HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s forces shut down four Islamic charities and two photocopying shops in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday for alleged ties to the rival Hamas faction, a security source said.

(Reuters) – Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists’ press service reported on its website on Friday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian soldiers now in the South Ossetian capital say their artillery has begun firing at Georgian forces – the first confirmed engagement between the two countries’ troops, Russian agencies reported.