TODAY: Russian armed forces to be halved; Russia-Georgia talks begin amid pessimism; China and Russia solve border dispute; nepotism case sees sixteen notaries fired; Russia supplying arms to Darfur, says human rights group. Politkovskaya hearings begin. Prospects for a breakthrough at today’s UN-EU-Russia-Georgia talks are ‘negligible,’ says one journalist, ‘as western leaders continue to avoid confronting awkward issues.’ Russia itself is pessimistic on its outlook for the talks, saying that progress is impossible without input from officials from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In the aftermath of the talks, the International Court of Justice will rule on whether to order Russia to take immediate steps to prevent further ‘ethnic cleansing’. This journalist sees Russia’s withdrawal from Georgia as ‘make-believe’. China believes that its successful resolution of a border dispute with Russia, unveiled yesterday, ‘sets an example for the international community.’ Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has announced that he is to cut the number of generals and officers ‘in a drive to streamline the bloated armed forces’, and re-establish its position as a global power. The total number of staff is to be more than halved by 2012. A Moscow court will begin preliminary hearings of Anna Polikovskaya’s murder case, a day after reports emerged that Karinna Moskalenko, the former lawyer of the journalist, found deadly mercury in her car.