Eurozone And IMF Reach Greece Debt Deal

Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have reached an agreement on Greek debt, which paves the way for the release of much-needed loans.

After nearly 10 hours of talks, it was agreed that the country's public debt should fall to 124% of GDP in 2020 through a package of extra debt cutting measures.

The deal emerged in Brussels after a meeting of finance ministers from the 17 eurozone countries, the European Central Bank and the IMF on how to make Greek debt sustainable - their third meeting on the issue in as many weeks.

"It's going very slow, but we have financing and a Debt Sustainability Analysis. We've filled the financing gap until the end of programme in 2014," one official said, adding that talks on the details of the debt cutting measures with the IMF were still ongoing.

The deal is a breakthrough towards releasing the next tranche of loans to Greece after its 31.2bn (£25bn) aid package was suspended in the summer over concerns it was not meeting the conditions of its bailout programme.

The Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras said earlier that Athens had fulfilled its part of the deal by enacting tough austerity measures and economic reforms, and it was now up to the lenders to do their part.

The IMF has said Greece's debt as a proportion of GDP must be cut to around 120% by 2020, from a forecast 190% next year, for it to be manageable in the long term.

It was not immediately clear how the debt would be reduced from its currently forecast level of 144% in 2020 to the target, but it is expected to involve a series of measures including the lowering of interest rate on loans to Greece.

Last week Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras criticised the failure to deliver bailout funds to Athens after 12 hours of emergency talks among the eurozone finance ministers and representatives of the troika of lenders had ended without agreement.

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Britons Held Over Heroin Hidden In Breadsticks

Two British lorry drivers have been arrested in southern Italy after police found 20 million euros (£16m) worth of heroin hidden in their vehicle among boxes of breadsticks.

The men were detained when they were stopped by police in Bari after a ferry crossing from Greece.

The drugs were discovered during a routine check by customs officials in the back of a lorry bound for Lancashire.

Footage released by officials showed officers unloading the white packages, wrapped in black plastic and stashed in between the breadsticks.

The drivers have been named as lorry owner Samuel Wilson, 42, from Scotland and 32-year-old Peter Cameron from Belfast.

They have been remanded in custody and the lorry and drugs seized by customs.

The Foreign Office has confirmed the men's detention.

A spokesman said: "We can confirm the arrest of two British nationals on Monday, 26 November in Bari, Italy."

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Scientists Take Samples From Body Of Arafat

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

Samples have been taken from Yasser Arafat's remains by scientists investigating claims he was poisoned with polonium.

The probe comes after allegations he was killed by Israeli agents.

Tawfiq al Tirawi, the head of the Palestinian investigation committee, said: "We have evidence which suggests he was poisoned by Israelis. I consider this a painful necessity. It is necessary to find the truth in the death of President Yasser Arafat".

Mr Arafat, the revered and reviled leader of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), died suddenly in 2004.

He was flown to Paris for treatment before he died and doctors were unable to diagnose the cause of his death. His wife, Suha, refused to allow a post-mortem examination.

Yassar Arafat's tomb covered in tarpaulin as scientists begin their work

An investigation by al Jazeera TV claimed to have found "elevated levels of the substance in Mr Arafat's final personal effects", according to its website.

The Israeli government has denied any involvement in his death, and refused to comment.

Mr Arafat was interred in the Mukataa, the head-quarters of the Palestinian Authority, in a marble-floored mausoleum.

His remains were uncovered early on Tuesday, beneath large blue sheets of tarpaulin. A military reburial ceremony was cancelled because scientists were able to do their work without exhuming the body.

Investigators from Switzerland, France and Russia will take samples back to their laboratories to test for unnatural levels of polonium, the radioactive material allegedly used in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

Mr Arafat's comb, his toothbrush and his iconic kaffiyeh (traditional Arab headdress) were examined earlier this year and tested for Polinium-210 by the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was allegedly killed with polonium

Experts found unusually high levels of the substance.

The results of news tests are likely to be released in four months. If his death turns out to have been the work of assassins, the consequences are likely to be explosive.

Israel would be blamed. The Jewish state will be accused of killing the man who, along with Yitzhak Rabin, ushered in the Oslo Peace Process.

This lead to the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s but collapsed after the eruption of the Second Intifada in 2000.

Peace talks continued through the violence but got nowhere as the death toll of Palestinians and Israelis climbed.

But Israel has continued with its campaign to expand its territory into the Occupied West Bank of the Jordan River by building Jewish settlements.

These have caused intense anger among Palestinians who, many believe, may be on the verge of a third Intifada which could be ignited if evidence emerges Mr Arafat was murdered.

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Catalans Back Pro-Independence Parties

Voters in Catalonia have overwhelmingly backed parties that favour breaking away from Spain, but the region's biggest party saw its majority in parliament fall.

Artur Mas, the current Catalonia president and leader of the centre-right Covergence and Union (CiU) alliance, had promised a referendum on "self-determination" if the election had given him a strong mandate.

However, with just 50 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament the CiU was 18 short of the absolute majority he desired.

Mr Mas, who during campaigning said he hoped to be the last president of Catalonia reliant on Madrid, acknowledged that he would now have to share power as he fights for greater sovereignty for the economically powerful Spanish region.

"From this result we note that we are clearly the only force that can lead this government, but we cannot lead it alone. We need shared responsibility," Mr Mas told supporters in Barcelona.

"There must be a period of reflection in Catalonia over the coming days. The presidency must be taken up, but we will also have to reflect along with other (political) forces," he said, without naming a particular party.

The pro-independence leftist party ERC was second with 21 seats after 97% of the ballots had been counted.

"The vote is fragmented but the message is clear," Ferran Requejo, political science professor at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University, said.

"Two-thirds of the electorate voted for parties that are in favour of calling an independence referendum, but Mas has been hit hard for his austerity policies."

Like the Basque Country, Catalonia - a northeastern region of 7.5 million people - has its own language and sees itself as different from the rest of Spain.

Until recently, Catalans were content just pushing for greater autonomy, and stopped short of seeking independence.

But Spain's economic woes, including a 25% unemployment rate, and tough austerity measures imposed by Madrid have added to the Catalans' discontent and persuaded many they would be better off on their own.

Catalonia has a significant weight in Spain's economy, accounting for one-fifth of its total output, and a greater share of its exports.

However, the region has also suffered from Europe's financial crisis and has a 44bn euro debt.

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Egypt Clashes: President Morsi To Meet Judges

A teenager has reportedly been killed outside an office of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood, as President Mohamed Morsi prepares to meet senior judges to try to ease violent clashes.

The violence at the Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in the Nile Delta town of Damanhour, south of Alexandria, also left dozens injured.

"Brotherhood member, Islam Fathy Masoud, 15, was killed and 60 were injured after thugs attacked the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Damanhour in the total absence of police forces," the party's website said.

It came amid widespread anger in Egypt over President Morsi's decision to award himself sweeping new powers.

Mr Morsi had sought to calm the anger over the decree which effectively protects the president's decisions from any legal challenge.

"The presidency reiterates the temporary nature of the said measures, which are not meant to concentrate power, but... to devolve it to a democratically elected parliament... as well as as preserving the impartiality of the judiciary and to avoid politicising it," a statement from the president's office said.

The statement also reaffirmed that the new powers - which Mr Morsi says were taken to protect Egypt's revolution from followers of former president Hosni Mubarak - would only apply until a new constitution is adopted.

Egyptian protesters clash with security forces near Cairo's Tahrir Square

Mr Morsi will today meet senior members of the judiciary, which has changed little since the Mubarak era, after they called the move an "unprecedented attack" on their authority.

The country's highest judicial authority has hinted at compromise to avert a further escalation, although Mr Morsi's opponents want nothing less than the complete cancellation of the decree they see as a danger to democracy.

The Supreme Judicial Council said Mr Morsi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters", suggesting it did not reject the declaration outright, and called on judges and prosecutors, some of whom have begun a strike, to return to work.

Angry protesters have clashed with police this morning for a fourth consecutive day in central Cairo, as Egypt's stock market reacted with a nearly 10% fall.

More than 500 people are believed to have been injured in violent protests since the decree was announced on Thursday.

Activists have been staging a sit-in at Cairo's Tahrir Square - the symbolic hub of the popular uprising that forced Mubarak from power - and a mass protest has been called for Tuesday. The Muslim Brotherhood is planning a counter demonstration.

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Brit Killed In South Africa Farm Robbery

A British man who went to South Africa to run a nature reserve has been killed in a robbery at his farm, police say.

More follows...

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Egypt Judges Condemn President's 'Attack'

Egyptian judges have condemned a decree granting President Mohamed Morsi sweeping new powers, as angry protesters clashed with police for a second day.

A handful of rock-throwing activists battled riot police in the streets near Tahrir Square, where several thousand protesters massed on Friday to demonstrate against the decree, which effectively prevents Mr Morsi's decisions from being challenged.

The move also removed powers from the judiciary and allows the president to take any measures to protect national security.

The Supreme Judicial Council, the country's highest judicial authority, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on their independence, the state news agency reported.

Judges in the coastal city of Alexandria said all work at courts and prosecution offices would be suspended until the measures were reversed.

Some protesters are staging a sit-in in Tahrir Square

A number of opposition parties have called for an open-ended sit-in with the aim of "toppling" the decree, which has also drawn criticism from the US, the UN and the European Union.

A mass protest has also been called for Tuesday.

"We are facing a historic moment in which we either complete our revolution or we abandon it to become prey for a group that has put its narrow party interests above the national interest," the liberal Dustour Party said in a statement.

Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party also called its supporters out onto the streets of Cairo on Tuesday for a counter-demonstration to show support for the move.

On Friday, the president addressed his supporters at a rally outside the presidential palace, telling them he would press forward and that he was on the path to "freedom and democracy".

He said that the new powers were designed to stop "weevils" from the regime of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak blocking progress.

The decree reflects the concerns in the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that sections of the judiciary remain unreformed following the overthrown of Mubarak.

"It aims to sideline Morsi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a Fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and it's getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

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More Than 100 Die In Bangladesh Factory Fire

At least 112 people have been killed in a fire which tore through a clothes factory in Bangladesh, an official has said.

The blaze broke out in the seven-storey building operated by Tazreen Fashions on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, late on Saturday.

By this morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department operations director Mohammad Mahbub said.

Mr Mahbub said another 12 people, who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire, later died at several hospitals.

The death toll could rise as the search for victims is continuing, he added.

Army soldiers and border guards had been deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene.

It is not yet known what caused the blaze.

Firefighters at the scene of the blaze

Bangladesh has some 4,000 clothes factories, many without proper safety measures.

The country annually earns about $20bn from exports of garment products, mainly to the US and Europe.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh's southeastern port city of Chittagong, military rescue teams were drafted in to help when a flyover collapsed just shortly before the factory fire.

"So far 13 dead bodies have been recovered," sub-inspector Mohammad Alauddin said.

The number of missing could not immediately be confirmed but police constable Shakakhawat Hossain said that dozens could be trapped under the debris.

Mr Hossain said about 20 people were injured, including some during clashes between police and an angry crowd that attacked the site offices of the construction company after the flyover collapse.

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Catalonia Holds Vote That Could Reshape Spain

Spain's wealthy region of Catalonia votes today in an election that could determine whether it eventually breaks away from the rest of the country.

The region must choose a new assembly, after a campaign dominated by the issue of independence from Spain and financial woes.

Opinion polls show that most voters will cast ballots for pro-independence parties, with Catalan President Artur Mas expected to win re-election.

Mr Mas has advocated independence despite strong resistance from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has been fighting deep recession in his country.

"I hope to be the last president of a Catalonia that the Spanish state is trying to destroy," Mr Mas told a recent campaign rally for his conservative Convergence and Union Party.

"The next one will not depend on the Spanish state and they will no longer be able to destroy it," he told supporters, who chanted back to him: "Independence! Independence!"

If the vote today goes his way, he has promised to call a referendum on statehood within four years.

Like the Basque Country, Catalonia - a northeastern region of 7.5 million people - has its own language and sees itself as different from the rest of Spain.

Until recently, Catalans were content just pushing for greater autonomy, and stopped short of seeking independence.

But Spain's economic woes, including a 25% unemployment rate, and tough austerity measures imposed by Madrid have added to the Catalans' discontent and persuaded many they would be better off on their own.

Catalonia has a significant weight in Spain's economy, accounting for one-fifth of its total output, and a greater share of its exports.

It features one of the world's greatest football teams, FC Barcelona, which contributes many players to Spain's World Cup winning national squad.

However, the region has also suffered from Europe's financial crisis and has a 44bn euro debt.

In the voting for the regional assembly, called by Mr Mas two years ahead of schedule, 135 seats are up for grabs, with Mr Mas' alliance expected to take 60-64, according to recent surveys.

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Cameron: EU Deal 'Just Not Good Enough'

What Now For EU Budget?

Updated: 10:16pm UK, Friday 23 November 2012

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

The 27 EU member states did not agree a budget for the next seven years at the summit in Brussels. But David Cameron will be able to go home and tell Eurosceptic conservative backbenchers "so far, so good".

In his own words the Prime Minister "successfully defended" Britain's contributions rebate and rejected a deal which "was just not good enough".

Mr Cameron also insisted that Britain had not been isolated but was joined in its demands for lower spending by other big net contributors including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Holland.

This Nordic European grouping also claims the support of the key deal-maker and biggest funder, Germany. But in her public comments Chancellor Angela Merkel was more circumspect, merely noting, as she had since arriving in Belgium, that the gap between the want-mores and the want-lesses was too big to bridge at this meeting.

She and the hapless Herman Van Rompuy, who has the thankless task of chairing these negotiations, have the same message - it is more important to get it right than to rush for a deal.

Mr Van Rompuy now has "weeks" to try to find an agreement. When EU leaders come back to the budget early next year (having put the matter to one side at the next summit in December) they will be on deadline.

If an agreement is not reached then, funding will be rolled over on an annualised basis - bad news for Britain because budgets will automatically increase, and worse news for countries such as Denmark and Holland who have not yet secured their rebates.

So doesn't that mean that all the countries who want more have to do is sit it out? Not quite. Of the 27 member states nine countries are net contributors, including all the Nordic holdouts, and around 15 are significant recipients. Ultimately all the winners are vulnerable, especially if Germany joins in so much as threatening to turn off the tap.

The leaders calling for further cuts all make the same argument - they are imposing austerity at home and it is not acceptable to their voters that the European slice of their budgets simply should be exempted from a squeeze.

The Council President, Mr Van Rompuy, and Jose Barosso his counterpart at the EU Commission probably made a mistake in refusing to table any cuts in the administration budget - pay and perks for bureaucrats. Mr Cameron contrasted this with the "difficult decisions" being imposed on the UK civil service and insisted that the EU could not live "in a parallel world".

But ultimately these are points of principle rather than matters of real significance to national budgets. The UK's government spending now runs to about one trillion euros a year - the EU is arguing about one trillion euros over seven years divided between 27 nations. Of that the "administration" budget is just 6%. Which means that when Mr Cameron talks about saving a billion euros by, for example, stopping automatic promotion of civil servants, he really is talking about a drop in a bucket.

This is perhaps why the economics professor who now is Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti, accused Mr Cameron of being an irrational "demagogue". Italy is now in an alliance with France supporting the claims of those who want a bigger budget in the interests of "solidarity". Both Italy and France are net contributors to the EU overall but they are also big recipients of the Common Agricultural Policy, which accounts for some 40% of EU spending.

Perhaps the most significant thing that happened at this summit was that there was no Franco-German axis. Chancellor Merkel and President Francois Hollande took opposing positions.

What's more Germany now seems concerned not to isolate the UK, because of fears that another confrontation could move Britain out of the Union altogether - ceding much greater influence inside to socialist-led France and its Mediterranean allies.

As the European Union scrambles to find a deal Germany, Britain and their North European allies would seem to have the stronger hand - following the time-honoured principle of who pays, plays - provided that their alliance holds together.

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