The world at a glance ... Europe

last updated 8 January 2015

Dublin

Bono is the new Trump: Bono and The Edge, frontmen for the band U2, plan to construct Ireland’s tallest tower on the Dublin waterfront. The U2 Tower, nearly 400 feet high, will house a hotel, shopping mall, and apartments, as well as a public viewing platform. Historic preservationists oppose the plan because it requires the demolition of several landmark buildings, and it’s not yet clear whether Dublin authorities will approve construction. Bono and The Edge are already battling city authorities for permission to revamp the Clarence Hotel, a historic landmark they bought in 1992. They want to gut the entire interior, preserving only the Georgian facade.

ParisTouchy subject: Angered at personal questions about his marriage, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stomped out of an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that aired this week. Sarkozy was in a foul mood before last month’s taping had even begun, calling his press secretary an imbecile for scheduling the interview on a busy day. When the questioning turned to his relationship with his wife, who had been outspoken about her disdain for the role of first lady, Sarkozy walked out, with the cameras rolling. If I had to say something about Cécilia, I would certainly not do so here, he said. Two weeks after the incident, the Sarkozys announced that they were ending their marriage. LondonWas terror warning ignored? Prior to the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people, Britain ignored Saudi intelligence about an impending terrorist plot, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said this week. We have sent information to Britain before the terrorist attacks, Abdullah told the BBC just before he arrived in Britain on a state visit. But unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy. Citing unnamed sources, some British papers reported that Saudi agents gave British agents the names of top al Qaida commanders in Britain. British intelligence denied the story. No prior warning of the attacks was received from any source, MI-5 said on its Web site. The Saudis provided information about possible planning for an attack in the U.K. which was materially different from the attacks that took place in London. ParisGunning for Rumsfeld: Four U.S. and international human rights groups filed a legal complaint last week accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of authorizing torture in Iraq and GuantÃ¡namo Bay. The suit was brought while Rumsfeld was visiting Paris on business. Under French law, a foreigner who has broken international law abroad can be tried in France, and the rights groups asked French prosecutors to detain Rumsfeld so the charges could be investigated. Donald Rumsfeld must understand that he has nowhere to hide, said Michael Ratner, head of the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the plaintiffs. Rumsfeld, though, left the country without incident. As secretary of defense, Rumsfeld denied authorizing torture, saying the abuses at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were crimes, not U.S. policy. BerlinNo to speed limits: Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week there would be no speed limit on the Autobahn as long as she was in charge. Merkel, of the Christian Democratic Union, made the remark after the Social Democrats, a partner in her government, adopted a new platform calling for a speed limit of 80 mph on German highways. The Social Democrats said a limit would fight climate change by helping curb emissions of greenhouse gases. Merkel disagreed. Traffic jams are at least as harmful to the climate as speeding, she said. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said a speed limit would cut just 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of tons Germany emits each year. RomeVatican enlists pharmacists: Pope Benedict XVI said this week that Catholic pharmacists should refuse to dispense drugs intended for contraception, abortion, or euthanasia. The pope told the International Congress of Catholic Pharmacists that members should invoke conscientious objection and refuse to collaborate directly or indirectly in supplying products that have clearly immoral purposes—such as, for example, abortion or euthanasia. The issue has been attracting attention worldwide since the U.S. licensing of the morning-after pill, which can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. In Chile, the government has threatened to shut down pharmacies that won’t dispense the drug. Only a few U.S. states allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs because of religious conviction.