Eurasia

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.

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.

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.

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)- Russian Vice-Speaker of State Duma Valery Vazev conferred on Tuesday with Head of Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group Mehdi Sanaei on expansion of parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGE) official announced that Iran plans to launch gas exports to Armenia in the very near future.

KARALETI, Georgia (Reuters) – Russian troops started pulling back from buffer zones outside South Ossetia on Wednesday, two months after Russia’s brief war with Georgia which increased tension with the West.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An onshore associate of Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian ship with tanks and other weaponry on board said on Wednesday an $8 million ransom deal was in the offing which may enable the boat to be freed within days. “A boat will carry the money from Djibouti …