Eurasia

SOCHI/TBILISI (Reuters) – Russia signed a peace deal to end the conflict in Georgia on Saturday but said “extra security measures” were needed before a withdrawal could begin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, working from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, added his signature to a French-led peace plan already endorsed …

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani artillery and helicopter gunships killed nine pro-Taliban militants in an assault on their hideouts in the restive northwestern Swat valley on Saturday, army officials said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran increased its gas exports to Turkey after the Russia-Georgia conflict disrupted supplies from Azerbaijan.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has signed the ceasefire agreement faxed to him by US diplomats, formally ending hostilities with Georgia. Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili put pen to paper yesterday on the deal, which had already been signed by separatist leaders in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The occupation of Georgian territory and the methods used have brought some of the fiercest words from the USA in two decades. In an apparent violation of the ceasefire deal the Russian army is extending the zone it controls, and while US foreign minister Condoleezza Rice has recieved faithful assurances …

Russian tanks remain parked deep inside Georgia this morning, and there are reports of two more towns being brought under military control. An armoured column has been seen just 45 kilometres from the capital, shadowed by three helicopter gunships. Other Russian forces are on the move in Georgia well outside …

Five days of heavy fighting have left Tskhinvali, south Osettia, in ruins, but now at least refugees are returning. They find a cleanup struggling to make a difference, with few services and no utilities.

As international tension rises, parades marking Army Day in Poland have been held against a backdrop of Russian rage. Moscow is furious that Warsaw has agreed to host elements of a US global anti-missile system. By doing so, a senior Russian general was quoted as saying that Poland was making …

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has signed the ceasefire agreement delivered to him in person by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to end the week-long conflict with Russia.

US President George W. Bush has again expressed Washington’s support for Tbilisi. In a statement made from the White House, Bush said: “The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world and we will not cast them aside.”