There have been violent protests against the austerity measures in Greece
Eurozone finance ministers have approved the latest tranche of emergency help for the Greek economy.
They are to release about 12bn euros (£10.4bn, $17.4bn) in the next two weeks to help Greece meet payments on its huge debts and avoid bankruptcy.
Earlier this week, the Greek parliament passed tough austerity measures demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
MPs backed the measures despite angry protests on the streets of Athens.
The EU and IMF have already agreed to provide Greece with a total of 110bn euros in emergency loans, with eurozone finance ministers discussing the details of a second bail-out designed to help Greece pay its debts until the end of 2014.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos welcomed the eurozone move, saying it “strengthened the country’s international credibility”.
He added: “What is crucial now is the timely and effective implementation of the decisions taken in parliament, so we can gradually emerge from the crisis in the interest of national economy and the Greek citizens.”
Earlier on Saturday, Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski criticised Europe’s handling of the Greek debt crisis.
He suggested that too much emphasis had been put on austerity measures and not enough on growth.
And he accused opposition parties in some unnamed eurozone countries of showing “breathtaking short-sightedness” in their opposition to support for Greece.
His comments come after Poland took over the six-month presidency of the European Union (EU) on Friday.
Mr Rostowski will now chair meetings of EU finance ministers, and hopes to join talks among eurozone finance ministers – even though Poland has not adopted the euro as its currency.
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Ministers say there is too much bureaucracy involved in organising school trips
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Teaching unions have criticised plans to make school trips easier to organise amid government fears about the over-zealous application of safety laws.
The Department for Education is publishing new guidance to help schools ditch “unnecessary paperwork”, and has cut 150 pages of guidelines to eight.
But the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said it feared reducing best practice could lead to more accidents.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said it was a “more common sense” approach.
Amanda Brown, of the NUT, said: “What we wouldn’t want to do is to see a reduction of guidance which could lead to a lot more accidents.
“What we want is advice which is very clear and straightforward but long enough to cover enough of the detail so that people do feel secure.”
The NASUWT teachers’ union said cutting back guidance could reduce parents’ confidence and make teachers more nervous about school trips because it provided a safeguard.
“The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits”
Chris Keates NASUWT teachers’ union
“The decision to scrap over 140 pages of guidance is potentially reckless and could increase litigation against schools and teachers,” said general secretary Chris Keates.
“There is no evidence demonstrating the need for the previous guidance to be abandoned, and no educational reason for doing so.
“Schools and teachers organise educational visits when it is clear that there is an opportunity to enhance and enrich pupils’ learning and when they assure themselves that children will be safe.
“The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits.”
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it hoped the new guidelines would dispel legal “myths”.
Chairman Judith Hackitt told the BBC it was “time to out those who hide behind red tape and procedures and often blame us and health and safety as the reason why they can’t do these things”.
She said guidelines had ended up being overly bureaucratic because of a fear of civil litigation, cost-cutting and because it was an easy way to avoid work that was regarded as more difficult.
Teachers were intelligent people and should be trusted to use their common sense, she added.
Ministers said school trips could broaden children’s horizons but fear of prosecution was too often used as an excuse not to organise them.
In the past five years only two cases had been brought against schools for breaches of health and safety law on a visit, they said.
Employment minister Chris Grayling said: “We’ve got a crazy situation at the moment where, very often, headteachers and teachers think that actually the rules are such that it’s not a good idea to plan school trips.
“There’s too much bureaucracy, too many health and safety rules and a risk of prosecution if something goes wrong,” he told the BBC.
“There is no reason – and never was – why children should be prevented from going on school trips by over-enthusiastic misinterpretation of rules,” he said.
A Labour Party spokesman said health and safety rules needed to be applied sensibly.
The new guidelines clarify that written parental consent is not needed for each activity and encourage schools to use a new one-off consent form signed once when a child starts at a school.
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The lynchings happened some 220km (135 miles) north of the capital, Guatemala City
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Six people have been lynched and killed by members of an indigenous community in northern Guatemala, officials say.
Emergency services said local residents of San Pedro Carcha in Alta Verapaz province marched five men and a woman to a corn field, where they were beaten, blindfolded and shot dead.
The villagers suspected the six of killing a local businessman.
Prosecutors say 194 people have been lynched since 2004, mainly in areas where there was little police presence.
Guatemala’s Prosecutors Office for Human Rights says the cases of lynchings have been rising year on year, with a marked increase in indigenous communities, where there is little trust in the authorities.
In the latest case, villagers tracked down a man known as The Clown, who they believed was behind the murder of local businessman Nicolas Choc on Thursday.
They beat him until he confessed and revealed the names of his five alleged accomplices, who were then also hunted down and shot dead.
Police said the locals prevented them from entering the village, but did allow emergency services to take the bodies to the morgue.
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A hydrotherapy pool is used to treat an injured fox cub that was rescued in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
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The Vatican has been making financial reports public since 1981
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The Vatican has announced its finances have returned to profit – after three consecutive years in the red.
Its report said the Holy See saw revenues of 245.2m euros (£222m; $356m) against expenses of 235.3m in 2010.
But annual donations from churches worldwide – known as Peter’s Pence – were down nearly $15m to $67.7.
The separately administered Vatican City State also made a 21m-euro profit due to strong ticket sales at the Vatican Museums.
The Vatican lost 4m euros in 2009 and was also in the red in 2008 and 2007.
Most of the Vatican’s outlay is to cover the activities of Pope Benedict XVI, and services such as Vatican Radio which is broadcast on five continents in 40 different languages.
The Vatican began publishing annual financial reports in 1981 when Pope John Paul II set out to challenge perceptions that the Vatican was rich.
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Exotic birds overlook pollution and succumb to Delhi’s lure
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US troops overseeing reconstruction work in Zabul province, and on the look-out for Taliban, close to the Pakistan border
At least 11 members of a family have been killed by a roadside bomb in the southern Afghan province of Zabul.
The family, including women and children, were thought to be refugees returning home from Pakistan.
They were driving their van through Shamulzayi district when the blast occurred. They are thought to have been heading for Ghazni province.
Roadside bombs are a weapon commonly used by the Taliban in their war against western forces.
Earlier this week, 20 Afghan civilians were killed when the bus they were in hit a roadside bomb in Nimroz province in southwest Afghanistan.
Elsewhere about 500 demonstrators chanting “Death to the Pakistan military!” and “Long live Afghanistan!” protested in Kabul against rocket attacks along the border with Pakistan.
At least 36 civilians are estimated to have died in the attacks in recent weeks.
Pakistan has denied that it fired the rockets into Afghanistan.
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Dominique Strauss-Kahn looked relaxed as he emerged from court
Allies of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn have said he could make a political comeback in France now he has been freed from house arrest in the US.
Before being accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York on 14 May, Mr Strauss-Kahn was tipped as a possible French presidential candidate.
But doubts have since emerged about the credibility of the maid, and the case is reportedly close to collapse.
On Friday a judge ordered Mr Strauss-Kahn released on his own recognisance.
His is now free to travel in the US, although he cannot leave the country and must appear in court again later this month.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund to defend himself, vigorously denies the charges.
Mr Strauss-Kahn had earlier been the favourite to be the Socialist Party’s candidate for the French presidency in May 2011.
The BBC’s Christian Fraser in Paris says that regardless of events in court, the expectation is growing here in France the case will ultimately collapse.
And if that happens, the only person who can rule his out of next year’s contest is Mr Strauss-Kahn himself, our correspondent adds.
“Here in Paris there is huge anticipation. The man who had been written out of the script for next year’s presidential elections is potentially back in the running.”
Read Gavin’s thoughts in full
The last Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, said: “If we hypothesise that Dominique is cleared of all suspicion and all charges, which I obviously hope will happen, then it will be first down to him to decide… and then it will be down to the Socialists to decide.”
A Socialist MP, Jean-Marie Le Guen, said he thought it likely that Mr Strauss-Kahn would stand.
“Yes, he will be present for the presidential campaign,” he said.
“If what we heard… is true, that the American justice will free him and re-habilitate him, give him back his honour and dignity. Then, since Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a fighter, he will fight in our country.”
The list for nominations is due to close on 13 July – five days before his next scheduled court appearance. But the senior Socialist, Francois Hollande, said the deadline could be extended.
Our correspondent says there are though plenty in France who hold Mr Strauss-Kahn in high admiration for the way he has conducted himself in court, there is sympathy and renewed hope among his staunchest allies.
A judge in New York lifted the strict bail conditions imposed on Mr Strauss-Kahn, amid intense speculation that the sexual assault case against him was faltering.
He had been under house arrest since posting a $6m bail bond.
When the 62-year-old appeared in court, prosecutors were forced to admit that they were reassessing the strength of the evidence against him – although the charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid still stand.
In a letter submitted to the court, the prosecutors said that the maid had given false testimony to a grand jury, omitting the fact that she had cleaned another room before alerting a supervisor to her claims of sexual assault.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyprus R Vance Jr: “Our office’s commitment is to the truth and to the facts”
“I understand that the circumstances of this case have changed substantially, and I agree the risk that he would not be here has receded quite a bit. I release Mr Strauss-Kahn at his own recognisance,” Justice Michael Obus told the court.
The maid claims that Mr Strauss-Kahn chased her down a hallway in his expensive hotel suite in the Sofitel hotel before sexually assaulting her.
However, unnamed law enforcement officials have now told US media the accuser has repeatedly lied since the alleged attack.
The officials believe the woman also lied on her application for asylum, particularly over an allegation that she had been raped while at home in Guinea. They also suspect she has links to drugs dealers and money-laundering.
Mr Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, William Taylor, said he believed the next step would lead to the complete dismissal of the charges.
But the maid’s lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, maintained that his client’s story was genuine and that Mr Strauss-Kahn was guilty of sexual assault charges.
“From day one she has described a violent sexual assault that Dominique Strauss-Kahn committed against her,” Mr Thompson said, adding that Mr Strauss-Kahn bruised the maid’s body and threw her to the floor.
“She has never once changed a single thing about that account. The district attorney knows that,” he added. “The only defence Dominique Strauss-Kahn has is that this sexual encounter was consensual. That is a lie.”
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