Recriminations and accusations are continuing following the announcement of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to call off his military's advance into Georgia, ending a brutal five-day war initiated when Georgian forces responded to intimidation and invaded the would-be breakaway republic of South Ossetia.

"The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored,'' Mr Medvedev said on national television. "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganised.'' [source]

Even before President Medvedev claimed all Russia's military objectives had been met, it was obvious both he and former President, now Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin had emerged victorious from the brief but devastating war. Indeed it was Putin who returned from the Beijing Olympics early to sympathise with South Ossetian victims, lambast the United States and accuse Georgian forces of "genocide".

"People are in a difficult situation, especially old people, children and women. They have seen a lot of suffering. I would like to draw your attention, Mr President, to elements of genocide against South Ossetian people" [source]

Recent attacks by Georgian forces against South Ossetian separatists dramatically escalated over the weekend as Russian forces entered the fray on the side of the rebels. Latest reports say Georgian troops have now left South Ossetian territory, a claim denied by Georgian military sources however Russian forces have refused calls for a cease fire and have broadened the conflict inside Georgia.

Georgian forces have completely withdrawn from Tskhinvali, the Russian military said Sunday, thereby confirming earlier accounts by Georgia that its forces had withdrawn from the city. But Tbilisi denied that its forces had completely pulled out of South Ossetia. [source]

Accusing Georgia of genocide against the breakaway republic, Russia has used the opportunity to pound the Georgian cities of Poti, Kutaisi and Gori along with the levelling of the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali.The attack has been the worst military engagement since the invasion by the former Soviet Union of Afghanistan in 1979.

Both sides are blaming each other for continuing attacks with Georgia saying targets have been hit by Russian forces in and around the capital Tbilisi, the BBC reports.

Last week's disastrous by-election result for British Labour, when it lost the previously third safest Scottish seat of Glasgow East to the Scottish national Party (SNP), has added yet more pressure on the affable yet seemingly disaster-prone UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Following on from the equally bad result at the 2008 Henley by-election, and a series of mishaps and missteps by the previously rock-solid Labour administration, the notoriously hard to please British press have sniffed blood and are baying for the Labour leader's resignation.

The Guardian sums up the press reaction since the by-election loss in this article.

Gordon Brown and the Labour party have also taken a hammering amongst voters with the latest YouGov opinion polls for the Daily Telegraph showing 74 per cent of voters dissatisfied with Mr Brown, against just 15 per cent describing themselves as satisfied. Only 26 percent supported Labour, down two percentage points from the last survey.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has sought to bury the differences between the United States and "Old Europe" with a rousing speech at the base of the Berlin's Victory Column before an estimated 200,000 people.

Whether or not the speech was made with one eye on the electorate at home seemed irrelevant as the junior Senator from Illinois charmed the massive crowd and sought their co-operation in ending conflict in trouble spots throughout the world.

With soaring rhetoric reminiscent of another U.S. President's famous speech in Berlin, Obama did not disappoint his many German fans.

"People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment, this is our time," he said.[source] 

After thirteen years on the run, Serbian war leader Radovan Karadzic has been arrested by police on war crimes charges, according to a statement released Monday by the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic. Karadzic has been indicted for his alleged collusion in the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.

Associated Press is reporting an unnamed Serbian police source as saying the fanatical Serb nationalist as having been arrested in a suburb of the capital Belgrade after weeks of observation of a favourite safe house. The source said the police received a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service.

"This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade. It is also an important day for international justice because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law," said Serge Brammertz, the [U.N.} tribunal's head prosecutor.[source]

The U.N. war crimes tribunal, based at The Hague, has described the killings as ""scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history."

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have voted to lift largely symbolic sanctions against Cuba to encourage democracy on the island. Though the five-year-old EU sanctions have been suspended since 2005, the decision is seen as a slight to the United States and its policy of isolating the country.

The U.S. has maintained a trade blockade of the island for almost fifty years.

AFP quoted sources as saying the policy remains subject to an annual review.

"There was an agreement to lift the sanctions against Cuba," a European diplomatic source said.

"They have agreed to have an annual review and in one year's time to assess the political dialogue with Cuba," she added. [source]

European leaders have said they will look to complete the Union's reform agenda despite last week's "no" vote on the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish Republic.

France has outlined a number of issues it wishes to achieve during its six-monthly presidency of the European Union due to begin on July 1.

Telling the French Senate on Tuesday that EU reform "did not stop" with the Irish rejection, France's Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said:

"The best way for the French presidency to respond to the preoccupations that have just been expressed is to make Europe more political with more common policies," he said.[source]

President Nicolas Sarkozy has flagged immigration reform, cutting carbon emissions, energy security and increasing Europe's defence capabilities as the main priorities to be tackled during the French presidency.

U.S. President George Bush has defended his decision to invade Iraq in an interview with the Observer newspaper and downplayed differences in strategy with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In what was seen as a slight to  the British PM, who is expected to announce a full withdrawal of British troops before the end of the year, the president said there "should be no definitive timetable" for withdrawing troops out of Iraq.

Bush added he hoped the prime minister would:

"listen to our commanders, to make sure that the sacrifices that have gone forward won't be unravelled by drawdowns that may not be warranted".

The sudden and unexpected resignation of shadow home secretary David Davis has angered and confused his Tory colleagues keen to keep the pressure on the embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Mr Davis announced he would be stepping down as an MP and then fighting his seat of Haltemprice & Howden on a crusade against the government's recently-passed 42-day detention for terrorism suspects.