US says G-7 urging Russia to accept truce

The world's seven largest economic powers are calling on Russia to accept an immediate cease-fire with Georgia and agree to international mediation over the crisis in Georgia's separatist areas. A State Department official says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the other foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations spoke by telephone on Monday and pledged their support for a negotiated solution to the conflict that has been raging since Friday between the former Soviet state and Russia. They called on Russia to respect Georgia's borders and expressed deep concern for civilian casualties that have occurred.