Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Russia takes control of South Ossetian capital
ERGNETI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russian troops took most of the capital of the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia on Sunday after a three-day battle but the United States condemned Moscow's "dangerous and disproportionate" action.
Russia poured troops and tanks across its southern border into Georgia and bombed Georgian targets after Tbilisi attempted on Thursday evening to retake South Ossetia, a small pro-Russian province which broke away from Georgia in the 1990s.
In a possible opening of a second front in the conflict, Georgia accused Russia of starting a military operation on Sunday in Abkhazia, another separatist region of Georgia to the west of South Ossetia. Moscow denied involvement.
The crisis has alarmed the United States, Georgia's main ally, and unnerved investors in Russia, who sold stocks and the rouble heavily on Friday on concerns the conflict could spiral.
The West is vying for influence with Russia over oil and gas supply routes in the region and Russia is rankled by Georgia's pro-Western policies and its drive for NATO membership.
Georgia and Russia have accused each other of causing widespread civilian casualties since the fighting began.
State-controlled Russian television repeatedly spoke of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in South Ossetia after the Georgian attack, with more than 2,000 dead and thousands homeless.
A Georgian government source said on Saturday that 129 Georgian civilians and military had been killed and 748 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia. Russia denied hitting civilian targets.
Moving south from the Caucasus mountains, Russian forces took control on Sunday of most of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, which has been devastated by intense fighting.
Russia's military commander on the ground, Gen. Anatoly Khrulyov, was wounded by shrapnel when his convoy came under Georgian fire, Russian agencies reported.
"As of today most of the city (Tskhinvali) is controlled by Russian peacekeeping forces," Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn of the Russian General Staff, told a briefing in Moscow.
Georgia confirmed it forces were quitting the city.
Viewed from the town of Gori inside Georgian-controlled territory, Tskhinvali appeared quiet. A Reuters correspondent reported hearing only one burst of what sounded like artillery fire, though there were reports of isolated sniper fire.
STRAIN RELATIONS
The White House deplored Russia's action, which included bombing at least three Georgian targets outside South Ossetia.
President George W. Bush's deputy national security adviser James Jeffrey told reporters in Beijing, where the president was attending the Olympics, that Moscow's actions could have a "significant long-term impact" on relations.
"We deplore the dangerous and disproportionate actions by Russian forces and we would be particularly troubled if these attacks are continuing now as the Georgians are pulling back," he said.
Pope Benedict called for an immediate halt to the fighting, expressing "profound anguish" that the violence had caused many innocent victims and forced many civilians to leave their homes.
Russian television showed what it said were pictures from Tskhinvali of burnt-out buildings, wounded civilians receiving medical treatment in basements and crying mothers complaining of a lack of food and water.
"The Georgian tanks fired at everything they saw, including women and children," one man said after his evacuation over the border to the Russian region of North Ossetia.
A woman evacuee clutching her two children said she feared the worst for her husband.
"It's so difficult to be here and know my husband is still in South Ossetia," she said.
ABKHAZIA
In Geneva, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the plight of thousands of civilians caught up in fighting in and around South Ossetia, a region of 70,000 people.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut short his visit to the Olympics and flew on Saturday to a field hospital in North Ossetia, visiting wounded troops and evacuees, and denouncing what he termed Georgia's "crimes against its own people".
Potentially widening the conflict, the Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh said on Sunday he had ordered 1,000 troops to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge, a strategic pocket of territory in Abkhazia, and called up reservists.
Georgia denounced what it termed "new aggression" by Moscow in Abkhazia, a strip of land along the Black Sea coast which also broke away from Georgian control.
"They have started the operation to storm Kodori Gorge," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
Russian general Nogovitsyn denied Moscow was taking part in any operation in Abkhazia beyond its agreed peacekeeping role.
"We are not going to undertake any actions which are going to lead to escalation of the situation in this region," he said.
Russia's navy also entered the conflict, deploying a flotilla off Georgia's Black Sea coast. There was no official comment on their mission but the Interfax news agency said they would stop weapons and military gear reaching Georgia by sea.
Friday, 1 August 2008
Solar eclipse dazzles Russia, China
The full solar eclipse swept across the Arctic and Siberia before ending in western China, where it kicked off the month in which Beijing hosts the Olympic Games.
Andrew Potter reports.
Friday, 25 July 2008
7 small blasts in Bangalore, 1 dead
Jul. 25 - Seven low intensity blasts rocked the Southern city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) on Friday afternoon killing one woman and injuring seven others.
An ANI report.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Bull-ring collapses during fight
Jul 23 - Dozens of people were injured on Monday (July 21) in a Colombian town when bleachers collapsed at a bull fight.
Bull fighting at the Planadas Bull Fair in Colombia was interrupted when a section of the stands collapsed causing nearly 100 people to crash down.
No one died, but two were severely injured.
The incident was captured by televisions cameras at the event.
The majority of the people in the stands were children, who were watching the "Superman Bullfighter" presentation at the time of the collapse.
Santas' ho-ho-hot summer bash
Jul 23 - Santas get together for a mid-summer convention before the hard work starts next Christmas.
The main aim is having fun but waistline, climate change and standardisation of chimney sizes are high on the agenda at this year's event in Denmark attended by more than 150 Santas from 12 countries.
Paul Chapman reports.
Chimp in daring zoo break-out
Jul 23 - Dodging tranquillizer darts and yelping at his captors, a brazen chimp staged his own version of The Great Escape.
At Ishikawa Zoo, western Japan a 42-year-old chimpanzee named Ichiro led the audacious break-out from his pen and refused to come down from the roof.
At one point the chimp even grabbed the zoo worker's tranquillizer gun, but luckily it fell to the floor. Eventually the chimp was lured with a banana and then sedated.
It is thought the chimp was trying to find shelter from the sweltering heat that Japan has been having. Temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday (July 23).
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Friday, 18 July 2008
Video games are about connectivity
Jul 16 - The E3 Media & Business Summit kicked off in full force Tuesday (July 15) with big name producers promising bigger and better features and games. Online interaction seems to be the theme of new consoles and games.
Lindsay Claiborn reports.
Speaker:Matt Barlow, Microsoft's General Manager of Marketing for XBox
JibJab strikes again
Jul. 16 - JibJab's latest musical satire "Time for some Campaignin'" pokes fun at the U.S. presidential selection process by adapting Bob Dylan's 1964 song, "The Times They are a-changin".
The video satirically spotlights the quadrennial American process of selecting a president with animated images of John McCain and Barack Obama. The video portrays Obama as a liberal unicorn-riding candidate in a fantasy world and McCain as a war-obsessed cranky old man.
The video was produced by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, who began JibJab in 1999 and gained famed in 2004 with a video of George Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land is your Land."
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Not dirty dancing - poodle prancing
In Japan, where dog hotels, canine cafes, and even dog-friendly cars are the norm, dancing lessons for pets seems like a natural progression in the lucrative pet industry.
At Tokyo's "Wan-Nyan World Tama", which means "Bow-Meow World" in Japanese, classrooms are filled with aspiring poodle prancers.
Lyndee Prickitt reports.
Tree houses to attract tourists
Obama anger over satirical cartoon
Jul 15 - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has failed to see the funny side of a magazine cartoon poking fun at smears directed at him.
The cover of this week's New Yorker magazine portrays the Illinois senator in a fez and robe bumping fists with wife Michelle, who sports an Afro, a rifle and military garb.
The Obama campaign, which has taken aggressive measures to knock down these perceptions, is not amused and says most readers would consider it tasteless and offensive.
The Editor of The New Yorker disagrees.
Sonia Legg reports.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Getting the dirt on swamp soccer
Jun. 25 - Strachur in Scotland plays host to the new sport of swamp soccer.
The set up for swamp soccer is very simple. Take a five-a-side size pitch, remove all the grass and add gallons of water.
Unsurprisingly no training is required; all that is needed is a sense of fun and a fearless spirit when it comes to mud, mess and mayhem.
Want to get hitched? Study up first!
Jul 10 - A father of the bride in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh used an unusual method of arranging a groom for his daughter: he gave potential suitors a test on the five-element theory of the creation of the human body.
Matthias Williams reports.
SOUNDBITES:
And Finally... *Burp*
Jul. 10 - Methane measuring, "free hug day", drive-in weddings, and a five-year-old piano prodigy.
