It was a claim that could have provoked a dangerous Kremlin response: The United States is readying to take over airports and ports in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Georgia's Interior Ministry says Russian troops have begun pulling out of the city of Gori, where their presence raised fears that Russia would challenge a cease-fire agreement.
Aslanbek Khushtov has won Russia's third Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, turning throws in each of the two periods into a decisive victory over Mirko Englich of Germany at 96 kilograms.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued another urgent call on Russia to honor a cease-fire with Georgia as she was bringing the formal agreement to Tblisi to have it signed Friday by the Georgian president.
WASHINGTON - President Bush sent American troops to Georgia yesterday to oversee a "vigorous and ongoing" humanitarian mission, in a direct challenge to Russia's display of military dominance over the region. His action came after Russian soldiers moved into two strategic Georgian cities in what he and Georgian officials called a violation of the cease-fire Russia signed the day before.
The war between Georgia and Russia has produced a humanitarian crisis that has uprooted more than 100,000 people -- legions of the tired and hungry, forced from their homes by bombs and tanks.
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service on Thursday said it has found coal miner Mechel guilty of fixing the prices of its coking coal and that it would be fined the equivalent of up to 15 percent of a year's sale of the commodity.
Russia's foreign minister says the question of Georgia's territorial integrity is a dead issue, a sign that Moscow could absorb two separatist regions in the wake of recent fighting.
