There was a time, just a few months ago, when David Cameron was the toast of Brussels. Those who fretted about Britain’s new Conservative prime minister, a declared Eurosceptic, were surprised by how accommodating he could be. He did not stand in the way of the euro zone’s new treaty to create a permanent…
Second phase of Afghan security handover to be announced next month Oct 26, 2011 Kabul – Afghanistan is set to take security responsibility from NATO-led forces for 17 provinces in the second phase of transition, officials announced Wednesday. All or parts of 17 of the 34 provinces likely to be handed over, said…
A German newspaper said Merkel had concluded Greece was insolvent and was pushing for a mandatory debt restructuring. Three years after the crash of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers, the financial crisis is hitting hard again. If, in the fall of 2008, the whole future of the international financial system – and,…
Knowledge clusters” are being built in France to kick start hi-tech industries In the United States, Europe and in rising powers such as China, there is a growth-hungry drive to invest in hi-tech research and innovation. They are looking for the ingredients that, like Google, will turn a university project into a corporation. They are…
Rosé On The Rise As More French Wine Drinkers Prefer Pink While red and white continue to be the most common colors for wine, pink is starting to gain ground. In France, the world’s leading producer of rosé wine, sales are up thanks to increases in both consumption and price. The…
Pascal Bruckner on America’s obsession with sex, and what it says about a nation with a Puritan past — and uncertain future. A few years ago, we were on a family beach vacation in Florida. After a swim, my two-year-old daughter took off her bathing suit. Suddenly, the summer visitors began looking…
Libya: Tripoli braces for Gaddafi’s final curtain August 17, 2011 There is little fight left in Libya’s capital as Nato ramps up its air raids and the rebels close in, says Damien McElroy. Nato’s war in Libya has so far been one of false starts and missed deadlines. But with rebels now inside the key…
The mother of the writer accusing Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape says she had “brutal” sex with the former IMF chief. Christopher Dickey on the saga’s sordid new twist. Jul 19, 2011 That the winsome Tristane Banon resented her mother’s negligence and despised her father’s absence we can glean from her first novel, I Forgot…
Robert Fisk: Now the Arab Spring becomes an Arab Summer Saturday, 16 July 2011 Rex Features Motorised French troops in Syria, near the border with Palestine, in June 1941. After the Second World War the French were persuaded to abandon their former mandated territories Syrians shot down in the streets across…