In her first statement after being appointed, Christine Lagarde has called on the opposition in Greece to back the Greek government's tough austerity plan. A peaceful rally by tens of thousands of protesters in central Athens turned violent, and police used tear gas against small groups of youths in the streets around parliament. Our Europe editor Gavin Hewitt has been at the scene of the day's events.
The protest almost immediately turned violent. The unions had called a 48-hour general strike. For hours, there were running battles in the square outside parliament. Satellite trucks were attacked and set on fire. The police fired hundreds of volleys of stun grenades and tear gas to try and clear the area in front of parliament. One of them landed around us and in the face of a BBC camera. Away from the square, large parts of the Greek economy were brought to a halt by strikes.
Rebels in Libya have captured a major complex of underground weapons bunkers near the town of Zintan, 160km southwest of Tripoli. The area came under Nato jet attacks several days ago. A BBC correspondent who visited the site said one bunker was still burning.
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A framework peace accord has been reached to end the conflict in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions of northern Sudan. The African Union-backed accord was signed between the Sudanese government and the SPLM North party. Tens of thousands of Nuba have been