Muslim nations on Friday condemned a film by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Qur’an of inciting violence, and Dutch Muslim leaders urged restraint. Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, launched his short video on the internet on Thursday evening, prompting an al-Qaeda-linked website to call for his death.
European Union leaders reached broad agreement on Friday on a single post to run EU foreign affairs, the first success at a summit on the bloc’s future, but Poland help up progress towards a treaty to reform the union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hosting the summit, struggled to break Poland’s resistance.
A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has launched a â,¬71,1-billion (,7-billion) bid for Dutch group ABN Amro, trumping Britain’s Barclays in a battle for the world’s biggest bank takeover. The offer was pitched at â,¬38,40 euros per ABN share — â,¬30,40 in cash plus 0,844 new shares in RBS.