BBC News with Nick Kelly.



Hurricane Gustav is advancing inland from the Gulf Coast of the United States after the worst of the storm missed New Orleans, the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina 3 years ago. An estimated 2 million people headed inland to escape Gustav which left about 90 people dead last week as it crossed the Caribbean. Kevin Connolly reports from New Orleans.



For several hours in the early part of the day, New Orleans was battered by powerful squalls that threatened to dump four-month worth of normal rainfall in a single morning. The waters of the city's Industrial Canal rose to the very top of the concrete floodwall which channels it through the suburbs. But so far, the defenses have held. Hundreds of thousands of residents must now decide when they should return to their homes, but overall the feeling is one of relief.

“We didn't just dodge a bullet”, said one local official, “we dodged a cannonball.”



The Republican Party in the United States has opened its convention where John McCain is due to be nominated as the party's presidential candidate. Most of the day's political events were suspended out of respect for communities affected by Hurricane Gustav. Mr. McCain's wife Cindy and the First Lady Laura Bush appeal for help for victims of the storm.



The effect of Hurricane Gustav is just now being measured. When such events occur we are reminded that first we are all Americans. And that our shared American ideals will always transcend political parties and partisanship.



European Union leaders have postponed their next round of talks with Russia on a planned partnership agreement in response to Moscow's military action in Georgia. At an emergency summit in Brussels, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said the EU would have to reexamine its relationship with Russia if it did not pull back its troops in Georgia in line with the ceasefire agreement that it signed. The Russian envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov described the postponement of talks as inappropriate but he said he was not inclined to overdramatize it.



I believe the overall balance of this summit to be not as bad as it may seem to those who focus only on one issue. But of course, if the European Union is eager to reassess its relations with Russia, it's entitled to do so, just as Russia is entitled to reassess its relations with the EU.



Thousands of pro and anti-government demonstrators have clashed in Thailand in the worst violence since the start of an opposition campaign to oust the Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. At least one person was reported dead and more than 30 injured after supporters of Mr.Samak tried to march on his office compound which became occupied by the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy. Thai television showed people bleeding on the streets and the police chief said he called in the army to help quell the unrest.



World News from the BBC.



The Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has announced that he's resigning, less than a year after he took office. Mr. Fukuda blamed the stalemate in the opposition controlled Upper House of Parliament for his departure. In contrast with his more nationalist predecessors, Mr. Fukuda has sought to improve relations with China but he's being accused of lacking charisma.



The Senate in Pakistan has demanded an investigation into reports that at least 3 women were murdered in a rural area of Baluchistan. [They] are being buried alive after being accused of dishonoring their families. Pakistani human rights workers say the women were abducted by local tribesmen because they had planned to marry without their relatives' consent. This report from Barbara Plett in Islamabad.



Human rights activists outside parliament shouted "shame! Shame!" They were furious that a senator had called the murder of women a reflection of tribal tradition. In Pakistan's conservative countryside, it's not uncommon for male relatives to kill women accused of violating family honor. Rights groups and news reports have alleged that the killed women belong to a political family connected to the governing Pakistan People's Party and use their influence to block a police investigation.



Thomas Bata who for four decades around the worldwide shoe business which bore his name has died in hospital in Canada. He was 93. Mr. Bata ,whose father founded the business in what is now the Czech Republic, fled to Canada to escape the Nazis in 1938. He then established Bata's headquarters in Toronto and headed the company until the 1980s.



And scientists in the United States say playing or even watching sport can improve intelligence. Researchers in Chicago monitored the brains of ice hockey players and fans, they found that when they listen to conversations about their sport, they use parts of their brains usually associated with planning and controlling actions.



BBC News.