 suspects linked to the woman in Belgium and France.

EU states warned over CIA prisons

The European Union’s top justice official on Monday warned that any member state that housed secret US Central Intelligence Agency prisons faced losing its EU voting rights.

Europe to investigate reports of secret CIA jails

The European Commission said Thursday it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe.

Senator Asks Ultimatum Be Given Iraq on Charter

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin of Michigan, called on Wednesday for a major shift in American policy toward Iraq, saying the administration must hold out the prospect of a major troop withdrawal unless Iraqis meet a self-imposed deadline to agree on a constitution by next February.

Poll: Iran not a nuclear threat

Almost six out of 10 adults in Britain, France and Germany say that Iran does not pose a nuclear threat to Europe, according to the findings of a new CNN/TIME poll.

US and France urge fair Lebanon elections

The US and France on Tuesday increased international pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and offered help to stabilise the country until fresh elections take place.

Charm offensive offends the Germans

At a lunch hosted by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Mr Bush made much of how he was literally following in the footsteps of his father, who made a memorable trip to Mainz in 1989. But the contrast between the two visits could not have been more marked. Mr Bush's father, the first President George Bush, was hailed as a friend and statesman when he appealed for a special relationship between Germany and America. The current president suffered a hail of insults from the moment Air Force One touched down at nearby Rhein-Main military air base.

EU chief dampens mood of entente with Bush

The EU's foreign policy chief cast public doubt on the health of the transatlantic partnership yesterday, puncturing the euphoric claims by European and American officials that President George W Bush had opened a new era in relations. Javier Solana disputed the American view that last month's elections in Iraq had vindicated the US decision to invade and questioned whether the Bush administration's promises of a new era in relations with Europe meant anything. [...] "Is this a vindication when you count how many billions of dollars have been spent, how many people have been killed, how many soldiers have died? It is a little too early to say."

US seeks European troops for Iraq

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is pushing European nations to commit more forces to Iraq at a Nato meeting with foreign ministers in Brussels.

Officials Fear Iraq's Lure for Muslims in Europe

Intelligence officials fear that for a new generation of disaffected European Muslims, Iraq could become what Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya were for European Islamic militants in past decades: a galvanizing cause that sends idealistic young men abroad, trains them and puts them in touch with a more radical global network of terrorists. In the past, many young Europeans who fought in those wars came back to Europe to plot terrorist attacks at home.

Germany in rethink on Iraq force deployment

Germany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defence minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger.

Chirac Commits France to Iraq Conference

French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday his country is "entirely committed" to taking part in an international conference on Iraq next month.

Norwegians Place Anti-Bush Ad in Washington Post

Norwegians including artists and politicians made a rare foray into U.S. politics Tuesday with an advertisement in a U.S. newspaper saying that President Bush's war on terror was backfiring. The Norwegian group "www.tellhim.no" said it used about $50,000 in donations from 4,000 people to fund the advertisement in the Washington Post to tell Bush that 80 percent of people in NATO-member Norway opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Rise of an 'Iraq generation' in Europe?

While America's enemies flaunt photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib as evidence of US iniquity, her friends are expressing disbelief and disappointment. They are also wondering how far the images may loosen Washington's grip on its claim to global moral leadership. In the short term, European public disgust at the pictures probably rules out any chance that America's NATO allies will offer military help securing the transition to Iraqi rule in Baghdad. In the long run, some observers worry, the photographs could perpetuate a graver transatlantic rift.

France 'sought secret UN deal' in bid to avert row

The French government offered a surprise compromise to the US president, George Bush, in the run-up to the war in Iraq, according to a detailed investigation published in Vanity Fair this week. The report undermines the public perception of France standing resolutely against the US and Britain in the United Nations security council as the two countries tried to win a second resolution in support of war.

Poles 'Misled' on Iraq, President Says

In an unusual public criticism by one of the United States' staunchest allies, the president of Poland said Thursday that he had been "misled" about Iraq's alleged stocks of banned weapons before the war.

Strained U.S.-European Relations Turn Pragmatic

The specter of terrorism and differences over world security are turning the Cold War-era transatlantic friendship into steely pragmatism. The continent has a two-dimensional view of the U.S. Although most people in London, Paris, Berlin and other capitals feel an affinity for Amer

US vs. Europe: two views of terror

Ever since George W. Bush's first reaction to Sept. 11 was that this is "war," debate has simmered over whether fighting terrorism is best handled as a military operation or as law-enforcement, using intelligence cooperation, police work, and the courts. Now that controversy is flaring again, both in the US in the context of the presidential election and among America's allies in the aftermath of the Madrid bombings.

Kofi Annan calls Aznar author of his own defeat

The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said yesterday that the outgoing Spanish prime minister, José María Aznar, had paid for backing the Iraq war and blaming last week's terrorist attacks in Madrid on Eta.

Shut Out?

Almost immediately after last Thursday's attacks, in which at least 200 people were killed, the Justice Department offered to assist the Spanish by dispatching a team of FBI and other U.S. law-enforcement agents to the scene. But the Spanish government appears to have rejected the U.S. offer and has instead invited other European law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to help in the case -- an apparent snub of the Bush administration that U.S. officials tell NEWSWEEK may be an ominous portent for the future.

Zapatero: 'You can't organise a war with lies'

Spain's incoming Socialist Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the unexpected victor in Sunday's general election, launched a withering attack on Tony Blair and George Bush yesterday over their decision to go to war in Iraq.

For Bush, an Election-Year Powder Keg

Vice President Cheney, in a trio of interviews with cable news outlets yesterday, brushed off the attacks as a sign of "desperation" among U.S. foes -- a response the administration has used for other bloody setbacks in Iraq. But administration officials also acknowledge that there is little that can be done to stop the attacks and that such violence is likely to worsen as power is transferred to Iraqis on June 30.

N. Korea May Be in 'Anybody but Bush' Camp

In return for shutting down its weapons program, the North wants to get the most generous possible trade terms, aid and security guarantees. Pyongyang is betting that by stalling, it can achieve a better deal with a new administration, analysts say. Nor does it want to grace Bush with a diplomatic victory that might help reelect him.

U.S. Presidential Politics and Self-Rule for Iraqis

In the Bush administration, it is considered heresy to suggest postponing the planned return of sovereignty to Iraq. Turning over control by June 30, administration officials say, is crucial to assuaging Iraqi distress over living under American occupation. Yet in recent weeks, diplomats and even some in the administration have begun to worry that the date reflects more concern for American politics than Iraqi democracy.

U.S. Softens Decision on Tying Contracts in Iraq to War Support

Facing outrage from Europe and Canada, the Bush administration Wednesday appeared to soften its decision to ban countries that did not support the war in Iraq from seeking $18.6 billion in prime contracts to rebuild the country.