Indignation Over U.S. Spying Spreads in Europe By ALISON SMALE Published: October 24, 2013 BERLIN — Fury over reports that American intelligence had monitored the cellphone of Chancellor Angela Merkel spread from Germany to much of Europe on Thursday, plunging trans-Atlantic relations to a low and threatening to recast the United States and President Obama from friend and ally to cyberbully. World Twitter Logo. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors The subject of American spying dominated a summit meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels. Some European officials suggested stopping or slowing talks aimed at a broad trade agreement with the United States. The German foreign minister summoned the American ambassador in Berlin — a reproach possibly without precedent since the German-American alliance was forged after World War II. The reports related to Ms. Merkel were only the latest in days of disclosures about the extent of the National Security Agency’s surveillance of American allies. This week they have included revelations of American electronic surveillance in France, and a new report due to be published on Friday by the Italian weekly L’Espresso that American and British intelligence services have monitored and are probably still monitoring Italian telecommunication networks. Reactions from European leaders, especially Ms. Merkel and other top German officials, indicated that trust between the allies had been shattered, and would have to be rebuilt nearly from the foundations. “We need the truth now,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of Germany said in English after summoning the American ambassador, John Emerson, on Thursday. Just beforehand, Mr. Westerwelle had noted tartly in German that people who trust each other do not listen in on each other. “Anybody who does it anyway really damages the friendship,” he said. The reports, which originated with documents that Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, had harvested and shared with the journalist Glenn Greenwald, have coincided uncomfortably with visits by American officials to European capitals, sowing discord amid American diplomacy. They have also threatened to further color European views of the United States at a time when Mr. Obama has been having trouble asserting a global agenda. The intensifying diplomatic fallout from the situation has hurt America’s bonds with friendly nations from France and Germany to Mexico and Brazil. At least part of the strong response by European leaders seemed aimed at containing the damage the reports have caused to their own standing at home. In her first statement on the issue, Ms. Merkel told reporters just before the European summit meeting in Brussels that “spying on friends — that just doesn’t work.” Apparently mindful of criticism in Germany accusing her of a lackluster response to earlier disclosures of the large scale of the American surveillance, she insisted that she had always had the interests of citizens, and not herself, in mind. She said nothing about what exactly had convinced her to place an angry call to Mr. Obama on Wednesday night seeking reassurance that her cellphone was not tapped or monitored. The newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which since June has made several disclosures from documents it received from Mr. Snowden, said that a routine inquiry it placed with the government last week had apparently prompted German security officials to investigate. Hans-Christian Ströbele, a Green Party lawmaker and member of the German Parliament’s security committee, said that what he had heard in a meeting of that committee on Thursday afternoon convinced him that the chancellor’s phone had been monitored. In a telephone interview, he declined to discuss details, but noted that the Americans’ hasty pledge that her phone was not being monitored, and would not be, conspicuously lacked a reference to the past. Mr. Ströbele and many commentators said Ms. Merkel should have pursued disclosures of American spying in the summer. The chancellor is often seen in public texting or calling on a cellphone. “It is really revealing that Merkel reacts energetically only now, when she is presumably directly affected,” wrote Ludwig Greven in an online editorial for the weekly Die Zeit. “That should have been her duty when it was a matter of millions of N.S.A. intrusions into the private sphere of German citizens.” Politicians across the spectrum in Europe were indignant at the apparent violation of trust and some urged at least a temporary halt in negotiations on a new trans-Atlantic deal that would create a trading area of 800 million people and that has been touted as a guarantor of future prosperity. “For us, a limit has been reached,” said Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament. Talks could not be conducted, he said, when you suspect that the other side has spied on you in advance to know your position. Ordinary citizens shared the elected officials’ conclusion that the already tarnished image of the United States had suffered anew because of the spying, which cuts deeply in a country with a Nazi and Communist past. “I have rights guaranteed by our Constitution that are being trampled by the Americans,” said Alexander Müller, 37, a sales manager in Berlin. Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy commented in Brussels on Thursday evening on the report in L’Espresso that British and American intelligence agencies had both monitored Italians’ phone calls and e-mails. “It is inconceivable and unacceptable that there should be acts of espionage of this type,” he said. James Kanter contributed reporting from Brussels.

Moo, don't boo: Georgian Britain's theatrical past unveiled Audiences in the 18th century were not as well behaved as today – and if they didn't like the play, they burnt the theatre down. A new British Library exhibition tells all Sandwiched between the great Restoration comedies and the height of Victorian music hall, the theatre of the Georgian era is rarely celebrated, despite the presence of stars like David Garrick and Sarah Siddons – not to mention regular riots over ticket prices. That could be set to change when a selection of rare theatrical memorabilia goes on show at the British Library next month, as part of its Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain exhibition, which opens on 8 November and runs until March, during which time the 300th anniversary of George I's accession to the throne will be marked. While the exhibition focuses on all aspects of British cultural life in the 18th century and features items including a violin owned by moral philosopher Jeremy Bentham, it will pay particular focus to the theatre of the time. "We're excited to uncover these objects that shed light on daily life in such an exciting time for cultural development," said lead curator Moira Goff. "The parallels we can draw between Georgian Britain and today are astonishing." Stage pin-up: Sarah Siddons as Mrs Haller in August von Kotzebue's The Stranger, painting by an anonymous artist, after 1798. Photograph: Heritage Images/Corbis Among the theatrical items on show are inventories that document the workings of the Covent Garden theatre, which stood where the Royal Opera House's does now, and playbills that give a sense of what plays and actors contemporary audiences were watching. Goff told The Stage that she hopes to demonstrate that "very familiar forms of entertainment that started in this period." She continued: "I also want people to get a sense of how lively things were – it wasn't just straightforward theatre. There were other things happening at the time, and they were creating new forms of theatre and performance, which have come down to us." The exhibition will also document the behaviour of audiences at the time, which was far rowdier than it is today. It was not unheard of for audiences to moo like cows during poor plays, for example, and Drury Lane theatre was destroyed by rioting on six different occasions during the century. "Audiences were much livelier, and one of the reasons is the house lights did not go down when the show began," Goff explained. "The auditorium was illuminated, so people were all in it together, in the same space as the performers onstage, essentially."

CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

Happy Birthday, G.R.

Shaken to the core by the previous episode, Lawrence decides to retreat to British headquarters. Before leaving, he confides in Ali and, much like a trans person might, bemoans the limitations and consequences of his current body. Lawrence: "I've come to the end of myself, I suppose." Ali: "And the end of the Arab Revolt?" Lawrence: "I'm not the Arab Revolt, Ali. I'm not even Arab." Ali: "A man can be whatever he wants. You said." Lawrence: "I'm sorry. I thought it was true." Ali: "You proved it!" "Look, Ali," says Lawrence, pinching his pale flesh. "Look. That's me. ... That's me. And there's nothing I can do about it." Ali: "A man can do whatever he wants. You said." "He can. But he can't want what he wants." Lawrence wistfully looks at his milky flesh again. "This is the stuff that decides what he wants."

Bentley, on a meeting between Lawrence and Allenby] Mr. Dryden: Well, I'll tell you. It's a little clash of temperament that's going on in there. Inevitably, one of them's half-mad...and the other, wholly unscrupulous.