Papandreou, whose ruling Socialist party has suffered several defections as it pushes waves of austerity measures through parliament while protesters rally outside, said he needed wider political backing for the fiscal measures and structural reforms demanded by international lenders. A leader in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition said on Tuesday he was "irritated" by Papandreou's announcement.

"This sounds to me like someone is trying to wriggle out of what was agreed - a strange thing to do," said Rainer Bruederle, parliamentary floor leader for the Free Democrats. "One can only do one thing: make the preparations for the eventuality that there is a state insolvency in Greece and if it doesn't fulfill the agreements, then the point will have been reached where the money is turned off." Analysts said the latest opinion poll showed a majority of Greeks took a negative view of the bailout deal.

The renewed uncertainty will be likely be an embarrassment for G20 leaders in France this week trying to coax China into throwing the euro zone a financial lifeline. "If there was to be a referendum, we may reasonably conclude that they may not accept the austerity measures. We may conclude that it will bring the pack of cards tumbling down," Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London, said.

Officers in riot gear moved into a park late in the day where protesters were attempting to establish an encampment, hauling off demonstrators just hours after a standoff at the Capitol steps degenerated into a fight that ended in a cloud of Mace and pepper spray.

Denver police spokesman Matt Murray said 15 people were arrested in the evening confrontation, where authorities were moving to prevent protesters from setting up tents in the park, which are illegal. Officals say the demonstrators had been warned several times that the tents would not be allowed and those who attempted to stop police from dismantling the camp gear were arrested. Protesters have been staying in the park for weeks, but tents have repeatedly been removed.

Murray said that most of the protesters were peaceful but there was "just a die-hard group that didn't want to cooperate. We showed great restraint," he said. "We were calm. We went in and did what we had to do. There's a group of very committed people who believe in a cause, and then there are a few people who just want to cause trouble."

Chantrell Smiley, 21, of Denver, said she has been protesting downtown for more than a week, sleeping on the ground in the park. "It was just chaos. This wasn't necessary. My friend got hit with rubber bullets in the face. He was screaming and bleeding, then they Maced him. We're being peaceful. We don't want to be harmed. They came through and took everything down - our food, our blankets, everything's gone." Mike Korzen, 25, told the Denver Post that he was among the group that police dispersed with rubber bullets and pepper spray and suggested that the police force was excessive.

The ILO also noted that in 45 of the 118 countries it examined, the risk of social unrest was rising. Separately, the OECD research body said G20 leaders meeting in Cannes this week need to take "bold decisions".

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the rescue plan announced by EU leaders on 26 October had been an important first step, but the measures must be implemented "promptly and forcefully". The OECD's message to world leaders came as it predicted a sharp slowdown in growth in the eurozone and warned that some countries in the 17-nation bloc were likely to face negative growth.

"We have reached the moment of truth. We have a brief window of opportunity to avoid a major double-dip in employment," said Raymond Torres from the ILO. The group also measured levels of discontent over the lack of jobs and anger over perceptions that the burden of the crisis was not being fairly shared. It said scores of countries faced the possibility of social unrest, particularly those in the EU and the Arab region.

Khaled's offer comes days after the prominent Saudi cleric, Awad al-Qarni, put $100,000 on the head of every Israeli soldier. Al-Qarni's statement - posted on Facebook - was severely criticized, and messages posted online even warned of death threats. Khaled told the broadcaster: "My offer also comes in response to the threats made against Sheikh al-Qarni."

The Saudi offers follow the recent deal between the Israeli government and Hamas, when Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

He added that inflation in the region was likely to be "very low" for the next 10 years. Mr Trichet steps down on Monday after eight years as head of the ECB. He will be replaced by the Italian Mario Draghi.

Last Wednesday night, leaders agreed a strategy to tackle the debt crisis and prevent it from spreading to larger economies such as Italy and Spain, although they admitted that more work needed to be done. The three main components of the strategy were: banks holding Greek debt would accept a 50% loss, the eurozone bailout fund would be boosted and banks would have to raise more capital to guard against future losses.

Leaders have been heavily criticised for not acting swiftly enough to solve the crisis, and Mr Trichet urged them to implement the measures agreed without delay. "Swift and full implementation of those decisions is now absolutely critical - now is the time for action," he said.

This will see Brazil, which last year overtook Italy to become the world's seventh biggest economy, move up one more place to sixth with the UK falling to seventh. Robert Wood, the EIU's chief economist on Brazil, said the country's surge up the table owed much to a growing consumer class and a booming trade relationship with China, based on the Asian giant's need for commodities such as soy and iron ore.

"It's partly the story of the lower income classes rising up in Brazil to join the middle-class and partly the sheer size of the population of nearly 200 million," said Mr Wood. "This also links in with Brazil's emergence in terms of being dragged up by demand from China. We are in the middle of a commodity super-cycle that will last for some time but at some point the really good times Brazil is enjoying will cool off a bit."

According to the EIU, Brazil will lose sixth place to India in 2013 but regain it in 2014 - the year it will host the World Cup - when its GDP overtakes that of France.

At 7:45 pm, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy could no longer avoid the embarrassing and unpleasant task of throwing out 10 people. Friendliness was called for, of course, and nice words. But so too was firmness: Their presence was no longer required, and they were asked to leave the assembly hall of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.

They were all proud people, the sort who usually do the throwing out themselves: national leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk - all from the 10 countries that are part of the European Union but don't use the euro. They met last Wednesday with their 17 counterparts from the euro zone to discuss the future of Europe. In reality, though, they complained that the 17 euro-zone nations were embarking on their own path and not involving them sufficiently.

It was a memorable meeting, and when it finally ended in the early morning hours of Thursday, a program to rescue the euro had emerged. It revealed the contours of a new Europe - a divided Europe, with a new border running between those countries which belong to the common currency area and those which do not. In the future, there will be two Europes within the European Union.

One could very well be called Merkel's Europe. The German chancellor played an essential role in creating it, and now the euro zone is the kind of entity she envisioned. This new Europe has a nearly hegemonic leader, namely Germany. It has a goal, the stability of the euro. And it has a principle that reads: Those who botch their finances stand to lose a portion of their sovereignty. It also has a central administrative body, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), which manages the bailout fund.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) became the first UN agency to welcome the Palestinians as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on September 23.

A huge cheer erupted in UNESCO's General Assembly after the vote, which marks a symbolic victory for Palestinians in the complex diplomacy that surrounds their collective status and relations with foreign powers. "Today's victory at UNESCO is the beginning of a road that is difficult, but will lead to the freedom of our land and people from occupation," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said. "Palestine has the right to a place on the map."

Israel called the vote a "tragedy" and the decision damaged relations between UNESCO and the United States, an ally of Israel that provides about 22 percent of the body's funding, or some $70 million. Legislation stipulates that the US can cut off funding to any United Nations agency that accepts Palestinians as a member.

The yearly march commemorating the struggle against the Axis was blocked in Thessaloniki by protesters shouting "traitor" at Greece's aging president Karolos Papuolias, himself a teenage resistor. The city band wore black ribbons of protest against the Memorandum, the hated document of EU-IMF submission. They downed instruments in silence as they passed the podium of ministers.

I do not wish to be anti-German, since German citizens have been misled by their own elites and Germany itself is the chief diplomatic and political victim of EMU's unfolding tragedy. But this is what happens when you insert words such as "Uberwachungskapazitat vor Ort" (monitoring capacity on the ground) into EU summit conclusions. Europe's inspectors will henceforth establish an occupation office in Athens to ensure the "full implementation" of austerity policies, for as long as it takes. Greece has been stripped even of the pretence of sovereignty.

This country that freed itself from Ottoman control in the 1820s (with French help), is reduced to a Sanjak of the new imperial order. The Greeks will find out soon whether these officials answering to one Horst Reichenbach - unfortunately named for this delicate assignment (couldn't they find a Spaniard, or a Slovene?) - intend to foreclose on sovereign assets and transfer the proceeds to North European creditors. I do not think it would be wise for them to try.

Yes, Greece has gained debt relief: roughly 100 billion euros, if you think life insurers, pension funds, and others will "volunteer" to join banks in accepting their 50 per cent haircut. This will leave Greece with a public debt of 120 per cent of GDP in 2020 after nine years of depression, if all goes perfectly, the same level that set off the crisis.

That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Obama's announcement this month that the last American soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December.

Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but American military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake. After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the Pentagon is now drawing up an alternative.

In addition to negotiations over maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the United States is considering sending more naval warships through international waters in the region. With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new "security architecture" for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.

How times have changed. When the same polling organisation, ICM, asked that question ten years ago, only 19 per cent wanted to go, while 68 per cent wanted to stay. The intervening decade has forcibly acquainted the British public with many of the unpleasant realities of rule from Brussels. It has reminded people that a developed, supposedly sovereign democracy like Britain ought to be able to make its own decisions about matters of fundamental importance.

Thanks to the EU, this is not always so. Europe can over-ride our justice system. It can over-ride our immigration policy. It inflicts regulation on us that suppresses growth and prosperity. It costs taxpayers and businesses an extraordinary amount of money. Above all, the EU's inability to govern itself with probity and economic prudence has made it an object of our contempt. It is not just that fraud and corruption prevent its accounts being signed off year after year: it is also that its arrogant belief in a one-size-fits-all currency has gone horribly and predictably wrong, with serious consequences for all EU member states, in or out of the euro.

It has been clear for years that many feel our submission to Brussels has gone too far, and that there should be a renegotiation of our relationship to allow for key powers to be repatriated to Westminster.

"London - the centre of financial services in Europe - is under constant attack through Brussels directives," Cameron said. "It's an area of concern, it's a key national interest that we need to defend." Cameron's comments came after Thursday's Brussels summit, where leaders agreed to recapitalise banks across the EU, as part of a major deal to stop the debt crisis from engulfing the euro currency.

Cameron's statements coincided with reports that London Mayor Boris Johnson has written to Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, to express his strong opposition to a proposed tax on financial transactions. In the letter, Johnson asked for plans for the tax, known as the Tobin tax, to be abandoned immediately. "At a time when many EU member states are struggling, some on their knees, it would be madness to weigh them down with this new mill stone," the letter said.

Johnson claimed the tax would limit European countries' ability to compete with major financial centres such as New York and Hong Kong. "Apart from weakening its financial sectors and London's in particular, it will hamper the ability of businesses across Europe to compete in global markets and have serious implications for EU jobs." Johnson called for energy to be directed towards designing sensible reforms to support financial sectors and promote growth of member states' economies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are extremely concerned by the Iranian threat, and Defense Ministry Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs Amos Gilad believes the matter must be a top priority. "You need to know what issues to prioritize. In my opinion - it's the Iranian front," he told students at the Ashkelon College.

Gilad believes that "Israel's main threat is Iran" and warned against complacency: "We have experience with Israeli arrogance when it comes to foreign statements. Khamenei said that there was no room for Israel; He said Iran needs to be treated like an empire equal in power to superpowers like the US. That motivation drives Iran to develop ballistic capabilities." Gilad noted that while in 1999-2000 Iran did not have even one missile that could reach Israel, today Tehran has hundreds of missiles capable of crossing a 1,500 kilometer radius within 10 minutes, as well as a missile that can carry nuclear warheads.

Amir Oren, the veteran military analyst for Ha'aretz newspaper, took note of Israel's exchanging 1,027 Palestinian convicts for army Staff Sergeant Gilad Schalit, who had been captured by Hamas in 2006. Mr Oren wrote that the price paid by Mr Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak "can be interpreted only in a context that goes beyond that of the Gilad Schalit deal."

He noted that Israeli leaders in the past have shown a readiness to absorb "a small loss" in order to attain a greater success, generally involving "some sort of military adventure." Mr Oren also noted that, until recently, Mr Netanyahu had faced opposition to attacking Iran from Army Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi and Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan. Both retired earlier this year and have been replaced by men believed to hold a different view on Iran.

This week, Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yakov Katz wrote that, with the Schalit chapter behind it, "Israel can now move forward to deal with some of the other strategic problems it faces in the region, such as Iran's nuclear program." Had Israel first attacked Iran, Hamas' patron, it would have endangered the Schalit deal, Mr Katz said.

The European agreement, which involves a 50 percent write-down of Greek debt and boosting the euro zone's bailout fund to as much as 1 trillion euros, has averted a collapse in Europe and spurred a rush to risky currencies and assets once again at the expense of the dollar.

Add in to the mix: a suddenly revitalized US economy that a few weeks ago was teetering on the verge of recession and had fueled speculation about another round of quantitative easing.

Almost overnight it leaves a whole new global outlook that appears a little more encouraging. The dollar, with its near-zero interest rates guaranteed over the next two years, is the first to get sold off in times of global optimism, as investors use the greenback to fund the market's foray into risky trades.

"When economic conditions are not deteriorating, there is a general risk-loving mode and the dollar will remain the primary funding currency," said Alessio de Longis, portfolio manager for the Oppenheimer Currency Opportunities fund in New York. "There is a deployment of capital from the United States to the rest of the world. As the risk of collapse to economic growth diminishes, investors are slowly but surely putting capital back to work," said De Longis.

On Thursday, the greenback plunged to a seven-week low against the euro and plumbed multi-week troughs versus the Australian dollar and Swiss franc on the back of the European deal.