POTI, Georgia (Reuters) – Russia said on Saturday it would continue to patrol Georgia’s main Black Sea port, defying Western demands for a complete pullback to positions held before this month’s outbreak of fighting over a Georgian rebel region.

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) – The fruit and vegetable market in Gori buzzed with life on Saturday after Georgian forces retook control of the strategically located town following nearly two weeks of Russian occupation.

TBILISI (Reuters) – They are 21st century barbarians, thugs, thieves, fascist hordes bent on killing, sacking Georgian cities, burning treasured forests, humiliating and crushing a proud people.

POTI, Georgia (Reuters) – Up to 1,000 Georgians protested angrily on Saturday against the presence of about 20 Russian soldiers at a post just outside the strategic Black Sea port of Poti, insisting they had no right to stay there.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s former culture minister, believed to be in hiding since last year, has been sentenced to death by hanging for involvement in the killing of another politician’s two sons, a court spokesman said on Friday.

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) – Georgia said on Saturday Russian forces planned to establish checkpoints at eight locations skirting South Ossetia and Georgia’s main East-West highway.

Georgian troops have taken back control of the main road linking the east and west of the country after Russian forces withdrew. But it is a mixed picture elsewhere in the country, and America has strongly criticised the Kremlin for maintaining a Russian presence in Georgia’s heartland.

(PNN) – The Israeli High Court is scrutinizing a ruling in the shooting case of Ashraf Abu Rahma. Israeli forces shot him in western Ramallah’s Nal’in Village, a town active in the nonviolent resistance against the Wall. He was blindfolded and handcuffed when an Israeli soldier shot him at point …

Human rights activists set sail from Cyprus on Friday, August 22, to the Gaza Strip to break the months-long Israeli blockade on the 1.6 million Palestinians in the poverty-stricken strip.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tajikistan has entrusted Iranian contractors with the construction of Sangtudeh 2 dam and hydropower plant.