Eurasia

(Reuters) – Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists’ press service reported on its website on Friday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian soldiers now in the South Ossetian capital say their artillery has begun firing at Georgian forces – the first confirmed engagement between the two countries’ troops, Russian agencies reported.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – About 1,400 people have died as a result of “Georgian aggression” against South Ossetia, the president of the Georgian breakaway region was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on Friday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States, NATO and the European Union called for an immediate end to fighting in Georgia’s South Ossetia region and called for talks between the sides.

ANKARA (Reuters) – A Turkish man set himself on fire during a protest by ethnic Uighurs in front of the Chinese embassy in Turkey on Friday against China’s rule in the region of Xinjiang as Beijing opened the Olympics.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will cut all air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Russian Transport Ministry said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- India this afternoon withdrew its permission for a North Korean plane to overfly Indian airspace on its way to Iran, just before it could take off from Mandalay in Myanmar where it had made a stopover.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed on Friday to defend “compatriots” in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia and promised to punish those responsible for their deaths.

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed the fighting in Georgia, the former Soviet republic that is pushing to join NATO, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Friday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Units of Russia’s 58th Army are approaching the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, where fighting was raging on Friday, RIA news agency quoted a senior Russian commander as saying.