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©AFP / Aris Messinis

Lucas Papademos (2R), George Karantzaferis (L), Antonis Samaras (2L) and George Papandreou in Athens on Sunday

ATHENS (AFP) - Embattled Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos faced growing EU pressure Monday to quickly agree tough austerity measures in a new bailout but talks with his coalition partners on the deal were delayed.

As unions called a general strike on Tuesday, the stakes mounted after Germany and France demanded progress.

However a key meeting due to have been held Monday with heads of the Greek socialist, conservative and far-right parties which form Papademos' unwieldy coalition government was put back.

Around 5,000 people took part in evening protests called by the unions and left-wing parties against the austerity measures as Athens was hit by a torrential thunderstorm and strong winds.

"It is a pretence that the measures are taken to forestall bankruptcy," Communist party leader Aleka Papariga told the gathering.

©AFP / Aris Messinis

European Commission official Matthias Mors (R) and European Central Bank official Klaus Masuch

"On the contrary, they will lead the people to misery to benefit the plutocracy and capital," she said.

The coalition talks, needed to secure approval of stinging austerity measures, "will very probably be held on Tuesday," a government source told AFP, adding: "The negotiations continue, there are still questions to address."

Papademos was to again due to meet officials from the EU, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday evening.

The talks are aimed at wrapping up weeks of negotiations and save his country from a historic default in March that could roil the 17-nation eurozone and undercut a global economic recovery.

A new eurozone package worth 130 billion euros ($170 billion) in aid to Greece, pending since October, hangs in the balance.

In Paris, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy ramped up pressure on Athens, as did the spokesman for a European commissioner in Brussels.

Merkel warned that Greece would receive no more EU aid to cope with the debt crisis until Athens reached a deal with the EU, ECB and IMF 'troika' on more spending cuts and reforms.

The two leaders also floated the idea of placing part of Greece's future bailout loan funds in a special account to make sure it is channelled to service the country's enormous debt, currently exceeding 350 billion euros, and not for other uses.

"The Greeks gave us undertakings," Sarkozy added. "They should respect them scrupulously. There's no choice."

A spokesman for EU commissioner Olli Rehn warned that Greece had already in effect missed the deadline to get the deal done by the coalition to reshape the economy and slash its debt in exchange for another bailout.

"The truth is that we are already past the deadline," spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said. "The ball is in the Greeks' court."

©AFP / Aris Messinis

Senior IMF official Poul Thomsen leaves the Greek PM Lucas Papademos's office in Athens Sunday

But an EU diplomatic source suggested all was not lost.

"We haven't lost all hope, we hope that between now and Wednesday evening, the negotiations will be wrapped up," the source told AFP, referring to public financing as the massive write-down of privately-held debt appeared all-but settled.

Grouped within the Institute of International Finance (IIF), negotiators representing banks, insurance companies and private institutional investors held talks on Sunday on cutting some 100 billion euros from the roughly 200 billion in Greek government debt they hold.

The EU source said that eurozone finance ministers have been asked to be on standby again for talks, probably via teleconference late "Wednesday or Thursday."

Meanwhile, the country's two main unions called a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday to protest the new measures.

The measures are a death sentence for the country, aimed at slashing salaries by 20-30 percent on top of previously imposed cuts, said Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of the GSEE private-sector union.

Papademos on Sunday managed to get limited agreement with his coalition partners on a state savings target of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) that would include the implementation of reforms to lower production costs and a scheme to recapitalise Greek banks.

And Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas confirmed that 15,000 civil service jobs would be axed this year as requested by EU-IMF creditors.

Greece must pay 14.5 billion euros in bonds due March 20 to avoid default.

Athens and its private creditors are under intense pressure from the 'troika' to cut the country's total debt burden down to what is seen as a sustainable level of 120 percent of GDP in 2020 from 160 percent at present.

©AFP/YouTube / -

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on February 6, 2012 shows Syrians outside a field hospital in Homs

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian forces rained rockets and shells on protest hubs on Monday and killed at least 66 civilians, activists said, as Washington closed its Damascus embassy and Britain recalled its ambassador.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said the regime was surrounding Homs with tanks ahead of "a major offensive" and warned of a "genocide" in the central Syrian city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 civilians were killed in Homs alone, and warned that the death toll was likely to rise because many of the dozens of wounded were in critical condition.

State media reported the deaths of three soldiers and said a "terrorist group" blew up an oil pipeline in Homs.

The army also launched an assault on the Zabadani area near Damascus with heavy tank shelling, killing at least three people, said the Britain-based Observatory.

It also reported civilian deaths in Rastan, Hula and Qusair, all towns in Homs province, as well at Sarghaya, near Damascus, in the northern city of Aleppo and in Idlib, northwest Syria.

TIMELINE: Diplomatic moves against Syria

A resident of Homs told AFP the latest assault began shortly after 0400 GMT, with an unprecedented barrages of rockets, mortar rounds and artillery shells.

"What is happening is horrible, it's beyond belief," said activist Omar Shaker, reached by telephone as loud detonations were heard in the background.

"There is nowhere to take shelter, nowhere to hide," he said. "We are running short of medical supplies and we are only able to provide basic treatment to the injured."

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A picture obtained by the Syrian opposition activists in Homs shows Syrian mourners attending a mass funeral February 4

One video posted on YouTube apparently showed a field hospital hit by shelling in the Baba Amro district and wounded patients lying on stretchers on the floor amid pools of blood and shattered glass.

Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.

Footage shot by a BBC undercover team in Homs showed buildings ablaze in rebel neighbourhoods as regime forces pounded them with heavy weapons. Plumes of white smoke billowed into the sky.

Damascus blamed the bloodshed in Homs on "terrorist gangs" using mortars.

The violence comes as Western powers seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage over Saturday's veto by Russia and China of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for a near 11-month crackdown on dissent.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto a "travesty."

White House spokesman Jay Carney warned Syria's allies that backing President Bashar al-Assad was a "losing bet" because his hold on power was "very limited at best."

The State Department said it had closed the American embassy in Syria and withdrawn remaining staff after Damascus refused to address security concerns.

Senior State Department officials told CNN that two embassy employees left by air last week and 15 others, including Ambassador Robert Ford, left overland through Jordan on Monday morning.

The Polish government is to provide emergency consular services to any American citizens remaining in Syria.

US President Barack Obama said it was important to resolve the conflict diplomatically.

"It is important to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention and I think that's possible," he said in an NBC television interview.

Britain recalled its ambassador to Syria "for consultations," Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament.

"We will use our remaining channels to the Syrian regime to make clear our abhorrence at the violence that is utterly unacceptable to the civilised world," Hague said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he would call Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the international response to the crisis.

Neither France nor Germany, he said, would accept the "blocking" of action on Syria.

Russia and China both defended their vetoes, with Moscow condemning as "hysterical" the West's angry reaction.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov are due in Damascus on Tuesday, as news reports said the mission could try to persuade Assad to quit.

China called on both sides to the conflict to halt the violence that has claimed the lives of at least 6,000 people since March, according to opposition activists.

©AFP / Khalil Mazraawi

A Syrian residing in Jordan chants slogans against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

Saturday's double veto handed Assad's regime a "licence to kill," the opposition SNC charged, urging Syrians around the world "to surround Syrian embassies and stage sit-ins outside them."

The SNC said the "genocide" in Homs showed the regime was "increasing the pace of its crimes and repression."

Saudi Arabia called for "critical measures" on Syria and warned of an impending "humanitarian disaster" after the failure of the UN resolution.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Riyadh is the leading member, is to meet on Saturday on Syria, on the eve of an Arab League ministerial meeting at the organisation's Cairo headquarters.