Lausanne, Switzerland - The bidding process for the 2014 Youth Olympics opened on Friday, the International Olympic Committee said.

The IOC said in a statement that interested cities have February 9, 2009, to formally bid for the event bringing together around 3,500 athletes aged 14-18 in the Olympic summer sports.

Bid files have to be submitted by July 2009, a shortlist will be set up in October and the host city elected by the IOC in February 2010.

Geneva - Officials from Russia and Georgia arrived along with mediators Thursday morning at the United Nations office in Geneva for their final day of talks before the end of the year.

This third round of meetings started the day before.

The sides to the talks - including the United States, European Union, UN and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - are expected to announce any progress in the afternoon.

Also attending the talks were officials from the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Geneva - At least 1,111 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe, the United Nations said Thursday, noting that 20,581 suspected cases have been reported.

The statistics from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are generally viewed as the minimum number of deaths, and the actual toll may be higher.

Also, the case fatality rate has again increased, standing now at 5.4 per cent, far above the generally accepted rate of less than 1 per cent during a cholera outbreak.

Geneva - The Russian and Georgian delegations arrived Wednesday afternoon at the United Nations office in Geneva to begin their third round of talks since they went to war in the summer.

The talks are expected to focus on refugees, displaced people and security in the region.

Also expected to attend the meetings are representatives from the United States, European Union, UN and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Zurich - European champions Spain remain top of the world football rankings issued Wednes

Geneva - The year so far has been marked by weather extremes across the planet and low levels of ice in the Arctic Sea, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday.

The overall ice volume in the sea during the melt season was the lowest since satellite measurements began in 1979. At the opposite pole, the Antarctic ozone hole was larger than in 2007.