DEAUVILLE, France: The Group of Eight leaders raised the alarm Thursday about government debts weighing down the world economy but pledged at a meeting in France to find funds to help new Arab democracies. As another Arab state, Yemen, appeared headed for civil war, leaders of the G8 – the seven Western powers, plus Russia – called on its president to join those of Egypt and Tunisia in stepping down. A draft of Friday's final summit communique also contained strong censure of the Syrian and Libyan leaders. Russia, a post-Cold War addition to the traditional club of wealthy industrial nations, marked itself out by suggesting its partners asked it to mediate between them and Muammar Gaddafi, and by echoing the demands of other big developing economies for a bigger say in who will run the International Monetary Fund. Summit host President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted that post, vacated by fellow Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn after he was accused of attempted rape, should remain in European hands as Greece and other EU states seek IMF help with their debts. The EU candidate is Sarkozy's finance minister, Christine Lagarde. Greek crisis Briefing reporters, Japan's deputy chief cabinet secretary, Tetsuro Fukuyama, said the G8 agreed Greece must do more to sort out its finances and work with the IMF to solve its debt crisis. The Greek government has called emergency talks with the opposition for Friday as repayment deadlines loom and European officials have warned that aid could be withheld for a country where millions face many years of austerity at best. A remark by one European diplomat that the US delegation led by President Barack Obama voiced concern that the euro could weaken and dent US exports, was denied by the French hosts. EU sources said European members of the G8 – Germany, France, Britain and Italy – as well as European Union officials would commit in a summit statement from the resort of Deauville to continue efforts to rein in the euro zone debt crisis. However, the draft communique also called on the United States and Japan to make sure their own public finances were sustainable over the long term, another European diplomat said. One early draft obtained by Reuters featured such phrasing. Arab Spring On Yemen, summit host France said President Saleh must end his 33-year rule. “We deplore the fighting that occurred overnight which was a direct result of the current political impasse, for which President Saleh has direct responsibility due to his refusal to sign the GCC transition agreement,” a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council. David Cameron, the British prime minister, said the summit would show Arabs on the street that the world stood behind them. The G8 countries are expected to give details on Friday of the amount of financial aid they would offer to Tunisia and Egypt as they try to establish democratic rule. Given the state of the world economy, the extent of the aid is likely to be modest. The European Union executive said it had added 1.24 billion euros of fresh grant funding to an existing program that aims to help neighbors across the Mediterranean. Russia, a critic of NATO's military campaign in Libya, said Thursday that its Western partners in the Group of Eight had asked it to take on a mediation role in resolving the crisis. But it was not immediately clear whether Russia was offering to mediate with Gaddafi after President Dmitry Medvedev's spokeswoman said other leaders at the summit had asked him to. Sarkozy held out the prospect to him, however, that he might possibly be able to stay in Libya: “We are not saying that Gaddafi needs to be exiled, that's not our problem,” Sarkozy said. “When we say he must leave, he must leave power and the quicker he does it, the greater his choice.” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan briefed the G8 on Tokyo's response to the nuclear crisis at Fukushima after the tsunami in March, part of a process of discussions aimed at improving the safety of nuclear power plants. Kan called for tighter global standards and better coordination among national regulators. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for whom the future of nuclear power has been a vexed domestic political issue, said she saw “remarkable progress” in improving coordination. Merkel canceled plans to extend the life of Germany's reactors after the disaster in Japan. Among a range of matters discussed among the leaders outside the formal sessions, Obama told Medvedev that he wanted a rapid entry for Moscow into the World Trade Organization. And Medvedev confirmed post-Soviet Russia's first big purchase of foreign arms – ordering four ships from a French
