The proposed $30 billion, 10-year arms package, which would be one of the biggest single deals of its kind, has been a source of behind-the-scenes tension during months of negotiations. Israeli officials have repeatedly conveyed their concerns in private that the US risks undermining its military advantage by equipping regional rivals with top-flight technologies.

US officials say they provided "clarifications" in recent weeks about the deal to help damp Israel's qualms. Two officials close to the negotiations said Israel still had some reservations, but that the country isn't expected to challenge the sale by lobbying Congress, which can hold up the deal or push for assurances of its own. The administration is expected to formally notify Congress of its plans as early as next month.

The information-sharing with Israel is part of a longstanding commitment by successive US administrations to maintain its military edge in the region. Congress has the power to block any weapons sales deemed detrimental to Israel's military advantage.

Shares in Danish brewer Carlsberg fell 5.1%, while Diageo, which owns brands such as Guinness, shed 2.2%, and Associated British Foods fell 1.5%. The Food and Agriculture Organization has played down fears of a food crisis. On Wednesday, the FAO cut its global wheat production forecast for the year, but said that fears of a world food crisis were "not justified at this point".

That's largely because global wheat stocks have risen substantially in the past couple of years, peaking in June at just under 194 million tonnes, according to US government estimates. As wildfires continue to rage across the country, Russian railways said it would stop exporting grain from Saturday, in accordance with the export ban which is set to continue until December.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov suggested Russia could reassess the ban after the harvests in the autumn. Russia is the world's third largest wheat exporter. Its biggest customers include Egypt, Turkey and Syria.

Three Poles, three Germans and five Czechs were killed, while further north in Lithuania four people were killed. Three other Czechs were reported missing after the downpours on Saturday triggered the floods. The army, police and fire services were using helicopters and boats to move people away from the flood zones and clear flood debris.

The heavy downpour caused Poland's Miedzianka river to overflow, flooding Bogatynia before swelling the Niesse river. One woman drowned in Bogatynia while a 55-year-old firefighter was swept away when a dyke burst its banks. Another woman drowned in the nearby town of Zgorzelec, across the Niesse from Goerlitz.

The Neisse reached its highest recorded level of 7.07 metres (23 feet). "The flood wave hit the town in a few hours. We couldn't do anything to get ready for that," the mayor of Goerlitz, Michael Wieler, told German TV. Police said 1,500 people evacuated their homes in Goerlitz as torrents of water rushed through the streets.

NHS trusts which cover parts of the home counties - such as St Albans - report less than six in ten mothers are white British. The figures will reignite the debate about the scale of immigration and the scale of social division, as well as the impact on public services. Ministers have pledged to force migrant workers to buy their own private health care to help reduce the burden on the NHS.

Under the proposals non EU migrants would be entitled to emergency care but would have to buy insurance to cover the costs of GP visits and most operations. The statistics raised fears the country is becoming increasingly divided along ethnic lines. Last month it emerged that Britain's population growth is outpacing every other country in Europe.

Immigration and rising birth rates driven in part by the children of new arrivals - the so-called 'immigrant baby boom' - meant this country gained more people than anywhere else in the continent. There were also warnings last week that Hungary is set to hand two million passports to people living outside the EU. Ministers have pledge to put a limit on the number of immigrants from outside the EU given work permits for the UK.

Electricity supplied from Brazil and Paraguay rose to a daily combined record of about 1,000 megawatts on July 12, while consumption peaked at 20,396 megawatts three days later, according to Buenos Aires-based energy broker Cammesa. Shipments of liquefied natural gas are set to double this year.

In July, temperatures in Buenos Aires were, on average, 1 degree Celsius below the usual low and high of 8 and 14 degrees (46 and 57 degrees Farenheit), with temperatures plummeting to about 2 degrees Celsius on July 15. Also on July 15, temperatures in Mendoza, the wine-producing region in western Argentina, fell as low as -8.9 degrees Celsius below the temperature registered that day in the Argentine-controlled area of the South Pole, according to a national weather institute report.

Argentina is bracing for a renewed polar front this month. On August 1, almost half of the country's 23 provinces registered temperatures below zero, while the northern city of La Quiaca on the border with Bolivia fell to -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit.) The average low predicated through August 5 is 1 degree, according to the National Weather service.

More than 45,000 people have reportedly already been evacuated from the area. Local officials say thick mud, more than 1m (3.3ft) deep in some places, is hampering rescue efforts.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to Gansu after receiving news of the disaster. He told officials to "spare no efforts to save lives". More than 1,400 people are believed to have been killed this year in unusually severe flooding in central and southern China. About 1.4 million homes have been destroyed, 12 million people evacuated, and 87,600 sq km (22m acres) of crops ruined, officials say.

Pakistani media reported dozens more flood-related deaths as officials admitted they were struggling to cope. At least 1,600 people have died in the nation's worst deluge in 80 years. Some 14 million people have been affected. The landslides hit two villages in Gilgit-Baltistan province on Saturday, and officials are still trying to recover bodies from under the mud.

In another flood-related incident, at least 14 people were killed when a lorry carrying people across a river in Lower Dir province was swept away, according to local media. Most of the deaths have occurred in northern Pakistan, but as the rain has continued, the south is now also on red alert. One dam in the southern Sindh province has already been breached, and engineers are warning that the huge Tarbela and Mangla dams in the north are close to their maximum levels.

Officials say 650,000 homes have so far been destroyed across the country and 5,700 sq km (2,200 sq miles) of agricultural land has been flooded. AP reported that the prices of some basic vegetables had quadrupled in recent days, putting them out of reach for many Pakistanis. "Floods and rains have made these things unaffordable," one shopper in Lahore, Mohammad Siddiq, told AP.

UN once again calls for a global currency, called the "Bancor," the name proposed by Keynes over half-century ago. Whatever it is called, it would be fiat money similar to what is currently produced by nations. That means there would be no limit to the amount that could be created, and massive inflation would continue. The difference is that nations no longer could return to a sound money even if they wanted to.

But parents have voiced concern over the methods used to slaughter animals in this way and say they haven't been properly consulted over the changes. Harrow Council is among the first in Britain to encourage halal meat. It says dieticians recommended the policy due to difficulties storing and preparing two sorts of meat.

According to the 2001 census, the North-West London borough is among the most religiously diverse areas in Britain. Just under half of the population is Christian, a fifth is Hindu, 7 per cent is Muslim and 6 per cent Jewish. The council says the composition of the area's primary schools is now significantly different and the Muslim population is larger.

Halal slaughtering involves cutting through the large arteries in the neck with one swipe of a blade, while a Muslim butcher recites a religious verse. All blood is then drained away since the consumption of blood is forbidden under Islamic law. Animal welfare campaigners say the method, which is exempted from welfare laws, is inhumane as animals are not stunned before being killed.

"In connection with the unusually high temperatures and the drought, I consider it right to impose a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other products produced from grain," Putin told a government meeting. Russia earlier this week slashed its 2010 grain harvest forecast to 70-75 million tonnes, compared with a harvest of 97 million tonnes in 2009, owing to the worst drought for decades. Last year, Russia exported 21.4 million tonnes of grain and observers had already warned that could be sharply lower this year owing to the drought.

The prime minister's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the export ban would come into force August 15 and remain in place until December 31. "We must not allow an increase in domestic prices and must preserve the headcount of our cattle," Putin said in comments broadcast on state television. Putin signed a decree imposing the ban which also stated that Russia would ask fellow members of a regional customs union - Belarus and Kazhakhstan - to make a similar move. Kazakhstan is also a major world grain exporter.

"There can only be one comment - shock," said Vladimir Petrichenko, director of the Prozerno agricultural analytical firm. "We will only be able to return to the global markets with a tarnished reputation, with losses," he told Interfax. Russia's policy after December 31 would be determined by the results of the harvest, Putin said. Russia has seen 20 percent of its arable land (10 million hectares, 24.7 million acres) destroyed in the heatwave.

The chemical mimics the female sex hormone oestrogen and interferes with the way hormones are processed by the body. Although some animal studies have shown it is safe, others have linked it to breast cancer, liver damage, obesity, diabetes and fertility problems. Experts estimate BPA is detectable in more than 90 per cent of people. It is one of the world's most widely manufactured chemicals, with more than 2.2 million tons made each year. Earlier this year, Denmark became the first EU country to ban the chemical in food and drink containers for children under three. Canada and three US states have also brought in bans.

Elizabeth Salter Green, of the Chemicals, Health And Environment Monitoring Trust, described the study as 'another nail in the coffin' for BPA and called for it to be banned. 'There are now hundreds of research papers that indicate BPA is not good for our health, linking exposure to fertility problems, cancer, diabetes and obesity,' she added.

The Food Standards Agency insists there is no evidence BPA is harmful.

The extraordinary change of tune came after government scientists concluded, much to President Obama's embarrassment, that three-quarters of the leaked oil has evaporated, dispersed, been burned off or been contained. The report was released as BP announced 'encouraging' progress on its 'static kill' attempt to seal the leak.

The US official in charge of the spill also announced BP would start pumping cement into its blown-out oil well to begin sealing the leak for good.

'Based on the successful completion of the static kill procedure and a positive evaluation of the test results, I have authorized BP to cement its damaged well,' retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a brief statement. According to the report unveiled yesterday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the remaining oil - mostly a light sheen on the surface or dispersed underwater - is breaking down rapidly.

The findings raise serious questions over the American government's torrid attacks on BP in the aftermath of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of crude into the ocean. Mr Obama has already been accused of targeting the British oil giant to avert fears the spill was becoming a political liability for his Democrat Party in the run-up to the November mid-term elections.

Last night, however, all the big supermarkets made clear they would not touch milk and meat from clones or their descendants. The Innes family are Scotland's biggest dairy farmers, with more than 1,400 Holstein cattle producing vast quantities of milk every day. They claim they had no idea what they were doing was banned and have been 'flabbergasted' by the furore.

The Innes family are now under investigation by local council officials, while there are calls for an inquiry into the slaughter and sale of the bull last July.

Last night it also emerged a second clone farm bull has been slaughtered and eaten in another part of the country. The details were released by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the watchdog also investigating whether milk produced by clone descendants has gone into homes.

It is thought the second bull was slaughtered in Staffordshire, but it is unclear where the resulting beef was sold.

Last night, the Government came under pressure to ban clone farming outright, including the imports of bull semen and embryos from clones in north America.

Supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose last night insisted they are determined to keep food produced from clones or their offspring off the shelves. But the absence of a ban on clone embryo and sperm imports means this policy will be increasingly difficult to maintain.

Backers of the ban intend to appeal against the judge's ruling. The case is likely to reach the US Supreme Court. The measure was passed in a ballot referendum by a vote of 52% to 48%. Currently, five states and Washington DC allow same-sex nuptials, though many states have enacted bans.

The ruling does not immediately allow California same-sex couples to marry, as US District Judge Vaughn Walker has delayed final entry of his judgement so he can hear arguments on whether to stay the ruling, pending appeal. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly welcomed Wednesday's judgement.

"For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves," he said in a statement. "At the same time, it provides an opportunity for all to consider our history of leading the way to the future, and our growing reputation of treating all people and their relationships with equal respect and dignity."

Supporters of the gay marriage ban vowed to appeal against the ruling. Randy Thomasson, of the socially conservative group SaveCalifornia.com, described it as a "terrible blow" to voter rights. "Judge Walker has ignored the written words of the constitution, which he swore to support and defend and be impartially faithful to, and has instead imposed his own homosexual agenda upon the voters, the parents and the children of California," he told the AFP news agency.

Israeli troops have returned to the area to finish the tree-clearing under Unifil's supervision, reports say. At an emergency session on Tuesday, the UN Security Council expressed "deep concern" about the incident - the worst border clash for years between soldiers from Israel and Lebanon - and urged both sides to show the utmost restraint. The leader of the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, said it would join the fighting if there were any more border clashes.

"The trees being cut by the Israeli army are located south of the Blue Line on the Israeli side," said Unifil spokesman Lieutenant Naresh Bhatt in a statement, referring to a boundary drawn up by the UN in 2000. It marks the agreed line to which Israeli forces withdrew after 22 years occupying southern Lebanon.

Lebanese Information Minister, Tareq Mitri told journalists that his country disputes the Blue Line demarcation in certain areas, including the village of Adaysseh, where the clash took place.

Israel has welcomed the Unifil finding, saying it "clearly corroborates" the Israeli version of events. "Our routine activity yesterday was conducted entirely south of the frontier - on the Israeli side - and the Lebanese Army opened fire without any provocation or justification whatsoever," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel said its troops were fired upon while conducting maintenance work along the border, and that UN forces had been notified in advance.