GEORGIA: Georgia says it has withdrawn its troops from the capital of its breakaway
province of South Ossetia, and that Russian forces are now in control
there.
Russia has sent some 10-thousand troops to Georgia to prevent
Tbilisi from reasserting control over South Ossetia. Russia's Interfax news
agency said today (Sunday) that the Russian navy has deployed warships to
the Black Sea coast to prevent arms and other military supplies from reaching
Georgia.
OLYMPICS-BUSH: U.S. President George Bush has been meeting (today / Sunday) with his
Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, hours before going to watch the U.S. basketball
men's team play host China in Olympic competition.
During the meeting
with Mr. Bush, the Chinese leader expressed regrets about the murder Saturday of
the father-in-law of a U.S. men's volleyball coach at a tourist spot in Beijing.
OLYMPICS WRAP: American swimmer Michael Phelps has smashed the world record on his way to
winning the gold medal in swimming competition at the Beijing
Olympics.
Phelps shaved nearly one-and-a-half seconds off his own record
in the men's 400-meter individual medley race. Phelps is trying to win eight
gold medals in Beijing.
Australian Stephanie Rice broke a world mark to
win the women's 400-meter individual medley.
South Korea (Park
Tae-hwan) and the Netherlands also earned gold medals in the pool today.
CHINA BLASTS: Chinese state media say police killed five people who bombed government
buildings today (Sunday) in the troubled western Xinjiang
region.
China's official Xinhua news agency quotes witnesses in the town
of Kuqa as saying they saw flashes of fire and heard gun shots following a
series of explosions.
Xinhua says attackers flung homemade bombs from a
taxi at a police station and other government buildings, wounding two police
officers and a security guard.
CHINA-SOKOR: Chinese President Hu Jintao called for progress in six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart today (Saturday).South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with the Chinese leader in Beijing while attending the Olympics.Mr. Hu said he hoped for improved communication and coordination among the countries involved in the six party talks (among China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States and North Korea) aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program). And he urged moving the talks to what he called "a new stage."
