The world at a glance . . . Europe

Madrid

Bin Laden son seeks asylum: One of Osama bin Laden’s many sons applied this week for political asylum in Spain, Spanish officials said. Omar bin Laden, 27, arrived in Madrid on a flight from Cairo bound for Casablanca, Morocco. Omar made headlines in Britain last year when he married a 51-year-old English grandmother, Jane Felix-Browne. Despite the marriage, the British government refused to give Omar a residence permit. Omar, who says he is a pacifist, has not seen his father in eight years. In an interview with CNN earlier this year, he said, “I try and say to my father: ‘Try to find another way to help or find your goal.’” Osama bin Laden has 19 children with his four wives; Omar is his fourth-eldest son.

London

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Recession hurts U.K. worst: The economic downturn will hit Britain the hardest of all Western European countries, the European Commission said this week. British unemployment is expected to rise from 5.3 percent to 7.1 percent by 2009. In all of the European Union, only the economies of tiny former Soviet republics Estonia and Latvia are forecast to contract more. The U.K. government is trying to spend its way out of the recession, by abolishing the rule that limits public debt to no more than 40 percent of gross domestic product. But many Britons oppose that approach. In a recent poll, nearly 60 percent said they would rather have lower taxes than higher government spending.