Russia said Friday it had completed a pullback of troops from Georgia but the Georgian government challenged the claim while the United States and France called for further withdrawal.

Two weeks after rolling into the former Soviet republic, several columns of Russian tanks and troops withdrew from deep inside Georgian territory and allowed Georgian police to regain control of the key city of Gori.

But a top general said strategic routes would remain occupied and some 500 “peacekeepers” are to remain in a buffer zone around the Moscow-controlled separatist region of South Ossetia.

“The pullback of Russian troops and units passed without incident and was completed on time” at 7:50 p.m. (1550 GMT), Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

“Thus, the Russian side has fulfilled its obligations” under a ceasefire plan brokered by France, Serdyukov said.

Georgia’s interior ministry said Russia continued to occupy areas of the country, with spokesman Shota Utiashvili saying: “It is not true that the withdrawal is complete.”

US President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed during a telephone conversation that “Russia is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now,” a White House spokesman said in Washington.

Bush and Sarkozy, who brokered the ceasefire accord, jointly called on Russia to “continue and complete” its withdrawal from Georgia in line with its commitments, a statement from the French presidency said.

Russian troops, who poured into Georgia on August 8 to defend South Ossetia against an attack by Georgian troops, rolled northward toward Russia, some flashing victory signs.

Hundreds of soldiers and columns of tanks and trucks could be seen moving north from forward positions into South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another Russian-controlled separatist region.

Some 50 military vehicles including tanks and trucks bearing artillery guns travelled along a main highway between the city of Gori and South Ossetia.

Hundreds of other soldiers were seen going in the same direction earlier.

An AFP reporter in western Georgia saw a large column of Russian troops with about 80 vehicles retreating into Abkhazia.

Despite Russia’s pullout, international tensions remained high.

Moscow criticised a NATO naval exercise taking place in the Black Sea, while in New York the United Nations again failed to agree on a resolution on the conflict.

A US-guided missile destroyer was to transit into the Black Sea and deliver tons of relief supplies to Georgia over the weekend, a Pentagon spokesman said in Washington.

The growing question for Georgians, whose small US-trained army was routed in the Russian onslaught, was whether they would really regain control over their country.

In Moscow, the deputy chief of general staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, showed journalists a map detailing what he said would be a “zone of responsibility” for some 500 Russian “peacekeepers.”

This includes control of a key highway linking the Georgian capital to the Black Sea, a vital area for Georgia’s economy.

Military posts are to be established outside the port city of Poti and troops will have the right to deploy anywhere on the road between Poti and Senaki, according to the map.

Georgia said Russia’s continued military presence in Poti and Senaki was “illegal.”

An unknown number of combat troops also remain inside South Ossetia as well as Abkhazia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the 1990s.

In addition, Nogovitsyn said that “if needed we reserve the right to boost these forces.”

Western capitals have rallied around Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is seeking NATO membership for his country of just under five million people.

NATO has condemned Russia’s military intervention and in response Russia has frozen cooperation with the Western alliance.

Russia’s military took a swipe at NATO after the alliance sent warships to the Black Sea near Georgia for exercises.

“I do not believe that these actions can seriously contribute to the stabilisation of the situation in the region,” Nogovitsyn said.

NATO described the exercises, involving US, German, Spanish and Polish vessels, as routine and stressed they were planned before the Georgia conflict erupted.

There was still little clarity about when the bulk of combat troops — believed by analysts to be in the thousands, backed by tanks and other heavy weapons — would quit South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But Georgia appears increasingly unlikely to recover control of its two separatist regions.

Moscow has given mixed signals over whether it might recognise the separatist governments, a move that would likely exacerbate the worst crises between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Russia’s two houses of parliament are to discuss the issue Monday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres arrived in South Ossetia on Friday to assess the humanitarian situation.

The UNHCR believes more than 25,000 people are in need of aid in central and western Georgia.

UNHCR convoy of trucks carrying blankets, tents and containers for fuel left the Gori region on Friday, a spokeswoman said.

TOKYO : South Korea’s chief envoy on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea called on Tuesday for patience with the communist state, hoping for “concrete” action in the coming months.

Kim Sook held talks in Japan following weekend meetings in the United States in the wake of North Korea’s long-delayed submission of documents detailing its nuclear programmes under a six-nation deal.

“We hope that North Korea gives us concrete results by the fall,” Kim told reporters after talks with his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki.

“While there has not been sufficient progress regarding North Korea, we both agreed we should have patience and need to maintain close discussions with the other five parties,” Kim said.

The United States has held off on its promised removal of North Korea from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, saying there has not been sufficient progress made in finding ways to verify the nuclear declaration.

A Japanese foreign ministry statement said Saiki and Kim “agreed on the need to agree as soon as possible on a concrete verification framework.”

North Korea has denounced the delay in the delisting, which would allow the impoverished state to receive foreign aid and loans.

Pyongyang, which tested an atom bomb in 2006, signed the deal last year to end its nuclear weapons drive in exchange for aid, security guarantees and diplomatic benefits.

Japan has refused to provide any aid and opposed the removal of North Korea from the US blacklist due to a row over the communist state’s kidnappings of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.

North Korea and Japan last week agreed on procedures for a re-investigation into the fate of the abductees, as sought by Tokyo.

“Japan needs to prepare for an atmosphere in which they offer energy support if there is progress on the abduction issue,” Kim said.

The talks were the highest level between Japan and South Korea since a feud re-erupted between them last month over a set of islets.

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear new corruption charges against deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, involving a controversial loan to military-ruled Myanmar.

The case is the second against Thaksin accepted by the court this week, after judges on Monday agreed to consider charges against the billionaire and his aides stemming from a lottery scandal.

In the latest case, military-backed investigators accused the fallen premier of conflict of interest in a loan granted by the Export-Import Bank of Thailand so that Myanmar could buy satellite services from Thaksin’s Shin Satellite.

The investigators claim Thaksin wrongly ordered the Exim Bank to increase a three-billion-baht (US$89.6-million) loan to four billion baht, so that Myanmar’s ruling government could buy more services from ShinSat.

ShinSat is part of the Shin Corp telecom firm, which Thaksin founded. His family sold the company to Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings in January 2006 in a tax-free deal that prompted street protests leading to the military coup against him.

“The charges submitted by the (investigators) are enough to warrant a hearing. The court decided to take the case,” Judge Panya Suthibodi told the court, setting the first hearing for September 15.

Neither Thaksin nor his lawyer attended the hearing Wednesday.

The case is the latest in the mounting legal challenges against Thaksin. He also faces trial at the Supreme Court for allegedly arranging for his wife to buy a prime chunk of real estate for just one-third its appraised value, while other graft cases are pending.

SINGAPORE : Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said Singapore’s political system should facilitate the emergence of a strong, effective government after every election and a responsible, constructive opposition.

Mr Goh was speaking at the National Day Dinner of the opposition-held ward of Hougang on Saturday.

His key message at the dinner was that the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) must continue to produce results which make people’s lives better.

He also said the PAP must never lose the people’s trust as this is the ruling party’s recipe for the continued success of Singapore.

Mr Goh said that is why he is confident of eventually winning Hougang back from the opposition.

Mr Goh was in the thick of action in the opposition-held ward of Hougang during the last general election in 2006.

Returning for this year’s National Day celebrations, Mr Goh noted that the opposition parliamentarian for the area since 1991, Low Thia Khiang, believes his job is just to ask questions and check the ruling party, but not to offer solutions to problems.

Mr Goh said this is a rather narrow view of the role of an opposition. And the Senior Minister has thrown a challenge to the advisor and grassroots leaders of the Hougang division - to keep its incumbent Mr Low on his toes.

Mr Goh said, “Amongst the things you can do… I suggest you study the annual accounts of the town council to ensure that the funds are properly used. Check whether the arrears for S&C (service and conservancy) charges are piling up, and eating into their reserves. Make sure that enough money is put aside for cyclical maintenance.

“In your walkabouts, check on the estate maintenance. If Mr Low has done a good job, give him credit for it. If there are deficiencies, point them out to the residents. In short, play the role of an effective opposition in Hougang.”

He noted, “Eventually, I believe we will win Hougang back, but whether we do or not, I think (we should) serve the people. That’s what we are here for.”

Mr Goh noted that the people living in the opposition ward know that they have benefited from government policies. But many also think that there should be an opposition to keep the ruling party on its toes.

The Senior Minister said, “Ideally, our political system should facilitate the emergence of a strong, effective government after every election and a responsible, constructive opposition.

“But no matter how you design it, there is no guarantee, because it depends on whether good, honest and competent people come forward to stand for elections and the wisdom of the electorate when they cast their ballot.

“So there’s a natural tendency - which I can appreciate of some people wanting to have a voice, not belonging to the party, not belonging to the PAP - to check and balance the PAP. That’s understandable because people want to debate issues, they want to have their views expressed in Parliament.”

So Mr Goh said the ruling party’s primary task before the next election, which is due by 2011, is to look for good candidates.

He said, “In India, the world’s largest democracy, several criminals have been elected into Parliament and some are serving jail terms, including one convicted murderer who is waiting for his appeal to be heard.

“But recently, they were brought out to vote because a confidence motion on the government was hanging in the balance. They were of course then returned to jail. But can you imagine MPs with criminal records holding the future of Singapore in their hands?”

So the Senior Minister hopes the opposition too would look for good candidates so voters will be given a real choice.

Words from DivineDiary.com: Sometime, it’s really hard to understand those politicians mindset, its really so important on who’s in charge of which areas? Currently, isn’t we all still peacefully living on our live? Even HG is not under PAP. So does it mean that PAP once win over HG, our life gonna be better? No one know about it? Hence why not focus on how to upgrade the living standard of singaporean instead of thinking and cracking your mind on how to win that piece of land back. Btw, singapore going to celebrate the birthday again, and hopefully nothing gonna happen on the day itself.