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Watch the European section of the World Cup draw

England will face Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and San Marino in Group H when they bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

Scotland and Wales were drawn together in Group A, and will play Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Northern Ireland are up against Portugal, Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in Group F.

Only group winners are guaranteed a place at the tournament.

With 13 places available in Brazil for European teams, the eight-best second-placed teams will play-off against each other to go through.

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It is not an easy draw. You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final - but that will be another manager's job

England manager Fabio Capello

The Republic of Ireland were drawn against Germany, Sweden, Austria, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan in Group C, while France and world champions Spain are in a five-team group - the only European group without six teams - along with Belarus, Georgia and Finland.

"Three years is a long time and 2014 isn't now," said France coach Laurent Blanc. "Spain are currently the best team there is but we don't know if that will be the case in two or three years' time.

"You have to go up against the best if you want to achieve something at a World Cup."

In the qualifying process for the 2014 World Cup, 203 teams will play an eventual 824 matches across the globe.

The draws for the Africa, Asia, Oceania and the North, Central America and Caribbean regions also took place in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, although no draw was made for South America as its nine teams qualify through a one-group championship.

The finals will take place between 12 June and 13 July, and a decision on whether to introduce goal-line technology will be taken at next March's meeting of the International FA Board, the game's lawmakers.

Continue reading the main story The total of 203 teams vying for one of 31 World Cup spots in Brazil surpasses the 200 who participated four years agoThe only associations not to have signed up to compete for 2014 qualification are Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Guam and MauritaniaFifa would not draw Azerbaijan and Armenia together, nor Russia and Georgia, because of political conflicts which they said could lead to fan violence during matchesGermany has been the most successful team in the last six World Cup qualifying campaigns, with only two losses in 74 matches

England manager Fabio Capello was present at the draw, although he is set to move on next summer after the conclusion of the European Championships.

Montenegro drew 0-0 with England at Wembley in October in their qualifier for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

"It is not an easy draw," said Capello. "You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final - but that will be another manager's job.

"We know Montenegro very well and we have to play against them again. Poland are improving and will be really focused and will be tough opponents. With Ukraine I remember the game we lost against them in the last match during the qualification for South Africa. Moldova are not so strong, and San Marino the same."

Wales manager Gary Speed said: "It's obviously a tough draw. It's a really tough group, but it could have been worse. There are no weak teams in the group. It's one of those groups where everyone can beat anyone."

Scotland boss Craig Levein admitted he had hoped to miss Speed's side in the draw, saying: "I would have rather avoided Wales because obviously it brings in that home international rivalry, which we probably could have done without.

"We have recent good experience of playing Wales, when we won against them over in Dublin recently, but also not so long ago we lost 3-0 to Wales, so it's a bit of a mixed bag."

Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington said of Group F: "It looks a reasonably tough group, but it could have been worse. There is a fair bit of travelling but you have to deal with that."

Find the 2014 World Cup preliminary draw in full here (external site).

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Soccer robots gather for world cup

8 July 2011 Last updated at 07:37 GMT The University of Edinburgh's Subramanian Ramamoorthy is training robots to play football

The best strikers, defenders and midfield players in the robot football world are gathering in Istanbul.

The teams and their coaches are there for the climax of the 2011 non-human soccer calendar - the RoboCup.

The competition sees teams from all around the world pit their creations, be they made from bolts or bytes, against other robot teams.

The 2011 tournament includes one of the UK's first robot football teams.

Team human

Now in its 14th year, the RoboCup was set up with the aim of creating, by 2050, a team of humanoid robots that can take on and beat the best human players.

The competition aims to encourage innovation in robot building by getting roboteers to tackle the many problems that playing football embodies.

Not only do team coaches have to conquer basic problems such as vision, but they also have to work on how to get their players acting as a team. All robots playing the game have to be autonomous - although the machines can swap information wirelessly. Play must also be fair as no barging, blocking or touching is allowed.

UK team Edinferno from the University of Edinburgh has won a place in the final and is up against 27 other teams in what is known as the "standard platform" league.

The RoboCup attracts teams from more than 40 nations

Every team in this league uses humanoid Nao robots made by French firm Aldebaran Robotics. The robots are standard but the on-board software controlling their sensors, actuators and limbs is custom-written to try to make the best of the machine's capabilities.

The UK also has an interest in the Noxious Kouretes team that is coached by the Technical University of Crete as well as the University of Wales and Oxford University.

In addition, a number of UK schools have qualified for the junior competition.

Other leagues at the tournament will see competition among simulated players (both 2D and 3D), small robots, medium-sized robots and teams made of humanoid robots.

In 2010, about 500 teams from about 40 nations - including Iran, Taiwan and Chile - took part in the RoboCup's various tournaments.

In recent years, the tournament has grown to include more than just football. Allied competitions cover domestic robots that carry out chores around the house and rescue robots that help emergency services.

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World Bank: $6bn for North Africa

24 May 2011 Last updated at 16:19 GMT The World Bank move is explicitly aimed at bolstering the Arab Spring democratic revolutions The World Bank has pledged $6bn in loans for Egypt and Tunisia in a move explicitly to bolster the Arab Spring.

Egypt, which will receive $4.5bn over two years, is also speaking to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Meanwhile, Qatar has offered to make up to $10bn in investments in Egypt.

It comes after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - set up to aid post-Communist Eastern Europe - said at the weekend it would start lending to emerging Arab democracies.

Egypt and Morocco had already applied to the EBRD for financial assistance.

But while the lender said it hoped eventually to provide up to 2.5bn euros ($3.5bn) a year to the region, any such wholesale geographic reorientation of its mandate would need the approval of all of its 63 members.

Funding gap

Like the EBRD, the World Bank explicitly stated its desire to support the Arab Spring of democratic revolutions.

"Our support, and that of others, can sustain momentum and accelerate progress, but only if coupled with real reform," said Robert Zoellick, World Bank president.

The World Bank money will be made conditional on the countries' progress in modernising their economies.

Tunisia - which was the first country to oust its former dictator - will receive $1.5bn from the international lender, of which $500m is part of a previously-announced $1.2bn package put together with the African Development Bank and European donors.

Continue reading the main story $10bn expected funding shortfall in 2011-12$4.5bn new loans from the World Bank over two years$1.2bn in existing World Bank support$1bn debt forgiveness by US, plus $1bn loan guarantees$4bn aid package from Saudi Arabia$10bn investments from QatarMulti-billion dollar loans from the IMF to be agreedTwo tranches of $1bn, to be provided directly to the Egyptian government this year and next, would be linked to "governance and openness reforms".

The other money would be provided in other formats, such as guarantees, private business loans and infrastructure financing.

Egypt's financing needs are daunting, thanks to a collapse in the economy - notably the tourism industry - triggered by the recent political turmoil.

Elevated demands of the people after the revolution were adding to pressure on the budget, Finance Minister Samir Radwan told the BBC earlier this month.

The country expects to run a deficit of 9-10% of economic output in the coming year and faces a financing gap of $10bn-12bn, which it has already formally applied to the IMF to help plug.

Gulf support

Qatar's planned investments in Egypt are expected to be consummated during a visit to Egypt by Qatar's emir this Saturday.

"I believe these projects, when implemented, will surpass $10bn and they will be productive products in Egypt," said the Qatari ambassador, Saleh al-Buainein.

The emirate may also buy up Egyptian government bonds in order to help fund its deficit.

It comes after the US and Saudi Arabia offered the new Egyptian government financial support.

The US said it would cancel $1bn in debts and provide a further $1bn in loan guarantees to support infrastructure finance.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has offered a $4bn aid package.

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Djokovic earns World finals spot

Djokovic has been in devastating form so far this year Novak Djokovic has become the first player to qualify for the 2011 ATP World Tour finals following his win in Sunday's Rome Masters.

The Serb, who is unbeaten in 2011, beat Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 in the final after defeating Andy Murray in the last four.

He is only the second man after Nadal in 2009 to qualify for the finals before the French Open.

The finals, featuring the world's top eight players, take place at London's O2 Arena from 20-27 November.

It will be fifth successive time Djokovic, 23, has qualified for the season-ending tournament, which he won in 2008 when it was held in Shanghai.

Last year, Djokovic reached the semi-finals in London before losing to Roger Federer and has not lost a match since.

His winning streak is 37 matches in 2011 - and 39 in total counting his two singles successes in Croatia's Davis Cup final victory against France in December.

This year his run has brought victory in the Australian Open as well as titles in Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid and now Rome.

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