Russia sent the army on Saturday to battle wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and were threatening dozens of towns and villages. Thick smoke and ash slowed firefighting efforts and thousands of people were being evacuated.

Half of the 300 homes in the village of Maslovka, half a day's drive south of Moscow, were reduced to cinders. Stunned locals sifted through the ash for possessions to salvage and people pooled what little food they had — mainly potatoes and carrots — to ensure no one starved.

"This is a catastrophe," Maslovka resident Yevgeniya Yuzhina said as she waited in a hotel lobby in the nearby city of Voronezh filling out a form to receive cash compensation.

All 300 of the army's fire trucks have been dispatched, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said,

Many regions of the country are suffering through their hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago. Officials said Friday over 214,136 acres of parched woodland and peat bog were burning in at least 14 of the country's 83 regions, mainly in western Russia. State television reported Saturday that the death had risen from the last reported figure of 25, without providing details.

"Fire and wind have no days off, so we can't take any days off," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a videoconference with emergency officials, where he announced 3 million rubles ($100,000) would be allocated for each of the 1,200 homes destroyed so far. He pledged that all would eventually be rebuilt.

Yuzhina said her house had been worth half a million rubles more than the amount Putin pledged and her husband, daughter and elderly parents now had no place to go.

Fire crews working through the night beat back flames and built containment lines around a two-day old wildfire that charred nearly 22 square miles of brush in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

The blaze was 62 percent contained Saturday morning and no structures were threatened, according to Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Sam Padilla.

Crews hoped to close the fire's south flank near Portal Ridge, Rancho Vista and Ana Verde before temperatures rise into the high 90s and dry winds whip up again as expected Saturday.

"We're getting a handle on it," Padilla said. "As soon as we contain that south end we'll be in better shape."

Padilla said there were no open flames — just smoldering embers — which has significantly slowed the fire's spread.

"The way you work embers is by using hoses on the ground, so we're relying on our foot soldiers today," County Fire Inspector Don Kunitomi said. "It's important to clean up those embers because one hot gust of wind can start a spot fire."

Some 1,300 firefighters were assigned to the blaze Saturday.

Three Kenyans have been charged with the murders of 76 people killed when bombs exploded as they watched the World Cup on TV in Kampala, Uganda.
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Hussein Hassan Agad, 27, Mohamed Adan Abdow, 25, and Idris Magondu, 42, were also charged with terrorism and 10 counts of attempted murder.

They have yet to enter pleas and will remain in custody until their next court appearance on 27 August.

Al-Shabab, a Somali Islamist group, said it carried out the attacks.

Ugandan peacekeepers are in Somalia, helping the weak, UN-backed government against al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.

The African Union this week pledged to boost its peacekeeping force in Somalia by 4,000 troops, after a summit meeting in Kampala, which was overshadowed by the attack.

Only Uganda and Burundi have so far sent troops to the Somali capital, Mogadishu and al-Shabab had threatened to attack both countries.
'Islamic preacher'

The explosions on 11 July, which also injured about 70 people, ripped through a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant as football fans watched the last few minutes of the World Cup final.
An injured woman in hospital after Kampala bombing The blasts went off as people were watching the World Cup final, killing 76 and injuring 70

The three men, all residents of Kenya, appeared on Friday in a Kampala magistrates court.

The charge sheet identified Hussein Hassan Agad as "a preacher of Islam", while Idris Magondu was identified as an employee of a trading company in Nairobi, Kenya.

The men were charged with 89 offences. They face 61 counts of murder for those killed at the Kyadondo Rugby Club and 15 counts for those killed at the Ethiopian restaurant.

The charges also include three counts of terrorism and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The men did not speak during their court appearance.

Chief Magistrate Deo Sejjemba said the accused were not allowed to enter a plea because the court does not have jurisdiction over the crime of terrorism.
Map of Kampala

The three will reappear at the magistrates court on 27 August, but will not be permitted to plead to the charges until Uganda's Directorate of Public Prosecutions decides the case is ready to move to the High Court.

The three men were remanded in custody.

The BBC's Ignatius Bahizi, who was in court, says the men were arrested on 12 July, the day after the bombings.

There was no indication of how long they had been in Uganda prior to the attacks, he added.

He says at least 27 people have been arrested by an international team of investigators, including the FBI.

Police said they will bring more suspects to court in the coming days.

A report into Australia's worst bushfires has called for sweeping changes to the way the authorities respond to natural disasters.

Some 173 people were killed when fires tore across Victoria in early 2009.

Over 155 days a royal commission heard complaints about a lack of official information from a string of witnesses.

The report says authorities should build shelters in vulnerable areas and devise a full evacuation plan. Victoria has vowed to act swiftly on the report.
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The state government says it will make a decisive response to the sharp critique of its actions.

Poor official information about the speed and direction of the fires was a major complaint among the more than 400 witnesses who gave evidence to the commission.

They said the emergency system simply fell apart under pressure.
Vulnerable communities

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was established by the federal Australian government to investigate the causes and responses to the bushfires, which swept through the state in January and February that year.

The panel, which was headed by a former Supreme Court judge, also examined the individual circumstances of each of the deaths.

One of the most significant of the 67 recommendations in the report is the call for an overhaul of the so-called "stay and defend or leave early" policy, which has been a mainstay of fire management across Australia.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

I feel the full weight of responsibility to make sure that we get our response to the commission's report right to make sure we make our state as safe as possible”

End Quote John Brumby Premier of Victoria

Many of the people who died acted on official advice that if they could save their house they could save themselves.

The advice was only withdrawn after "Black Saturday" on 7 February 2009, when hundreds of fires started north of Melbourne as temperatures soared to 48C and strong winds blew in from the interior.

Rather than abandoning the "stay or go" policy, the commission recommends adopting a hybrid model that includes strengthening public warnings, providing designated community refuges and bushfire shelters in areas of high risk, and developing plans for emergency evacuations.

The report also says that leadership during the crisis was "wanting", and recommends appointing a fire commissioner in each state.

Victoria's former police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, was criticised for going out to dinner on Black Saturday and being out of touch for three hours despite being charged with co-ordinating the emergency response. She resigned as head of the Bushfire Recovery Committee earlier in July.

The commission says Ms Nixon, as well as former Country Fire Authority head Russell Rees and the department of the environment's chief fire officer, Ewan Waller, "did not demonstrate effective leadership in crucial areas" by ensuring that "prompt and accurate warnings were issued to communities in the path of the fires".
Burnt-out houses and cars in Kinglake (8 February 2009) Many who survived Black Saturday are too afraid to return to the fire-zone

The commission also wants the state government to roughly quadruple the amount of controlled burning it undertakes, and develop a voluntary scheme to acquire land in areas of unacceptably high bushfire risk. It also recommends that ageing power lines be replaced with underground cables.

Jean Howard, a resident of Kinglake, one of the communities worst-affected by the bushfires, told the BBC before the report's publication that she hoped the report would offer constructive advice rather than simply condemning those in authority.

"I know people are going to be blamed for it but... I don't think anybody can be to blame because it was a day that nobody had ever lived through or seen before, and nobody could have prepared for a day that that was."

Victoria Premier John Brumby said the state government would undertake a community consultation process on the report before responding.

"As premier I feel the full weight of responsibility to make sure that we get our response to the commission's report right to make sure we make our state as safe as possible," he told reporters.

"The people of our state want the opportunity to have some input."

The BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, says many Australians who survived Black Saturday have been too afraid to return to the fire zone, while those who have come back to start again believe that more needs to be done to protect their vulnerable communities from nature's fury.

Germany has held an emotional memorial service for 21 people killed at the Love Parade dance festival last weekend.

At the service, a top state official vowed that authorities would do everything to find out who was responsible for the tragedy.

More than 500 people were injured during a mass panic at the event in the western city of Duisburg.

As a mark of respect, flags across Germany flew at half-mast.
'Dance of death'

Visibly shaken, the state governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, said the authorities owed it to the relatives of the victims as well as to the injured and rescue workers to thoroughly investigate what led to the mass panic in a tunnel leading to the festival site.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel had broken off her summer holiday to attend the memorial service at the Salvator Church in Duisburg, along with friends and relatives of those killed at the Love Parade festival.

"The Love Parade was like a dance of death," the head of the regional Lutheran church, Nikolaus Schneider, said in his sermon.

"In the middle of a celebration of the lust for life, death showed its ugly face to all of us."

Rescue workers who had helped to look after the victims at the Love Parade site lit a candle for each person who died.

Hundreds of mourners marched from the city's train station towards the tunnel to pay their respects.

The service at the Salvator Church was broadcast live on German television, and hundreds were watching it on big television screens at other churches and a football stadium in the city.
Love Parade tragedy
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map

* Originated in peace event in Berlin staged four months before fall of Berlin Wall
* On 24 July, 21 people killed and more than 500 injured when panic breaks out in a tunnel leading to festival site
* Dead aged between 18 and 38
* Dead include 14 Germans, others from Spain, China, Australia, the Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy

Angelika Schick, who visited the Love Parade with her two daughters, watched the service in the stadium of local team MSV Duisburg.

"I hope this service will help me to find peace," she told German public broadcaster ARD.

Before the service, church bells across Duisburg and neighbouring cities rang in memory of those who died.

All week long people have been laying flowers and lighting candles at the exit to the tunnel where the deadly stampede took place.

Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation to determine whether negligent manslaughter was involved in the deaths of so many young people.

Police investigators have accused the Love Parade organisers of failing to control the huge crowds which led to a bottleneck at the tunnel, the only entrance to the festival grounds.

Feelings have been running high and angry residents have staged rallies demanding the resignation of Duisburg's mayor, who has been blamed for ignoring safety warnings in the run-up to the festival, BBC correspondent Tristana Moore in Berlin says.

The mayor, Adolf Sauerland, did not attend the memorial service.

Mr Sauerland said he feared his presence would hurt the feelings of victims' relatives.

He has been placed under police protection after receiving a number of death threats.

The festival organisers have said that they will discontinue the Love Parade.

Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Farc, says it is willing to talk to the new Colombian government.

The Farc leader known as Alfonso Cano said the Marxist rebel group was willing to search for a political solution to the 46-year-old conflict.

President-elect Juan Manuel Santos has in the past ruled out any dialogue unless the Farc released scores of hostages they are holding.

The message comes eight days before Mr Santos takes over as president.
Common ground?

Alfonso Cano, whose real name is Guillermo Leon Saenz, appeared in a videotaped message broadcast by the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera and posted on a Farc website.

In the 36-minute recording, Alfonso Cano said the Marxist group was looking for a political way out of the armed conflict.

"Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict," he said.

But he was also critical of the new government of Juan Manuel Santos, elected last month with a convincing majority.

"The success of Juan Manuel Santos this past 20 June guarantees political and strategic continuity for the Colombian oligarchy," he said referring to Mr Santos's long-standing political connections.

The president-elect, who served as defence minister under the current president, Alvaro Uribe, comes from an influential Colombian family.

His great-uncle, Eduardo Santos, was president from 1938 to 1942, and his cousin, Francisco Santos, is the current vice-president.

As defence minister, Mr Santos was instrumental in carrying out the so-called "democratic security policy", aimed at increasing the presence of the security forces throughout the country and driving back the Farc.

In the video, Alfonso Cano does not mention any of the setbacks the Farc have recently suffered.

Last month, the Colombian military rescued four members of the security forces who had been held by the rebel group for almost 12 years.

During the past eight years, Farc numbers have dwindled and many of their top leaders have died or been killed, prompting the Colombian military to say they have reached "the end of the end game".

Alfonso Cano himself only took over the Farc leadership after the death of Manuel Marulanda in 2008.

Mr Cano said the Farc did not enjoy war and asked the Colombian government to stop "forcing us to take up arms".

"We want to create an egalitarian society through political means," he added.
Diplomatic impasse

But he also warned that if the Colombian government continued its military offensive, the Farc would have "no other option but to continue the armed struggle" until their objectives had been met.

During the past eight years, there has been no dialogue with the rebels, as President Alvaro Uribe ruled out talks unless the guerrillas agreed to lay down their arms.

During his presidential campaign, Mr Santos, too, said he would not enter into any talks unless the rebels agreed to release all the hostages they were holding and stopped kidnappings altogether.

The Farc video comes amid a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela following charges that some 1,500 Farc guerrillas are using Venezuelan territory as a haven.

The BBC's Jim Muir: "A lot of Lebanese will be looking to these meetings to defuse tensions"

The Syrian and Saudi leaders have called on Lebanon's rival factions to avoid turning to violence amid mounting political tensions in the country.

The call came after unprecedented talks in Beirut between Saudi King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.

They urged Lebanese to resolve issues through "legal institutions".

The trip marks progress in relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria - two of the region's most influential powers.
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Lebanon and Syria only exchanged embassies for the first time last year, and entente between them is seen as crucial to stability in Lebanon.

"The leaders stressed the importance of stability... the commitment (of the Lebanese) not to resort to violence and the need to place the country's interests above all sectarian interests," said a statement issued by the Lebanese presidency after talks between the three leaders.
Conflict looming?

The day-long visit was Mr Assad's first to Lebanon since Syria was forced to withdraw its troops after a 29-year military presence following the 2005 killing of former PM Rafik Hariri.
Analysis
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Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut

There was a flurry of last-minute preparations at the Lebanese presidential palace for what was an unprecedented event here.

For the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia to arrive here together and carrying the same message is a sign of the concern they seem to share that Lebanon must not be allowed to explode again into sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shias as happened two years ago on the streets of Beirut.

It was not clear exactly how they would try to defuse the tensions over the possible indictment of Hezbollah members by the UN tribunal looking into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

But their message was clear, that whatever transpires it must not be allowed to destabilise the country.

That message has certainly been delivered and many Lebanese are optimistic it will be taken on board.

The Syrian president gave reporters a thumbs-up as he left the talks at the presidential palace outside Beirut, saying simply: "It was an excellent summit."

Both he and the Saudi leader are worried conflict could break out if, as rumoured, a UN tribunal indicts members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement over the Hariri killing.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah pledged to work together to help stabilise Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah - who rarely appears in public - was not at the meeting, although Hezbollah cabinet ministers took part in talks between the Syrian and Saudi delegations and Lebanese MPs after the leaders' meeting.

Hezbollah is Syria's main ally in Lebanon, while the Saudis have strong ties with the country's Sunni community and the current Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the murdered ex-prime minister.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah are thought to have been instrumental in ending the five months of deadlock which preceded the formation of Lebanon's unity government - which includes Hezbollah - last November.

The Saudis and Syrians backed opposing factions when sectarian tensions spilled into raging street battles in Beirut two years ago.

Now they have mended their own fences, analysts say, they are urging their respective allies in Lebanon to put the country's stability above any other consideration.
'Major stability'

Lebanon's relations with Syria have been complicated since the Hariri assassination, the huge anti-Syrian demonstrations that followed, and Syria's military withdrawal in 2005.
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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (left) shakes hands with Syria's President Bashar Assad (right) as Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman (centre) smiles at his presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, 30 July, 2010

* Your views: Will leaders' visit defuse tensions?

But things have improved since then, analysts say. Saad Hariri has visited Damascus twice as prime minister for talks with Mr Assad, setting aside earlier accusations that Syria was behind his father's death.

Mr Assad's visit to Beirut takes that normalisation a step further.

Tensions have risen in the past week, however, with the Hezbollah leader reacting angrily to persistent reports that the Hariri tribunal may indict several members of his Islamist group.

He made clear that he would not accept such a scenario, accusing the tribunal of being politicised and part of an "Israeli project".