WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hundreds of houses in ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia were torched in August, after Russian troops took control of the area, according to an analysis of satellite images released on Thursday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian Islamists in Gaza are stalling on an Egyptian plan to reconcile them with the secular PLO leadership in the West Bank, a senior official of the rival Fatah faction said on Thursday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Two of Serbia’s closest neighbors are expected to move toward recognizing Kosovo on Thursday, a blow to Belgrade’s efforts to counter the secession of its former province.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin brushed aside a demand by the Communist Party to sack Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Thursday, saying now was not the time to discuss mistakes made by economic authorities.

An Iraqi MP from the bloc of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.

At least three police officers and a civilian have been killed in an attack in Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey. Unidentified assailants reportedly opened fire on a police bus on the ouskirts of the mainly Kurdish city. 22 other people, mainly trainee officers, have been injured.

The UN’s decision to refer the issue of Kosovo’s status to the International Court of Justice has met with dismay in Pristina, which declared independence earlier this year.

NATO allies meet today in Budapest, under increasing pressure from their senior collegue to step up the war in Afghanistan. The United States appealed for more troops, and said those members who refused should at least pay more of the bills. Washington intends to boost its forces in the face …

The people of Ukraine face a third election in three years — a second in a year — after President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved Parliament yesterday. The political in-fighting between the president’s party and that of Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko made it quite clear that the coalition government could not go …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The chairman of Iran’s biggest car maker accused France of “inappropriate policies”, which he said are hampering joint ventures in a country where French manufacturers have a 40 to 50 percent market share.