BBC News with Marion Marshall
The Arab League has suspended its observer mission in Syria. The head of the league, Nabil al-Arabi, said the decision was taken because of the worsening security situation. The move comes only days after the mission was extended for a second month. Syria expressed regret at the decision, which it said was aimed at influencing discussions at the UN Security Council of an Arab-backed draft resolution on Syria. It also said the decision would encourage more violence. Jim Muir is monitoring events from Beirut.
The Arab League said it was freezing the activities of the hundred or so observers on the ground in Syria because of what it called "the critical deterioration of the situation and the continued use of violence". The monitors will stay in the country for its time being, but their main mission now has become to keep themselves out of danger. Clashes, shooting and bombardments are reported from many of the main towns and cities, including several suburbs of Damascus. Conservative estimates are that around 200 people have been killed since the observer mission was renewed for a second month on Tuesday.
The violence in Syria has continued today with activists saying more than 30 people have been killed in the latest clashes. A number of soldiers are also reported to be among the dead. The Syrian interior minister said the security forces were determined to cleanse the country of renegades and outlaws and restore security.
The Nigerian army says it's shot dead 11 members of the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram in the northeast of the country. An army spokesman said they were killed during an exchange of fire. Boko Haram has warned that it will continue its insurgency until sharia law is observed throughout Nigeria. Mark Lobel reports from the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
During the army crackdown in Borno state, the Nigerian joint task force said 11 suspected Boko Haram members were killed in the capital Maiduguri. The army claim that there was a shoot-out has been denied by the group, who said their members were picked up from their homes and killed. It took place after a policeman was killed by the militant Islamist group. They attacked a police station in Nigeria's second city Kano. The gunfight occurred a week on from a series of coordinated bombings on security and immigration centres that killed at least 185 people, most of whom were civilians.
Greece has rejected a German proposal to appoint a European Union commissioner with the power to veto Greek budgets. A government spokesman said only Greece should have control over tax and spending. From Brussels, Chris Morris reports.
Anyone looking for a clear sign that Germany and its fiscally conservative allies are losing patience with Greece should look no further. Greek officials have reacted angrily to the new German proposal, and other countries might worry about the precedent which would be set. But Germany is the most influential player in the eurozone, and it's now suggesting that Greece should forfeit its ability to decide how to tax and spend - a fundamental part of what it means to be a sovereign nation state.
World News from the BBC
Cuba's ruling Communist Party is holding its first ever national conference with more than 800 delegates meeting behind closed doors in Havana. The conference is expected to consider setting age and term limits for top officials in an effort to renew Cuba's aging revolutionary leadership. It may also reduce the role of the Communist Party in day-to-day governance and business in order to smooth the process of economic reform launched by President Raul Castro.
A fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in the Peruvian capital Lima has killed at least 26 people and injured many others. One survivor told Peruvian media that the patients were locked in the building when the flames took hold . Mattia Cabitza is in Lima.
The fire started while dozens of patients at the rehabilitation centre were having breakfast. Witnesses said the smoke began rising from the first floor, and the flames quickly engulfed the whole building. Some survivors had to jump from the windows to escape. They told local media that some of the doors inside were locked, trapping people amid scenes of panic. The police say they are investigating the cause of the blaze. Some reports say it started after a mattress caught fire following an argument between patients.
The opposition in Senegal says one of its main spokesmen has been arrested following violent protests over a court ruling on Friday to allow President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third term in office. The opposition movement M23 called for the police to release its spokesman Alioune Tine immediately. The movement says it's planning further protests if Mr Wade, who's 85, goes ahead with his election campaign.
The director of a privately owned radio station in Somalia has been shot dead in the capital Mogadishu. Colleagues at Shabelle radio, which has a broad range of news programming, said two gunmen shot Hassan Osman Abdi several times in the head near his home. It's not known who carried out the attack.