Cowen and Brown head for emergency Belfast talks

Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will travel to Belfast this afternoon for emergency talks with the North's political leaders, they announced today after talks at Downing Street.

The two leaders are flying to the North as fears mount that the fragile power sharing institutions could collapse over the ongoing row between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionists about the stalled devolution of law and order powers.