New York  - Serbia submitted a request on Friday for the UN General Assembly to debate Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence and for the body to ask the UN world court to rule on the issue.

Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Belgrade would respect and abide by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence in February was legal under international law.

Washington  - US President George W Bush said Friday that Russian "bullying" in Georgia was unacceptable and called on Moscow to end the invasion of the former Soviet republic.

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," Bush said at the White House before departing to his ranch in Crawford, Texas for vacation.

Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus rejects comparisons between Russia's military assault in Georgia and the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, a newspaper reported Friday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised the comparison before a trip Friday to Tbilisi for talks with pro-US Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on the week-old crisis.

"No, that doesn't work," Klaus told the Prague-based Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper. "Dubcek was no Saakashvili."

Washington, Aug. 15 : U. S. President George W. Bush has greeted India on its 62nd Independence Day.

In a message to the Indian-American community in his country, Bush said that the event reminds America of the "close ties" it shares with India.

"I send greetings to those celebrating the 62nd anniversary of India''s Independence," Bush said in a statement released through his Office of Public Liaison.

New York  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the government of Zimbabwe on Thursday to immediately end the ban on international humanitarian assistance in the country.

President Robert Mugabe, under attack for the violence in the presidential elections in May, retaliated by imposing severe restrictions on non-governmental organizations and private voluntary groups to assist large populations affected by the violence.

In June, Ban asked Mugabe to lift the curbs on relief groups, but Mugabe did not reply.

Washington  - Hillary Clinton's name is to be placed in nomination at the Democratic Party's convention this month, for a formal round of recognition of her historic candidacy, it was announced Thursday.

The symbolic move will ensure that Clinton's name appears in the state-by-state roll call, giving delegates an opportunity to reaffirm their support for her.