MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will spend at least $400 million in 2008 on restoring South Ossetia’s battered capital Tskhinvali, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Wednesday. Tskhinvali, with a population of about 35,000, bore the brunt of five days of fighting that began last Friday when Georgia sought to retake …

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) – A bomb killed at least 18 people, including nine soldiers, in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, security sources said. The bomb, which also wounded at least 45 people, was the deadliest attack on the army since its battle with al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants …

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s parliament rejected a request from prosecutors to investigate corruption allegations against former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase on Wednesday, in a case seen as a test of the country’s justice system reforms.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, has ordered the military to cease its operations in Georgia and the breakaway regions of South Osetia and Abkhazia, according to the Kremlin.

Damages of civil airports August 11, 2008 05:00 Shiraki airfield in Dedoplistskaro District on the east of the country is bombed by Russian jets. Runways were destroyed. August 9 14:00 Russian air force attack Upper Abkhazia (Kodori gorge) in several places, including the airdrome in the village of Omarishara. Runways …

Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, has told tens of thousands of people at a rally outside the country’s parliament that Georgia will quit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and urged Ukraine to follow suit.

Since the worsening of the conflict between Russia and Georgia, and especially after the beginning of armed aggression of Russia against Georgia, the Russian authorities and the media have widely replicated reports that “Chechen units and volunteers from Chechnya” are participating on Russian side in war against Georgia.

According to Kavkaz Center sources inside the Wilayah (Province) of Nokhchicho (Ichkeria/Chechnya) of the Caucasus Emirate, a large convoy of Russian troops supported by helicopter gunships had moved towards Georgian village of Shatili, which is located near the mountainous area of Itum-Kali district of Chechnya.

12 August   03:25 Russian envoy to the UN Churkin announced on the press conference that Russia will not support the resolution. Georgian envoy Alasania announced that suggested resolution is acceptable to Georgia.

Russia’s defence ministry has said that its forces have carried out military operations around the west Georgian town of Senaki in order to prevent Georgian troops from regrouping there.