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Financial markets are braced for a rocky ride next week if voters in France and Greece strike a blow against the centrally imposed deficit targets that have been at the heart of Europe's response to the debt crisis over the past two year Rising unemployment and plunging business confidence in the euro area revealed the increasingly fragile state of the region's economy on Wednesday, as voters in France and Greece prepare to deliver their verdict on austerity in Sunday elections. Official figures showed that unemployment across the 17-member single currency zone increased by 169,000 in March, for the 11th consecutive month, to hit 17.37m. The unemployment rate was 10.9%, the highest level in its history. Even in Germany, which has so far largely escaped unscathed from the downturn sweep of the labour market, unemployment began to tick up in March, though it remained at just 5.6% of the workforce. There was also evidence that businesses are being hit by what many analysts expect ...

Click on auto-refresh for all the latest action Ping your emails to paul.doyle@guardian.co.uk View the Premier League table in-running GOAL! Bolton 0-1 Spurs (Modric 37') They sat Modric doesn't score enough. They are right. But what he lacks in quantity he offers in quality: he has just netted a stupendous goal, chestind down a corner that was pulled to him 25 yards from goal and then cracking a swirling volley into the top corner! Half-time: A splendid half from Newcastle, whyo have been the more cohesive, cutting and accomplished team and, as such, thoroughly deserve their lead. And they'll be pleased to know that it is still 0-0 at the Reebok after 32 minutes. Van der Vaart has jsut gone close with a long shot wide. 45 min: A clever corner routine results in Ba crashing a shot off the crossbar from around the penalty spot after peeling away from his marker to meet the low delivery! 43 min: Ba collects a long ball and sidesteps Ivanovic before letting fly from th...

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met here Wednesday with U.S. Acting Under-secretary of Defense James N. Miller, and both sides expressed hope to maintain healthy and stable development of bilateral military ties. Bilateral relations have developed stably in recent years, said Liang, noting that frequent high-level visits have promoted the building of a cooperative partnership of mutual respect and benefit between the two countries. Noting that bilateral military ties face new development opportunities, Liang called on both sides to steer the relations on a correct course in accordance with the principle of mutual respect, mutual trust, reciprocity and mutual benefit. He also urged the two sides to expand common interests and resolve differences, so as to ensure a sound and stable development of bilateral military relations. Miller praised the smooth development of bilateral ties in recent years, describing military ties as the most important part of bilateral links. The United...

Publication of bird flu study was delayed after warnings that the information could be exploited by terrorists Controversial research on a hybrid strain of bird flu that could potentially spread between humans was published on Wednesday in Nature after security restrictions on the work were lifted. Scientists created the virus by merging a mutated strain of bird flu with the "swine flu" virus that sparked a human pandemic in 2009. The hybrid strain spread easily between ferrets the best proxy that flu researchers have for people but was not lethal and could be controlled with antiviral drugs and bird flu vaccines. The work by Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was submitted last year to the journal, but was delayed after the US government's biosecurity advisers said key sections of the paper should be struck out to prevent the details being exploited by bioterrorists. The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) raised similar c...

Ireland's Catholic leader urged to resign over claims he failed to act on list given to him in 1975 by victim of paedophile priest The leader of the Catholic church in Ireland was under renewed pressure to step down after a television programme alleged that he failed to hand over a list of children being abused by the country's most notorious paedophile priest to their parents or the police. Cardinal Sen Brady faces fresh allegations that he failed to act after one of the victims gave him a list in 1975 of other children being abused by Father Brendan Smyth, who was convicted in 1994 of dozens of offences over a 40-year period. While the Vatican appeared to be rallying around Brady, organisations representing the victims of clerical sex abuse in Ireland have said these new allegations makes his position untenable. The Irish justice minister, Alan Shatter, described the testimony of an abuse victim who claimed to have handed over a list of names and addresses of victims to Brady...

Activist who took refuge in Beijing embassy wanted to go abroad but was forced to accept deal to stay in China, says friend Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left the US embassy in Beijing only after threats his family would be immediately returned to house arrest, a close friend has said. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, had earlier said that the handling of his stay and departure " reflected his choices and our values ", adding that China had offered him understandings he could pursue higher education in a safe environment. "Making these commitments a reality is the next crucial task," added Clinton, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday. Chen also told his lawyer that he had "received clear assurances". But supporters have expressed concern about whether his safety could be protected if he remained in China and Zeng Jinyan, a friend of Chen, said he told her in a phone call that he needed her help. In Twitter messages which she confirmed ...

Labour MP Tom Watson circulated amendment on 20 March but there are conflicting views about when it was discussed MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee had six weeks to consider the statement that Rupert Murdoch was "not fit" to run a major corporation before a final vote that left them split along party political lines, the Guardian has learned. A Conservative member on the committee, Louise Mensch, criticised Labour colleagues for inserting the incendiary sentence, saying the committee had "not for one moment" discussed it before the final vote on Monday, the day before the report was published. But the Guardian has seen a copy of papers circulated to committee members on 20 March that first set out the Labour MP Tom Watson's amendment, including the conclusion that Murdoch was "not a fit and proper person to have the stewardship of a major international company". Mensch and the Labour committee member Paul Farrelly have confirmed tha...

Deputy PM throws weight behind MPs' report into phone-hacking scandal, which said Murdoch was not fit to run a big company Nick Clegg has said there are "big question marks" about Rupert Murdoch's fitness to run News Corporation in the wake of a damning Commons report on the phone-hacking scandal. The deputy prime minister said the report, published on Tuesday, raised "serious questions of basic corporate governance in the Murdoch empire", which allowed its journalists to engage on illegal invasions of privacy on an "industrial scale". The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, had said on Tuesday that the media regulator Ofcom " needs to come to its own conclusions ". Speaking during a visit to Fife before local council elections, Clegg threw his weight behind the media committee's central findings, stating: "The select committee has written a report where there has been a lot of focus on one sentence but what's striking about it is ho...

Nine dead and 45 wounded as protesters against military rule are set upon by attackers armed with rocks, clubs and firebombs At least nine protesters have been killed and 45 injured in a dawn attack on protesters gathered outside Egypt's ministry of defence, according to the health ministry. Clashes continued on Wednesday morning between protesters and the unidentified assailants, who threw petrol bombs and fired live ammunition, birdshot and teargas, according to witnesses. "There is a deluge of blood on the street which extends for many metres. One injured man had his back sliced by the thugs," said Abdelrahman Hany, a rights advocate at the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information organisation who was present when the latest round of attacks began. Hany said he believed the attackers were linked to the state security apparatus. "How else would they possess teargas to fire at us?" he asked. Protesters had camped in Tahrir Square for a week before deciding ...

Explosions kill seven just hours after US president Barack Obama visited Afghan capital Suicide attackers launched a dawn attack on the outskirts of Kabul, killing seven, just hours after US President Barack Obama visited the Afghan capital and claimed that the last three years of fighting had broken the Taliban's momentum. Witnesses said at least four attackers were involved, shrouded in all-enveloping burqas usually worn by Afghan women but often adopted by insurgents to hide weapons and reduce scrutiny as they approach a target. They headed to the Green Village compound, which houses hundreds of foreign workers including UN staff, EU police trainers and many private security contractors. An initial car bomb blasted away the gate and part of the nearby wall, killing at least one student from the nearby Kabul boys high school and a Nepali compound security guard, the capital's police chief General Ayoub Salangi said. Four civilians in a passing Toyota corolla were also killed...

Regime 'hides' tanks in flashpoint district of rebel city Observers already in Homs 'unable to move freely' Al-Qaida in Iraq claims bomb attacks in Baghdad Iranian woman convicted of adultery 'may be hanged' 10.33am: The Arab League observer mission has arrived in Homs and is meeting with the governor of the province, AFP reports. It quotes Syria's Dunia television as reporting: The Arab League observers' delegation has begun its meeting with Homs governor Ghassan Abdel Al. 9.33am: Tanks are reportedly being pulled out from the city of Homs as Arab League officials make their way there. At least 11 tanks have withdrawn this morning from the particularly badly hit district of Baba Amr, Reuters quotes the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. But it also quotes Rami Abdelrahman, the organisation's chief, as saying the pull-out may not be quite as it seems: Many tanks remain inside the neighbourhood; the army is hiding them inside government buildi...

Duke of Edinburgh expected to rejoin the royal family at Sandringham after treatment for a blocked coronary artery The Duke of Edinburgh has left Papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire following treatment for a blocked coronary artery. He is expected to rejoin the Queen and other members of the royal family at Sandringham, according to a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman. Prince Philip who has taken to hospital last Friday after complaining of chest pains, has been recuperating after treatment for a blocked coronary artery at the specialist heart hospital in Cambridgeshire. Following tests, doctors discovered a blocked artery and he underwent a "minimally invasive procedure of coronary stenting", which was declared a success but he has been kept in for four nights so doctors can keep a close eye on his recovery. This is the most serious health scare suffered by the duke, who is known for being a robust and active 90-year-old. On Christmas Day, Princes William and Harry drove separat...

Senior officials from foreign ministries of China and South Korea held the fourth high-level strategic dialogue in Seoul on Tuesday, vowing to deepen cooperation and boost bilateral ties. The one-day talks, led by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and South Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Park Suk-hwan, come under a mechanism established in 2008 for annual dialogues between high-level diplomats of the two nations. During Tuesday's talks, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations, and major international and regional issues of common interest. They agreed that the two nations should take the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year as an opportunity to further boost practical cooperation in various areas, and achieve new development on bilateral ties. The two sides also agreed that all parties concerned should make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region. On the same da...

Zhu Mingguo condemns local party officials as 'red apples, rotten inside' in wake of Wukan protests over confiscated farmland The senior Chinese official who helped defuse a standoff with protesting villagers has told officials to get used to citizens who are increasingly assertive about their rights and likened erring local governments to red apples with rotten cores. Zhu Mingguo, a deputy Communist party secretary of southern Guangdong province, last week helped broker a compromise between the government and residents of Wukan village. Ten days of protests over confiscated farmland and the death of a protest organiser drew widespread attention as a rebuff to the government. Guangzhou Daily, the official paper of the provincial capital, quoted Zhu as telling officials that Wukan and other protests were not isolated flare-ups. "In terms of society, the public's awareness of democracy, equality and rights is constantly strengthening, and their corresponding demands are ...

Rule change will help stretch Tokyo's defence budget further in response to China's increased military spending Japan has relaxed its self-imposed decades-old ban on military equipment exports in a move that will open up new markets to its defence contractors and help it squeeze more out of its defence budget. The rule adopted in 1967 banned sales to communist countries, and those involved in international conflicts or subject to United Nations sanctions. It later became a blanket ban on exports and on the development and production of weapons with countries other than the United States, making it impossible for manufacturers to participate in multinational projects. The government's security council agreed to the relaxing of the ban to allow Japan to take part in the joint development and production of arms with other countries and to supply military equipment for humanitarian missions, chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura said. "The new standards [on weapons export...

Kuram Shaikah Zaman was shot and stabbed after argument broke out at resort of Tangalle, reports say A British man has died after being shot and stabbed in a Sri Lankan resort, according to reports. Local police said the victim, named as Kuram Shaikah Zaman, was killed in Tangalle early on Christmas Day. The Foreign Office confirmed a British man had died in the country but would not confirm any other details. "Next of kin have been informed and we are providing consular assistance," said a spokesman. Zaman and a Russian woman were attacked following an argument with a man at a hotel, according to reports. Four men had been arrested, including Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, 24, the chairman of Tangalle village council, Sri Lankan police told the BBC. A post-mortem examination revealed Zaman, believed to be a British national of Israeli origin who was working in the Gaza Strip, had been attacked by a sharp weapon and shot. The Russian woman, named as 23-year-old Victo...

Afghanistan will accept a Taliban office in Qatar to help peace talks but no foreign power can get involved in the process without its consent, the government's peace council said, as efforts gather pace to find a solution to the 10-year war. Afghanistan's High Peace Council, in a note to foreign missions, has set out ground rules for engaging the Taliban after Kabul grew concerned that the United States and Qatar, helped by Germany, had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in the Qatari capital, Doha. It said that negotiations with the Taliban could only begin after they stopped violence against civilians, cut ties to al-Qaida, and accepted the Afghan constitution, which guarantees civil rights and liberties, including rights for women. The council, according to a copy of the 11-point note made available to Reuters, also said any peace process with the Taliban would have to have the support of Pakistan since members of the insurgent group were based there. "...

Netherlands health authority says a Dutch firm bought implants made by PIP, the French company at centre of health scare Around 1,000 Dutch women have breast implants of the suspect kind made by a French company but sold under a different name, a Netherlands health official has said, broadening a scandal that could affect 300,000 or more women worldwide. Health authority spokeswoman Diane Bouhuijs said a Dutch company had bought implants made by Poly Implant Prothese, which went bankrupt in 2010 after French authorities shut its doors. It is now under investigation. They were sold rebranded as "M-implants". "We estimate 1,000 women in the Netherlands have them. We have advised them to consult their physician," Bouhuijs said. She declined to name the Dutch company. The rebranding expands the controversy in which PIP, once the world's third-largest maker, is accused of using industrial-grade instead of medical-grade silicone in some of its implants, which made the...

Research challenges Michael Gove's claim that savings will help the government in 'protecting the frontline' Pupils are being denied careers advice at a time of record youth unemployment, schools are scrapping projects to help the neediest children catch up on their reading, and teachers of music, art and sport are losing their jobs, a Guardian investigation into the impact of cuts on education reveals. The education secretary, Michael Gove, claimed last year that the government was "protecting the frontline", and the coalition says schools and colleges will manage to save 1bn between now and 2014 just by trimming back-office functions. However, research by the Guardian indicates that shrinking budgets are already significantly reducing the range and quality of education on offer to all pupils across England, from toddlers to teenagers. Even schools in deprived neighbourhoods are having to make swingeing cuts, despite receiving the pupil premium, which this year h...

China aims to curb illegal entry, stay and employment of foreigners, which has developed into a "prominent problem" in the world's second largest economy. The State Council, or the Cabinet, submitted Monday a draft law on exit and entry administration to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the top legislature of the country, for its first reading. The existing law on exit and entry administration, established 26 years ago when China was far from "the world workshop," barely mentioned illegal employment of foreigners in China. A foreigner shall get work permits and residence certificates for employment before getting employed, according to the draft law. Foreigners who work illegally in China will be fined between 5,000 yuan (US$792) and 20,000 yuan, and may be detained 5-15 days for serious violations. Those who illegally provide job placement services for foreigners or illegally employ foreigners would be also fined. "We shall put ...