TODAY: Medvedev agrees troop pullout with Sarkozy, Russia to formally establish diplomatic relations with breakaway regions; Georgian conflict causes split in Ukraine’s government; what is the relationship between Nato and Russia? South Park deemed “extremist”. Following a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to pull Russian troops from Georgian territory outside of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Checkpoints around the port of Poti will also be dismantled. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has “cautiously welcomed” the move. Meanwhile, Russia will formally establish diplomatic relations with the two breakaway regions today. This report says that Russia has been denying aid to Georgian villages. The lawyer representing Georgia in its human rights case against Russia in the International Court of Justice said a distinction should be drawn between ...

The Irish Times Saturday, August 16, JASON CORCORAN in MoscowEIGHT Irish passport-holders are nervously waiting in a hotel in the Armenian capital of Yerevan before deciding whether to return to Georgia.The group, mainly Georgians with Irish passports and some Irish nationals, were among 50 people evacuated via the Armenian border at Gugeti when fighting broke out in South Ossetia.Kerryman Dr Mike McCarthy, who runs the International Medical Support Services (IMSS) clinic from Tbilisi, assisted in evacuating the Irish and Georgian passport-holders by helping with transport and logistics through the eastern side of Georgia to Armenia."The people evacuated were going to come back, but the reports about renegade Ossetian militia looting near the capital have spooked them."Most of the other Irish and passport-holders have made their way back to Ireland or gone on holiday," said Dr McCarthy.His ...