Five days of heavy fighting have left Tskhinvali, south Osettia, in ruins, but now at least refugees are returning. They find a cleanup struggling to make a difference, with few services and no utilities.

As international tension rises, parades marking Army Day in Poland have been held against a backdrop of Russian rage. Moscow is furious that Warsaw has agreed to host elements of a US global anti-missile system. By doing so, a senior Russian general was quoted as saying that Poland was making …

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has signed the ceasefire agreement delivered to him in person by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to end the week-long conflict with Russia.