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>> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> markets fall and european leaders gasp after greece plans a national referendum on the eurozone bailout. a glass of water can be hard to swallow. one mp's gesture. >> the battle of the russian billionaires' as they meet in court. welcome to "bbc world news." i am david eades. also coming up -- stiff price for a stiff drink in scotland. will it result of the nation's alcohol problem?

are we seeing the next master of the universe. we considered china's ambitions in the global space race. >> hello. shares have fallen sharply in europe in response to surprise decisions by the greek prime minister to call a referendum on the eurozone deal agreed in brussels last week. with greece out in the very heart of the bailout proposal, the whole package of measures is now being thrown into dead once again. there are concerns that greece might not pay back its debt and that could cause chaos in the banking industry. the country's opposition is calling for snap elections. >> less than one week ago, it was smiles all around. european leaders, chancellor of merkel at the center, had reached an agreement. there was a plan and everybody

would stick to it. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the referendum is the plan to build principles. it where the citizens feel -- we trust the citizens. >> stock markets in europe took a dive as what they realized what they thought was a done deal was now in doubt. the dax fell 4%. traders were not sure the summit deal was enough to do the trick before the announcement. it now adds more uncertainty. >> they will say no, and good news, because they have to go out. otherwise, i see an end to the eurozone. >> a note of surprise in the german government reaction.

they say it's a matter for greek domestic politics. they say they do expect greek obligations to be met. >> germany's economic minister until recently said it sounded like greece was trying to wriggle out of the deal. one can only prepare for the insolvency of greece. if it does not fulfil the agreement, turn the money off, he said. even in greece, there was some surprise at the decision to hold a referendum. >> [speaking foreign language] >> error calling for a referendum after everything has been decided. why are they doing this? i do not consider this right. >> leaders of the world's 20 most powerful nations gather in caan at the end of the week amid the tightest security. they will have more to worry about now that the future of the deal depends on the votes of the greek people.

>> we can speak to steve now. steve, we understand mr sarkozy and angela merkel will exchange words on the phone. >> you wonder whether there some sort of subtext where this was known about and it is part of a plan. you do not get that sense in berlin. the fact that this phone call is now going to happen makes it seem like this is a surprise to those two people. it is a surprise. there are various issues. one is -- the deal done five days ago, is it now being undone? two, the manner in which the news of the referendum is being communicated to the other members of those 17 nations in the eurozone. >> it's interesting listening to papandreou.

he seems confident the greek people will essentially back the plan. >> yes, i presume. remember, i am and berlin. i presume he is playing a high- stakes game. he is certainly playing a high- stakes game. he has raised the stakes by saying to the greek people, " make up your mind." you either bold with this and we stay in the euro, or you vote it down. maybe that is the political game that is being played. you then wonder why other leaders were not taken on board given the events in the summit five days ago. this is about perception. thinking does make it so with markets. the perception is certainly of disorganization and of a deal that was done and perhaps been

undone, certainly dependent on the wish o-- the judgment of the greek people. >> thank you very much for that. aaron is with me now. interesting here. the financial analyst said it was a defining moment. the greeks will say no. >> that is the message. the problem steve was getting at -- this was a real curveball, obviously, and surprised the other eurozone leaders. it heightens the whole eurozone deal back into the uncertainty basket. the possibility goes back into italy and spain. one trader told me this morning -- i will show you the markets. they are taking a hammering at the moment. one trader told me you can kiss

goodbye to the end of year rally. the dax in germany is down close to 5%. the ftse and italy is almost 6.5%. no surprise, david, the european banks are taking a big hit. if we can bring up the banking if we cat=ó÷szku4s.the banking is down almost 10%. commerzbank in germany is also taking a hammer in, down 8.5%. let's remind everybody, the reason banks in the eurozone are taking a hammer in today is because of uncertainty has been raised once again. these banks have future exposure to the likes of greece and italy. >> it is a tough one. >> thank you very much. >> can i throw this in? i will also talk about the u.k. gross numbers in 20 minutes.

much better than expected. >> move on to other news now. a member of parliament in japan has drunk water from a radioactive puddled to prove that decontamination efforts are working at the fukushima nuclear power plant -- the one that was crippled in the course of the earthquake and tsunami earlier in the year. yasuhiro sonoda, the mp in question. he was challenged by a journalist to do this. he had been saying it was safe. true to his word, he had a gulp. he did. he took the lot. brave? for him to decide, i suppose. >> he was coerced. the journalists at these very

long press conferences wanted him to prove that what he said was true, that this decontaminated water was safe. that's why he said he chose to drink it in front of the journalists. he very publicly put on display his faith in the process. this is from essentially a radioactive title in the fukushima nuclear plant -- radioactive puddle in the fukushima nuclear plant. it's used for task around the power plant, like watering plants. yasuhiro sonoda was being challenged on whether the practice is safe. even though this water is not normally for human consumption, he decided he was going to drink it. >> and he did. six people have died and up to another 20 appear drowned after asylum seekers sank off the indonesian coast.

one child was among the dead. 46 have been rescued. they have been taken to a nearby town. the australian government says it suspects the boat was on its way to australian shores, where there's a fierce political debate over boat arrivals. more residents in bangkok have been fleeing because of the rising flood waters. it just goes on and on it seems. many parts of central china are still very much under water. in the east of the city, residents ordered the opening of a floodgate. officials warned that such a release could inundate parts of the city. >> downtown bangkok, dry and sunny. the center of the city is seemingly scared. the water is now encircling the nation's capital. suburbs in the north have been flooded four days. locals have set up their own floating transport systems.

some are leaving for a second time. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the water was decreasing around october 20, so we came back. today, rising again. already, 1 meter high in our house. >> others are adapting to their new aquatic life. anything that floats will do. this district is to the west of bangkok, not far from the center. the side of the defensive barriers. resentment is growing -- a sense that the suburbs of bangkok have been sacrificed to protect the center. the floods has taken its toll. this may not be the last district lost to the dilution. >> just want to show you the pictures coming in now from

bangkok. unfortunately, a sign again that the water shows no sign of abating yet. authorities say they have diverted around eight million cubic meters of water towards the suburbs to spare the capital itself. you can imagine why those in the suburbs are not that impressed. that's the scene in bangkok now. >> now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. the chinese artist, ai weiwei, says he's been pursued for back taxes and fines. his family says he's been punished for criticizing the communist leadership and criticizing social problems in the country. in the u.s., more than 70 people have been arrested in raids on a massive drug trafficking network. there suspected of smuggling $33 million every month of drugs. the network has been linked to a cartel in mexico. an australian boy, just 14 years

old, has appeared in court after he was arrested for allegedly buying marijuana on the beach last month. the teenager could be jailed to up to six years. that case has been adjourned until friday. you are watching "bbc world news." thank you for being with us. i am david eades. plenty more to come in the program. could scott lin become the first country in europe to introduce a minimum price for alcohol? until last year, anna chapman kept a low profile in new york. now she and others are accused of being russian sleeper agents. the fbi has released a video. >> what you're seeing now is a rare glimpse into the world of counterintelligence. the woman shown here is anna chapman, the new york estate agent and a russian spy. she is under fbi surveillance.

the other members of the spy ring also figure. we are told christopher conducts a brush past, is still the exchange of a package. here, michael recover something from a dead drop in some bushes. all these videos were released by the fbi. >> there were more than 10 people in the spy ring, all working with russian intelligence. they lived here in the states for years. they build lives for themselves. they raise kids. they supported american sports teams. supposedly, moscow had ordered them to cultivate contacts in america's power elite to seek out sources of intelligence. >> we now know that for years chapman and her co-conspirators were under fbi surveillance. they were all deported last year. in moscow, she became an instant

celebrity, a model and tv presenter. bbc asked her about her secret past. >> i will never deny and i will never confirmed this. >> american authorities maintain the spy ring never going to much, if any, useful intelligence. the fbi material shows us just how far u.s. counterintelligence went in hunting them down. bbc news, washington. >> you are watching "bbc world news." shares fall sharply in early trading on the stock market as the prime minister of greece calls for national referendum on the euro bailout plan. we are going to focus on that for a moment. the announcement appears -- no other european leaders seem to expect this. greece now says there will be a

referendum on the bailout deal agreed on last week by the leaders in brussels. the greek economist and former economic advisor to the british government joins us now. this comes out of the blue a little bit. can you see any scenario in which the greeks are going to go with the plan? >> if you mean whether they're going to vote for the referendum, say yes to this, then the likelihood is that they will not. they will say no to it. much depends on -- it is george papandreou,in rura if he manages to get this behind him, he can then talk to the troika and other leaders and see how he can sweeten the package somewhat. we do not know when.

assuming it is held, he can offer them some help in the future. >> one can imagine that many of the other eurozone leaders are still choking over their breakfast on this one. >> i think we all are, actually. it was a great shot. it was a surprise to hear them announced that. in terms of the european ankgle -- which ended up with some agreement -- it looked as if the greek situation had been resolved for a time. we now realize that's not the case. the concerns we have is what it would mean for other countries in europe, especially italy, which would be the next when everyone is looking at. it may have to take another hair cut. >> i was just going to ask you about that. when we look at the markets and

the levels they have fallen on this news, which is not showing any sign of a bounceback, how much does that increase the pressure on italy? >> i think you julie. -- i think hugely. at least having a hair cut -- why not italy? why not any of the other countries? italy is already finding it paying a lot more for its borrowing. it needed to reduce its debt- to-gdp ratio. it cannot even service the interest or repay any of its debt right now did we do any more growth in -- right now.

we do need more growth in italy. europe is hardly going to grow next year. with that scenario -- it's hard to see that they will be able to meet their obligations. the pressure will be there for italy. you look @ portugal and ireland. >> it's pretty extraordinary news. thank you for your analysis. the russian billionaire and owner of chelsea football club is at london's high court. he's there to defend himself against accusations that he betrayed a business rival who lives in london. a pretty explosive case given the size of the purses of these two individuals. >> yes, this is the second day.

he denies the allegations. he claims they were never business partners. he says he paid a huge amount of money as a political power broker, because he needed access to the politicians at the time in order to further his business interests. the first 10 minutes of the proceedings this morning were rather strained. mr. abramovich was being questioned, but he was not really answering the questions. he said things like, i think you're getting more confused. at which point, he was reprimanded by the judge. he told him to stop criticizing stopberezovsky's lawyers and

simply answer the questions. in one of the witness statements about his lifestyle, he said, "i was quite surprised by his lifestyle. i was never interested in imitating this lifestyle. at that point, he was questioned about some of the soccer team. jones and an estate in the u.k., and an apartment in one of the most expensive parts of central london. said,rezovsky's lawyers "you say that's not extravagant and now you want to qualify that. if you were not interested in the extravagant lifestyle then, you might now."mr. abramovich said, "one could put it that way, but at the time, it was not part of my position."

"chelsea football club impacted my life. it was a turning point." >> thank you very much. >> in scotland, the country could become the first in europe to introduce a minimum price for alcohol. the government is set to present its plans to parliament in the next few hours. it's a way of tackling the country's drinking-related problems, which are often blamed for social problems. a scottish executive said alcohol-related problems are 5.6ting the country is $billio billion. they're planning on mminimu price. it would increase the price of a cheap bottle of vodka, for

example to $19. james cook says there's a fair amount of back in. >> there's a lot of support for it. especially what is called binge drinking -- tradiis said to caua lot of these problems. the scottish government is hoping that by increasing the price, they can persuade people to drink less. the figures you just quoted are not set in stone by any means. the government has not decided, but that is the area. there is some opposition, as well. >> i expect there's also some pretty powerful lobbying forces in scotland, when you think about scotch with. -- scotch whiskey, for example.

>> in their words, "ineffective and illegal." they say it will not hit the booze that is the most damaging. illegal, because they say it breaches eu rules on free trade. the scottish government says it has sought legal advice and is confident on the legality. it's quite probable this will end up in the courts at some point. >> china, are the bidding to become the new masters of the universe? they just had a successful space launch. michael has this report. >> it lifted off right on time, carried by a powerful rocket. the spaceship has been modified, adapted.

it was sent skywards more than one month ago. sometime over the next two days, it will attempt to dock with the capsule. china wants to build a space station within 10 years and it needs to affect this docking maneuver to do so. if the mission is successful, there will be two more similar ones next year. at least one of those will have astronauts on board. china might be playing catch up on in the space race. it is determined to push ahead quickly. all china's leaders turned up last september. an indication of just how important this project is to national pride. the whole country will now be watching to see if it can complete its mission. bbc news, beijing.

>> a reflection now on halloween. this is new york. the streets transformed into this ghoulish spectacle. thousands of people lined up to watch the giant skeletons. more on our web site, bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.

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