Eurasia

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, the besieged capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, on Friday after battling separatist forces overnight, Interfax news agency reported.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia will continue its military operation in the breakaway region of South Ossetia until a “durable peace” is reached, Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said on Friday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is currently holding consultations with aides on Moscow’s strategy in the South Ossetian conflict, the Kremlin said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia yesterday denied having agreed with the US, UK and other countries to push for another round of economic sanctions against Iran at the United Nations.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Cyprus has not asked for Iran’s mediation towards Turkey regarding efforts to reach a solution to the Cyprus issue, a Cypriot Foreign Ministry’s source said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Germany’s allies are dismayed that the German government has granted a German firm permission to supply three natural gas plants to Iran at the same time they’re trying to pressure Iran into suspending its nuclear program, US and European officials said Tuesday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic demanded on Wednesday that former U.S. peace mediator Richard Holbrooke and ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appear at the U.N. war crimes tribunal to back his claims of an immunity offer from the United States.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia buried Soviet-era dissident and author Alexander Solzhenitsyn at a 16th-century monastery on Wednesday after a religious ceremony attended by President Dmitry Medvedev which bore all the hallmarks of a state funeral.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia has set no deadline for Iran to respond to an offer from six world powers aimed at resolving Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West, Russia’s U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday.

ANKARA/BAKU (Reuters) – An explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline on Tuesday night in eastern Turkey has halted the oil flow along the one million barrels per day pipeline, a senior Turkish Energy Ministry official said.