Business Secretary Vince Cable has given the government's approval to a report calling for an unlimited rise in tuition fees in England's universities.

Mr Cable told the House of Commons he endorsed the "persuasive proposals" of Lord Browne's radical funding reforms.

A backbench rebellion by Lib Dem MPs has been threatened - but Mr Cable defended the plans as "fair and progressive".

Students have warned that raising fees would mean "crippling debts"

Emergency crews in Hungary have almost completed a new dam to contain further spillage from the reservoir that leaked toxic sludge earlier this month, officials say.

They say final test are being conducted on the emergency barrier.

Meanwhile the Hungarian government is preparing to take over the company at the centre of the disaster.

Eight people have died from the 4 October spill that devastated towns near Akja in the west of the country.

At least 42 people have been killed and nine people hurt in a collision between a train and a small bus in eastern Ukraine, officials say.

The incident happened near the town of Marhanets, south of the main regional city of Dnipropetrovsk.

The inter-city passenger bus tried to cross the track, ignoring the warning of an approaching train, reports said.

Some of the injured are in a critical condition and the death toll could rise.

Railway officials said all the casualties were on the bus.

French unions are staging a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations in opposition to the government's pension reforms - the third in a month.

Unions and police say Tuesday's protests in Paris are the biggest so far, estimating a turnout of 330,000 and 89,000 respectively.

The cabinet wants to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.

Some unions will vote later on Tuesday to decide whether to escalate their protests with open-ended strikes.

AFP - German army chief of staff General Volker Wieker on Tuesday began his first trip to Israel by visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial dedicated to six million Jewish victims of Nazism.

General Wieker was accompanied by his Israeli counterpart, General Gabi Ashkenazi, as he took part in a special ceremony to mark the occasion.

Wearing a red beret and his dress uniform, the general placed a flower wreath wrapped in the black, red and yellow colours of the German flag in the Hall of Remembrance.

The inquests into the 7 July suicide bombings in London have been shown new footage of the aftermath of the four explosions.

The bombs were detonated on three London Underground trains and a bus on 7 July 2005, killing 52 people.

An NHS primary care trust with a budget of £650m has been forced to announce a radical set of cuts which will mean non-emergency surgery in local hospitals being barred to patients for a month.

Some treatments, including in vitro fertilisation, will be stopped until next year, and operations such as hip replacements will be cancelled to deal with the £50m gap in the trust's projected budget.

Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock was questioned by police last night following allegations of improper behaviour towards a female constituent. In a statement on his website, the Portsmouth South MP said he had gone voluntarily to a police station and "co-operated fully" with inquiries.

A senior RAF officer has warned that cuts to military aircraft numbers would leave the UK vulnerable to attack.

Air Marshal Timo Anderson, director general of the Military Aviation Authority, addressed MPs in a private talk, and gave a stark assessment on cuts expected to be outlined next week.

The RAF is expected to lose significant numbers of jet fighters in spending cuts of up to 10% over four years.

Druids have been worshipping the sun and earth for thousands of years in Europe, but now they can say they're practicing an officially recognized religion.

The ancient pagan tradition best known for gatherings at Stonehenge every summer solstice has been formally classed as a religion under charity law for the first time in Britain, the national charity regulator said Saturday. That means Druids can receive exemptions from taxes on donations -- and now have the same status as such mainstream religions as the Church of England.

Vikarer er lavstatus og får den kolde skulder - Avisen.dk

Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that the Danish labour market is structured around full-time salaried employment, not temp work. It can't possibly be because temps serve the same institutional function as scabs. Perish the thought.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.