BBC News with Sue Montgomery

The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency session in New York to discuss the killing of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian town of Houla. Jane O'Brien reports from Washington.

The emergency Security Council meeting was called by Russia after officials objected to the wording of a press statement proposed by Britain and France. The statement was in response to the mass killing on Friday of civilians including dozens of children in Houla.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined the chorus of international condemnation directed at the Syrian government over the weekend. But the Assad's regime has denied responsibility; and Russia wants more information before agreeing to any Security Council statement. UN observers in Syria found tank shells at the scene and said many injuries were caused by

shrapnel

and gunfire at

point-blank range

.

Some news just in. Speaking to the BBC, a British diplomat said the head of the UN observer mission in Syria told the Security Council that a large number of casualties in Houla were a result of Syrian government shelling. The diplomat said a statement from the Security Council is expected to condemn the killing of civilians, and said the deaths occurred as a result of government shelling of residential neighborhoods.

Nepal's Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has announced elections in six months' time. The country is in political crisis over the failure to agree a new constitution. Jill McGivering reports.