TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) – Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led a performance of Tchaikovsky among the bombed-out buildings of South Ossetia on Thursday in a concert he said was to alert the world to the region’s suffering.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine fears it could be the next target of Russia’s campaign to reassert influence over countries it long dominated in the Soviet Union, with Moscow well placed to foment separatist feelings in its Russian-speaking regions.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who have reached South Ossetia, will focus on visiting detainees and helping families trace missing loved ones, an ICRC spokesman said on Thursday.

PARIS (Reuters) – France has complained to Russia after soldiers stopped the French ambassador to Georgia at a roadblock on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.

OSLO (Reuters) – The United States warned Georgia against trying to retake rebel South Ossetia by force, including on the very eve of the August 7 attack that drew a crushing response from Russia, the U.S. envoy to NATO said on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Suicide blasts and sinking financial markets added pressure on Pakistan’s government to tackle the nation’s mounting problems on Thursday after President Pervez Musharraf quit but a split threatens to tear the coalition apart.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Two Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the country’s main defense industry complex on Thursday, killing at least 59 people as workers were leaving at the end of their shift, officials said.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Leila Inauri laughed grimly at the irony of her situation. “The Russians have driven us from our homes and now we end up as refugees here in a building that used to be the base for Russian soldiers serving in the Caucasus. It is an irony of …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s chief negotiator said on Thursday a Palestinian uprising could reignite if the international community piled too much pressure on the sides to paper over differences and rush into an agreement on statehood.

SUSIA, West Bank (Reuters) – In the stony hills south of Hebron, Palestinian shepherds complain of frequent attacks by militant Israeli settlers encroaching on their land.