Gori/Georgia, August 9
Georgia called for a ceasefire today after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

U.S. President George W. Bush said Russian attacks on Georgia outside South Ossetia marked a "dangerous escalation" of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately.

Russia said it had seized the rebel capital, Tskhinvali, but Georgia denied the claim on the second day of fighting.

Russian officials said the death toll now stood at 1,500 and 30,000 refugees from South Ossetia had fled to Russia over the past 36 hours. Russia said two of its warplanes had been shot down and 12 of its soldiers had been killed.

"I call for an immediate ceasefire," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in Tbilisi.

Abkhazia, another pro-Russian enclave in Georgia, said its forces had begun an operation to drive out Georgian forces. One report from a pro-Georgian spokesman said Russian planes had carried out bombing raids, but the Abkhaz separatists said it was their aircraft that were involved.

Bush, Saakashvili's main ally in the West, said Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected.

"I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Georgia," said Bush, who is attending the Olympics in Beijing. "The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," he added. — Reuters

Hanoi, August 9
Landslides and floods killed at least 100 persons in northern Vietnam, covering the homes of some victims as they slept in their beds, disaster officials said today.

Dozens more were reported missing and officials feared the death toll would rise as they struggled to reach isolated communities.

With heavy rain continuing today, rescue workers were trying to move people to higher ground.

The province of Lao Cai was the hardest hit, with 25 reported dead and 35 missing, said provincial disaster official Thao A Tua. Tens of thousands were stranded by the floods, which began yesterday, Tua said.

"The death toll is likely to increase because the rivers are in spate, " Tua said.

In neighboring Yen Bai province, floods and landslides killed 25 persons and torrents carried some people kilometers from their homes, said disaster official Luong Tuan Anh.

Twelve persons were found dead in Quang Ninh and Phu Tho, as rampaging waters knocked down trees and electricity poles and washed away houses. — AP

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted on Friday that he had an extra-marital affair in 2006 with a woman who produced videos for his campaign, but denied he was the father of her child, as had been reported in a supermarket tabloid.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told ABC News he had an affair with Rielle Hunter, whom his campaign had hired to make documentary films despite her inadequate filmmaking experience. Edwards later said in a statement that he had made a “serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs.”

“I recognised my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness,” he said. “Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public.”

Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, has been diagnosed with a form of incurable cancer. He told ABC that her cancer was in remission when the affair began.

He had earlier denied a story about the affair, at the time calling it “false” and “ridiculous.”

Edwards admitted being “ashamed of my conduct and choices,” and said he hoped that it would never become public. But, he added, “that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then.”

He said he would willingly take a paternity test to prove he is not the father of the woman’s child. 

BRIEFLY

BAGHDAD
Car bomb kills 21 in Iraq: A car bomb in a food market in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar killed 21 persons and wounded many on Friday, the US and Iraqi officials said. The attack was the latest in a series of deadly bombings that show militants retain the ability to wage high-profile attacks despite recent security gains, particularly in northern Iraq. The car was parked inside the market when it exploded about 6:30 pm (local time), the police said. — AP

Baghdad gets 2 Bengal tigers: Two rare Bengal tigers were presented to Baghdad’s Al-Zawraa zoo on Friday by a private US conservation group, in a move deeply symbolic of American efforts to help restore the animal park. The two-year-old 68-kg cubs, named Riley and Hope, arrived at their new home at cost of $33,000 each after a wildlife conservation centre in North Carolina agreed to donate the US-bred animals. — AFP

DUBAI
Indians swell to 4.2 lakh in Qatar: The Indian expatriate population in Qatar has soared to a staggering four lakh twenty thousand, more than double the number of local people, a Qatari minister said. The figure as of July 31 was revealed by minister of state for interior affairs and cabinet member Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani on August 6, when he received India’s Ambassador Dr George Joseph. — UNI

MOGADISHU
2 German hostages freed in Somalia: Pirates have freed two German hostages who were kidnapped in June from a yacht off the Gulf of Aden, a local governor said on Saturday. They were released on Friday night from a hideout in a mountainous area near Puntland, a semi autonomous region of northern Somalia, said Muse Geele Yusuf, the governor of Bari region. The details of release were still not clear. — AP