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financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> britain and germany. intense talks in berlin about how to handle the euro zone crisis that will well help shape the future of the e.u. can david cameron and andrea merkel find common ground or will sharp differences be exposed at the heart of europe? >> hello. and welcome to g.m.t. also in this program, fifa tries limit the damage. he tells the b.b.c. he gets causing offense by stating there is no racism in football.

>> i'm sorry for all those people that have been affected by my declaration. >> spain's conservative set to defeat the socialist in this week's elections. they claim they can restore confidence in the economy. can they deliver what they promised. it's midday here in london. 7:00 a.m. in washington and 1:00 p.m. in berlin. that's where the leaders of britney and germany are holding talks being described as a showdown. david cameron is opposed of an e.u. tax which he says will damage the u.k.'s competitiveness. david cameron who is being criticized as disrupting the help for the euro zone crisis.

a great deal at stake in this meeting in berlin. >> yes. every day this euro zone crisis seems to become more intense. we have market pressure on italy and greece spreading to other countries like spain. this morning mario urged euro zone countries to get on with their plans for enhancing the firepower of their bailout funds and in the middle of it all, the british prime minister david cameron to see andrea merkel to see what, if anything, they can agree on. >> it's been a day with breakfast first meeting with the president of the european commission then another with the president of the european council. swirling around them all, crisis in the euro zone and how on earth to resolve it? the key may have to be found here in berlin.

david cameron and angela merkel get on and agree they need you are intelligent measures to spur economic growth but there's also no disguising their disagreements. merkel wants close integration for the euro zone. david cameron fears losing influence in a two-speed europe. merkel wants a tax on financial transactions. david cameron and osbourne see it as a bullet. the see making the european central bank the lender of last resort. merkel says no. and just like their brittish counterpart, some of the german council are talking up the divisions. the intense speech enrages the brits. take any two countries in the european union and you can find enough policy differences to

create a row if that's what you want. but the -- for david cameron in today's europe, it's germany which calls shots. >> that doesn't mean germany will get everything it wants but knows it will have to pay by far the most money to try to stabilize the euro zone. and merkel will tell david cameron it expects something in return. >> we have -- we think that europe has to be strong and really vent global player, and this is why we need more incubation and not less. >> nothing will be finalized today. there are plenty of meetings going on right across europe, but some solutions are needed quickly. >> and personalities do matter in all this today. one of the problems is i think the politicians who have been dealing with this crisis for well over a year now are

exhausted, and tempers are beginning to fray. the prime minister of luxembourg saying britain's in no position to dictate to anyone. he said in an interview the budget deficit twice as high as the euro zone average and it's also that while everybody is searching for a solution, there are personal difficulties that stand in the way sometimes. >> just give us an idea of when people are saying look, there has to be some kind of real agreement. >> how many times have we heard it already this year? and that's part of the problem. back in july the euro zone announced the big deal an said we're now moving forward. >> just last month they did the same thing and yet the deal they reached at 5:00 a.m. on the 27th of october still

haven't been implemented and there are bits of it that say thoacht protect the countries that run into they are nowhere near it. they look at these things and see these political obstacles still standing in the way of rapid process and they draw their own conclusions. >> now let's that can at some of the other stories making hypers around the world. the bureau he's leader said she will stand for elections -- earlier they agreeed after boycotting a national poll last year. the decision follows a series of -- including the release of some political prisoners and an easing of censorship. more on this story in half an hour on g.m.t. the former general credited with defeating the tamil tigers

has been sentenced to three years in jail for making war crime statements. shortly after the war ended in 2009, he'd run against him in elections last year. police in los angeles say they have re-opened an inquiry into the death 30 years ago of the film actress natalie wood. the star of west side story and rebel without a cause drowned. an inquest ruled her death accidental. police say they have received new information but have given no details. >> now the fifa president stepped back from the controversial comments he made on the fact that there was no racism in football he claims. he told the b.b.c. he was sorry for causing offense but won't re-sign. >> he said racist comments could be sorted out with a mere handshake at the end of a game.

he has been speaking to our editor david bond. >> it hurts and i'm still hurt, because i couldn't expect or just in research search the reaction. but the reaction is there. and when you are in a situation where you have done something which was absolutely not socially correct or the way you shouldn't have created this. i can only say i'm sorry. i'm sorry for all those people that have been affected by my declarations and it's true that my fight against racism and discrimination will go on. it will feather stop. >> there's been lots of calls for you to consider your position following this adding to many calls in the past on other issues such as corruption. have you thought in the last 48 hours that you might walk away?

al might re-sign? >> i cannot. why should you re-sign? when you are facing a problem, you have to solve the problem. to go out and leave the organization, it would be totally unfair and not compatible with my fighting spirit, my character, energy, my personal commitment to football and my personal commitment to bring our organization, the fifa again in this light of -- it would be a time to go out over a period which started last year just one year ago with some difficulties. and now we are building up. then we'll commit it to the future. so because there is a serious incident because you cannot say it's not serious. but we have to go on. i have to go on. >> fifa talking to b.b.c.

sports editor, david. >> now the pro democracy protesters in egypt are remaining true to the principles they stated earlier this year. thousands are gathering and protesting what they say are attempts by the country's military rulers to reinforce their powers. >> the most organized political group, the muslim brotherhood. live tour respondn'ts we have seen a few demonstrations. what triggers this one, physically? >> the -- how organized they are when they support a cause. but there are a mixture of people there. members of the facebook generation as we like to call them. also key in organizing the protests earlier this year.

they are protesting against a series of things. funnel mentally they are saying our lives aren't getting any better. things aren't getting any better. specifically their concern about attempts by the army to entrench its power in a documented principle to be agreed even before a constitution is discussed in this negotiation. the sort of powers that give the army budget secret. as it is now, it has never been revealed to the government. -- to the parol ment. >> so they are very uneasy about that. there's also particularly the liberal way, the demonstrators. the demonstrators who went earlier this year are very uneasy about military trials. there have been the 12,000 people convicted.

there are deep concerns and the way this country is heading. life is not getting better. the military are really not willing to release much. still want to keep that behind the scenes. that's the concern of these people today. >> john, thank you very much indeed. making himself heard over the noise of that demonstration. >> well, to syria from egypt. and the international community is tightening the screws on them. >> talks with the government in turkey to fry to forge a united response to the escalating violence in syria. this week moscow warned of all-out civil war in syria. this comes as saturday's deadline by the arab league to allow human rights for all faith-based sanctions.

>> the opposition has been criticized for not having a coherent position. professor of hill east history at shawnee state university in the united states. professor, so syrian opposition neither -- need a united front. but we cannot see that yet, can we? >> well, i think it's a little unfair to say we need a united body. but what we need is a united vision where all opposition are agreed upon the basic principals we want. we already have that moment of ewan -- all agree on the basic principles of bring down the regime. i think those key principles are agreed on by everybody. and it's focusing attention on that rather than the fact that

if you have one or two or four groups all working together. >> all right. that's the vision you say. they are really united. what about strategy? is there unity on strategy? is this a no-fly zone in syria to protect opponents of the regime, is that something all the syrians want? >> i think one has to remember the legitimacy of our operation comes from inside on the streets. doesn't matter what one group on the outside says or even inside as entities. it's the street that dictates what strategy is required. and the street is calling right now for the protection of civilians. that's what they want. therefore that noub pro clasmede goals. so the no-fly zone you think is

a good idea? >> a no fly zone is a generic term, but what isment by that is a way in which civilians can be protected from a regime. and by no fly zone, what's intended is you keep the army in its barracks and not out driving from citi to citi. and by the way it's only usually you've achieved your goal. >> thank you for talking to us very much indeed. still to come on g.m.t., another casualty of the euro zone crisis. spain is expected -- to lose power in the elections as voters lose confidence in the

handling of the economy. two months after they began their occupy wall street process. activists have staged more protests against inequal qualityty in new york. similar protests were held in los angeles, dallas. demonstrators are angry ordinary people are struggling while banks benefit from billions in bailouts. [crowd chanting] >> that message is now two months old, and to mark the anniversary of occupy wall street, thousands marched over the brooklyn bridge. >> i'm very pleased about the turnout we had tonight. , and i hope there will be more action. >> whoo! >> the atmosphere was festive.

and the mood on the bridge was largely peaceful. the police watched closely, but there was no repeat of the tense confrontations from earlier in the day. >> we are the 99%! we are the 99%! >> the catch phrase projected on to a skyscraper. those marching say inquality in america is only increase k. >> our generation has to have participation in the conversation. if we want to bring change, we have to gather and talk about it and make a movement. that's why i'm here. >> what do you hope to achieve here tonight? >> to make them aware that it's time to change the tax system to make it where the rich aren't getting away for free. >> the occupy wall street movement is now two months old and it's shown it can bring people out on the streets. energy.

b.b.c. news. >> you're watching g.m.t. from "bbc world news." these are our top headlines. british and german leaders are meeting in berlin where they are discussing their rival plans to solve the euro zone crisis and the president of world football tells the b.b.c. he's sorry for causing offense on on his comments. plenty of what's going on has to do with the euro zone crisis. you've got plenty to tell about it, haven't you? >> the markets are very closely watching italy and greece and spain today. greece should allow it to pay off a debt. one said he expected parliament to pass the spending cuts and

tax hikes by next month. the new preerm must convince them to release the latest installment of the bailout money to avoid defaulting on billions of euros of debt. >> lucas papademos is already facing stiff political opposition. and donna, the leader of greece's conservative says he wants to win the next election and then reverse the austerity measures for bailout loans. despite opposition, lucas papademos will unveil a budget featuring controversial tax increases. the task force for greece says it has billions not paid in years. they insist better ways of collecting taxes must be introduced. >> first, and perhaps most

important, strengthening debt collection, but also to have better tax resolution mechanism to improve the taxpayer audit function to have better control on large taxpayers. >> talks are under way between greece and the banks that it ows billions to. negotiations aimed at writing off 50% of the debt. the institute of international fine nance reluctant to comment on the talks so far. >> thank you. >> the prospect of higher taxes and severe cuts in spending proy advocated more protests in athens on thursday as thousands commemorated the collapse of the military dictator snip in 1966 and deal with the crisis.

>> the dutch lender abm amro is just one of the lenders biten by the debt crisis. after agreeing to writeoff more greek debt. agreed last month overall that pushed a.b.m. amro into the red, the bank lost $73 million, and the group also announced it would sell belgium bonds and reduce its risk to the euro zone government debt overall. well, problems in the money markets. this is a big worry. spreading from government to banks. no one -- known as the interbank lending rate, and that rate is beginning to creep up once again. >> the catastrophic step is when it moves from government bond markets to the bank.

eff the french and german banking system cannot survive a write-down of spanish or italian debt to the extent we saw in greece. this would leave the largest banks in the world, the major banks in france and germany tech -- technically insolvent or bankrupt. >> the flip side, dr. christian schultz a former e.c.b. economist, says systems are now in place to fleevepbt lehman brothers collapse. >> it's true we can see stress in the money markets. all show banks shouldn't lend because the e.c.b. is supplying banks with unlimited liquidity. but they are actually taking the liquidity back to the e.c.b. that must -- on the other hand

it's different, because when we had the lehman disaster, we didn't have the policies in place to save the stress. >> a quick flash of the markets. markets all over the world are down, down quite substantially. asiaa followed suit and european markets are following suit. they are simply worried about the debt crisis in the euro zone and many are saying it's on the press pus -- precipice. or it could be the periphery is on the precipice all eyes on spain. >> you're on the periphery now. >> i am. >> let's take a look at the impact of the euro zone crisis in feign. -- in spain. heavily among the young and indebted. not a great platform on which

to run a platform. the conservative opposition, popular party which is tipped to win is promising a program of shock therapy. more from madrid. all the opinion polls ro predicting the next prime minister. quiet, cautious, uncharismatic but seen as the safest pair of hands for a country deep in economic crisis. the popular party's been platforming an broad platform of change. they insist the social government has been mismanaged and is drawing -- these cheering crowds were told, we will defeat them. but whoever wins this election

faces a chuge challenge with almost 5 million people here unemployed. it came with the collapse of a huge construction sector. [applause] so for the socialist party and its candidates, it now looks like a battle less to win. so one -- the opponent was beaten by a huge margin in opinion polls. the party -- if the popular party wins, they'll bring deeper spending cuts and austerity. >> but there's already cuts here and people are set to punish the country. i have an opposition that --

>> that ends this edition of g.m.t. for me. goodbye for now. >> 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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