BBC News with Sue Montgomery
President Obama has called the Afghan President Hamid Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the killing of 16 Afghan civilians by a
rogue
American soldier, but he stressed the soldier didn't represent the US military or America's respect for the Afghan people. Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.
The gunman, a serving US soldier, left his base at 3:00am. He travelled to a nearby village and entered three Afghan homes. In one, he awoke all 11 family members, gathered them together and shot them dead. Then he burnt the bodies. In nearby homes, he killed five others. Locals are calling it a
massacre
. The soldier was careful and precise. Most were killed by a single shot to the head, including the children. The soldier, believed to be a staff sergeant,
gave himself up
and is now in US custody.
The international peace envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, says he's handed over a set of concrete proposals aimed at defusing the crisis there during a second round of talks with President Bashar al-Assad. Jon Donnison reports from neighbouring Lebanon.
Emerging from a second round of talks in as many days, Kofi Annan told reporters his meetings with President Assad focused on three core objectives: an immediate end to the violence, access for aid and the start of a political dialogue with the opposition. But he gave no details of how any of those things might be achieved. Both sides have so far