Russian tanks and troops rumbled into the separatist Georgian province of South Ossetia today and Russian warplanes bombed a Georgian town – a major surge in border fighting that has killed hundreds of civilians in just two days and left some towns in smouldering ruins.

US President George Bush said today that the fighting in the Georgia republic of South Ossetia was endangering peace throughout the volatile region, and he urged an end to the violence.

Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak has not ruled out replacing Ehud Olmert as the country’s prime minister.

Iraq’s prime minister says his country wants some form of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating.

PALESTINIAN militants fired 50 rockets and mortars toward Israel yesterday, who responded with airstrikes in Gaza, just hours before a truce was to take effect, illustrating how fragile the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would be.

MILITARY bands and a guard of honour greeted President Michel Suleiman yesterday as he entered Lebanon’s presidential palace to begin the monumental task of uniting a wounded nation and reconciling rival political factions.

The United States was launching its first relief airlift to cyclone-hit Burma today after prolonged negotiations with the country’s military rulers.

Voting began in Burma today as the military government pushed ahead with a referendum on a controversial proposed constitution despite the devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands.

The UN is preparing to send two planeloads of food and relief items to Burma tomorrow to provide aid in the aftermath of the cyclone that has killed tens of thousands.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader is insisting that he has won presidential elections outright and is not negotiating to ease out Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe from liberation to ruin.

AN out-of-control US spy satellite could hit Earth in late February or early March, US government officials say.

A large US spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth late next month or in March, US government officials said tonight.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unexpectedly flew to Iraq from Saudi Arabia today to press for more progress on political reconciliation.

Al-Qaida’s American-born spokesman urged fighters to greet US President George Bush with bombs not flowers when he visits the Middle East this week, according to a video posted on the internet today.

Signing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change topped the agenda for the new Australian leader Kevin Rudd as he began work today after sweeping to power at weekend elections.

A massive wave of mud and water swept through a Mexican village, leaving up to 16 people missing and feared dead after heavy rainfalls caused a hillside to collapse into a river, officials said.

TURKISH Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light yesterday for a possible military incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there after several deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.

Pakistan’s military leader ran up a huge majority in a presidential election largely snubbed by his opponents today.

NORTH Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programmes and disable facilities at its main reactor complex by December 31, overseen by a US-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said yesterday.

Up to five people were feared dead tonight after Burma’s ruthless military government ordered troops to open fire on crowds of demonstrators.

Three Islamic militants from an al-Qaida-influenced group nursing a “profound hatred of US citizens” were arrested on suspicion of plotting imminent, massive bomb attacks targeting Americans in Germany, prosecutors said today.

The American White House welcomed a symbolic unannounced visit to Iraq by France’s foreign minister.

THE US Government is urging Americans to be vigilant about suspicious activity after British police defused a bomb in London’s West End, but officials said they saw no potential terrorist threat in the United States ahead of next week’s Fourth of July holiday.

UN inspectors were travelling to North Korea’s key nuclear reactor today to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility, as the country came under increasing international criticism for launching missile tests this week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today told US President George Bush that now was the time to resume Mideast peace talks.

An explosion, apparently from a bomb-rigged car, rocked Beirut’s seafront today, killing an anti-Syrian MP and nine others, security officials said.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into its coastal waters, a move believed to be part of regular military drills, South Korean military officials said today.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months to demand that US troops leave Iraq.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months today, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding US troops leave Iraq.

An al-Qaida front group claims to have captured American soldiers in a deadly Iraq attack, as thousands of US troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.

World leaders rushed to congratulate France’s president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy tonight, hoping he would help boost international efforts to address issues from climate change and Middle East peace to salvaging the EU’s beleaguered constitution.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed holding talks with US President George Bush in a surprise suggestion.

An Iranian diplomat freed two months after being abducted in Iraq accused the CIA of torturing him during his detention, Iranian state television reported today.

US House of Representatives leader Nancy Pelosi again enraged President Bush, challenging the White House on Middle East policy in a meeting with Syria’s leader and insisting “the road to Damascus is a road to peace”.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said it "welcomed" today's announcement that the Iranian government would release the 15 detained British sailors and marines.

A red carpet official welcome and rioting protesters greeted US President George W Bush yesterday as he stopped briefly to renew US support for its ally Colombia.

BRITAIN will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the “coming months”, aiming to cut its force to below 5,000 by late summer if Iraqi forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday.

CHINA has played down fears of a military space race after US spy agencies said it had shot down a satellite for the first time, drawing condemnation from Washington and its Asian allies.

The US criticised China today for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile.

The European Union intends to go all out to try reactivate the Middle East peace process in the first six months of this year, the EU’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday, warning that it was crucial to do so before the United States enters its campaign period for the 2008 presidential elections.

The US military is planning to move a brigade of troops into Kuwait in what could be the first step of a short-term surge of American forces into Iraq to stabilise the violence.

Facing rising violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, US President George Bush is pressing European allies for more help in a rush of high-stakes diplomacy amid growing public impatience with the war.

US President George Bush today met with a bipartisan group seeking consensus on a new approach for the war in Iraq amid widespread agreement that the administration's current efforts have not worked well enough or fast enough.

US President George Bush is reportedly “open to ideas” as he meets a panel studying the war on Iraq today.