Libya's Gadhafi threatens to take war to Europe

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says NATO should "withdraw and run away."NEW: U.S. is taking the threats seriously, State Department spokesman saysGadhafi says the battle may one day be taken to EuropeHis recorded message was aired at a Tripoli rallyState Department spokesman says Gadhafi is "given to overblown rhetoric"

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Moammar Gadhafi, rallying his supporters in war-torn Libya, threatened Friday to take the fighting to Europe, according to an audio message aired by state TV.

"You are mistaken, you are involved in a battle that you don't know what you are going to face, so withdraw, and run away," Gadhafi told a pro-government gathering in Tripoli. "Our people is able in one day to move the battle to the Mediterranean, and able to move the battle to Europe."

Gadhafi referred to NATO, which began bombing military targets in Libya after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in March authorizing force by whatever means necessary, with the exception of a ground invasion, to protect civilians.

Libya rebels claim talks with France over weapons supply

He vowed vengeance for the bombings, saying the Libyan military could be "like locusts, like bees" in Europe. Homes and offices could be potential targets, he said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was taking seriously the Libyan leader's remarks. "Certainly this is an individual who's obviously capable of carrying out these kinds of threats," he told reporters. "It's what makes him so dangerous. But he's also someone who's given to overblown rhetoric."

He said the United States would continue to support NATO's mission of increasing pressure on Gadhafi to step aside.

Gadhafi's daughter: 'My father is a symbol, a guide'

The French government, meanwhile, is in talks with Libyan rebels about supplying them with weapons and ammunition, a Libyan opposition military spokesman in Misrata said late Thursday.

The French government has not confirmed the claim, which follows an acknowledgment earlier this week that its military has previously dropped light weaponry to rebels elsewhere.

CNN's David McKenzie contributed to this story

CNN

Tunisia: Europe, U.S. must bolster role

Tunisian youths paint slogans during a protest in Tunis, aimed ''at protecting and correcting the path of revolution" on June 22.U.S. and Europe have opportunity to bolster credibility, survey saysGallup center recommends the countries invest in Tunisia's developmentSurvey of Tunisians before the uprising showed dissatisfaction with leader

(CNN) -- Europe and the U.S. should bolster their roles in Tunisia with the aim of building goodwill in the country that ignited uprisings across the region, the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center recommended.

The recommendation by the center is part of a report released Monday that analyzed Tunisian public perception before the uprising that ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, a long-time Western ally.

The survey, titled "Tunisia: Analyzing the Dawn of the Arab Spring," used data collected prior to the uprisings to examine conditions that led to mass demonstrations across the country.

Protests against Ben Ali -- who had ruled Tunisia since 1987 -- began to erupt late last year. Fed up with corruption, unemployment and escalating prices of food, people began demonstrating en masse after the self-immolation suicide of a fruit cart vendor in December.

"International partners, particularly in Europe and the U.S., now have an opportunity to bolster their credibility as partners of the people and not protectors of regimes perceived to be autocratic and corrupt in the eyes of their citizens," the survey said.

The survey recommended the countries invest in improving basic infrastructure, health services and affordable housing. It also said there should be consideration of investments in traditional media infrastructure and Internet connectivity.

The Gallup center said the protest took most analysts by surprise given the country's "positive reviews based on classical measures of the country's economic performance and vibrancy in recent years. "

But the center said a survey of Tunisians before the uprising showed strong indications of dissatisfaction with government and its economic condition.

The survey warned that continuing this approach "will result in continued loss of large sums of investment and finance funds pumped into countries whose lack of political and social stability result in major economic setbacks and dissuade future investment."

It said data on behaviors and attitudes collected on an individual level are better measures of the effect of policies and programs.

CNN's Jenifer Fenton contributed to this report.

CNN

Europe "doing the work" in Libya: Sarkozy (Reuters)

BRUSSELS/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday rebuffed criticism of Europe's role in the Libyan war by outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, saying Washington's allies were "doing the work".

The spat is the latest sign of tensions among NATO allies in their campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi, with Britain, France and others rejecting an Italian call earlier this week for a suspension of hostilities to allow humanitarian aid access.

It broke out as President Barack Obama faces domestic pressure over U.S. involvement in the war, with the House of Representatives due to vote as early as Friday on a proposal to cut off funds for U.S. hostilities in Libya.

"It was particularly inappropriate for Mr. Gates to say that, and what is more, completely false, given what is going in Libya," Sarkozy told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.

"There are certainly other moments in history when he could have said that, but not when Europeans have courageously taken the Libyan issue in hand, and when France and Britain, with their allies, for the most part, are doing the work."

While the United States has stepped back from a leading role in the strike mission NATO took over on March 31, it has continued to provide essential assets, including reconnaissance planes, air-to-air refueling planes and armed drones.

In a June 10 valedictory speech tapping into longstanding U.S. resentment of what it sees as Europe's lack of military muscle, Gates said the Libyan effort had further exposed limitations, with an air operations center designed to handle more than 300 sorties a day struggling to launch about 150.

"I think his retirement may have led him to not examine the situation in Libya very closely because, whatever people want to say, I don't have the impression that the Americans are doing the bulk of the work in Libya," Sarkozy said.

Gates is due to retire at the end of the month.

PRESSURE ON OBAMA

U.S. lawmakers could vote Friday on a proposal to ban funding for U.S. participation in combat missions such as drone attacks in the NATO-led air war, according to Republicans.

It is unclear if the measure can pass and Senate approval is unlikely. But criticism has been building in Congress, especially in the Republican-led House, of U.S. involvement in Libya and Obama's refusal to ask Congress for its consent.

The NATO-led bombing campaign has so far failed to dislodge Gaddafi and is causing concerns about civilian casualties, its financial cost and even its impact on world oil supplies as Libyan exports to the world market are cut off.

The loss of Libyan oil output since February represented a greater disruption to global oil supply than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, an International Energy Agency official told Reuters Insider TV.

IEA Deputy head Richard Jones said the market was facing a possible shortfall of 1.8 million barrels per day for the remainder of June and 1.7 million for the next quarter.

There are signs of strain on Gaddafi too, with authorities this week issuing instructions for ordinary people to follow "to deal with the fuel shortage", including recommendations that motorists save fuel by curbing their speed.

"LIBYAN OASIS" FOR GADDAFI?

Analysts say part of the NATO strategy now appears to be directed at paving the way for a successful local uprising against Gaddafi in the capital Tripoli, where opponents run the gauntlet of tight security to stage "flash" protests.

In a defiant state television audio broadcast this week, Gaddafi said he would fight until the end, but a rebel spokesman was quoted on Friday as saying indirect negotiations were being pursued that could allow him to stay in Libya.

"We have no objection to him retreating to a Libyan oasis under international control," France's Le Figaro quoted Mahmoud Shammam, spokesman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), as saying.

NTC Vice-Chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga confirmed to Reuters the existence of indirect talks, specifying: "The NTC is not contacting Gaddafi's regime. It's the other way around...

"If the NTC believes that there is a political solution that involves the Gaddafi regime stepping down, and that includes the entire regime, to stop the bloodshed of innocent people that are being killed every day in Libya, then it may look at this political solution."

In the latest of a string of defections that include Libya's foreign minister and top energy official, 19 police and army officers were among a group of Libyan refugees who arrived in Tunisia by boat on Thursday, Tunisian news agency TAP reported.

Gaddafi allies have strongly denounced such defections.

"Anyone who defects or refuses to take up arms is an apostate ... and this applies to all Libyans," preacher Mohamed al-Matri said in a live broadcast of the Friday sermon from Cordoba mosque in the town of Sirte.

"Anyone who writes something on the wall, distributes tracts or spreads a rumor in favor of the Jews and Christians becomes one of them... They are enemies of Allah and Muslims."

In Benghazi, dozens of rebel supporters freed by Gaddafi arrived on a ship from Western Libya in an exchange that could mark the beginning of broader talks between the adversaries.

"These are mainly civilians...Among them there are 51 people who were detained in Tripoli but were released by the government there so we brought them back," said Dibeh Fakhr, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Benghazi.

A rebel spokesman said the rebel authority had earlier released five Gaddafi prisoners as part of the same transfer

European leaders meeting in Brussells agreed that only an uprising in Tripoli could end the war, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sai.

Speaking after an EU summit in Brussels, Berlusconi said he hoped the conflict would end soon.

"We urge a political mediation," he told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Souhail Karam in Rabat, Maria Golovnina in Benghazi; writing by Mark John)

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Greek PM warns against default as Europe meets on aid (Reuters)

ATHENS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Prime Minister George Papandreou asked Greeks on Sunday to support austerity steps and avoid a "catastrophic" default, as European finance ministers discussed extending tens of billions of euros of aid to Athens.

Addressing the Greek parliament, Papandreou appealed for the nation to accept deeply unpopular tax hikes, spending cuts and privatisation plans which international donors have demanded as a condition for the aid.

"The consequences of a violent bankruptcy or exit from the euro would be immediately catastrophic for households, the banks and the country's credibility," Papandreou said at the start of a confidence debate on his new crisis cabinet.

Greek officials have said the country will face default in mid-July if the European Union and the International Monetary Fund do not hand over a 12 billion euro tranche of emergency loans by then..

Euro zone finance ministers began a two-day meeting in Luxembourg on Sunday evening to decide whether to disburse that tranche, part of a 110 billion euro ($156 billion) bailout of Greece launched in May last year. They will also discuss proposals for a second bailout that could be worth some 120 billion euros and keep Greece funded through 2014.

Spain's economy minister told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting that ministers hoped to reach agreement on Sunday night on disbursement of all of the next loan tranche to Greece.

"We're still discussing... We hope (to have a deal). That's why we are here tonight," Elena Salgado said.

The finance minister of Germany, where political opposition to spending taxpayers' money on bailing out Greece has been rising, was more equivocal.

"We will work today and tomorrow so that we get as far as possible," Wolfgang Schaeuble said. "Greece must fulfill all the necessary preconditions so that it can be paid out on time. Europe will do its part.

OPPOSITION

Facing public protests and dissent in his Socialist party, which has a slim majority in parliament, Papandreou reshuffled his cabinet last week and called a confidence vote for next Tuesday in an effort to push his reforms through the legislature this month.

Political analysts think he is likely to succeed, but public opposition means it is unclear if he can stick to austerity over the long term. Over 10,000 people protested in front of parliament on Sunday, chanting: "We won't pay! We won't pay" and thrusting their open hands forward in a traditional insult.

Opposition leader Antonis Samaras demanded in parliament that Papandreou quit to pave the way for early elections and a renegotiation of the terms of Greece's current bailout.

Greece, with a public debt worth more than 150 percent of its annual economic output and rising, missed debt targets in its initial bailout plan partly because of a deep recession.

In the proposed new bailout scheme, private investors would for the first time share the burden, pledging to maintain their exposure to Greece by voluntarily buying about 30 billion euros of sovereign bonds as their current holdings matured.

But such a debt rollover would be complex and controversial, financially and legally. Key details have not been worked out, and euro zone finance ministers are expected to discuss them in Luxembourg.

Yields on bonds of indebted euro zone states rose sharply last week as markets speculated Greece might fail to obtain more aid. Many investors think that even if it does, its debt problem is so large that a more radical solution is needed, such as imposing deep losses on its creditors.

The head of Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, said in an interview published on Sunday that Europe risked wasting more money for nothing if it kept pumping billions into the weak Greek economy.

"After a year, every indicator has unfortunately worsened, despite the incredible quantity of financial assistance," Mohammed El-Erian told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily.

"All of this has terrible human consequences and it's associated with a transfer of liabilities from private creditors to European taxpayers. Why? Very little is being done to deal with the excess of public debt, and the conditions for higher growth are not being put in place.

"Further on, if this approach is kept up, more money will be wasted to save private creditors and the risk of a disorderly restructuring of the debt will be greater.

EUROPE

There were signs across Europe on Sunday of tensions over austerity measures and economic reforms.

In Madrid, tens of thousands of people marched against the government's handling of an economic slump and the "Euro Pact," which was agreed by euro zone politicians to improve competitiveness across the bloc and has led in Spain to reforms giving companies greater power to hire and fire.

In Dublin, which obtained an 85 billion euro bailout last year, the Sunday Times quoted an unnamed European Central Bank source as criticising Finance Minister Michael Noonan's call to impose losses on senior bond holders in two failed banks.

"It was a good soundbite for the cameras ... Considering the Greek situation, it was the worst possible time for him to make an impression," the source was quoted as saying. The ECB has opposed making those bond holders pay on the grounds that it might destabilise financial markets.

"By the time it comes to paying back the bonds next autumn, Greece may have defaulted. If Greece defaults, Ireland is next," the source said.

In Milan, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy would take the measures it considered right to keep its public finances in order. On Friday, credit rating agency Moody's warned it might cut Italy's rating out of concern over Rome's ability to reduce its heavy public debt burden.

(Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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EADS says Europe needs only one drone (Reuters)

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) – Europe needs to co-operate on the next generation of military drones or it will repeat costly divisions which led to rival combat jets competing for the same orders, aerospace group EADS warned on Sunday.

The warning on the eve of the Paris Air Show follows a decision by Britain and France to push other defense companies into working on an armed drone, which could leave an alternative project in which EADS (EAD.PA) is involved out in the cold.

"We are not pleased by the development that we have two potentially competing projects in Europe, where obviously Europe is not a position to come up with 300 million euros ($425 million) for the next few years to develop one project," Stefan Zoller, head of EADS' defense and security unit Cassidian, said.

EADS has spent years developing the Talarion unmanned aerial vehicle at its own expense in the hope of winning an order from the project's instigators France, Germany and Spain.

However, France's Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) and Britain's BAE Systems (BAES.L) have stepped up plans for their own drone under a Franco-British defense pact signed last year, provoking anger and frustration from EADS.

"Why abandon such a project... to redo it all again? From my perspective, it's ridiculous," Zoller told journalists.

"We are ready to go," he said. "It's a pity that what you see on the European side, again, is potential competition that will delay the execution of such programmes."

France pulled out of the Eurofighter joint fighter jet programme in 1985 to work on its own project -- the Rafale, built by Dassault. The two combat planes are competing head to head for an $11 billion contract in India.

Although EADS owns almost 50 percent from Dassault, inherited from the French government, it has no sway over the company and its fighters jets are fierce arms market rivals.

The Rafale was conceived as a purely French military project as a gesture of national sovereignty but France has since rejoined the NATO command and analysts say economic conditions mean no nation can now afford to build a fighter alone.

Current drone developments could pave the way for a future generation of fighter jets, which could be unmanned.

Zoller called on France, Germany, Spain and Turkey to come up with the 300 million euros that it needs to get a prototype of the Talarion in the air for 2014.

EADS has previously threatened to stop working on Talarion if would-be purchasers do not share some of the research costs.

Dassault said earlier this month its Telemos drone could be ready to enter service in 2016, provided French and British ministers authorize the start of the programme.

Zoller said once EADS's own protoype was running, there could be an opportunity for France and the UK to join in with the Talarion and that he could foresee a Talarion customised to British or even Anglo-French requirements.

However the Talarion has been criticised by military planners for its lack of weapons as European nations seek to fill a gap in capacity offered by U.S.-supplied Predators.

Zoller said the Talarion could be used in numerous missions. (Additional reporting by Cyril Altmeyer, Editing by Tim Hepher)

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Deaths rise in Europe E. coli outbreak

Spanish farmers suffer, blame Germanyvar cnnWindowParams = window.location.toString().toQueryParams();if(typeof cnnWindowParams.video != "undefined") {if(cnnWindowParams.video) {cnnLoadStoryPlayer('world/2011/06/03/goodman.ecoli.mistakes.made.cnn', 'cnnCVP1', '640x384_start_art', playerOverRide, T1);}} else {$('cnnCVP2').onclick = function() {if ($$('.box-opened').length) {$$('.box-opened').each(function(val){Element.fireEvent(val, 'click');});}cnnLoadStoryPlayer('world/2011/06/03/goodman.ecoli.mistakes.made.cnn', 'cnnCVP1', '640x384_start_art', playerOverRide, T1);};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseover = function() {$('cnnCVP2').className = 'cnn_mtt1plybttn cnn_mtt1plybttnon';};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseout = function() {$('cnnCVP2').className = 'cnn_mtt1plybttn';};}At least 19 people have died in Europe after an outbreak of a virulent E. coli strainMore than 2,000 people have been infectedThe source of the outbreak is still not clearOfficials say it's too early to determine whether the peak of the outbreak has passed

(CNN) -- An outbreak of a virulent strain of E. coli has killed 19 people in Europe and infected more than 2,000 in at least 12 countries, the World Health Organization said on Saturday.

All but one of the fatalities were reported in Germany, where officials say it's still too early to determine whether the peak of the outbreak has passed. One person in Sweden also died.

In Germany, there have been 573 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) -- a form of kidney failure -- in the current European outbreak, according to WHO. That's more cases of HUS than in any other recorded outbreak, worldwide.

Twelve patients in Germany have died of HUS, according to WHO, while six died of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, EHEC, a strain that causes hemorrhaging in the intestines and can result in abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea.

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Reports indicate that an estimated 1,428 people have that E. coli strain so far but do not have HUS, according to the World Health Organization.

Infections have also been identified in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, according to the organization.

The European Food Safety Alert Network initially said enterohemorrhagic E. coli was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany and distributed to various countries. But authorities have said that the source of the contamination has not been pinpointed.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's federal unit responsible for disease control and prevention, has advised German consumers not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

Cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce imported from Germany and Spain will be tested and cleared before they are sold in the United States, according to David Elder of the Food and Drug Administration, and those test results will be shared with the European Union.

Germany and Spain account for a small fraction of produce that is sold in the United States in a given year.

Two women and a man who traveled last month to northern Germany remain hospitalized in the United States with HUS, Chris Braden of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. A fourth person developed bloody diarrhea, but was not hospitalized, he added.

Two U.S. service members in Germany also developed diarrhea, Braden said. "We have no expectation that this will spread in our country," he added.

CNN

Europe locked in 'chaotic' debate over Greece (AP)

BRUSSELS – European officials are locked in a heated debate over whether — and how — to give more aid to debt-ridden Greece just as a much-delayed examination of the country's finances draws to a close.

Experts from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will likely conclude their review of Greece's accounts and austerity program over the next 24 to 48 hours, a European official said Tuesday.

Their report is set to show huge funding gaps in Greece's budget over the next two years, despite euro110 billion ($157 billion) in rescue loans granted only a year ago. It will also spell out new austerity measures and detail plans to privatize public real estate and corporate assets as the Greek government struggles to hit deficit targets set out in the bailout program.

In parallel to the review carried out in Athens, European governments and financial institutions are wrangling over different proposals that would make potential new loans to the struggling country more secure.

So far there is no consensus among eurozone countries on whether to give Greece new aid and how, the official said, despite increased pressure in recent days from the European Commission, the ECB and other financial leaders.

"It's really very chaotic," a second European official said of the talks between representatives from eurozone finance ministries, the ECB and the EU. "There are loads of proposals but all proposals are opposed by some."

Both officials were speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were still ongoing.

Many of the richer countries in the 17-nation eurozone are frustrated with Greece's slow implementation of the economic reforms and some euro50 billion in privatizations that were supposed to help its economy grow again and cut down a national debt of some 150 percent of economic output. They want assurances that they will get their money back as their own taxpayers are unhappy with what they see as undeserved help for less disciplined countries.

The ministry representatives, who will meet again Wednesday in Vienna, are discussing potential "technical assistance" for Greece in tax collection and the privatization program, the two officials said. Such international involvement in the internal financial affairs of a eurozone country would constitute an unprecedented intervention likely to face strong opposition within Greece.

On top of that, some countries have pushed for Greece to provide collateral for any further loans which could be cashed in if the government fails to repay the aid.

Earlier this month, European policymakers also raised the possibility of asking private creditors like banks and investment funds to give Greece more time to repay its bonds, but such a move has been strictly opposed by the ECB.

ECB officials have warned that even such a "soft restructuring" or "reprofiling" could be seen by investors as a default, triggering panic on financial markets similar that seen after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Despite those concerns, the two officials said that asking private investors to extend the maturities of the bonds they hold was still on the table.

Any final agreement on new aid will depend on which of the countries and institutions will give in eventually and would have to be hammered out by finance ministers in June, one of the officials said. In addition to a scheduled get-together on June 20, there is a "strong likelihood" of a special meeting the week before that, he added.

Eurozone governments expect Greece to come up with new measures that will help it cut its deficit to the 3 percent of economic output allowed under EU rules by 2014. Last year, it posted a deficit of 10.5 percent and at the current rate the EU estimates it will have a funding shortfall of some 9.5 percent this year, 2 percentage points above target.

Any new aid would not relieve Greece from implementing the painful and unpopular austerity and reform measures but only give it more breathing space by keeping it out of international debt markets for a little longer.

Greece was supposed to raise some euro27 billion next year and a similar amount in 2013 to start covering some of its bills again, but with interest rates for 10-year bonds above 16 percent that prospect now seems unrealistic.

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APNewsBreak: US says bin Laden knew of Europe plot (AP)

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Kirsten Grieshaber And Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press – 24 mins ago

BERLIN – The United States has told Germany that evidence pulled from Osama bin Laden's hideout shows the terror chief was linked to a plot to attack targets in Europe last year, a senior German official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Two U.S. officials also told the AP that bin Laden had advised Europe-based militants to attack in unspecified mainland European countries just before Christmas. The officials offered no details.

Separately, bin Laden encouraged multiple attacks on Danish targets because of disparaging references to the Muslim prophet Mohammed in Danish media, the U.S. officials said.

European security officials said earlier this month that they'd seen very little of the information from the May 2 raid on bin Laden's hideout, but the Americans have begun sharing more information with intelligence agencies in Europe.

The German official said U.S. officials had told their German counterparts that information retrieved from the Pakistani house where bin Laden was killed shows that senior al-Qaida member Sheikh Yunis al Mauritania was in contact with bin Laden about the Europe plot.

A 29-year-old Moroccan terror suspect was arrested last month in the German city of Duesseldorf with letters between him and al Mauritania about planned terror attacks in Europe, the official told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

He and other European security officials said they have not seen evidence to suggest that bin Laden was involved in planning the attacks.

"We now know he was a lot more operational than previously thought — and there's some interesting information that has come out on this — but whether this means he was involved in the actual planning or advising remains unclear," said a European security official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence information.

In September, intelligence gleaned from a terror suspect detained in Afghanistan prompted heightened security in Britain, France and Germany.

Germany raised its security threat level in November after officials said they had received information from their own and foreign intelligence services, including in the U.S., that indicated a sleeper cell of some 20 to 25 people may have been planning an attack somewhere in Europe. Later, Germany also received information on possible separate attacks at Christmas or New Year's.

Germany eased the threat level this year.

The first link to bin Laden appears to have been uncovered with the April arrest of a Moroccan named Abdeladim El-Kebir. At the time he was taken into custody, German officials said el-Kebir and two or three other suspects were working on making a shrapnel-laden bomb in Germany to attack a crowded place such as a bus in spring or summer 2011.

The message exchange with al Mauritania found at his home also indicated that he belonged to the group that American security officials last year warned may be plotting attacks in Europe, the German official told the AP.

The German official suggested that the letter contained some indication that bin Laden had been kept abreast of the plot to attack Europe in fall 2010.

A recent U.S. security briefing on the bin Laden house evidence "basically confirmed to us what we had already found in the letter exchange between El-Kebir and (al Mauritania)," the official said.

On the day of El-Kebir's arrest, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich released a statement saying the suspects had been under surveillance since November, when Germany increased security. He added authorities had accumulated enough evidence to launch an official criminal investigation last month.

After his arrest, German intelligence officials said el-Kebir received the assignment to carry out a bombing from a high-ranking al-Qaida member early last year. At the time they did not identify the al-Qaida leader, and did not say he was also thought to be connected to earlier European plots.

El-Kebir left Germany in early 2010 and trained in an al-Qaida camp in Waziristan near the Afghan-Pakistan border, and returned last year to carry out the attack.

He had at one time resided in Germany on a student visa but later returned illegally after abandoning his studies.

___

Dozier reported from Washington. Contributing to this report were Paisley Dodds in London, Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Al Clendenning in Madrid.

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Ash to hit northern Europe, but volcano dying down (Reuters)

LONDON/REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – Northern Europe is set to again bear the brunt of air traffic disruption from Icelandic volcanic ash on Wednesday after 500 flights were canceled on Tuesday, but experts said the eruption was rapidly dying down.

The ash from the Grimsvotn volcano has caused far fewer problems than ash from an Icelandic volcano last year, when more than 10 million people were hit by a six-day European airspace shutdown. Airlines put their revenue loss at $1.7 billion.

But the new volcano has exposed disarray among the people who decide on aviation safety as they try to apply new rules to avoid the en masse shutdown of airspace last year.

Budget airline Ryanair was again vocal in its criticism and airline association IATA said more coordination was needed.

In Iceland, volcano experts had good news for airlines as they said the eruption was petering out.

"The eruption is nearing its death throes. It's not over yet, but it's dying," geophysicist Bjorn Oddson told local news portal Visir.

For Wednesday, Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency responsible for some of the world's busiest air corridors, said forecasts showed the ash cloud may affect parts of Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden.

"This would have some impact on flights," it said. Its Twitter feed said new forecasts showed "no fly zone limited to south DK (Denmark), north DE (Germany) and partly Iceland."

Germany's meteorological service warned that the ash cloud could cause temporary airport closures in Hamburg and Bremen from midnight, and later possibly Berlin.

Traffic in Scotland and northern England was the main ash victim on Monday, but Britain said it thought this would ease. UK air traffic control body NATS said ash was expected over Britain from the early hours of Wednesday.

"At the moment we think Glasgow and Edinburgh will be affected throughout this afternoon but should be returning to normal tomorrow morning," British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC TV.

Among travelers affected were U.S. President Barack Obama, who left Ireland for Britain late on Monday ahead of schedule.

The Barcelona soccer team flew to London early for Saturday's Champions League final against Manchester United.

NEW RULES STILL IMPERFECT

Eurocontrol said the around 500 flights canceled on Tuesday were out of the about 29,000 expected that day.

But the new procedures that lie behind the avoidance of a shutdown of airspace put the onus on airlines to make judgments on whether it is safe to fly through ash, in coordination with the forecasting authorities and civil aviation bodies.

Showing the problems, sources told Reuters that a British research plane designed to sample ash remained grounded for a second day in a wrangle over its deployment.

The rules are also not accepted by all, with Germany backing a tougher stance for the sake of safety, aviation sources said.

"The potential for a patchwork of inconsistent state decisions on airspace management still exists ...," IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement.

Ryanair said it had safely sent two planes into what authorities had deemed high ash zones over Scotland.

"You have to ask why a combination of bureaucratic incompetence in the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and the Met Office last night shut the skies over Scotland ...," Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary told BBC television.

Technically, Britain and Ireland have ruled out closing their airspace for now but the new rules only give pilots discretion to fly through the worst-risk areas if airlines had submitted an approved safety case, which the CAA said none had.

WORST OF ERUPTION OVER

In Norway, helicopter services to North Sea oil operations faced problems. Denmark shut a small area of its airspace.

After being warned that ash could reach western France, the French aviation authority said in a statement it was "very optimistic" about the coming days, with French airspace only very marginally affected.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to host Obama and other G8 leaders in northern France this week.

Met Office meteorologist Halldor Bjornsson told Reuters that the signs of less activity were the fact that radar showed the ash plume was down to 5 km or less and that seismic data measuring eruptions also showed a tailing off.

"It all fits in with the same picture that the worst of this eruption is over," he told Reuters.

He said the ash now drifting over Europe was the ash from the powerful, first stage of the eruption and that the current height of the plume meant no new ash was feeding the cloud.

Grimsvotn erupted on Saturday and smoke belched as high as 20 km (12 miles) into the sky.

The eruption is the volcano's most powerful since 1873 and stronger than the volcano that caused trouble last year.

(Writing by Patrick Lannin, Simon Johnson, Tim Hepher; additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Conor Humphrey in Dublin, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Oslo newsroom, Mette Fraende in Copenhagen and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall/Maria Golovnina)

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Ash cloud causes Europe travel chaos

London (CNN) -- A cloud of ash from Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano spread toward central Europe late Tuesday, spurring German authorities to announce two airports will close and prompting British airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

Hamburg International Airport will shut down at 6 a.m. Wednesday (midnight Tuesday ET), while Bremen's airport will close at 5 a.m., Germany's Aviation Safety Agency announced. Berlin's airport could be affected by the falling ash by noon Wednesday, the agency said.

A portion of the ash from Saturday's eruption in Iceland had spread over Britain by Tuesday afternoon, with the cloud reaching London's Heathrow airport -- the world's busiest international air travel hub -- around lunchtime, a computer model indicated. The European air traffic control organization Eurocontrol reported about 500 flights in British airspace were canceled Tuesday, roughly double the number expected earlier in the day.

The ash cloud was projected to cover all of British airspace by early Wednesday morning and will be densest over Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, according to Britain's weather agency, the Met Office. But British Airways, which sent a test flight into the region Tuesday evening, said it expects service to return to normal by Wednesday.

That may help passengers like Karen Bryan, who was unable to return to the Scottish city of Edinburgh from the Mediterranean island of Malta on Tuesday.

"It's bad not knowing what's happening, being on standby and not knowing when and if you'll get back," Bryan said.

The number of flights affected was a small proportion of the 29,000 or so that had been expected across the continent, Eurocontrol noted. But Germany's meteorological agency projected that the cloud would spread across the country's north and could reach Berlin around midnight Tuesday, raising the possibility of more cancellations. And there was a "strong possibility" it could also affect Denmark and parts of Scandinavia by the end of the day, Eurocontrol reported.

The Grimsvotn eruption came about 13 months after Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano belched smoke and ash into the skies over the continent, forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights per day at the peak of the problem. The ash can be a serious hazard to aircraft, reducing visibility, damaging flight controls and ultimately causing jet engines to fail.

Grimsvotn's eruption was more than 10 times larger and put more ash into the air in 36 hours than last year's burst did in a month, University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told CNN -- but the main eruption is now over, he said.

"We expect it to behave and slowly decline," Gudmundsson told CNN. "It will, however, last for several more days. The ash does continue to cause huge problems on the ground, but no new ash is coming into the high altitudes."

Gillian Foulger, a geophysicist at Britain's Durham University, told CNN that the disruptions from the larger eruption are likely to be smaller than they were in 2010. Most of the ash is blowing northwest, toward sparsely populated Greenland, and the European aviation industry collected valuable safety data during last year's event.

"It's much better able to set the safety thresholds accurately, so I think things are probably going to turn out very well for us," Foulger said.

Airlines have been making the case that it is safe to fly through ash clouds of medium density, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said Tuesday. Carriers including British Airways, Virgin and EasyJet are now free to fly through clouds of up to 4,000 micrograms per cubic meter if they feel it is safe to do so, Richard Taylor of the CAA told CNN.

The budget airline Ryanair, one of Europe's biggest carriers, announced that it had canceled its remaining flights from Scottish airports Tuesday after arguing against closures. The airline said it had conducted a test flight that found no ash, but Taylor told CNN that Ryanair's claims were "not true" and that the test flight did not go where the airline claimed.

British Airways canceled all flights to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland and Newcastle in northern England until at least 7 p.m. Tuesday, though service to Aberdeen, Scotland, continued. Dutch airline KLM also canceled dozens of scheduled Tuesday flights to and from locations in Scotland. And British Midlands International canceled its Tuesday evening flights into Glasgow and Edinburgh but resumed service to Aberdeen, the carrier announced.

U.S. President Barack Obama left Ireland for England on Monday, a day earlier than planned, to make sure the ash cloud would not affect his flight plan. Barcelona's soccer team also announced on Twitter that it would fly early to London for its Saturday match against Manchester United in the Champions League Final.

The ash forced the closure of Icelandic airspace over the weekend, but the island nation's main airports were open Tuesday. Flights to London were canceled, but flights to North America and Scandinavia were still scheduled.

Britain's CAA said new arrangements have been put in place since last year's eruption, and those changes should reduce the number of flights that have to be canceled if the ash cloud spreads.

Grimsvotn lies beneath Iceland's Vatnajokull glacier, a sheet of ice more than three times the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island -- larger than any on mainland Europe. It is the country's most active volcano and last erupted in 2004, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

In 1783, a 16.7-mile fissure system from the volcano produced the world's largest known historical lava flow over a seven-month period, damaging crops and livestock, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. A resulting famine resulted in the loss of one-fifth of Iceland's population, according to the museum.

CNN's Ayesha Durgahee, Adam Reiss, Claudia Rebaza, James Partington and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

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Europe on alert for Icelandic volcano ash cloud (Reuters)

By Omar Valdimarsson and Ingolfur Juliusson Omar Valdimarsson And Ingolfur Juliusson – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – An eruption by Iceland's most active volcano put Europe on high alert on Monday as a billowing ash cloud drifted toward Scotland and threatened to shut down airports across the northern edge of the continent.

Northern Europe's fringe was affected first, though experts saw little chance of a repeat of last year's six-day travel chaos caused by the eruption of another Icelandic volcano.

People living next to the glacier where the Grimsvotn volcano burst into life on Saturday were most affected, with ash shutting out the daylight and smothering buildings and vehicles.

An Icelandic Met Official said ash from the volcano could touch northwest Scotland as early as Monday evening.

Europe's air traffic control organization has said that if volcanic emissions continued at the same rate then the cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday.

Authorities have backed more relaxed rules on flying through ash after being criticized for being too strict last time.

Then, closing European air space forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights, disrupted 10 million passengers and cost the industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenues.

"I think the regulators are a bit more sensible than they were last year," Michael O'Leary, chief of budget airline Ryanair, told a conference call. "We would be cautiously optimistic that they won't balls it up again this year."

Nevertheless, airline shares fell between 3 to 5 percent.

German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said he did not expect the eruption to disrupt air traffic to the same degree as last year, adding however there would be a flight ban for jet planes should particles from the ash cloud reach a higher concentration than 2 milligrammes per cubic meter.

Speaking to Sky News, British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said authorities could hopefully work with airlines to "enable them to fly around concentrations of ash rather than having to impose a blanket closure."

Grimsvotn erupted on Saturday, with dark plumes of smoke shooting as high as 20 km (12 miles) into the sky.

The outburst is the volcano's most powerful since 1873 and stronger than the volcano which caused trouble last year, but scientists say the type of ash being spat out is less easily dispersed and winds have so far been more favorable.

"The difference in impact on aviation comes down to three factors: the ash being produced by the eruption, the weather patterns blowing the ash around, and new rules about planes flying into ash," University of Edinburgh volcanologist John Stevenson wrote on his blog.

SMOTHERED IN ASH

But some were expecting problems. "It's too early to tell if Europe will be affected. What's certain is that when it is affected, there will be flight cancellations," French Transport Minister Thierry Marianai told Europe 1radio.

Europe's air traffic control organization, which set up a crisis unit after bad coordination was blamed for worsening last year's crisis, said no closures outside Iceland were expected on Monday or Tuesday.

Airlines as far away as Australia were monitoring the cloud. Norway's civil aviation body said the one or two flights a day to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard would shut tonight. A small part of Greenland's eastern airspace was also closed.

Iceland's aviation authority said however it hoped it might be able to re-open the island's main airport by the evening as the tower of smoke above the volcano appeared to have fallen.

The Icelandic met office said the plume from Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, had fallen to just below 10 km (6 miles), well below its maximum so far of 25 km.

The volcano lies under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe. People living in districts close by have been smothered in ash.

"Yesterday between 2 and 3 (pm in the afternoon) it brightened up a bit until 8 in the evening, then it became black again," said Sigurlaugur Gislasson, 23, whose family owns a hotel near the town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur.

"It is like being in a sandstorm," he said. All the tourists who were staying at the hotel have also gone, he added.

(Writing by Patrick Lannin; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Niklas Pollard, Kate Kelland, Christopher Le Coq, Ingolfur Juliusson, Michael Smith, Harry Suhartono, Alison Leung; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

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Apple and Android phones face strict laws in Europe: report (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Apple and Google smartphones may come under tighter regulation in Europe after a data protection panel ruled that data on the location of their users should be classed as private, the Financial Times said Thursday.

The proposals by the panel, which advises the European Commission, are a first step to formulating a law on mobile phone location data, and could be written into Europe's revised Data Protection Directive this year, the FT said.

The panel said companies should get permission from smartphone users before collecting user-location data and should specify what purpose the data are being used for.

"Since smartphones and tablet computers are inextricably linked to their owner, the movement patterns of the devices provide a very intimate insight into the private life of the owners," the FT quoted the panel as saying.

"One of the great risks is that the owners are unaware they transmit their location, and to whom."

(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris)

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