Local resident Pablo Castaneda was one of the thousands evacuated after the Fuego volcano erupted
Guatemala has evacuated thousands of people after the Fuego volcano started spewing ash and lava.
Volcanologists said powerful eruptions were catapulting burning rocks as high as 1,000m (3,280ft) above the crater and lava was flowing down its slopes.
Local residents reported how the roaring of the volcano shook windows and roofs in nearby villages.
Experts say the eruption of the Fuego, 50km (31 miles) south-west of Guatemala City, is the biggest since 1999.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said the eruption could affect people as far away as the capital.
"We will do the best we can to avoid people being harmed," he said.
Cars, lorries and buses covered in grey ash could be seen speeding away from the area towards Guatemala City.
Many evacuees sought shelter at a school in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa
'Pressure cooker'
Some of those who fled their homes headed for an emergency shelter at a school in the town of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa.
Miriam Carumaco, 28, who arrived there with 16 members of her family, said: "We heard loud thunder and then it got dark and ash began falling.
"It sounded like a pressure cooker that wouldn't stop."
Head of Emergency Evacuations Sergio Cabanas originally said evacuation orders for more than 33,000 people in 17 towns and villages had been issued.
However, he later said that 11,000 had been evacuated and no more would be necessary as the eruptions had died down by late Thursday.
"It is hoped that by tomorrow [Friday] the volcano will return to normal activity and that families will be able to return home," he said.
Officials said lava was covering a 7km (4.3-mile) area on the south and south-western side of the Fuego.
The authorities recommended that air traffic controllers suspend flights in the vicinity of the volcano, as the ash cloud emanating from its crater was spreading quickly.
The 3,760m-tall (12,336ft) Fuego is one of Central America's most active volcanoes.
course: BBC news Latin America & Caribbean
Opponents say the move will have a drastic effect on smaller retailers
India's government has once again cleared a controversial plan to open up its lucrative retail sector to global supermarket chains.
Last year, the government suspended a similar plan after fierce opposition from its allies and political rivals.
International firms such as Walmart and Tesco will now be able to buy up to a 51% stake in multi-brand retailers.
The government on Friday also approved a plan to allow foreign airlines to buy 49% stakes in local carriers.
Correspondents say that Friday's cabinet decision was taken against the background of India's worsening economic outlook.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reported to have told cabinet colleagues that "the time for big bang reform has come, we have to go down fighting".
The government was forced to back down after the cabinet first undertook to open up India's retail sector last November.
The move had been strongly opposed by tens of thousands of small businesses and cornershops who fear they will be put out of business.
But this latest move has already been welcomed by economists and industry who say it will transform the way Indians shop and boost the country's flagging economy.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communists called it a "betrayal of democracy".
course: bbc news India
Protesters in Khartoum vented their anger on the German and British embassies
Protesters angered by a film mocking Islam have attacked the German and British embassies in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Demonstrators started fires and tore down the German flag, raising an Islamist banner in its place.
In the Lebanese city of Tripoli, one person was killed as demonstrators set fire to a KFC fast-food restaurant.
Five people were injured in protests in Cairo, state media said. There are also clashes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
'Million-man march' A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office confirmed to the BBC that a demonstration was taking place outside the embassy in Khartoum, and said Sudanese police were at the scene.
However, the spokesperson could not say whether protesters had entered the embassy, or whether the demonstration was about the anti-Islam film.
In Cairo, police firing tear gas pushed about 500 protesters back from the US embassy. The streets nearby have been blocked with barbed wire, concrete and police vehicles.
Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Mursi has called for protests to remain peaceful.
Islamist groups and others had called for a peaceful "million-man march" in the city, but a number withdrew those calls on Friday.
In Lebanon, protesters in Tripoli, in the north of the country, set fire to a KFC branch, sparking clashes with security forces.
cource: BBC news Africa
By the CNN Wire Staff
C.Y. Leung, the city's chief executive, said Saturday individual schools would have the option to adopt the controversial curriculum called "Moral and National Education." "We're giving the authority to the schools," he said. 
A student addresses a crowd in front of government headquarters in Hong Kong on Friday, September 7 during a protest against plans to introduce Chinese patriotism classes. 
Students shout slogans in front of the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong on September 3, 2012. China subject prompts HK protests
China subject prompts HK protests
China subject prompts HK protests
China subject prompts HK protests
China subject prompts HK protests
China subject prompts HK protests
Hong Kong (CNN) -- The Hong Kong government has scrapped plans to introduce a mandatory Chinese civic education subject critics had slammed as pro-mainland propaganda.
The decision came on the eve of local elections and after a series of protests including a 10-day hunger strike on the steps of the government headquarters.
C.Y. Leung, the city's chief executive, announced Saturday that individual schools would have the option to adopt the controversial curriculum called "Moral and National Education."
"We're giving the authority to the schools," he said. "This is very much in line with our school-based education policy."
New curriculum angers Hong Kong students A coalition of concern group had protested against the subject which they said amounted to "brainwashing" impressionable young minds with pro-mainland Chinese propaganda.
China's critics cry 'brainwashing' Hong Kong has a large degree of autonomy from the Beijing government as part of the agreement made with Britain after the 1997 transfer of power.
The course material had been outlined in a government booklet called "The China Model," which was distributed to schools in July.
China's ruling party is "progressive, selfless and united," the booklet said. It criticized multi-party systems as bringing disaster to countries such as the United States.
The booklet also makes no mention of major events that many view as integral to China's history, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Anger over the government's initial plans to give schools a three-year deadline to introduce the subject prompted a number of major protests. The most recent was on Saturday when 100,000 protesters took to the streets, according to organizers' figures quoted by the South China Morning Post.
The SCMP reported that Leung denied the government back-down was timed to influence results of Sunday's Legislative Council election.
"If it hadn't been for the decision of the last administration, national education would not have been on the agenda of this government," Leung said, according to the SCMP.
"I would rather concentrate on housing, poverty and other livelihood issues. I've held numerous talks with the chief secretary on major policymaking, [and] none of our conversations ever touched on national education," he added.
នាយករដ្ឋមន្រ្តីខ្មែរ ហ៊ុន សែន កាលពីថ្ងៃម្សិលមិញបាននិយាយថា ពេលនេះខ្លួនកំពុងពិចារណាក្នុងការធ្វើវិសោធនកម្មមាត្រាមួយចំនួន នៃរដ្ឋធម្មនុញ្ញកម្ពុជា ដែលបានរារាំងមិនឲ្យមានការកែប្រែខ្សែបន្ទាត់ព្រំដែន។
សារព័ត៌មានសេរី
នាយករដ្ឋមន្រ្តីខ្មែរ ហ៊ុន សែន
លោក ហ៊ុន សែន បានលើកឡើងថា ការវាស់វែងនាពេលបច្ចុប្បន្នតាមបច្ចេកវិទ្យាថ្មី ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាអាចនឹងមានផ្ទៃក្រឡាសរុបរហូតដល់ ១៨១.៦០៦គីឡូម៉ែត្រក្រឡា។ ដូច្នេះផ្ទៃក្រឡាប្រទេសកម្ពុជាដែលមានសរុប ១៨១.០៣៥គីឡូម៉ែត្រក្រឡា គឺតូចពេកហើយ។
នាយករដ្ឋមន្រ្តីខ្មែររូបនេះបានបន្តថា លោកបានស្នើសុំឲ្យមានការសិក្សាមួយ ដើម្បីធ្វើវិសោធនកម្មរដ្ឋធម្មនុញ្ញត្រង់មាត្រាទី២។ ហើយថា លោកចាំបាច់ត្រូវធ្វើការវាយតម្លៃពីទំហំផ្ទៃដី នៃប្រទេសកម្ពុជាឡើងវិញ។
មាត្រាទី២ នៃរដ្ឋធម្មនុញ្ញកម្ពុជាបានចែងថា បូរណភាពទឹកដីរបស់ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា មិនអាចរំលោភបានដាច់ខាតក្នុងព្រំដែនរបស់ខ្លួនដែលមានកំណត់ក្នុង ផែនទីខ្នាត ១/១០០.០០០ ធ្វើនៅចន្លោះឆ្នាំ១៩៣៣-១៩៥៣ ហើយដែលត្រូវបានទទួលស្គាល់ជាអន្តរជាតិ នៅចន្លោះឆ្នាំ១៩៦៣-១៩៦៩។
គួរបញ្ជាក់ថា បច្ចុប្បន្ននេះប្រទេសកម្ពុជា និងប្រទេសជិតខាងទាំងបី គឺប្រទេសថៃ ឡាវ និងវៀតណាម កំពុងស្ថិតក្នុងដំណាក់កាលបោះបង្គោលព្រំដែននៅឡើយ។ ដោយឡែកសម្រាប់ការបោះបង្គោលព្រំដែនរវាងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម ដែលជាប្រភពបញ្ហាដ៏ចម្រូងចម្រាស់ជាច្រើនទសវត្សរ៍មកហើយនោះ ត្រូវបានមន្រ្តីរដ្ឋាភិបាលអះអាងថា នឹងបិទបញ្ចប់នៅក្នុងរយៈពេលឆាប់ៗខាងមុខនេះហើយ៕
Aleppo has seen some of the worst of the recent fighting
Opposition activists in Syria say more than 25 people have been killed by an air strike in al-Bab, Aleppo province.
More than 100 people have also died elsewhere, they said, including five killed by a bomb in Damascus.
In an interview with the BBC, the new international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has said his mission to stop the fighting is "nearly impossible".
Mr Brahimi, who takes over from Kofi Annan, is expected to hold talks in Syria with President Bashar al-Assad.
Separately, the head of the Red Cross was beginning a three-day visit to Syria on Monday in an attempt to improve aid access to civilians.
Peter Maurer said in a statement that "an adequate humanitarian response is required to keep pace" with the worsening violence.
'Bulldozers'
Human rights groups said several women and children were among the more than 25 people killed when a building in al-Bab was attacked by a government jet.
The town, north-east of Aleppo city, appears to be largely in rebel hands and has been heavily pounded by government forces in recent weeks, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Lebanon.
In Damascus, one building was badly damaged by a car bombing in the suburb of Jaramana. Five people were reported killed. Syrian state news agency Sana said women and children were also among the victims there.
No group has said it carried out the attack, but Sana blamed "an armed terrorist group".
The explosion is the second deadly bombing within a week targeting the predominantly Druze and Christian area of Jaramana.
Also in Damascus, there were reports that the government was bulldozing houses in the Tawahin district, in what activists said was collective punishment for protests against President Assad.
"The bulldozers are bringing down shops and houses. The inhabitants are in the streets," one woman told Reuters.
'Brick wall'
Analysis
Lyse Doucet Chief International Correspondent, BBC News
Lakhdar Brahimi has embarked on one of the world's toughest jobs.
But as one of the UN's most experienced troubleshooters, he may offer the skills needed in a conflict where both sides seem to believe they have no choice but to fight to the end.
Mr Brahimi often deployed a "no victor, no vanquished" power-sharing approach in previous mediations, including the 1989 agreement that ended Lebanon's 15-year civil war.
UN sources who have worked closely with Mr Brahimi over many years say he will be more involved in the minutiae of the process, engaging personally with all the key players, and drawing on his own extensive experience and contacts in the region and beyond, not to mention his understanding of Arab politics and language.
He plans to base his office in Damascus if possible, or in Cairo, and to spend as much time as possible in the region.
But for the time being, there is little optimism anywhere that much can be done. Even Mr Brahimi sees his job as keeping expectations low.
'Brick wall' Mr Brahimi, the new UN-Arab League envoy on Syria, was appointed after Mr Annan resigned following the failure of his peace plan.
"I'm coming into this job with my eyes open, and no illusions," Mr Brahimi told the BBC's Lyse Doucet in an interview in New York. "I know how difficult it is - how nearly impossible. I can't say impossible - [it is] nearly impossible."
The new international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, tells Lyse Doucet he views his new mission as "nearly impossible"
Mr Brahimi said he had so far failed to see "any cracks" in the "brick wall" that had defeated Mr Annan - an "intransigent" Syrian government, escalating rebel violence and a paralysed UN Security Council, where China and Russia have vetoed several resolutions aimed at putting pressure on Damascus.
He said he would keep Mr Annan's six-point peace plan in his "tool box" for possible adaptation, but admitted he "had ideas, but no plan yet", apart from talking to as many people as possible.
Addressing the Syrian government, he said the need for political change in Syria was "fundamental and urgent", but he refused to be drawn on whether President Assad should step down, as the opposition and several Western leaders are demanding.
"Change cannot be cosmetic," he said. "There will be a new order, but I do not know who will be the people in the order. That's for Syrians to decide."
Last month, the UN wound up the observer mission that had been tasked with monitoring the ceasefire in Syria under the Annan plan.
Information Minister Omran Zoabi said on Monday that any peace talks would collapse as long as foreign countries were supporting and arming the rebels, a frequent accusation by Damascus.
The Syrian government has also said it could use chemical or biological weapons if it were attacked from outside.
But on Monday, European leaders said they would respond robustly if it did so, with France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying the response would be "massive and blistering".
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had asked the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ensure that UN experts could be deployed quickly if there were any reports of such weapons "being used or moved".
Activists say 20,000 people have died since the uprising against the Syrian government began last March.
Human rights groups say August was the deadliest month, with more than 5,000 people killed, according to the pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rescue efforts for the remaining miners trapped are hampered by high temperature
The number of dead in China's worst mine accident in recent years has risen to 43, with three men still trapped underground, state media say.
About 150 miners were in the Xiaojiawan coal mine in Sichuan province when a gas explosion occurred on Wednesday.
Fifty of the survivors are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning and another seven are reported to be in critical condition.
The mine owners have been detained pending an investigation.
Accidents are frequent in China's mining industry, which is criticised for poor safety standards.
Official figures show that 1,973 people died in coal mining accidents in the country last year.
China's central government has introduced measures aimed at improving standards, but these directives are often ignored at local level.
Sam Kille of the American Red Cross says 5,000 people sought shelter with the organisation on Tuesday
New Orleans is hunkering down as Hurricane Isaac pummels the city with strong winds and drenching rain.
The hurricane is drenching the Louisiana city exactly seven years after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, but is much less powerful.
The city has closed its new floodgates in a bid to protect it from the effects of high waters brought by sustained winds of up to 80mph (130km/h).
Sea water has already breached a levee in a town to the south of the city.
Caitlin Campbell, a spokeswoman for Plaquemines Parish - where Isaac first touched down - said water was running over an 18-mile (29-km) stretch of the levee and some homes were flooded.
After hitting Plaquemines Parish, the Category One hurricane headed back out to sea, before making a second landfall further west at Port Fourchon at about 02:00 (07:00 GMT) local time.
There are now reports of serious flooding and people stranded by rising waters in the Braithwaite area, just across the Mississippi river from metropolitan New Orleans.
Waiting out the storm At 08:00 local time, the centre of the storm was 40 miles south of New Orleans and moving inland at about 6 mph, according to the
US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The slow-moving storm could take 12 hours to travel as far as Baton Rouge, a town 70 miles to the north-west of New Orleans.
Officials are urging residents who have not evacuated to stay in place until high winds dissipate.
"We have resources ready to go, but until the winds come down, we're really asking people, if you're not somewhere that's dangerous, stay where you're at unless you're told to evacuate," Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate told CNN.
About a half-million people were without power in Louisiana as of Wednesday morning, and two highways north of New Orleans were no longer passable because of storm surge.
Isaac killed at least 24 people as it passed over Haiti and the Dominican Republic earlier this week.
It has also caused significant flooding and damage across the Caribbean and forced a day's delay to the start of the Republican party's congress in Tampa, Florida.
Braithwaite flooding The overtopped eight foot levee to the east of Plaquemines Parish is not part of the upgraded federal system protecting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Braithwaite, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, appeared to be the hardest hit by severe flooding.
The community of around 1,800 people lies just outside the new defensive wall.
Plaquemines president Billy Nungesser told NPR the damage wrought in the parish by Isaac was worse than Katrina.
"I don't know who's calling this a category 1, but this is no category 1," Mr Nungesser said. "My house has more damage than it did during Katrina."
"Not only did we see the worst case scenario, it got worse than that by this storm just stalling," he later told CNN, adding that the parish had been in the process of upgrading its own levee system.
Mr Nungesser said water levels in the area were 12 to 14 feet, and there were 25 people trapped in attics or roofs, with 65 others on a rescue list.
Strong winds were hampering full-scale air and water rescue efforts in the area, but the BBC's Alastair Leithead reports local residents were trying to make rescues with small boats. National Guard was also set to launch a rescue effort.
In New Orleans, the updated levees appeared to be holding as the city was lashed by rain and winds.
"We don't expect a Katrina-like event, but remember there are things about a Category One storm that can kill you," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Tuesday.
But storm surges are still a concern, with peaks of up to 12ft (3.7m) forecast in parts of Mississippi and south-eastern Louisiana. Rainfalls of up to 1ft 8in are forecast across wide areas, along with a high chance of isolated tornadoes along the coast.
The bowl-shaped city of New Orleans is particularly vulnerable to storms, with the centre of the city the furthest below sea-level.
But Mr Landrieu said that the 26ft-high levee gate which now protects the areas of the city that were badly flooded in 2005 had been closed since Tuesday morning.
Many residents of New Orleans have chosen to secure their homes but stay put, saying they were not too concerned by Isaac.
"I feel safe," said Pamela Young from her home in the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighbourhood devastated by Katrina.
"Everybody's talking 'going, going', but the thing is, when you go, there's no telling what will happen. The storm isn't going to just hit here.
"If the wind isn't too rough, I can stay right here. If the water comes up, I can go upstairs."
President Barack Obama has declared an emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, allowing federal funds to be released to local authorities.
Speaking from the White House, he warned residents along the Gulf Coast to heed warnings, including those to evacuate, saying: "Now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. You need to take this seriously."
Shortly before Isaac reached hurricane status on Tuesday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said the emergency declaration fell short of the federal help he had asked for.
Firefighters say they are being slowed down by strong winds
Fires continue to burn at an oil refinery in Venezuela, the site of a deadly explosion early on Saturday.
Two tanks are still alight but state oil company officials say they have the situation under control.
Forty-one people died and more than 80 were injured in the blast at the Amuay refinery in northern Falcon state, one of the largest in the world.
Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez said operations could resume within two days of the site being declared safe.
A doctor at Coromoto Hospital said on Sunday that two victims had died of burns sustained during the blast, raising the number of dead from the earlier figure of 39 to 41.
A thick column of black smoke continued to rise from the refinery on Sunday.
Firefighters said their work had been slowed down by increasing winds and a change in wind direction.
Mr Ramirez said fuel and oil supplies in Venezuela would not be affected as the state had a large enough stockpile to cover the shortfall.
Government officials said the blast occurred at 01:15 local time on Saturday when a gas leak created a cloud that ignited.
A committee has been set up to investigate the cause of the leak.
Hundreds of wildfires have broken out in recent weeks
Orthodox worshippers in Serbia have prayed for rain in order to end a weeks-long drought that has ruined crops and caused forest fires.
The prayers were held in the central town of Valjevo in response to a call two days ago from the local bishop.
Weather forecasts suggest the prayers could be answered, with showers predicted in the early hours of Monday.
In south-west Serbia, army troops have been deployed to help contain a wildfire near the town of Cacak.
Russia has also sent two firefighting aircraft to help stem the blazes, which have damaged homes, forests and farmland in the area, about 90km (55 miles) south of the capital Belgrade.
Crops have been damaged as temperatures have soared to up to 40C
The authorities are also fighting numerous wildfires elsewhere across Serbia.
In a call issued on Friday, Bishop Milutin of Valjevo - about 50km north-west of Cacak - urged his congregation to repent of their sins and pray for rain.
"Many have asked why the Lord has allowed such a misfortune to descend on the land. Why such a punishment?" he was quoted as saying by the Valjevo diocese.
"Clearly, the cause of such misfortune is human sin and lack of care for the natural order of things."
Serbia has been particularly badly hit by the heatwave across the western Balkans, which has seen temperatures of up to 40C, damaging crops and triggering hundreds of wildfires.
Powerful waves lashed a sea wall in Okinawa prefecture
A powerful typhoon is heading towards South Korea after lashing the Japanese island of Okinawa, causing power cuts and paralysing transport.
Typhoon Bolaven was 300km (186 miles) north of Naha, Okinawa at 11:00 am local time (02:00 GMT), Japanese media reported.
In Seoul, President Lee Myung-bak has called for thorough preparations, Yonhap news agency said.
It could be the strongest storm to hit the area in a decade, the agency said.
However, it is expected to weaken to a Category 1 storm by Tuesday when it hits the Korean peninsula. Parts of China will also experience heavy rainfall and strong winds, a forecast report said.
Flights may resume About 75,000 households in Okinawa and the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima have been left without power after the typhoon struck on Sunday, Japanese media reported.
On Monday morning, flights to and from Naha airport remained cancelled.
"But if the weather permits, airlines may be able to resume flights in the afternoon," an airport official was reported as saying by AFP news agency.
Ships and ferries linking the island chain in the area were also cancelled.
At least four people were injured but reported wind speeds on Okinawa and nearby Amami were lower than forecast.
Japan's meteorological agency had estimated wind speeds near the storm's centre at around 180km/h (112 mph), with extremely strong gusts reaching 252 km/h.
But NHK reported early Monday morning that the strongest gusts measured on the islands - on Amami, north of Okinawa - reached just 140km/h, according to the AP news agency.
"The winds weren't as strong as expected. We're glad there's no major damage so far," crisis management official Yoshimitsu Matsusaki was quoted as saying by AP.
Trees 'bending' Hannah Bryan, who is visiting her sister in Okinawa from Britain, told the BBC that she and several others would try to weather the storm in her sister's house.
"We are planning on putting lots of duvets in the middle of the living room and staying together, away from the windows," she said
"It is really windy at the moment and it is getting stronger and stronger. The trees are bending outside."
British tourist Paul Graham, whose flight out of Okinawa had been cancelled, said the streets in Naha were deserted on Sunday.
"It is quite stormy at the moment, very windy and very wet. There is a canal nearby here, and there is concern about its levels in this weather," he told the BBC.
Typhoon Bolaven comes just after Typhoon Temblin, which has caused widespread damage in Taiwan.
The latest typhoon is the 15th destructive storm of the season in East Asia.
Two boys rescued when a canoe capsized in a Highlands sea loch have died in hospital and a man is still missing.
Six people were in the boat when it overturned in Loch Gairloch. A man and a girl, 10, managed to swim to shore and alert the coastguard at 16:15 BST.
A helicopter and lifeboats launched a search and found the two boys, aged five and three, and a girl of five. The girl remains in a serious condition.
The search for the missing man, aged 34, has been called off for the night.
A coastguard helicopter and lifeboats from Portree, Gairloch and Loch Ewe were involved in pulling the children from the water.
The three rescued children were taken to Raigmore hospital in Inverness and Broadford Hospital in Skye.
Northern Constabulary confirmed the boys' deaths.
The man and girl who swam to shore were uninjured.
Searches were carried out in the water near the Big Sands caravan park.
Local boats and onshore coastguard teams assisted with the rescue efforts. They plan to search again in the morning.
Northern Constabulary said the group were in a Canadian canoe, a narrow boat designed to carry numerous passengers.
Labour is urging ministers to delay signing a new West Coast Mainline contract until Parliament returns.
The party says MPs must have the chance to consider the decision to take the franchise from Virgin Trains and give it to FirstGroup for the next 13 years.
FirstGroup says it will bring in key improvements for passengers but critics fear it will not be able to afford the £5.5bn it is paying for the franchise.
The Department for Transport said it had "no reason" to delay the signing.
A spokesman indicated that the agreement was set to be signed on Tuesday despite Virgin's Sir Richard Branson offering on Sunday to run the service "for free" while a review was carried out.
The spokesman said: "We note the offer that one of the bidders appears to have made via the press.
"However, the winning bidder was decided by a fair and established process and no reason has been advanced to convince DfT not to sign the agreement."
Fierce lobbying
Aberdeen-based FirstGroup already operates a number of rail routes including Great Western and ScotRail.
The company, under the name First West Coast Limited, will take over the franchise from 9 December and is due to to operate the service until 2026.
The West Coast Mainline route serves 31 million passengers travelling between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the central belt of Scotland.
Virgin has run the franchise since 1997, during which time passenger numbers have doubled.
FirstGroup has promised to introduce better wi-fi and food, more frequent trains and more seats, and to cut standard fares by 15%.
The firm said it would introduce 11 new 125mph six-car electric trains on the Birmingham to Glasgow route and provide more direct services between destinations.
But BBC deputy political editor James Landale said there was a fierce lobbying campaign, in the final hours before pen is put to paper, to put the decision on hold.
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the decision to be reconsidered.
Labour's Maria Eagle, the shadow transport secretary, is urging the government to put the contract on hold until MPs return and have a chance to consider the deal.
And Labour's Louise Ellman, who chairs the House of Commons transport committee, has written to Transport Secretary Justine Greening asking her to delay signing the contract.
On Sunday, Sir Richard said that if reviewing the decision meant the December deadline had to be postponed, his company and Stagecoach would be willing to continue operating the railway lines while donating any profits to charity.
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West Coast Mainline map
Thousands have already been left without power by high winds
People in southern Florida have been feeling the first effects of Tropical Storm Isaac as it heads towards the US.
Isaac is close to the Florida Keys and Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have followed Florida in declaring states of emergency.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and oil and gas production is affected by a storm that has already killed at least six people in Haiti.
The Republican Party has delayed by a day the start of its convention.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has cancelled his visit to the Republican national convention in the Florida city of Tampa and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal may do the same, as they prepare emergency responses in their states.
Oil output cut
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that at 00:00 GMT on Monday, Isaac had wind speeds of 65 mph (105km/h), and could reach hurricane force in the next 24 hours.
Fed by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico , Isaac is expected to strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105mph (170km/h), and make landfall on Tuesday or Wednesday, somewhere between Florida and Louisiana.
There is also a chance it may hit New Orleans
on the seventh anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Isaac is also a large storm - it could bring significant damage to areas within 200 miles of its centre.
The Florida Keys are already experiencing rain and strong winds.
Residents have boarded up windows and put down sandbags.
A steady stream of cars has carried people north along the sole road linking the Keys to the Florida mainland.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in and out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other southern Florida airports.
Isaac has disrupted preparations for the Republican party convention in Tampa
Power cuts have affected communities from Key West to Fort Lauderdale, hitting more than 6,000 customers.
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says about 24% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production and 8% of its gas output have been shut off as a precaution.
Hurricane watches have been put in place along the coastlines of western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and south-eastern Louisiana.
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency there to make sure emergency services would be ready when the storm hit.
The Republican party has postponed until Tuesday the opening of the convention that will formally nominate Mitt Romney as its presidential candidate
The BBC's Jonny Dymond, in Tampa, says the eye of the storm is forecast to hit the US coastline further north, but given the size of the storm, Tampa is expecting a soaking and powerful winds.
The storm has already caused havoc in the Caribbean, bringing death and considerable damage to Haiti, and floods and downed power lines to Cuba.
Three people were missing in the Dominican Republic, officials said, including the mayor of a town near Santo Domingo.
Tropical Storm Isaac - projected path from 24 August 2012
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Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (C, 2nd row) poses for a group photo with Chinese and Russian students and faculty members participating in an exchange activity at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2012. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Li Keqiang met with visiting Russian university students at the Great Hall of the People on Friday.
Three hundred students and faculty members from Moscow State University of Russia attended the meeting.
During his visit to Russia in April, Li delivered a speech at Moscow State University and invited its students to participate in summer courses in China.
The students arrived in China last week and toured Beijing, as well as Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. During their visit, the Russian students participated in exchanges with Chinese students from several universities around the country.
Li said China and Russia are neighbors that enjoy a long tradition of friendship, adding that bilateral relations have entered a new stage of rapid growth.
Li said both China and Russia are emerging economies and countries of major influence in the world, and advancing their relations will be conducive to maintaining peace and development in the region and the world.
Representatives from several Chinese universities also attended the meeting, including Beijing University, Beijing Normal University, Sichuan University and Xi'an Communications University.
Several Chinese and Russian students spoke about their participation in the summer courses at the meeting.
Li praised their comments, saying their speech reflects the current state and broad prospects of China-Russia relations.
Viktor Sadovnichy, rector of Moscow State University, said during the meeting that he will write to China's Ministry of Education to invite 100 Chinese university students to attend an annual development forum hosted by the university.
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (L) receives a painting from a student of Moscow State University of Russia during a meeting with Chinese and Russian students and faculty members participating in an exchange activity at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2012. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (3rd R, front) meets with Chinese and Russian students and faculty members participating in an exchange activity at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2012. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
Oslo - A Norwegian court on Friday ruled that mass-murdererAnders Behring Breivik was sane and sentenced him to 21 years in jailfor the killing of 77 people in bomb and shooting attacks last year.
The anti-Muslim gunman smiled briefly as presiding judge WencheElizabeth Arntsen read out the verdict in the packed Olso District Court. The five judges were unanimous in their verdict, overruling arequest by the prosecution to declare Breivik insane.
Under Norwegian law, the maximum prison sentence is 21 years. ButBreivik’s detention can be extended if he is deemed a danger to society.
The 33-year-old right-wing extremist had wanted a sane verdict. Hesaid he carried out the bombing attacks in Oslo and a shooting spreeat a Labour Party youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya to protectNorway from an influx of Muslim immigrants.
Breivik had pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism andpremeditated murder. The question of his sanity had been central to the 10-week trial,during which survivors and family and friends of the victimstestified.
The massacre on July 22, 2011 shocked Norway’s largely liberalsociety and sparked a national debate about right-wing extremism,freedom of speech and immigration.
Court-appointed psychiatrists had reached different conclusionsover the state of his mental health.
During the 10-week trial, shocking details emerged on how Breivikshot dead 69 people at a Labour Party youth camp on the island ofUtoya after setting off a bomb in the government quarters in Oslothat killed eight.
A Norwegian court is due to deliver its verdict in the trial of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik.
Breivik has admitted killing 77 people and wounding more than 240 others when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp last year.
The panel of five trial judges will have to rule on Breivik's sanity when they deliver their verdict.
Their conclusion will determine whether he is given a long prison sentence or sent to a secure psychiatric ward.
Breivik, 33, who insists he is sane, has refused to plead guilty and has sought to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.
Prosecutors have called for him to be considered insane.
On Thursday, security barriers were put up outside the Oslo district court ahead of Friday's sentence reading.
A glass partition will separate Breivik from relatives of victims in a courtroom custom-built for the trial.
Remote-controlled cameras will film the proceedings, sending the images to courtrooms around Norway where other relatives will watch the hearing live.
Hunted down
Breivik's 10-week trial was marked by harrowing testimony from witnesses.
Some victims at the Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island were shot in the head at point-blank range.
Breivik carried out the meticulously planned attack in July 2011 wearing a fake police uniform and methodically hunted down his victims.
He accused the Labour Party of promoting multiculturalism and endangering Norway's identity.
Throughout the trial, Breivik showed no sign of remorse. He began several hearings by giving a right-wing clenched fist salute.
If the judges conclude that Breivik was sane, he will be sent to prison. The maximum sentence in Norway is 21 years although that can be extended if he is viewed as a danger to society.
If the court finds him insane, Breivik will be ordered to undergo treatment at a closed psychiatric unit - most likely at the same high security prison where he is now.
Breivik has said that psychiatric care would be "worse than death".
His defence team has said that he will lodge an appeal against an insanity verdict.
Two teams of court-appointed psychiatrists who examined Breivik have reached different conclusions. The first said that he was a paranoid schizophrenic, but the second found that he was sane.
Earlier this month, Norway's police chief Oeystein Maeland resigned after an independent inquiry found that Breivik could have been stopped.
The report also criticised the "unacceptable" length of time police took to respond to the shootings.
Last year's attacks sparked a national debate in Norway about the nature of tolerance and democracy in the country.
South African President Jacob Zuma has given details of the commission that will investigate the circumstances around the deaths of 44 people at the Marikana platinum mine.
The actions of mining company Lonmin, the government, police, unions, and individuals will all be examined.
Thousands of people, some crying uncontrollably, earlier attended a memorial service for the dead.
Thirty-four were shot dead by police during a strike over pay last week.
Previously 10 people, two of them police officers, had died in violent clashes.
Reports of worker action at two other platinum mines have added to industry fears that the unrest is spreading.
The price of platinum has jumped amid concerns about disruptions to supply.
Outrage and grief
The commission "has been directed to investigate matters of public, national and international concern rising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people," Mr Zuma said in a televised statement.
He said the commission would have the power to enter premises, compel witnesses to appear and demand documents. Not only security issues but issues surrounding labour policies and working conditions would also come under its remit, he added.
Retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam will head the three-person commission, along with two other senior advocates who are also former judges, reported Agence France-Presse.
The commission should complete its work within four months, Mr Zuma said, and submit a final report a month afterwards.
Rob Davies, South Africa's trade and industry minister, said the actions of the police would be investigated with "considerable depth".
"The inquiry will have to establish the chain of responsibility, who did what wrong and hold anybody who did wrong to account. I think that is a correct process in a democratic society - that if actions are taken against people they have to be on the basis of evidence," Mr Davies told the BBC's Hardtalk programme.
The deadly clashes have thrown South Africa into a frenzy of outrage and grief, say correspondents.
Many relatives have asked how the police - faced with strikers wielding machetes and clubs - could have killed so many in response.
Hundreds of workers downed tools to demand a pay rise at the nearby Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine
There has been a strong police presence around the mine since the dispute erupted but they were noticeably absent for Thursday's memorial service, correspondents said, probably due to fears that violence could erupt.
But speaker after speaker also turned their ire on the government, they said, amid a perception that some politicians have been trying to make political capital out of the affair - and a suspicion among some that government has been complicit in the killings.
Church leaders from a range of denominations, politicians and thousands of mourners attended the emotional, hymn-filled service. Hundreds crammed inside the memorial marquee and hundreds more outside.
At one point the service was disrupted by green-clad members of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), who walked to the front of the marquee brandishing sticks and machetes, but the service soon resumed.
Action spreads With his government under fire for allegedly putting corporate interests above worker rights, Mr Zuma has expressed sympathy with some of the grievances expressed by the Marikana miners.
He has argued the mining sector can afford to increase wages and threatened companies that fail to raise workers' housing standards with the cancellation of their mining licences. Visiting the mine on Wednesday, Mr Zuma told workers he "felt their pain" and promised a speedy and thorough investigation of the shootings. But fears expressed by analysts and industry executives that unrest could spread to other parts of the mining sector were given weight with reports of worker action at two other platinum mines. The world's top platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, said it had received a broad list of demands from its South African workers. Meanwhile, some 500 workers at a shaft in the nearby Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine downed tools on Wednesday, demanding a pay increase and reportedly blocking fellow miners from going to work.
Religious leaders have brokered talks between the Lonmin management and workers in an attempt to break the deadlock in the dispute over pay.
No unions were involved because "they already failed us", Zolisa Bodlain, one of five workers who met managers, told the BBC - but the workers vow that they will not back down even without the unions' help.
Part of the background to this complex dispute is the rivalry between two unions - the long-established National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the newly-formed AMCU, which is more militant.
Both will come under scrutiny under the terms of the commission of inquiry set out by the president.
Elisabeth Murdoch: "It's because the fee is universal that the BBC has a unique purpose"
Elisabeth Murdoch has come out in support of the BBC licence fee in a speech to TV executives in Edinburgh.
Giving the annual MacTaggart lecture, the daughter of News Corporation founder Rupert also praised the BBC for its creative leadership.
Her brother James delivered the lecture in 2009, and notoriously described the BBC's size and ambition as "chilling".
Ms Murdoch also criticised the "dearth of integrity" highlighted in the Leveson inquiry into press standards.
Delivering the Festival's keynote speech, she said the exposure of the "sometimes self-serving relationships" between great pillars of society such as police, politics, media and banking served as a reminder that "with great power comes responsibility".
Referring to the Leveson Inquiry, she said the result should be the "fierce protection of a free press and light touch media regulation", adding that it was hard to argue for this because of the "unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions."
"Sadly the greatest threats to our free society are too often from the enemies within," she said.
Independence from regulation, she added "is only democratically viable when we accept that we have a responsibility to each other and not just to our bottom line".
MasterChef is one of the programmes made by Shine, where Murdoch is chairman
Ms Murdoch is chair of the Shine Group - which makes shows including Merlin and MasterChef, both broadcast by the BBC.
She was due to speak at the festival in 2011 but pulled out amid the phone hacking scandal.
On that occasion, she was replaced by Google chairman Eric Schmidt.
Ms Murdoch is the first woman to deliver the speech since Janet Street Porter in 1995 and only the fourth since the festival's inception in 1976.
Rupert Murdoch spoke at the 1989 festival.
Agenda-setting The MacTaggart Lecture was named after writer, producer and director James MacTaggart - who died in 1974.
Since then it has established itself as a platform for agenda-setting speeches in the media with attendance by more than 2,000 UK delegates from the broadcasting and media industries.
When James Murdoch took to the floor at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in 2009, he used his speech to take aim at the UK establishment.
Twenty years after his father delivered the same keynote address, James said a "dominant" BBC threatened independent journalism in the UK.
He also blamed the government for regulating the media "with relish".
James' elder sister used her speech to challenge his assertion three years ago that "the only reliable guarantee of editorial independence is profit".
She said he was "clearly being provocative" but "profit without purpose - or of a moral language - was a recipe for disaster."
While praising the BBC for its Olympic coverage and creative partnerships, Ms Murdoch added: "The BBC needs ITV and Sky to thrive so that they can [all] maintain a position of equality rather than dominance."
After speaking in support of the "universal licence fee", she mentioned that the "biggest challenge" facing the BBC's new director general George Entwistle "may be to demonstrate how efficiently that funding is being spent on actual content on behalf of the licence fee payers".
Ambition Before the phone-hacking scandal, James Murdoch had been widely considered to be the front runner to take over his father Rupert's media empire.
But the row raised questions over his suitability, despite his repeated denials of any knowledge of the illegal practice at the News of the World.
Murdoch is "very ambitious" says Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison,
who has chronicled the family business
In contrast, Ms Murdoch distanced herself from the scandal that enveloped her father and brother.
She was the one who suggested to her father that James should take a leave of absence from the corporation and step aside.
Having bought and sold US TV stations before a brief stint working at Sky in the early 1990s, she left the family business to build her own successful TV production company.
Although Shine has now been bought by News Corporation, she has made a point of ploughing her own furrow, away from the rest of the family.
Despite Ms Murdoch's personal ambition and independent success, she does not make many public appearances and her profile is not as high as that of her brother, James.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, media-watchers speculated that the event would be Ms Murdoch's "coming out party".
"This is a very public moment for her and she's been planning for it very carefully," said Sarah Ellison, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, who has written extensively on the Murdoch empire.
"It's a way for her to declare some of her independence from her family."
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Media Show, Ellison said there was "no question" that Ms Murdoch harboured ambition within the family.
"By distancing herself, the bet is that she'll be able to come back at a time when some of the scandal has passed her by, and have a cleaner slate," she said.
"She's very, very ambitious."
The lack of rains in large, monsoon-dependent, agricultural areas of South Asia has compounded concerns expressed in a recent report about an impending global water crisis and its detrimental impact on agriculture.
Poor monsoon rains have diminished the water available for agriculture and groundwater reservoir replenishment in South Asia, as well as making it difficult for farmers to know when to plant crops, scientists in the region have told SciDev.Net.
These fears coincide with a paper in Nature published this month (8 August), which warns that "humans are overexploiting groundwater in many large aquifers that are critical to agriculture, especially in Asia and North America". It reports that 1.7 billion people live in areas where groundwater resources are threatened as a result.
Poor monsoon rains and droughts in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have dimmed the prospects of rainwater refilling drained aquifers in the region, experts have said.
"Abnormal and scattered rainy seasons will keep the dams below standard level, affect river flow, keep the canals dry and adversely impact groundwater recharging," Khalid Mohtadullah, senior adviser to the Global Water Partnership in Stockholm, Sweden, told SciDev.Net.
This is likely to affect energy generation, irrigation and groundwater tables, he said.
On 2 August, around halfway through the 2012 monsoon season, India declared a drought, with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) reporting that rainfall across India for the second half of the monsoon season — August to September — was likely to be below normal.
There are also fears of El Niñoemerging in the equatorial Pacific, which, the IMD says, is "likely to have an adverse impact on rainfall" in India during this period — concerns that are shared by Pakistan.
Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, vice-president of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for Asia and meteorological adviser to the Pakistani government, told SciDev.Net that the country received 30 to 40 per cent less monsoon rain than normal this year, with a "semi-drought like situation" arising in April to June. These conditions have been worsened by a mild monsoon during July and August, he added.
Scientists have warned of insufficient water levels in most of Pakistan's natural groundwater reservoirs, potentially affecting wintertime agriculture, especially wheat.
Parts of Sri Lanka have also received less rain than normal this monsoon. D.A Jayasinghearachchi, meteorologist-in-charge at Sri Lanka's meteorological department, said the seasonal models also indicate below average rains during the country's second rainy season from October to November.
Badra Kamaladasa, director-general of Sri Lanka's irrigation department, told SciDev.Net: "The main issue here is that we can't predict the pattern of cultivation anymore".
For example, he said that the 2012 drought has severely affected Sri Lanka's paddy cultivation.
