Georgians Evacuate City of Gori

In a move filled with irony, people in Georgia were forced to evacuate the city of Gori:

A full-scale evacuation of the Georgian city of has Gori started as fears rose that Russia would soon advance its troops across the border from the breakaway republic of South Ossetia into the main body of Georgia itself.

Any such incursion would be a dangerous escalation of a conflict that has already reportedly claimed thousands of lives and displaced thousands more. Russia, which said it moved into South Ossetia last week to protect pro-Russians there from "genocide" commited by Georgians, has now been accused of "ethnic cleansing" itself. Russia regained total control of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, and Georgia offered a unilateral ceasefire as it withdrew all its troops.

Gori was the birthplace of Iosif Vissarionovitch Djugashvili, also known as Joseph Stalin.