Thomas Fessy reporting

World News from the BBC

Twenty civilians in Afghanistan have been killed when a bus they were travelling in hit a landmine. Women and children are among the victims. It's not known yet how many people were on board. The explosion happened on the main road linking the city of Kandahar to the southwestern province of Nimroz.

French police have detained a man who'd grabbed President Nicolas Sarkozy and nearly knocked him to the ground when he was shaking hands in a crowd. The incident happened in the town of Brax in the southwest of France. Reports said the attacker, a local caretaker and receptionist, was not armed. Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings have been low in recent months, and he's been

heckle

d on several occasions, but this is the first time he's been physically attacked.

Official figures show that Britain has experienced its highest rate of population growth in almost half a century. The population rose to 62.25 million last year, up almost 0.5 million on 2009. The rise has been caused by an increase in the birth rate and greater

longevity

. Mark Easton has the details.

The Office for National Statistics says the main reason population is rising faster than at any time since Harold Wilson was prime minister is the sheer number of babies being born, an additional 370 extra every day, compared to eight years before. Some are

hail

ing this as good news, a way of defusing the demographic time bomb of a shrinking young working population and a rapidly increasing elderly population. And with the global population predicted to hit seven billion in the near future, there are those who link rising birth rates to potential disaster.