BBC news 2011-11-04
BBC News with Iain Purdon
The centre-right opposition in Greece has demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister George Papandreou and called for snap elections, throwing into disarray plans for a unity government. Mr Papandreou had earlier suggested a coalition as a way out of the deepening political crisis. Greek politics has been in turmoil since Monday when the prime minister proposed holding a referendum on the latest European bailout and austerity plan. From Athens, here's Mark Lowen.
This has been a day of intense uncertainty and speculation in Athens. The prime minister addressed parliament to calm nerves. He raised the possibility that the referendum could be abandoned and last week's debt deal accepted.
"Of course if we had a consensus, then this would be an option, and we wouldn't have to go to a referendum. If the opposition is willing to negotiate, then we are ready to ratify this deal and implement it."
Mr Papandreou appears to be resisting calls to go, hoping that if the threat of a referendum fades he can yet steer this country through the crisis. Greeks and all of Europe are looking on anxiously. The reverberations of what happens in the next few hours will be felt far beyond Greece's borders.
The developments in Athens have overshadowed a meeting of the G20 in Cannes, where leading industrialised nations are discussing the eurozone debt crisis. Speaking at the end of the first day of talks, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he thought the message sent by France and Germany to what he called the Greek political class had helped people to focus on what was at stake. Mr Sarkozy said the euro was the very heart of Europe. He warned that European leaders could not accept what he termed the explosion of the euro as this could lead to the explosion of Europe.
The European Central Bank has cut its interest rate by a quarter of a point. It now stands at 1.25%. The BBC economics correspondent says the rate cut reflects the weakening performance of eurozone economies. The decision was the first under the new ECB chief Mario Draghi.
Syrian activists say government forces have killed at least 20 people in the city of Homs. The claim comes a day after the Arab League said that Syria had agreed to its plans to bring an end to the political violence there. This report from Jonathan Head.
If President Assad has any intention of honouring the terms of the deal proposed by the Arab League, his security forces certainly aren't showing it yet. Pictures have been released, apparently showing Syrian tanks bombarding residential districts of Homs - the city where the uprising has been especially strong. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting many dead a day after at least 25 were killed around Homs. On Friday, opposition groups are planning mass protests across the country to test the Assad government's promise that it will abide by the Arab League's terms.
World News from the BBC
The trial of the doctor accused of responsibility for the death of the pop star Michael Jackson is entering its final stages in Los Angeles. Doctor Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Here's Alastair Leithead.
Doctor Conrad Murray listened intently as the prosecution delivered a final summary of its case against him to the jury. Michael Jackson's doctor has been painted as a man who acted with criminal negligence that Doctor Murray was out of the room when Jackson stopped breathing, did not call for help quickly enough. The defence claims Michael Jackson injected himself with a fatal dose of the drug while Doctor Murray was out of the room. Every step of the trial has been broadcast live. Doctor Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
A fight between rival gangs in a prison in Venezuela has left eight people dead. Several police officers were taken hostage during the violence in the jail, and the authorities are trying to negotiate their release. Venezuela's overcrowded prisons have been the scene of repeated uprisings and gang violence.
And finally, a cleaning woman at a German art gallery has caused irreparable damage to a valuable artwork by one of Germany's most celebrated modern sculptors by polishing off what she believed to be an unsightly stain on the work. Steve Evans reports.
Martin Kippenberger, who died in 1997, was according to his obituary in the New York Times one of the most talented German artists of his generation. The city of Dortmund then considered itself fortunate to have one of his installations called When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling. The work consisted of a tower of wooden slats under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paint representing dried rainwater. Not appreciating the work properly, a cleaner assumed the stain needed to be cleaned, so she scrubbed it till it gleamed.
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