Eurozone comes out of recession

he eurozone has emerged from recession after a record 18 months of economic contraction.

Across the bloc, GDP grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2013, slightly ahead of forecasts.

The growth was widely expected after the German economy rose 0.7% between April and June.

However, the overall figure masks the mixed economic fortunes among the countries that make up the 17-country eurozone area.

The eurozone had been in recession since the end of 2011

However, the overall figure masks the mixed economic fortunes among the countries that make up the 17-country eurozone area.

Germany and France both posted stronger-than-expected growth, but Portugal, among the smallest and the weakest eurozone economies, showed the fastest growth, at 1.1%.

The country was one of three that had to take a multi-billion-euro bailout.

But Spain, which had to seek outside support for its struggling banking sector, saw its economic output fall by 0.1% on the quarter.

Italy and the Netherlands both saw growth fall by 0.2%.

Analysts from Capital Economics said: "The return to modest rates of economic growth in the eurozone as a whole won't address the deep-seated economic and fiscal problems of the peripheral countries."

Twenty hurt at LG event as promotional stunt goes wrong

Twenty people were injured, with seven sent to hospital, when a promotional stunt in Seoul for LG's G2 smartphone went wrong, the company has said.

LG has cancelled a series of events promoting the handset as a result of the incident in Seoul on Friday.

People arrived with BB guns and knives on sticks for a race to grab smartphone vouchers hanging from helium balloons.

LG has taken responsibility for the situation and said it would cover related medical costs.

"LG Electronics deeply regrets that a number of Korean participants were injured during an outdoor promotional event in Seoul, Korea," a statement from the firm said.

"We can confirm that seven participants were hospitalised and, although none of the injuries were serious, LG takes full responsibility for the unfortunate situation and has offered to cover all related medical expenses.

"LG is investigating the incident to ensure that such an occurrence can be avoided in the future."

The company added that other planned events had been called off because of safety concerns.

Surge of people

LG released 100 helium balloons, each with a free smartphone voucher, at the so-called G in the Cloud event, which took place in an outdoor park in the South Korean capital city.

The phones, which sell for KRW 950,000 in South Korea ($851; £550), would be given to people in possession of the voucher, the company said.

Customers arrived with BB guns to shoot down the balloons and surged forward when they were released.

One person carried a pointed staff to the event.

One regional TV channel has dubbed the scrum "World War G" - a comparison to the film World War Z in which zombies scramble over each other to climb over a wall.

The handset was released in New York last week, after weeks of build-up on social media.

It is expected to be available globally with more than 130 carriers within several weeks.

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Worthing Birdman: Northumberland adventurer claims 'record leap'

Competitors attempt to fly the furthest distance off Worthing Pier

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1/3An adventurer has claimed to have made a record-breaking leap into the English Channel.

Ron Freeman, 57, flew 106m (347ft) at the Worthing Birdman in West Sussex.

But he could not claim the £10,000 prize for the furthest flight over 100m (330ft) because strong winds caused his hang glider on a sideways route, thus rendering his attempt invalid.

"It was the most perfect flight I've ever done," said Mr Freeman, from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland.

In 2009, Steve Elkins flew 99.86m (327.6 ft) at the competition.

Mr Freeman's forward distance off Worthing Pier was just 63m (206ft), meaning he missed out on the cash prize, but he was delighted to set what he claimed was a new total distance record on Saturday.

Ron Freeman flew 106m (347ft)

"I got it spot on. I was determined to do the 100 metres. It's never been done before," he said.

He claimed to not mind "one bit" about missing out on the five-figure sum.

"The jackpot distance is straight out from the pier but I decided not to go for that because the wind was too strong," he said.

"I've smashed my best distance by quite a bit. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do 100 metres and it's finally happened."

The Birdman event was created in 1971 in Selsey, near Chichester, and the event was moved to Bognor Regis in 1978.

The competition was moved to Worthing for two years in 2008 amid fears over the stability of Bognor pier.

But when the event returned to Bognor in 2010, the Worthing version remained.

The two day-event finished on Sunday evening.

Mobile phone drivers 'not linked' to accident figures

Researchers have found no link between the number of US drivers making phone calls while on the road and the number of accidents recorded.

A team at Carnegie Mellon University and the London School of Economics analysed more than eight million incidents of car crashes and all fatalities on roads in eight US states.They examined data before and after 9pm local time over a three-year period.

Using a mobile phone while driving was banned in the UK in 2003.

However they say their results do not include texting or internet browsing.

The timeslot was chosen because during the period studied (2002 - 2005) many American mobile phone operators offered free calls after 9pm during the week.

Prof Saurabh Bhargava from Carnegie and Dr Vikram Pathania from the LSE found that while there was an increase in callers using multiple phone masts after 9pm, there was no corresponding increase in the number of road accidents.

Dr Pathania told the BBC they were "very surprised" by the results.

"At first we thought the numbers were wrong. We went back and checked everything - but there was nothing going on at all," he said.

"We just know that we saw a big jump in cellphone use and there was no impact on the crash rate."

Further work

Dr Pathania added that the findings, published in the American Economic Journal, came with a number of caveats.

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“Start Quote

At first we thought the numbers were wrong. We went back and checked everything - but there was nothing going on at all”

Dr Vikram Pathania

"We were only looking at talking, not texting or internet use. And it may be that the traffic conditions on the road at that time [9pm] are such that moderate use of cellphones does not present a hazard."

Further research should focus on smartphone use, and also overall phone use among different driver demographics, Dr Pathania added.

"It may look different if you focus on young males or new drivers," he said.

"Rash drivers will always find a way to distract themselves."

UK ban

With the exception of calls to the emergency services, using a mobile phone while driving was officially banned in the UK in 2003.

The Highway Code states that while hands-free sets are legal, drivers can still face penalties starting with three licence points and a £60 fine "if the police think you're distracted".

"Using a phone at the wheel increases the risk of a crash by four times," said Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

"Sadly, despite legislation which makes it illegal to do so, many people still use a mobile phone whilst driving."

Russia classifies beer as alcoholic

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that officially classifies beer as alcoholic.

Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has been considered a foodstuff.

The move, signed into law on Wednesday, will allow ministers to control the sale of beer in the same way that spirits are controlled.

Russian alcohol consumption is already twice the critical level set by the World Health Organization.

Although vodka has long been the traditional tipple in Russia, beer has soared in popularity, being marketed as a healthier alternative to spirits.

Over the past decade, beer sales in Russia have risen more than 40% while vodka sales have fallen by nearly 30%.

Correspondents say it is common to see people swigging beer in the street and in parks as if they are drinking soft drinks.

It is not restricted to certain stores and is sold around the clock.

"The law brings some order into the sale of beer," Vadim Drobiz, director of the Centre for Federal and Regional Alcohol Market Studies, told US broadcaster Bloomberg.

Last year the Russian beer industry was hit by a 200% tax hike on its products as ministers sought to bring consumption under control.

The new measures - which come into effect in 2013 - will stop alcohol being sold in unlicensed kiosks, ban its sale from stores between certain hours and restrict its advertising.

In 2009 President Medvedev ordered the government to prepare draft laws on a package of measures to counter growing alcohol abuse.

Egypt crisis: Morsi's party criticises al-Azhar mediation

Protesters at one of the sit-ins are digging in as authorities threaten to clear it

The party backing toppled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has reacted critically to a proposal from Egypt's top Islamic institution to mediate to end Egypt's political crisis.

The Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyib, had invited different political forces to talks.

However, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party questioned the imam's impartiality.

Egypt has been polarised since the army deposed Mr Morsi after mass protests.

"We are ready to do any kind of dialogue with any intermediary," Mohammed Soudan, foreign affairs spokesman of the Freedom and Justice Party, told the BBC's Newshour programme.

However, he pointed out that the grand imam had openly supported the military intervention to remove Mr Morsi on 3 July.

Mr Soudan also said that before talks, the party wanted the release of high-ranking Brotherhood officials arrested in a crackdown on the movement which took place after Mr Morsi was ousted.

'Ready to be killed'

Political tensions have been growing in recent days with the interim government saying that international mediation efforts had failed and numbers swelling at two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.

The military-backed interim government has said police will clear the sites in the coming days, raising fears of bloodshed. Unnamed security sources have said that the move against the camps might begin on Monday.

More than 250 people, most of them Morsi supporters, have been killed in clashes since the military deposed Egypt's first democratically elected leader following mass protests demanding his resignation.

Rights groups have warned of civilian casualties if authorities use force against the camps

Mr Soudan said that the protesters demanding Mr Morsi's reinstatement would not leave the camps "unless we get our dignity back".

"Those people really are ready to be killed at any second. This is the mentality now of the people who are sitting in both Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda square," Mr Soudan said.

Al-Azhar, a highly respected institution, has had some success at unifying different political forces since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, reports the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo.

However on this occasion its task is exceptionally difficult, our correspondent says, given then grand imam's open support for Mr Morsi's removal and the current depth of division between the two sides.

Sinai violence

Last week, Egypt's interim President, Adly Mansour, blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the failure of mediation efforts by international diplomats, as well as "consequent events and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering public safety".

Before the four-day holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi announced that the decision to disperse the pro-Morsi sit-ins outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and the al-Nahda square near Cairo University was final.

On Friday, Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagi warned the government: "Kill as much as you like. I won't move an inch… We will offer a million martyrs."

The statements prompted new calls for restraint from the international community.

Also on Sunday, the army said it had killed at least eight suspected militants in a strike in the Sinai peninsula.

According to a statement from an army spokesman, those targeted were involved in the killing of 16 Egyptian border guards in August last year.

The Sinai region has become increasingly lawless since President Mubarak was ousted in 2011.

Islamist militants in northern Sinai have used the lack of central authority to base themselves there and carry out attacks across the border into Israel.

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Egypt in crisis

• Challenge for polarised Egypt
• Not yet a coup
• Q&A: Crisis explained
• Struggle to save revolution
• 
  

New Israel settlement homes anger Palestinians

The issue of building settlements in occupied Palestinian areas halted the last direct peace talks in September 2010

Palestinians have reacted angrily to Israel's approval of nearly 1,200 new Jewish settlement homes, just days before peace talks are set to resume.

Palestinian negotiators said the approval cast doubt on Israel's sincerity in the peace process.

Israel's housing minister said no country in the world would take orders on where it could build its homes.

The issue of building settlements in occupied Palestinian areas halted the last direct talks in September 2010.

About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to establish their state in those areas, as well as the Gaza Strip.

The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

'Dangerous policy'

On Sunday, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel confirmed that 793 apartments would be built in east Jerusalem and 394 in several large West Bank settlements.

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Analysis

Kevin ConnollyBBC News, Jerusalem

Palestinians see continued Israeli construction on the land where they aspire to create a new state as one of the biggest obstacles to peace.

The timing of this announcement may deepen the sense of pessimism that surrounds renewed peace talks even before they've really begun.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel comes from a party which opposes the very idea of a Palestinian state bordering Israel on the West Bank of the River Jordan. He 's now invited private firms to tender for the construction work.

More liberal members of Israel's broad coalition government will be uncomfortable with the tone and timing of the news. Palestinian leaders will be angered but may well have factored the possibility of this type of announcement into their overall political calculations.

Israel is also preparing to free 26 Palestinian prisoners on the eve of this week's scheduled peace talks. Announcing the settlement construction at the same time may be intended as a sop to right-wing supporters of the government who oppose those prisoner releases.

Palestinians said the plans brought into question Israel's commitment to the peace process.

Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh said Israel aimed "to destroy the basis of the solution called for by the international community, which aims to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders".

He accused Israel of trying to "determine the negotiations in whichever way suits it best".

Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters: "If the Israeli government believes that every week they're going to cross a red line by settlement activity, if they go with this behaviour, what they're advertising is the unsustainability of the negotiations."

PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told the BBC: "We believe that Israel is deliberately sending a message to the US, to the rest of the world that regardless of any attempt at launching negotiations, 'we are going to press ahead with stealing more land, building more settlements and destroying the two-state-solution'.

"This is an extremely dangerous policy, and if left unchecked it certainly would lead to greater conflict and the destruction of all chances of peace."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had previously insisted he would not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze, but relented during mediation by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says Israel's announcement of the settlement construction may be intended as a sop to right-wing supporters of the government.

They had been angered by the government's approval of the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners - a condition set by the Palestinians for the talks to go ahead. The first group is due to be freed on 13 August.

The negotiations are scheduled to start in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The latest Israeli settlement approval invites tenders for homes in Har Homa and Gilo, on East Jerusalem's southern outskirts, and in Pisgat Zeev, on the city's northern edge.

Tenders will also be invited for Ariel, in the northern West Bank, in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and in Efrata and Beitar Ilit, around Bethlehem.

A housing ministry spokesman told the BBC that construction would begin in one to two years' time.

Mr Ariel said in a statement: "No country in the world takes orders from other countries [about] where it can build and where it can't.

"We will continue to market housing and build in the entire country... This is the right thing at the present time, for Zionism and for the economy.''

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Mid-East crisis

• Core issues
• Subdued hopes
• Frank Obama
• Ending the deadlock