GORI, Georgia — Russia said its troops began withdrawing from the conflict zone in Georgia today, including the strategic central city of Gori, "according to the peace plan" that sought to end fighting that has reignited Cold War tensions.

The statement by Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn came amid uncertainty about whether Russia was fulfilling its promise to begin the pullout today. He said troops were pulling back to South Ossetia — the breakaway region at the heart of the fighting — and to an unspecified security zone.

Earlier in the day, Russian forces around Gori appeared to be solidifying their positions.

But Nogovitsyn told a briefing that "today, according to the peace plan, the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers and reinforcements has begun." He added that forces were leaving Gori, a strategically key city that sits on Georgia's only significant east-west road.

According to the European Union-brokered peace plan signed by both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, both sides are to pull forces back to the positions they held before last week's outbreak of war in the Russian-backed Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia.

The agreement also provides for unspecified extra security measures such as patrol rights for the Russians, who now control a wide swath of Georgia.

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian media say a lost humpback whale calf has bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother.The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and today tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave.Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat but still swam nearby, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and Channel 10 television news reported.The calf appears exhausted but rescuers hope it will continue out to sea and search for its mother or another pod of whales."The outlook is not good, but we are giving the calf its only option. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it" because it is not weaned, National Parks and Wildlife regional manager Chris McIntosh told ABC radio.

SYDNEY, Australia — Life can get a little lonely for bachelors in the Australian Outback mining town of Mount Isa. So the mayor has offered up a solution: recruit ugly women.Mayor John Molony found himself under attack today over comments he made to a local newspaper that read: "May I suggest if there are five blokes to every girl, we should find out where there are beauty-disadvantaged women and ask them to proceed to Mount Isa."The mayor added that many women who already live in the remote Queensland state town seem quite happy."Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face," he continued.The quotes, published Saturday in the Townsville Bulletin, sparked outrage among the town's female population, led to furious online debates and drew criticism from the local chamber of commerce."There's a lot of anger circulating among the community at the moment — a lot of passionate anger," Mount Isa Chamber of Commerce manager Patricia O'Callaghan said Monday. "There's a lot of women voicing their opinions."Several local women said there aren't a lot of gems to be found among Mount Isa's men, either."We've got a saying up here that the odds are good, but the goods are odd," 27-year-old Anna Warrick told The Brisbane Times.