Beijing  - China defended its human rights record Thursday after US President George W Bush gave a speech criticizing its lack of political and religious freedom.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said his government "puts people first" and was committed to promoting "basic rights and freedom" for the nation's 1.3 billion people.

"We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs by using human rights, religion and other issues," Qin said in a statement reacting to Bush's speech in Thailand earlier on Thursday.

He said differences over rights should be resolved through dialogue "based on equal footing and mutual respect."

Moscow  - Russia accused Georgia of readying for war with its breakaway region of South Ossetia, the foreign ministry said Thursday after a heavy gun fighting overnight in the region.

"Concern was expressed over the actions of the Georgian side right near to Tskhinvali, which can be regarded as military preparations," the ministry said on its website after telephone talks between Russia's deputy foreign minister and South Ossetia's president Eduard Kokoity.

Several people were injured in the shootout overnight at the border of Georgia's rebel region, both sides said Thursday.

Washington  - Republican White House hopeful John McCain made his sharpest divide yet from US President George W Bush, declaring in a new television advertisement Tuesday that the state of the nation has worsened over the last four years.

"Washington's broken. John McCain knows it," a narrator says in the new ad. "We're worse off than we were four years ago."

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will meet his Thai counterpart, Taj Bunnag, on August 18 in an effort to settle a potentially explosive border dispute between the two countries, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday.

In a speech broadcast on state radio, Hun Sen said talks between Hor Namhong and Bunnag would be held in the Thai province of Hua Hin, where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has a sea-side palace.

"Hor Namhong will meet his Thai counterpart ... on August 18. Hor Namhong will then pay a courtesy visit to the Thai king," Hun Sen said at a rice farming ceremony in the south-western province of Kampong Speu, 40 kilometres west of the capital.

Tbilisi/Brussels  - The Georgian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday welcomed proposals that the European Union play a stronger role in talks with the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia - an area where Russia is currently seen as the main powerbroker.

The ministry, in a statement said, it "has been informed" that EU members "agreed on the proposal to expand the EU's role in resolving the conflict in the Abkhazia region."

Tel Aviv/Bethlehem - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet in Jerusalem for talks over the future of the Middle East peace process, it was reported Tuesday.

The meeting is to take place in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported, citing Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

An Olmert spokesman was not available for a reaction.