Anger over US spying is set to dominate discussion at a summit of EU leaders today after Germany took the unprecedented step of summoning the American ambassador over claims that Angela Merkel’s mobile was bugged. In a sign of grave diplomatic displeasure, John Emerson, the US Ambassador in Berlin, has been summoned for urgent talks this afternoon with Guido Westerwelle, the Foreign Minister. Mr Westerwelle will meet Mr Emerson personally in a move which is normally reserved for extreme concern about the state of relations between two nations. President Hollande of France is to meet Chancellor Merkel before the opening of the summit this evening in order to align their stand against the United States. David Cameron, on the other hand, is reluctant to let the evesdropping row hijack a summit focused on economic growth. Britain believes that the EU Council is not the right forum to address what it sees as a matter arising from individual states’ relations with the United States, diplomats said. Germany’s defence minister, however, warned that Europe could “not simply return to business as usual” with the US. Thomas de Maiziere insisted that the Americans “remain our best friends” but that snooping on the German Chancellor’s calls “is absolutely not right” if proven. The German Government remains deeply unsatisfied with the response of President Obama to the spying claims. Spiegel magazine, which has carried ex

French football clubs are to go on strike in protest at President Hollande’s plan for a 75 per cent payroll tax on wages of at least €1 million (£855,000) a year. Their call for a weekend without matches next month is the latest in a series of mishaps to befall Mr Hollande’s flagship election promise of a tax on millionaires. The clubs, which ran up a combined deficit of €60 million last season, say the tax will cost them a further €44 million, threatening to drive some to bankruptcy. With fury mounting among chairmen, the French Union of Professional Clubs announced today that all first and second division matches would be called off on the weekend of November 30. The announcement is likely to dismay fans looking forward to watching the star-studded Paris Saint-German play Olympique Lyonnais that weekend. It will also infuriate the television execut

Two dozen hospitals have been rated as high risk by the NHS regulator for warning signs ranging from high death rates to low patient satisfaction. Seven of the hospitals will face immediate inspection alongside other organisations that raise less concern. Patients at other hospitals in the high-risk group will have to wait to discover if their hospitals really are sub-standard. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) insisted that it did not yet know whether the high-risk hospitals offered poor care, saying a final decision would have to wait until after full inspections. The regulator has scored all hospitals against 150 measures which could indicate problems, including superbug rates, waiting times, whistleblower alerts, patient safety incidents, staff satisfaction and poor record-keeping. Hospitals where several of these “smoke alarm” signals are far b