Mayor Thomas M. Menino will jet away tomorrow to a luxury resort at the foot of the Italian Alps where he will hobnob with the presidents of Israel and Italy, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other world leaders, a rare opportunity for the "urban mechanic" typically focused on repairing roads and reducing crime to burnish his credentials as international statesman.
The Bush administration will announce on Wednesday a package of roughly $1 billion dollars in aid to help rebuild war-torn U.S. ally Georgia, which battled Russia over a separatist enclave last month, an administration official said.
Russia closed its embassy in Georgia and halted consular operations after Georgia severed diplomatic ties following last month's war, the Russian consul said Wednesday.
Russia does not want confrontation with the West but will hit back if attacked, Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday, a day before EU leaders meet to draft a response to Moscow's actions in Georgia.
EU heavyweights France and Italy insisted on Monday the bloc should not take steps to isolate Russia, hours before an emergency summit due to issue a tough verbal condemnation of its actions in Georgia.
With Russian troops stationed deep in Georgia, fears run high that Ukraine may be the next target of a Kremlin drive to reclaim dominance in the lands of the former Soviet Union.
More than 1,000 people gathered in Russia's troubled Ingushetia region on Monday to protest the death of Magomed Yevloyev, a leading journalist and local opposition leader shot while in police custody.
Russia's OAO Gazprom state natural gas giant said Monday it will shut off gas supplies to Poland and Germany for several hours as it carries out routine repairs along the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which runs from Russia's Arctic to the Polish-German border.
The United States welcomed Europe's involvement in the Russia-Georgia dispute as laid out Monday in decisions by European Union leaders in an extraordinary summit meeting at Brussels.
European heavyweights Germany and Britain questioned Russia's participation in Western institutions on Sunday, a day before EU leaders meet to decide what action to take over the Kremlin's intervention in Georgia.
Vice President Dick Cheney, one of Moscow's harshest critics, will go to Georgia and other former Soviet states this week to reinforce U.S. support for allies in Russia's backyard.
The owner of an opposition Internet news site in Russia's troubled Ingushetia region was shot dead on Sunday after police detained him, his colleagues said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was feted by Russian media on Sunday for saving a television crew from an attack by a Siberian tiger in the wilds of the Far East.
