BBC news 11.04

BBC news with Leon Perdon

The center-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 minster proposed holding a referendum on the latest European bail-out and austerity plan. From Athens here’s Mad Louin:

This is being 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 the last week’s debt deal accepted. “Of course if we had the consensus, the n this would be an option, and we wouldn’t have to go to a referendum. If the opposition is willing to negotiate, then we’ll be ready to ratify this deal and implement it.” Mr. Papandreou appears to be resisting course to go, hoping that if a 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 felt far beyond Greece’s borders.

The developments in Athens have overshadowed the meeting of the G20 in Cannes, where leading industrialized nations are discussing the eurozone debt crisis. Speaking at the end of the first day of talks, the French President Nicola 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 can not accepted what he termed “the explosion of the euro”, as this could lead to the explosion of Europe.

The European Central Bank has cut its interests 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.

Syria activists say that 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 honoring 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 massive 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. Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Here’s Alex Lithod:

Dr. Conrad Murray listened intently, as the prosecution delivered a final summery of its case against him to the jury. Mic hael Jackson’s doctor has been painted as a man

who acted with criminal negligence. The Dr. Murray (who) was out of the room when Jackson stopped breathing did not call for help quickly enough. The defend claims Michael Jackson injected himself with a fatal dose of the drug while Dr. Murray was out of the room. Every step of the trial has been broadcast live. Dr. Murray faces up to

4 years in prison if convicted.

A fight between rival gangs in a prison in V enezuela has left 8 people dead. Several police officers were taken hostage during the violence in the jail. And the authorities are trying to negotiate their release. V enezuela’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 evaporable damage to a valuable art work by one of Germany’s most celebrated modern sculptors, by polishing off, what she believed to be, an unsightly stain on the work. Steve Evens reports:

Martin Kippenberger who died in 1997 was, according to his victory in the New Y ork 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 consi sted of a tower of wooden slats, under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paints representing dried rain water. Not appreciating the work properly, a cleaner assumed the stain needed to be cleaned so she scrubbed it till it gleamed.