MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia praised the European Union on Tuesday for taking a “responsible approach” to its conflict with Georgia by declining to impose sanctions on Moscow but said the EU had failed to understand its reasons for intervening.

NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – Police in the Russian region of Ingushetia used batons to break up an anti-government protest on Tuesday, a human rights campaigner said, two days after police shot dead an opposition leader.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces began a push on Tuesday to evict people squatting in Baghdad homes that were abandoned by residents fleeing sectarian violence, a military spokesman said.

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – The European Union’s rejection of sanctions on Russia is positive but it is disappointing the bloc does not understand the Kremlin’s motives in Georgia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s defense sector has called for a big rise in funding for the military after Russia’s war with Georgia but its reliance on Russian supplies of weapons and parts poses a dilemma.

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – Russia hopes the crisis in Georgia will not disrupt strategically important relations between the United States and Russia, a top Kremlin aide said on Tuesday.

NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – Masked police in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia used batons to break up an anti-government protest on Tuesday, two days after an opposition leader died in police custody.

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) – Ethnic Pashtun tribal elders in Pakistan have promised to ensure security for supplies trucked through the Khyber Pass bound for foreign forces in Afghanistan, a government official said on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Taliban said on Tuesday they had kidnapped two Chinese telecommunications engineers and two Pakistanis and that abductions would continue until the government stopped attacking militants.

As of Monday, Sept. 1, 2008, at least 4,151 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,371 died as a result of hostile action, …