Pigeons set China Congress security plans aflutter

(REUTERS) - Potentially sinister threats to China's ruling Communist Party sit unnoticed in cages perched on a rooftop above a small alleyway in southwestern Beijing. Not dissidents. Pigeons.

A week before the party's all-important congress opens, China's stability-obsessed rulers are taking no chances and have combed through a list all possible threats, avian or otherwise.

It isn't just the usual suspects like activists who have ruffled the party's feathers.

Their list includes handles for rear windows in taxis - to stop subversive leaflets being scattered on the streets - balloons and remote control model planes.