Medvedev warns against Nato entry

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned Georgia and Ukraine of serious consequences if they press ahead with plans to join Nato.
Mr Medvedev and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Georgia's president that joining the alliance would lead to a "spiral of confrontation".
Mr Medvedev said Ukraine would be in breach of a friendship treaty if it joined Nato, Mr Lavrov said.
The leaders are at a summit of 12 ex-Soviet states in St Petersburg.
Conflicts
Georgia has been pushing for entry to Nato and the European Union, straining relations with Russia.
Tensions have also grown over Russia's support for separatists in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Both Russia and Georgia have accused each other of preparing for war in Abkhazia.
"We reiterated our strong interest in seeing those conflicts resolved," Mr Lavrov said, following the meeting with Mr Saakashvili at the Commonwealth of Independent States informal summit.
"We stated this could not be achieved by moving Georgia artificially into Nato because this would lead to another spiral of confrontation in the area."
The Georgian president played down talk of confrontation, saying the problem could be resolved with "goodwill".
'Security risks'
Analysts had been waiting to see if Mr Medvedev's relations with Ukraine and Georgia would be warmer than those under his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. But the new president stuck to the same line as Mr Putin when he met President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine on Friday.
He pointed to a 1997 friendship treaty between Russia and Ukraine.
"The treaty... contains the obligation on the two parties not to do anything which would create threats or risks for the security of the other party," Mr Lavrov told reporters.
"This was reiterated by President Medvedev, that we do not believe Nato membership for Ukraine would serve... the interests of the two countries."
Mr Medvedev also warned Mr Yushchenko not to expel the Russian navy from the base it leases at Sevastopol on Ukraine's Black Sea coast, as it has threatened to do.
And he said Russia would almost double the price it charges neighbouring Ukraine for gas from 1 January, 2009.
Mr Lavrov denied the move was political, saying it was forced by increasing costs in Central Asia. The two countries have had several recent disputes over gas, with Russia cutting supplies and Ukraine alleging Moscow uses gas as a political weapon.

Zimbabwe halts opposition rallies

Zimbabwe's authorities have stopped opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai from campaigning for the 27 June election.
The order banning "several future rallies" came after police briefly detained Mr Tsvangirai ahead of a rally in the second-largest city of Bulawayo.
The length or extent of the ban, which cites security fears, is not yet clear.
It comes soon after the government banned food aid distribution, saying agencies were helping the opposition.
Relief organisations reject the charges, warning that Zimbabwe's "desperate" situation could get even worse. They had been hoping to feed around 600,000 people this month, as the country has just had its harvest.
But when that food runs out early next year, they say between two and four million people - up to a third of the population - will need food aid.

See map of food shortages in Zimbabwe
The restrictions on aid agencies - making the government the sole provider of food aid - have drawn widespread condemnation.
The US ambassador to Zimbabwe said Mr Mugabe's government was using food as a weapon to get votes, distributing food only to its own supporters. Zimbabwe's authorities have stopped opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai from campaigning for the 27 June election.
The order banning "several future rallies" came after police briefly detained Mr Tsvangirai ahead of a rally in the second-largest city of Bulawayo.
The length or extent of the ban, which cites security fears, is not yet clear.
It comes soon after the government banned food aid distribution, saying agencies were helping the opposition.
Relief organisations reject the charges, warning that Zimbabwe's "desperate" situation could get even worse. They had been hoping to feed around 600,000 people this month, as the country has just had its harvest.
But when that food runs out early next year, they say between two and four million people - up to a third of the population - will need food aid.
The restrictions on aid agencies - making the government the sole provider of food aid - have drawn widespread condemnation.
The US ambassador to Zimbabwe said Mr Mugabe's government was using food as a weapon to get votes, distributing food only to its own supporters.

He said the government was also confiscating the identification cards of opposition supporters which means they cannot get government food aid and will not be able to vote in the presidential run-off.
"We are dealing with a desperate regime here which will do anything to stay in power," said Ambassador James McGee.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said the decision to prevent the agencies carrying out their work was "a true perversion of democracy".
Zimbabwe's National Organisation of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) said the ban on field operations was illegal and would have an "immediate, critical and negative impact especially on children, people living with HIV/Aids, the elderly, pregnant mothers and the disabled".
Safety fears
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says gatherings planned for Harare's high density townships of Glen Norah, Kambuzuma and Mufakose and the city of Chitungwiza were also banned by police.
The party says the ban is "rank madness" as the meetings are its only way to communicate with supporters because it is denied access to public media.
In a statement, the party quoted a letter from the police saying that "because the MDC had complained that its leaders were targets for assassination the authorities could not guarantee their safety and were therefore banning several future public rallies".
The government has previously dismissed MDC concerns of a possible assassination threat as fantasy.
The MDC accuses President Mugabe's supporters of leading a campaign of intimidation which has forced thousands from their homes and left at least 65 dead.
Mr Tsvangirai was detained by police for several hours on Friday - the second such incident in three days. On Wednesday, he was stopped and held for eight hours before being released without charge.
Zimbabwe's information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu declined to comment.