02/11/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas. Facing the

music in Cannes, the Greek Prime Minister goes into emergency talks

with the French and German leaders. Furious at his call for a Greek

vote on the euro bail-out plans. And on the eve of the full G20

summit, at the head of the Anglican Church calls on leaders to consider

the morality of banking and profit. We need to hone in on a number of

very specific questions that might be asked. Nobody has any solutions

of the night, but it is important to ask the right questions.

Also coming up, hope for peace in Syria. Seven months of protest and

bloodshed, Neisseria's Government says it will pull tanks from the

streets and talk to the opposition. A French satirical magazine is

firebombed for poking fun at his arm. The French Prime Minister says

the attack is unjustifiable, but was Charlie Hebdo asking for

trouble? 60 years on, the multi- Oscar-

winning musical An American in Paris is re-released. We will speak

to one of its stars, the French actress Leslie Caron.

Hello and welcome. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the

eurozone plan to save Greece from bankruptcy is not up for

renegotiation. In just half an hour, the German leader and President

Sarkozy of France will hold an emergency meeting with the Greek

prime minister George Papandreou, ahead of Thursday's G20 summit in

Cannes. They are furious with his announcement of a referendum on the

bail-out plan for Greece. The German Finance Minister has said

Greece may have to leave the eurozone completely if its voters

reject the deal. The BBC's Tanya Beckett is in Cannes ahead of that

meeting. How close are we to that dressing down for the Greek Prime

Minister? Very close. We have friends's and Nicolas Sarkozy with

the premier of China at the moment. The Chinese premier we think kept

him waiting for about ten minutes on the red carpet. The former

French prime minister -- finance minister, now head of the IMF, has

arrived. There was a press scrum through which she had to fight.

This is going to be a rather tense couple of days.

For the leaders of France and Germany, the shock of a Greek

referendum feels like betrayal. Board President's Sarkozy and Jan

slumber call made huge efforts to deliver last week's Eur rescue deal.

Tonight to they have summoned the Greek prime minister to Cannes to

urge him to stick with it. This is the man who has plunged the

European Union back into crisis. George Papandreou agreed last week

to what was called the ultimate rescue. Now it is unravelling

because he so insists the Greek people must accept or reject it

first in a referendum. There is no disguising Chancellor Mackle's

anger today. TRANSLATION: We agreed a plan for Greece last week, and as

far as the European Union is concerned we want to put this into

practice. But for this, we need clarity. The meeting tonight should

help with precisely this. Five days ago Europe was

celebrating a package of measures to say the euro. All the leaders

then agreed on and �86 billion loan to Athens, and a 50% white off or

reduction in the country's debt. Now the move to hold a referendum

has thrown everything into doubt. You can hear the frustration from

France's prime minister in Parliament today. TRANSLATION: The

Greeks must understand that Europe cannot spend long weeks waiting for

the response they will give at the referendum. The Greeks must say

quickly and unambiguously whether or not they are choosing to keep

their place in the eurozone. As the world's most powerful

leaders arrive here in Cannes and the presidents of the United States

in China will be here, the economic giants, it is clear that patients

with Greece is rapidly running out. Not just a money eurozone

governments, because the hall of the world has a stake in this. The

departing Europe crisis at is intensifying, raging uncertainty

and instability threatening economies right around the globe.

Protesters in Cannes are hoping to have their voices heard too. Their

complete - democracy in Greece is being sacrificed. They mocked

President Sarkozy and insist the world's leaders need to join them

taking the plunge to protect ordinary people as well as

promoting global growth. James Robbins, BBC News.

James Robbins reporting on the foundation for this summit. Joining

me now is the bureau chief for the Financial Times. He is based in

Brussels. It is going to be a difficult

couple of days. What can the Greek Prime Minister say to the leaders

of France and Germany and that they can say back to him? I don't think

there is much they can say. If they are going to press him hard on a

referendum, either do it quickly or not at all. They are very angry,

literally steaming. I think they are going to push him to call a

general referendum and do it very quickly so he can get it through

and they can get the money. So ask the right question to elicit the

right answer. Yes, there have already been calls to him saying

you have got to find a way to get out of this. We will see the

pressure on him. People in his party are saying we have to watch

very closely the language of what the referendum says. Does it say we

reject the 130 billion euros bail out, what does it say we support

the euro, we would like to support the EU? The wording will become

much more broad so it is harder to reject. But any delay is very

unwelcome, because the longer it goes on the more the likes of Italy,

will have to pay a very great deal for their dead. And there is a very

hard deadline coming up in mid- December. There is a bond that

Greece must pay and it does not have the money. Suddenly that is a

hard default. Everyone is afraid of this, that this is going to bring

down not only the eurozone but the global economy. The repercussions

are that people do not know. It is like Lehman Brothers where the

whole international system gets frozen up. Is there enough time now

for George Papandreou to unwind and get the money to Athens to pay that

Bond, and I do not know if this summit is going to resolve that.

The head of the Financial Times based in Brussels there. As you can

see, there is really very little room to manoeuvre and speed is of

the essence. It is a luxury we do not have here in Cannes.

The head of the Anglican Church said today the G20 leaders should

consider the morality of finance during their next few day's

discussions. Later we will be asking if politicians are really

hearing the voice of the so-called silent majority.

After seven months of violent crackdowns bond anti-government

protests, the Syrian Government says it will accept an Arab League

plan to end the bloodshed. More than 3,000 people have been killed

since the Arab Spring swept into Syria in March, and the new plan

includes an immediate halt to violence. The removal of tax from

the streets and the beginning of dialogue with the opposition. The

plan was agreed at an Arab League meeting in Egypt and we can get the

latest from our correspondent reported macro.

I suppose the important thing to establish his army said in Damascus

has signed up to this? The Syrian state television last night was

saying that Syria had agreed to the deal. We have not had much from

Damascus tonight, although apparently President Assad has

decided to set up a committee for this national dialogue. We have not

had the details or heard whether they say they have any reservations,

any technical reservations. Certainly the Arab League says they

have accepted it comprehensively, but the key is whether they

implement it. The Arab League says it will be monitoring what goes on.

I think the key about this agreement is it seems to have been

quite tightly drawn. I cannot see the weather room for manoeuvre is

for the Syrians to delay. So either way, I think this is again changes.

By this area does implement this agreement and take their tanks of

the streets and stop the violence from their side, release political

prisoners and start dialogue, or if they don't they will be at a

completely different diplomatic situation. I think that would

really test the patience of the Arab League. If the Arab League

takes tough action in Syria, that will take -- put pressure on the

rest of the world, bringing Russia and China backed the Security

Council saying are you going to veto again? So I think that

diplomatically, even if nothing changes on the ground, the position

has already changed the game. Jon Leyne, thank you very much.

The French Prime Minister says it was an justifiable. An arson attack

has destroyed the offices of the satirical magazine. But some say

Charlie Hebdo was asking for trouble. By announcing that its

latest issue was to be edited by the Prophet Mohammed, and placing a

caricature of him on the cover. The magazine's editor has blamed the

attack on "idiot extremists", and said that his son should not be

excluded from the freedom of the press. -- Islam should not be

excluded from the freedom of the press.

The attack comes on the same day that the satirical weekly published

a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on its front page. Police are

investigating what started the blaze. The fire broke out in the

middle of the night and caused extensive damage to Charlie Hebdo's

premises. Police suspect a petrol bomb was hurled on to the building.

Staff say that most of their equipment has been destroyed, and

they do not know if they will be able to publish next week's edition

of the newspaper. But this week's edition, the one which has caused

so much offence to Muslims, is already on the news stands.

The editor says he has no doubt that the attack was carried out by

Muslim extremists. He rejects accusations that by announcing that

the Prophet Mohammed was this week's guest editor, he was

deliberately seeking provocation. TRANSLATION: We are ready to face

justice when we go too far, which we do quite often. I wouldn't have

minded going to trial against angry Islamists, but what we have written

in the magazine shows that there is no reason to sue Charlie Hebdo, and

we will not be sued. The paper was taken to court in

2007 when Muslim groups -- by Muslim groups after a pre-printed

Danish cartoons which cost a fence around the Islamic world.

-- course caused offence. I am joined now by Nabila Ramdani,

a Paris-born writer specialising in Islamic affairs.

Charlie Hebdo has a history of being very irreverent and trying to

be provocative. Had you read its motives here? It is my opinion

provocative journalism. Charlie Hebdo is the very magazine which

published, the published in 2005 the Danish controversial cartoons

which were viewed as deeply offensive to not only Muslims in

Europe but indeed around the world. A survey could have predicted

trouble? Yes, and if you put the content of the magazine in the

context of Islam in France, this was clearly designed to cause

maximum offence. You are talking about a country which has 6 million

Muslims, the largest Muslim community in Europe, where Muslims

experience discrimination on a daily basis in every walk of life

including housing, education, and indeed religious expression. The

magazine is very much in the knowledge that reproducing the

image of the profit is against Islamic law. They say they are

trying to draw attention to what is happening with the Arab Spring, the

possible implementation of Sharia law in countries like Libya or

Tunisia. So it says it was trying to draw attention to matters that

need to be debated. But it is a very serious message that the

magazine is trying to send, which means that his lamp is indeed

incompatible with democracy. -- Islam is indeed incompatible with

democracy. That Islam can be questioned, is what it is trying to

say as well. The central issue is freedom of space and what we should

be allowed to say in the name of freedom of speech. The Interior

Minister made it clear that all the French -- it is a sacred freedom in

France to be able to express what you want. It has to be pointed out

that this very same material -- Minister is the same person who

described Ms -- Islam as a problem in France. France has very strong

laws against... It allows laws Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic

behaviour. Why do these laws not get extended against -- to protect

Islam from the same type of behaviour and criticism? We are not

talking about light hearted jocks... -- light-hearted jokes. One should

not condone in any circumstance law-breaking, especially by some in

heavily populated areas where it lives could have been put at risk.

But it still has to be pointed out that when minorities are protected,

why are these principles not extended to essentially a

magazine's it attempting to rubbish Now a look at some of the day's

other news: In the last hour a court in the

United States has found the former Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout

guilty on conspiracy charges. He was accused of attempting to sell

hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, thousands of assault rifles, land

mines and other explosives for use by Colombia's FARC rebels to

undercover agents. Bout was brought to the US last year following his

capture in Thailand in 2008 in a sting operation by American agents.

Russian investigators have found that a plane crash in September

which killed members of a top ice hockey team was caused by pilot

error. They said the pilots of the Yak-42 had only learned to fly a

jet with different control, and so accidentally activated the brakes

during take off. The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team lost its staff and

all but one of their players in the crash.

The lawyers of the Wikileaks website founder Julian Assange say

they will appeal against the latest court decision to extradite him

from Britain to Sweden to answer allegations of sexual assault. 40-

year-old Julian Assange, who is an Australian national, was at the

High Court to hear two judges reject his claims that it would be

unfair and unlawful to extradite him to Sweden. Mr Assange could be

removed from Britain within ten days. He made this short statement

as he left the High Court. It's emerged today that the agent

for the three Pakistan cricketers convicted in the betting scam case

had already pleaded guilty before the trial started. Mazhar Majeed

admitted his part in the conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt

payments during a pre-trial hearing in September. Reporting

restrictions were only lifted today, following the conviction of former

Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt and fellow player Mohammed

Asif, who had denied the charges. All await sentencing.

It swept the Oscars 60 years ago - a dazzling technicolor musical

starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. Such is its enduring appeal

that An American In Paris has now been re-released in a new digital

restoration. The film is about a struggling artist called Jerry

trying to make it big in the French capital. Along the way he falls in

love with the charming Lise. Kathy Harcombe went to meet the actress

She is an exciting goal. She is like a sunbeam. Secretly, I

discovered that this was something I wanted to do because up until

then, my ambition had to be a romantic ballet dancer. Suddenly

expressing myself with the words, I could see this was something I was

going to love her very, very much. One or seen it was particularly

difficult, when I had to shout at Gene Kelly, whose rushing up the

steps. If it means anything to you, I love you! It is pretty difficult

to say in life anyway, but I was extremely shy. A what was it like

dancing with Gene Kelly? The it was the best. He was a fantastic dancer

and a good friend. But he was for the vigorous, but you know, this is

ballet. Ballet is very rigorous. The number that was most

particularly difficult was the restrained number we do on this

side of the river when the first danced together. It does not look

like much, but it was sort of slow motion and that is particularly

difficult to do. I don't know, my heart is split. I love Paris, my

children live in England, I love England. I take every opportunity

to come to England, and I love New York mostly. I am very fond of the

York, and all of America. My mother Let us return to Our top storey.

Were leaders gathering for the G20 summit in Cannes.

The head of the Anglican Church Rowan Williams has said there needs

to be credible change in the financial world. The Archbishop of

Canterbury was making his first public statement about the protests

taking place outside St Paul's Cathedral in London. He told the

BBC the occupiers are saying something that needs to be said and

he has said governments should consider advancing the moral agenda

with a tax on financial transactions. It has triggered

awareness of the unfinished Business in the financial sector.

The unfinished business between government and banks. The need to

press for something that would deliver a just system.

seriously do you think those complaints should be taken? There's

articulated by the protesters and taken for what? One of the

difficulties is that we have not seen a unified theme. We need to

focus. We need to hone in on specific questions that might be

asked, particularly with the G20 summit.

The protests have divided public opinion as well as the church. The

protesters themselves say they represent the silent majority. Here

to discuss this is Oliver Kamm from the Times newspaper and Hugo Dixon

from Reuters Breaking Views. Just then to begin with this idea that

there when Williams has come around to that we should all be paying

attention to this morality agenda, to this deep sense of disquiet, at

least, about inequality. I think that, yes there is a need. There is

a need to reconnect Business and Finance a with morality and

certainly there is a big need to do that. As far as the growing

inequality in society is concerned, that is one of the things that is

important to debate, but from my perspective, it is important to

distinguish between inequality which comes through hard work and

inequality which comes through a corruption, or distorting the

system, or or unfairness of one sort or another. That is what role

when Williams was tried to call attention to. He talked of soaring

bonuses in the City and little changed banking practices following

the recession. The trees is that bonuses in the City are too high. -

- the truth is. What get people really angry is not only the way

the City and banking behaved in the run-up to the crisis, but the way

they have behaved since we had been in this crisis which started four

years ago it in 2007. They have still paid themselves bonuses, they

have not been apologetic and they have not been grateful for the fact

that everybody else has been bailing them out. Should financiers

have been of great for and should they be doing more to limit the

profits and bonuses they take when you look at what all of us are

facing economically? A I agree with that. There is a dysfunctional

finance will -- financial system. It's hard to use morality in turns

of the financial situation. It was not about individual breed and it

will not be resolved by a moral appeal to bankers's consciences.

it relevant to bring it forward now? The it is not immediately

relevant because the problems facing be advanced industrial

societies because banks are not lending enough to stimulate growth.

Is that not a problem? With the credit crunch and trying to

encourage banks to learn more, the last thing you want to do is lay

more blame at their door? We have a second layer of the credit crunch

that is starting. Solving this is a difficult technical matter and I

don't think the Archbishop had anything interesting to add to. I

don't believe this Robin Hood tax is the solution. There are some

solutions which would make things better, but I think if you move

away from the technical aspects and look at the broader thrust of what

people are worried about, it is relevant for the G20 leaders to

think about that and to address those concerns. My fear is you may

throw the baby away with the bathwater. A final thought - is the

tax to a ball or naive? It was presented by one of the greatest

economists of all time James Tobin. It will not work. It is easy to get

round. It will only work if it is initiated globally and that will

not happen. Thank you. That is all from the programme. Next we will

have the weather. That's it for now. It has been a windy day to day and

we will stick with that been overnight. Outbreaks of rain at

leading to a cloudy and mild start tomorrow, thanks to our were

suddenly wind direction. This war moving our overnight. It was built

across all of the UK. It will be a cloudy, wet and windy start.

Heaviest rain in the West, brightest conditions in the east.

Some sunshine developing tomorrow afternoon for northern areas, but

part of Lincolnshire and East Anglia Water and damp. It will be

breezy, particularly through south- western parts of England. For

Cornwall and Devon, a brightening up throughout the afternoon. It

will be a wet start for Wales. Some brightness returning and the far

north. For Northern Ireland, hit and miss. Scattered showers blowing

in and breezy conditions throughout the afternoon. Scotland will be