German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin on Sunday in a mutual show of support ahead of European elections next month.  

Sarkozy's visit was the first time that a French president had campaigned in Germany in the run-up to an election. Merkel is scheduled to make a reciprocal trip to Paris at the end of this month, a diplomat said.

"We carry weight when we are united and when we know what to decide," Sarkozy said in Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that his relationship with Merkel was "efficient."

"She knows that she can rely on me like I know I can rely on her," he said.

However, Sarkozy also said his comments were not intended as an endorsement of support for Merkel in her bid to win re-election as chancellor in September. The French president insisted that was "for the Germans to decide."

The tone between Germany and Luxembourg has been anything but friendly in recent weeks. SPIEGEL spoke with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker about German humor, European tax havens and his own future in the EU.

SPIEGEL: For years, you were Europe's darling. But now, people in Brussels, Paris and Berlin see you as the leader of a tax haven. What happened?

Juncker: What happened is that some of my counterparts say one thing today and something else tomorrow, and do not stick to agreements. And some adopt a tone that we find unpleasant.

Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai during talks in Berlin on Sunday that Germany will boost its efforts to provide training to police and security forces in Afghanistan.  

At a joint press conference after the meeting, Merkel said Germany took the issue "very seriously" and had agreed to accelerate the pace of training for both soldiers and police.

Germany has already pledged to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan by 600, to 4,400, in the months leading up to the country's presidential election in August, in which Karzai hopes to win another term in office.

Karzai thanked Germany for its efforts to date in training Afghan security forces, although Merkel said only 10 percent of the required personnel had been trained so far. "We have a long way to go," she said.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Securing a stronger consultative role for European religions in EU policy making is another good reason to support the Lisbon Treaty, say two of the EU's most senior officials.

Speaking after a meeting with European religious leaders on Monday (11 May), European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said such discussions in the future could not be guaranteed without the full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

A number of religious and pro-life groups in Ireland are concerned that the Lisbon Treaty could allow abortion in "through the backdoor"

Mr Pottering said the annual inter-religious dialogue between European religious leaders and the EU institutions - formalised in 2005 - were carried out on the "basis of good will" rather than because of a legal obligation.

"If the Lisbon Treaty is not ratified, with the new leaderships in the commission and the parliament, they could abolish this dialogue because legally it's not binding," he said.

Switzerland may impose temporary limits on immigration for EU jobseekers, amid rising unemployment there. 

Swiss newspapers report that the country could make use of temporary measures to cut back on foreign jobseekers in the Alpine nation.

"Backed by the latest job market and migration statistics, the government will soon make a decision on the possible activation of the protection clause," justice department spokesman Philippe Piatti told Swiss media on Sunday.

Government discussions on the issue are set to take place on Wednesday.

Switzerland has an agreement with the EU which allows European workers to take jobs in Switzerland without being subject to the country's strict work permit quota system.

Protests by thousands of people calling for Georgia's president to resign over the weekend forced Saakashvili to agree to meet with opposition leaders Monday. However, the talks failed to produce any solution to the ongong political turmoil.

Following a weekend that saw thousands of protesters gather on the streets of Tbilisi, embattled Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili agreed to meet with opposition leaders on Monday, who are calling for his immediate resignation. Yet the meeting failed to put an end to the political turmoil in the country, opposition leaders said. Levan Gachechiladze, one of the four who met with Saakashvili for two hours, said afterwards that the meeting had ended with "no result," adding: "Our visions are completely different."

Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir has announced her coalition will press parliament to vote on whether the country - shaken by the financial crisis - should apply for EU membership. Voters will have the last word, via a referendum.

AFP - Iceland's new government announced Sunday it would soon press parliament to vote on whether the country -- badly shaken by the global financial crisis -- should apply for European Union membership.
  
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said her left-wing coalition would introduce a resolution shortly after the newly elected parliament meets for the first time on Friday.
  
"It will be in the first days after the inaugural session," the Social Democrat told a news conference. "We insist that a membership application be sent to the EU before July."
  

French workers have been given the choice by their boss of either being sacked or earning two pounds per day at the company's Indian factory.

Nine employees at the Carreman textiles plant in Castres, southwestern France, were told they could continue working for the firm on condition they relocated to Bangalore and accepted a monthly salary of as little as 53 euros (£48).

Under the proposal that unions blasted as "scandalous", the workers would also be required to work eight-hour days, six days a week - instead of the current five.

Italy does not want to become a "multi-ethnic" country and will continue its newly adopted policy of sending boatloads of immigrants and asylum seekers back to North Africa, the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said.

Previous Left-wing governments had "opened the doors to clandestine migrants coming from other countries, with an idea of a multi-ethnic Italy," Mr Berlusconi said.

But that kind of society was "not our idea", he added, as he sought to reassure Italians who were alarmed at the number of immigrants pouring into the country, particularly from eastern Europe and Africa.

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday (10 May) made an indirect attack on Britain's main opposition Conservative Party, which is currently leading in the polls ahead of the local and European elections in the UK.

"We refuse to stretch out our hand to those who oppose the Lisbon Treaty... that allows the entry of new members [in the EU], but who at the same time talk about enlargement," Ms Merkel said in Berlin at a campaign meeting for the June European elections attended by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

"France admires you... France wants to resemble you in [your] excellence," Mr Sarkozy (l) told his German audience

"Those who want more [Europe] must cooperate," she told young politicians from her conservative CDU party.

Ms Merkel did not specify to whom her comments were addressed, but they were largely understood as targeting the British Conservatives and their leader, David Cameron.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A new website hopes to open up the political habits of MEPs, exposing voting behaviour, attendance and party allegiances in a bid to bring some EU politics to the European elections in June.

The website Votewatch.eu launched on Monday (11 May) aims to shed some light on the activities of euro-deputies who augment legislation affecting most aspects of EU citizens' lives.

MEP's record by nationality, national political party and the faction they belong to in the EU assembly is now available online

Using information that is publicly available but difficult to find, the website also breaks down each MEP's record by nationality, national political party and the faction they belong to in the EU assembly.

European Policy Centre (EPC) analyst Sara Hagemann, heading the project, stressed that the idea was not to "name and shame" MEPs but to set up a "monitoring tool."

Dr. Vinton G. Cerf. Vint is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for Google company. At the Open Forum Europe summit "The Future is Open" today, Vint gave the keynote address. He explained that the conscious choice to design an open and neutral Internet turned out to be the main ingredient for its tremendous success. If the Net stays open, he predicted that it will help us getting out of the present economic gloom by unleashing creative ideas and helping create successful businesses, small and large, in Europe and elsewhere. Before Vint took to the podium, Professor Ziga Turk had explained how the first communication revolution - cheap paper from China - empowered the masses and helped unleash the Renaissance's creativity, and how the Internet is provoking a second communication revolution by spreading knowledge across the globe. Vint took up the train of thought and offered an analogy to the French Revolutionary goals of liberté, egalité and fraternité, saying openness, open standards, and open source must be the three guiding principles for the Net to achieve this revolutionary promise.

Now that the European election campaign is in full swing, I will, no doubt, have any number of stories, both serious and on the lighter side.  While the East Dulwich estate, was probably on the serious side, my two engagements on Friday were most definitely heavy duty.

Burson Marsteller

At 8.30 on Friday morning I did a breakfast meeting organised  by the PR company Burson Marsteller for clients who were interested in discussing the European elections.  It was a panel discussion - always a challege at that hour in the morning.  On the patform were my MEP colleague, Liberl Democrat Baroness Sarah Ludford, the number four on the Conservative list in London, Belgian born Jean-Paul Floru and Professor Simon Hix from the LSE.

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has outraged more than just his European neighbors in the past week -- he also angered Africans by comparing Burkina Faso to tax havens like Switzerland and Luxembourg. Now, Burkina Faso's ambassador to Germany, Xavier Niodogo, says he'd like to invite Steinbrück for a visit to Ouagadougou.

SPIEGEL: German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück cited Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, in the same breath as Luxembourg and Switzerland. You have criticized the statement. Is there a diplomatic crisis between Germany and Burkina Faso?

 German Chancellor Angela Merkel with Burkina Faso's ambassador to Germany, 55-year-old Xavier Niodogo, in Berlin. Xavier Niodogo: We were very surprised and also shocked that our country was compared to alleged tax havens. Burkina Faso has nothing to do with that. We have very clear tax rules and our banking system is strictly monitored. In this regard, we are considered a model internationally.

SPIEGEL: What have you done?

Niodogo: My government has sent an official protest note to the German Foreign Ministry, in which we demanded an explanation for the comparison.

Russian Companies are still among the least productive in the industrial world, but the downturn could provide a catalyst for big improvement.

On the face of it, Russia's economic performance over recent years has been impressive. But today, amid plummeting gross domestic product and sharp falls in industrial production, there's a new awareness that Russia's economy is also beset by deep-seated problems. Despite almost two decades of market reforms, the country's labor productivity, a key indicator of overall economic efficiency, remains one of the lowest among industrialized nations. Several studies have been published recently underscoring the scale of the problem.

 This steel factory in Novokuznetsk, Russia has been forced to reduce hours and salaries. According to one of the studies, by Strategy Partners, a Moscow management consultancy, Russia's average labor productivity is just 17 percent of the US level. The amount varies by sector, from a low of 6 percent in machine building to a high of 22 percent in the natural resource industries. But the room for improvement is colossal everywhere. "If, in Russia, a mere 10 percent of workers had the same level of productivity as in the US, Russia's GDP would increase by one and a half times," notes Alexander Idrisov, managing partner of Strategy Partners.

President Barack Obama on Monday outlined plans to cut health care costs by $2 trillion (£1.3 trillion) in the United States over the next decade, in a bid to slash spending while making treatment more affordable.

Mr Obama was joined at the White House by 15 representatives of the medical industry who have promised to do their part in reducing America's crippling health bills.

Signatories to the deal include groups whose lobbying was instrumental in killing Hillary Clinton's health care reform plan in 1993 when she was first lady.

Where in the world do people feel most content with their lives?

According to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based group of 30 countries with democratic governments that provides economic and social statistics and data, happiness levels are highest in northern European countries.

Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands rated at the top of the list, ranking first, second and third, respectively. Outside Europe, New Zealand and Canada landed at Nos. 8 and 6, respectively. The U.S. did not crack the top 10. Switzerland placed seventh and Belgium placed tenth.

The Obama Administration is hoping to revive the peace process in the Middle East. Part of the strategy is to distance Washington from Israel.

The members of the leading pro-Israel lobby in the US were visibly moved as they listened to Vice President Joe Biden's speech last Tuesday. It was music to the ears of the 6,500 delegates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who had gathered in the Washington Convention Center.

Israeli President Shimon Peres meets with US President Barack Obama on May 5. "With all the change you will hear about, there is one endure
ng, essential principle that will not change; and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel," he told his audience.

The delegates not only applauded Biden, they cheered him as loud as they could.

Yet, in the America of President Barack Obama no one can be certain of avoiding change. That's something the AIPAC members would have realized as they watched the evening news a short time later. At almost exactly the same time that Biden was giving his speech another member of the Obama administration was making a memorable appearance before the United Nations in New York. Her name was Rose Gottemoeller.

Pakistani planes bombed suspected militant positions in a stronghold close to the capital today, pressing ahead with a fierce offensive the government claimed had killed 700 insurgents and had the Taliban on the run.

The United Nations said 360,600 refugees had fled Swat and neighboring Dir and Buner districts since operations began last week. That figure is on top of some 500,000 people registered as displaced due to past offensives -- a major humanitarian challenge for the weak government that could test public support for the offensive.

Iran has released an American-born journalist jailed for spying for the United States after a court reduced her sentence.

Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison last month, but Monday's ruling saw that cut to a two-year suspended sentence.

"I'm okay. I don't want to make any comments but I am okay," she said shortly after walking out Of Tehran's Evin prison. She was then then driven away by her father.

Barack Obama, the US president, welcomed what he called a "humanitarian gesture" by Iran.

Garden snails are evolving slower metabolisms.

Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates, researchers in Chile have discovered.

It is the first time that evolution has been shown to select for this trait in individuals of any species.

Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution.

Anyone who admires the tolerance and sexual freedom enjoyed in Spain today may see this as a reaction to the extreme sexual micromanagement imposed upon Spanish women during the Franco years.

"If your husband asks you for unusual sexual practices, be obedient and don't complain. If he suggests union, agree humbly? When the culminating moment arrives, a small whimper on your part is sufficient to indicate any pleasure that might have been experienced."

Such conjugal advice formed part of a battery of intimate instructions imposed upon millions of Spanish women for 40 years by the Feminine Section of the fascist Falange group, now explored in an exhibition about those who joined its blue-shirted ranks. The all-powerful Seccion Femenina also dictated how women should behave at work, to the point of eliminating expression altogether.

Dutch singer Gordon will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest in Russia if violence is used against gay activists in Moscow. The final of the contest in the Russian capital takes place on 16 May, and the singer will be in it if he can take his vocal trio The Toppers through Thursday's semi-final. The other members of the group - besides Gordon (real name Cor Gordon Heuckeroth) - are Jeroen van der Boom and René Froger.

Russian gay activist groups are seizing the opportunity of the Eurovision final on Saturday to organise a march for gay rights. Public demonstrations in support of gays and lesbians are illegal in Russia and the police often crack down on them with violence. Russian nationalist and religious movements also have a tendency to express themselves violently towards homosexuals.

It is a dilemma with which many men are familiar: the football or the family? But when President Sarkozy let it be known he was to miss the French Cup final for an evening with Carla Bruni, his wife, it took on a new dimension.

As outrage greeted an announcement seen as an insult to tradition, to football and to Brittany, the region that provided the two finalists, Mr Sarkozy was forced to perform a last-minute U-turn.

He abandoned plans to spend the weekend with Ms Bruni at her family's villa on the Côte d'Azur and returned to Paris in time to see the game and present the cup to Guingamp, the second-division side that beat Rennes, from the first division, 2-1 in the biggest Gallic cup upset for 50 years.

"I am passionate about football," the head of state said as he tried to appease Breton anger. "It was important for me to be here."