Russia pledges military aid to 2 separatist regions

Russia pledges military aid to 2 separatist regions

MOSCOW — Russia’s president said Sunday his country will give military aid to the two separatist regions at the center of the war with Georgia — signaling Moscow has no intention of backing down in the face of Western pressure.

Dmitry Medvedev also warned that American domination of world affairs is unacceptable, though he insisted that Russia did not want hostile relations with the United States and other Western nations.

Medvedev’s decision Tuesday to recognize the Georgian breakaway provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent drew condemnation from the West. Though no other countries have followed Russia’s lead, Medvedev reaffirmed the decision on Sunday.

“We have made our decision, and it’s irreversible,” he said in a speech broadcast on Russian television.

European Union leaders planned an emergency meeting today to discuss how to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia, but they are not expected to impose sanctions.

New search for Fossett

HAWTHORNE, Nev. — A year after aviator and adventurer Steve Fossett vanished on a Labor Day solo flight over western Nevada, friends and admirers are waging a new search for some sign of him in an area of rugged mountains.

Steep canyons and gulches choked by concealing trees and brush on the west slope of the Wassuk Range are being combed by 28 searchers headed by explorers Robert Hyman, Lew Toulmin and Bob Atwater.

They’re relying in part on new information from another pilot who was in the area that day that alters earlier assumptions about Fossett’s likely path on what was supposed to have been a short flight. He had flown over the area many times since the mid-1990s and once hiked to the top of the Wassuk Range’s 11,239-foot Mount Grant.

“This is the right thing to do,” Hyman said in a weekend interview at the search team’s isolated camp. “Explorers don’t leave fellow explorers lost. ... We want to find out what happened to our friend and colleague, no more and no less.”

A powerful dilemma

WASHINGTON — Congress is putting the short-term future of renewable energy companies in jeopardy even as the presidential candidates and most lawmakers hail windmills, solar panels and biofuels as long-term solutions to high gasoline prices and global warming.

Some $500 million in investment and production tax credits will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress renews them. Without that help, solar and wind power companies say they will reverse planned expansions and, in many cases, cut payrolls and capital investment.

Thailand crisis widens

BANGKOK, Thailand — Facing chaotic street protests demanding his resignation, Thailand’s embattled prime minister turned to lawmakers Sunday to find a way out of the crisis, but ended up having to fend off his critics’ calls to step down or call new elections.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej went before a special joint session of Parliament to find a solution to the deepening crisis, even as thousands of right-wing protesters laid siege to his office compound for a sixth night and threatened to shut down more airports and roads in the country.

The debate ended early today after about 11 hours with scores of lawmakers either lambasting Samak or defending him. More than 1,000 government supporters staged a peaceful counter rally in front of Parliament.

Don’t get sick in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The advice of doctors to Zimbabweans is, don’t get sick. If you do, don’t count on hospitals — they’re short of drugs and functioning equipment.

As the economy collapses, the laboratory at a main 1,000-bed hospital has virtually shut down. X-ray materials, injectable antibiotics and anticonvulsants have run out.

Emergency resuscitation equipment is out of action. Patients needing casts for broken bones need to bring their own plaster. In a country with one of the world’s worst AIDS epidemics, medical staff lack protective gloves.

Health authorities blame the drying up of foreign aid under Western sanctions imposed to end political and human rights abuses under President Robert Mugabe. A power-sharing agreement aimed at bringing the opposition into the government could open the gates to foreign aid. But negotiations have stalled over how much power rests with Mugabe.

Associated Press