亞洲新聞一束

Current Article
	Georgian parliament declares "state of war" Georgia's parliament has declared a "state of war" following days of fighting in its breakaway region of South Ossetia. The announcement comes as Russia deployed further troops to support the rebels in South Ossetia and Russian fighter jets bombed Georgian positions and the town of Gori. Speaking from Bejing, US 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. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Bush via telephone that a pullout of Georgian troops from the conflict zone was the only solution to the South Ossetian crisis which has reportedly claimed the lives of an estimated 2,000 people since Friday. Meanwhile fighting appears to be spreading to Abkhazia, another Georgian breakaway region in the west of the country. Russian-backed separatists there say they have launched a military operation against Georgian forces in the disputed Kodori gorge. UN Security Council discusses Georgia crisis The United Nations Security Council has held a second emergency session on Georgia, but its 15 members have again failed to agree on the wording of a joint statement on the crisis. Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, used the meeting to accuse Georgia of targeting Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. His Georgian counterpart Irakli Alasania, said Tbilisi was defending itself against Russian aggression. The Security Council is to resume talks in a few hours time. Meanwhile, the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United States are planning to send a joint delegation to the region to seek an immediate ceasefire. Tibet activists arrested after Beijing protest Five foreign pro-Tibet activists have been arrested after staging a protest in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square. A joint statement issued by two overseas Tibet rights groups said one of those demonstrators was from Germany. This was just the latest in a series of small-scale demonstrations held around the opening of the Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, one American has been killed and another injured after being attacked by a Chinese man wielding a knife in Beijing. The attacker then took his own life by jumping out of a window of a tall building. The man who was killed was a relative of one of the coaches of the US volleyball team. China takes early lead in Olympic medal count China has taken an early lead in the first Olympic competitions by winning two gold medals in women's weightlifting and men's shooting. The remaining golds on Saturday were shared among the United States, Spain, the Czech Republic, Romania and South Korea. Tropical storm kills at least 60 in Vietnam Vietnamese officials say heavy rain and flash floods brought by tropical storm Kammuri have killed at least 60 people and left dozens missing in northern Vietnam. The mountainous province of Lao Cai, bordering on China, was said to be the most seriously hit area. The government has issued an urgent call for the immediate rescue and evacuation of people from areas vulnerable to flash floods.