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Voters in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), are voting in a regional election that could change national politics.

A defeat for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their liberal allies would end the coalition’s majority in the upper house of parliament.

The campaign has been overshadowed by the government’s decision to contribute to a huge rescue package for Greece.

Meanwhile many cities in NRW are on the brink of bankruptcy.

Angela Merkel is not standing in this regional election, but she has campaigned here until the last minute.

It is the first political test for her centre-right coalition since it came to power six months ago.

North Rhine-Westphalia matters: home to 18 million people, it is Germany’s industrial heartland and a weathervane for national politics.

The regional coalition between Chancellor Merkel’s conservatives and the pro-business Liberal-Democrats, which mirrors the one at the federal level, is struggling.

With the economic crisis dominating the campaign, Mrs Merkel tried to delay a decision on the hugely unpopular rescue package for Greece until after the poll, but failed.

Meanwhile, local councils are sinking into debt. Kindergarten fees have gone up, libraries and swimming-pools are closing. In Wuppertal, even the theatre is under threat.

Scandals about party financing may also prompt voters to punish the centre-right in NRW and revive the fortunes of the Social-Democrats, the Greens and the former communist Left Party.

A new coalition here would also spell the end for Chancellor Merkel’s majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, jeopardising long-promised tax cuts and health system reforms.

Europe’s biggest economy could enter a phase of political uncertainty it can ill afford.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

EU finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels to discuss establishing a new "stabilisation mechanism" to prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading.

The mechanism, which is being compared to a European-style IMF, would be available to the 16 member states in the eurozone.

Some leaders want details agreed before markets open on Monday, to prevent investor fears over the euro spreading.

But other countries, including the UK, oppose such large-scale support.

On Friday, the leaders of the 16 countries that use the single currency approved an 110bn euro ($145bn; £95bn) loan package to Greece, which is backed by the EU and IMF.

They also agreed to take whatever steps were needed to protect the euro, and to accelerate budget cuts and ensure deficits were addressed.

Correspondents say they are looking to agree on funding of about 70bn euros that could be made available immediately to countries in trouble.

While bail-outs are banned under EU rules, the commission reportedly plans to extend an existing clause in the Lisbon Treaty originally designed to allow it to provide aid to member states experiencing serious difficulties that was used to help Hungary and Latvia.

‘Watertight defence’

But the Commission is also seeking approval for a much more ambitious mechanism that could be used to fund hundreds of billions of dollars of loans.

The BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Brussels says officials at the European Commission have laboured throughout the weekend to rush through these plans.

Under the proposals, the Commission would borrow money for the stabilisation mechanism directly on the markets to gurantee troubled country’s debts.

Officials hope the loan guarantees would prevent the crisis in Greece spreading to other eurozone countries with high deficits or debts as well as low economic growth, most notably Portugal, Spain and Ireland.

"Between now and Sunday night we will have a watertight line of defence," Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Saturday.

"We have to make it clear that all eurozone countries are ready to defend each and every eurozone country, because they want to defend the eurozone as a whole," he added.

Our correspondent says political acceptance from EU nations is critical.

The UK may be happy with the 70bn euro emergency package, it is not prepared to be part of any EU-style IMF guaranteeing loans.

What went wrong in Greece?

Greece’s economic reforms that led to it abandoning the drachma as its currency in favour of the euro in 2002 made it easier for the country to borrow money.

Greece went on a debt-funded spending spree, including high-profile projects such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, which went well over budget.

It was hit by the downturn, which meant it had to spend more on benefits and received less in taxes. There were also doubts about the accuracy of its economic statistics.

Greece’s economic problems meant lenders started charging higher interest rates to lend it money and widespread tax evasion also hit the government’s coffers.

There have been demonstrations against the government’s austerity measures to deal with its 300bn euro (£267bn) debt, such as cuts to public sector pay.

Now the government is having to access a 110bn euro (£95bn; $146.2bn) bail-out package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Greece’s problems have made investors nervous, which has made it more expensive for other European countries such as Portugal to borrow money.

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Deciding the contribution of each country to the stabilisation mechanism could also be a stumbling block.

Fears that a debt default by Greece could paralyse the world’s financial system – just as the collapse of Lehman Brothers did two years ago – caused European, US and Asian stock markets to plunge in the past week.

On Friday, bankers urged the European Central Bank to become the "buyer of last resort" of eurozone government bonds to steady markets.

The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, said it had not yet discussed the move but was willing to respond to unfolding events.

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have cancelled foreign trips because of the severity of the crisis.

In an interview with Russian media on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said: "I am very concerned about what’s happening in Europe. But I think it is an issue that the Europeans recognise is very serious."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Brown rats are among the most invasive mammals in Europe, according to a wide-ranging assessment.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Polls are due to open in the Philippines after three months of intense campaigning.

Voters will elect a new president as well as more than 17,000 other national and local positions.

Benigno Aquino, the son of the popular former President Cory Aquino, has been leading the polls but former president Joseph Estrada is also in the running.

One of the main concerns is whether the country’s new automated voting machines will be up to such a complex task.

The third presidential candidate considered to have a serious chance is Manny Villar, one of the richest men in the Philippines.

Senators, lawmakers and local officials are being elected at the same time as the president.

All of them have been campaigning hard in recent weeks, but the issue that has also been dominating the headlines is the automated voting machines that will be used for the first time in this election.

Several glitches have already been found and critics are concerned that the results might not be accurate.

Philippine elections are often plagued by violence, and dozens of people have been killed in recent months in the run-up to the polls.

The security forces are out on the streets in large numbers to try to prevent more bloodshed, but there are fears of what might happen if something goes wrong with the machines.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.