Rising above the escalating violence in and around Tibet, the message from around the world was loud and clear: "Let the Games begin." European nations and Olympic committees said on Monday they opposed a boycott of the Beijing Games over China's handling of the unrest in Tibet.

In 1999, Texas governor George Bush publicly confused Slovenia with Slovakia at a time when both belonged to a group of ex-communist East European states striving to join the European Union. In January, Slovenia, tucked below Austria on the eastern shoulder of Italy, takes over the EU's six-month presidency.

Nato defence chiefs were set on Thursday to agree to assume command of peacekeeping across all of insurgency hit Afghanistan next month despite some allies' concerns over tactics and troop shortfalls. The move into eastern Afghanistan could take effect quickly because it would largely involve placing under Nato command about 12 000 mostly United States forces already in the region.