BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Greek president has held talks with the Prime Minister George Papandreou and the main opposition leader Antonis Samaras on forming a national unity government. Although the meeting has finished, there's no word yet on the outcome. President Karolos Papoulias has been trying to broker a coalition agreement as part of efforts to tackle the massive debt crisis. Mr Samaras has repeatedly said he will not join a coalition unless Mr Papandreou resigns.

Earlier, the prime minister addressed an emergency cabinet meeting on the political deadlock, which is delaying a massive financial bailout for Greece.

Pro-democracy activists in Syria say at least 10 people have been killed in the latest violence involving anti-government demonstrators and the security forces. There have been several days of unrest since the Syrian government said it would accept the terms of an Arab League peace plan and pull its troops out of residential areas. The Egyptian news agency Mena says Arab League foreign ministers will meet to discuss the issue in the coming days. Jon Leyne reports.