The Taliban in Afghanistan say they've obtained the government's security plan for the upcoming grand assembly of leaders, or loya jirga, in Kabul this week. Officials from the Afghan police and intelligence agency denied the militants' claim, saying the document was a fake. From Kabul, Orla Guerin.
The documents supplied by the Taliban include what appears to be a detailed list of security arrangements for senior figures, including Afghan ministers and the President Hamid Karzai. But Kabul's police chief General Ayub and a senior intelligence official told the BBC this was not the government's plan. "It's a plot by those who want to derail the assembly," the general said. If the real security plan was in Taliban hands, it would be a huge embarrassment to the Afghan government and a major threat to the more than 2,000 people due to attend the jirga.
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Syria has called for an emergency Arab summit to address the Syrian crisis a day after the Arab League suspended it for failing to implement a peace initiative. Damascus said it was still committed to the plan. Tens of thousands of Syrians have staged demonstrations against the suspension. Here's our Middle East correspondent Jon Leyne.
Syria's response to the Arab League's suspension: just a sort of hard line everyone expected. On the streets of Damascus and other major cities, huge crowds went out to condemn the league and to pledge their support for the Syrian leader Bashar Assad. In one opposition stronghold, Hama, four opposition supporters were reportedly shot dead when they challenged a pro-government demonstration with chants against President Assad.