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.

BBC News

希腊中间偏右派要求总理乔治·帕潘德里欧辞职，并提前进行选举，给组建团结政府的计划添乱。帕潘德里欧早些时候提议建立联合政府，已解决日益加剧的政治危机。自周一总理提出就最新的欧洲救市和缩减方案举行公投以来，希腊政治便陷入了混乱。Mark Lowen报道。

这一天，人们不知道雅典会发生什么，猜测四起，总理向议会发表讲话以安抚人心。他表示可能将放弃公投的打算，接受上周的债务协议。

“如果大家能达成共识，那我们就有了选择，就不需要公投了。如果反对派愿意协商，我们愿意批准该协议并付诸实施。”

帕潘德里欧显然不愿意这么做，他希望公投面临的威胁能消除，这样他就能领导国家渡过危机。希腊和整个欧洲都在焦虑中，未来几小时将发生什么，都会对希腊外部的全世界产生影响。

雅典局势的进展令戛纳G20峰会黯然失色，这次峰会上，世界主要工业国就欧元区债务危机进行讨论。法国总统尼古拉·萨科齐在第一天会谈结束时表示，他认为法国和德国向希腊政治阶层传达的信息，已帮助人们将关注点放在真正危险的事情上。萨科齐说，欧元是欧洲的核心问题，他警告说，欧洲领导人不能接受他所谓的“欧元爆炸”，因为这会导致“欧洲爆炸”。

欧洲央行降息0.25%，目前是1.25%。BBC经济记者称，降息反映欧元区经济在衰弱。这是欧洲央行新行长马里奥·德拉吉上任来的首个决定。

叙利亚活动分子称政府军在Homs市至少杀死20人，该声明发出的一天前，阿盟称叙利亚已同意阿盟提出的停止政治暴力活动的方案。Jonathan Head报道。

如果总统阿萨德真心尊重阿盟所提协议的条款，他的安全部队肯定不会在那里出现。有照片已经流出，叙利亚坦克显然在炮轰Homs的居民区，该市的叛乱活动气焰很盛。叙利亚人权观察组织报道，在Homs市，至少25人被杀后的第二天，又有多人死亡。周五，反对派组织计划在全国举行大规模抗议，以考验阿萨德政府是否履行承诺，即遵守阿盟的条款。

在洛杉矶，对被指控与流行歌手迈克尔·杰克逊死亡有关的医生的审判已到最后阶段，医生康拉德·莫里发誓没有犯下过失杀人罪。Alastair Leithead报道。

当检察当局向陪审团宣读指控他的最后陈述时，医生康拉德·莫里认真听着。迈克尔·杰克逊的医生被认定为过失犯罪，认为他在杰克逊停止呼吸时离开了房间，没有及时抢救。而辩护律师称，是莫里医生不在房间时，迈克尔·杰克逊给自己注射了致命药物。审判的每一阶段都现场直播，如果确认有罪，莫里医生将面临四年监禁。

委内瑞拉监狱内不同帮派斗殴造成8人死亡，在这次监狱暴力事件中，几名警官被劫持为人质，当局正设法协商释放他们。委内瑞拉监狱过于拥挤，滋生诸多反叛和帮派暴力事件。

在德国一家艺术馆，一名女清洁工擦洗德国最著名当代雕塑家的作品时，磨掉了塑像上一块她认为是“很难看的污渍”，给这一宝贵的艺术品造成难以挽回的破坏。Steve Evans报道。

按照《纽约时报》讣告的说法，1997年去世的马丁·基彭伯格是同代人中最有才华的德国艺术家。多特蒙德市为拥有基彭伯格一件名为《当它开始从天花板滴下》的作品而感到荣幸，该作品是木板条拼成的塔形架子，下面放了一个橡胶槽，里面涂了一层薄薄的颜料，代表着干掉的雨水。一名清洁工不懂这幅作品，认为是需要清洁的污渍，于是就把这些东西擦得干干净净。

重点讲解

1. disarray  n.混乱，漫无秩序

eg: The troops fled in disarray.部队仓皇逃散.

2. ratify  vt.正式批准，使正式生效

eg: It would reinforce the tendency to use the UN to ratify the gains of surprise attack.
      这会助长利用联合国使通过突然袭击的办法夺占的领土得到认可的倾向。

3. reverberation     n. 回响;余韵;反射

eg: Just before dawn he was assisted in waking by the abnormal reverberation of familiar music.
      在天将破晓的时候,他被一阵熟悉的,然而却又是反常的回声惊醒了。

4. bombard    vt. 炮击;轰炸

eg: He agreed on condition that I bombard the enemy house.  他同意了，条件是我去轰炸敌人的房子。 

5. involuntary manslaughter 过失杀人

eg: Involuntary manslaughter can be based on criminal negligence.  非故意非预谋杀人罪可基于过失犯罪而成立. 

6. irreparable  a.无法修复的，不能挽回的

eg: Now I genuinely believe that we could suffer irreparable damage. 现在我认为，我们可能遭受无法弥补的损失。

7. unsightly    a. 不悦目的,难看的

eg: Her room was an unsightly mess. 她的房间乱成一团，很不雅观。

8. obituary    n. 讣告

eg: I never want to see anybody die, but there is a few obituary notice I have read with pleasure.
      我从未想过看到人家死，但有几段讣闻，我是欣然拜读过了。