commit to

balanced government budgets. In the financial markets, more integration is seen as part of the long-term solution, but they think common euro-area bonds, shared government debts and more resources for financial rescues would do more to ease the immediate crisis.

A British parliamentary committee investigating the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World says it may want to question Mr Murdoch's son James again in the light of new evidence. The group has published a letter from the paper's former royal correspondent Clive Goodman, who was jailed for hacking. One of the MPs on the committee, Therese Coffey, said the evidence

opened up

a new line of inquiry.

"There are(There's口误) very strong allegations made by Mr Goodman that hacking was discussed daily at editorial meetings. That's the first time that's been revealed publicly. And although of course Mr Goodman was sent to prison for certain things and will have to allow the police to do full inquiry on this, clearly opens up a brand-new line of questioning, which is why we've agreed to write to some people but also to call some people to the committee in September."

Officials in Afghanistan say that at least seven people have been killed in a bomb explosion in the south of the country. They say several others were injured by the blast at a market in the province of Uruzgan. The explosives, which are believed to have been hidden in a motorcycle, went off just as the sun was setting and people were breaking their fast for the month of Ramadan.