Munich - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is to make a stopover in Munich, Germany, Thursday to meet with Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer, German officials reported on Tuesday.

The visit is part of a European tour includes a speech to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Valencia, Spain on Tuesday. Saakashvili has been seeking European support in his ongoing struggle with Russia.

The meeting in Munich would be his first visit to Germany as Georgian president.

Paris  - The European Union Council Presidency condemned on Monday in Paris the "increase of clashes in Georgia," expressing its "concern over the security of the international observers."

Putting observers in danger cannot be accepted, the French-led presidency said, calling on all sides of the dispute in the South Caucasus to hold the agreement on a ceasefire.

New York  - Georgia on Monday renewed a charge that more Russian troops were being deployed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia despite a ceasefire brokered by the European Union following the brief war in August.

The two breakaway regions have seceded from Tbilisi and are recognized by Moscow.

Moscow  - Two Georgian soldiers were killed when a landmine exploded in a village near the border of the disputed region of South Ossetia, according to a statement by the Georgian Interior Ministry on Monday.

Another nine people including a ten-year-old boy were injured in the blast at around 3 pm (1100 GMT), the ministry said.

According to the statement, the soldiers were in the Georgian village of Pavali to inspect an Russian spy drone that the ministry said crashed in the border zone just hours earlier.

Nice, France - A row over US and Russian plans to site missiles in Europe, the global financial crisis and European Union diplomacy in Georgia topped the agenda Friday when EU and Russian leaders met in the French resort of Nice.

"There should be no (missile) deployment in any enclave until we have discussed the new geo-political terms for pan-European security ... until then, please let's not talk about the deployment of missile shields," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a double-barrelled blast at Russia and the US.

Sarkozy currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

London, Nov 14 : French President Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from being hanged “by the balls” — a threat made last summer by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

According to an account that emerged on Thursday from the Élysée Palace, Putin had revealed his plans for disposing of Saakashvili when Sarkozy was in Moscow in August to broker a ceasefire in Georgia, The Times reported.