BBC news 2011-11-02
BBC News with Jonathan Izard
The decision by the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to call a referendum on last week's European Union aid package has drawn a shocked reaction from political leaders and the financial markets. Shares have fallen sharply across Europe and in New York. Matthew Price reports.
In Athens tonight, the government at the centre of Europe's debt crisis is hanging by a thread. Members of the prime minister's own party have called for him to resign. An emergency cabinet meeting is being held. Around the world, markets have suffered huge losses, fearful that Europe's plan to contain the debt crisis is now not worth the paper it's written on. The Greek bailout is a crucial part of that deal. But now Greece's prime minister has surprised everyone, even his own finance minister, with the announcement that it will be the Greek people who decide in a referendum whether to take the next bailout and the associated austerity that will come with it. A poll at the weekend suggested a majority do not support the deal.
Events in Greece prompted urgent talks by telephone between the leaders of France and Germany. Afterwards, President Sarkozy said they had set up an emergency meeting to hear from Mr Papandreou. It will take place on Wednesday before a wider summit of European leaders and the International Monetary Fund. Mr Sarkozy said the deal struck last week to bail out Greece was the only way to resolve their problems.
Israel says it's temporarily cutting off the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority. The funds, which consist of taxes and duties that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, make up some 70% of the authority's revenues. The announcement follows a decision on Monday by the United Nations cultural organisation Unesco to grant the Palestinians full membership. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also called for the accelerated construction of about 2,000 housing units for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority says the main phone network in the West Bank and Gaza has suffered a sustained attack by computer hackers. Jon Donnison reports from Ramallah.
For much of the day, the Internet has been down across large parts of the West Bank and Gaza, causing frustration for many. The Palestinian Authority says the crash has been caused by computer hackers sabotaging the Paltel telephone network. A PA spokesperson, Ghassan Khatib, said the attacks had come from multiple sources around the world and had started this morning. He said he didn't know whether the hacking was connected to this week's successful attempt by the Palestinian leadership to gain membership of Unesco, the UN's cultural and scientific organisation.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron has said countries need to act together to tackle security threats and crime on the Internet. Addressing a two-day international conference on Internet security in London, he said governments must not use cyber security as an excuse for censorship or to deny people opportunities.
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State television in Syria has reported that the authorities have reached an agreement with the Arab League over ending violence in the suppression of anti-government protests, but the claim has been denied by the Arab League. Jon Leyne reports.
The Arab League has been proposing a plan under which the Syrian government would withdraw its forces from the streets and start a new dialogue with the opposition in an attempt to end months of violence. Syrian state TV says agreement has been reached on the plan, though it has not confirmed the details. But the Arab League has categorically denied that. The Deputy Secretary General Ahmed Ben Helli said Syria's response was still awaited and most probably would be presented in Cairo on Wednesday. Syrian opposition activists are deeply sceptical. They believe that without tanks on the streets President Assad would rapidly lose control of his country.
Three Pakistani cricketers - the former captain Salman Butt, and the fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - have been convicted of involvement in a betting scam. A court in London found they had arranged for no-balls to be bowled at certain times during a Test match in England last year. A former head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shahryar Khan, said he felt mortified by the players' behaviour.
"It has left me very humiliated because Pakistan, as you know, cricket represents Pakistan in a very major way. And it reflects so badly not only on the cricket but on our society."
A passenger plane flying from the United States to Poland with 230 people on board has been forced to land on its belly after its landing gear failed to open. The Lot airline's Boeing 767 circled over Warsaw airport for an hour to burn fuel. No one on board was injured.
And the doctor charged with involvement in Michael Jackson's death has told a judge in Los Angeles that he will not testify in his own defence. Doctor Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the singer's death in 2009.
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