Moscow - Russia welcomed the EU's decision Monday to re-start partnership talks frozen over Russia's war with Georgia in August.

"We have long been ready to re-start talks," an official with the government headed by Vladimir Putin said on condition of anonymity as Russia has not officially been informed.

EU leaders suspended talks on a new accord that governs its relations with the EU in protest of Russia's occupation of Georgia.

Brussels - The European Union is to re-start talks on a strategic treaty with Russia which it froze after Russia's August war with Georgia, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed Monday according to diplomatic sources.

EU leaders had frozen talks in protest at Russia's occupation of Georgia, demanding that it pull its troops back to pre-conflict lines. Russia has since made a partial but incomplete withdrawal.

Brussels - The European Union is to re

Moscow/Tbilisi - Two Georgian police officers were killed when a land mine exploded near the border of South Ossetia, where Georgia went to war with Russia in August.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said the mine detonated while the policemen were on patrol in the border village of Dvani around 7:15 am (0415 GMT) on Monday.

A second mine exploded shortly after, injuring three policemen who arrived at the scene to help, the ministry said in a statement.

Dvani is just south-west of the separatist capital of South Ossetia near the Georgian of Gori in a buffer zone occupied by Russian troops until EU military observers replaced them last month.

Moscow/Tbilisi - Nearly 10,000 Georgian opposition supporters demonstrated against President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday, the first major rallies since Georgia's war with Russia in August.

The march marked the first anniversary of a police crackdown on anti-government protestors in 2007. Saakashvili then drew western condemnation when riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water guns to breakup the protests and was pushed to call snap elections.

A coalition of opposition parties renewed demands for early presidential and parliamentary elections, promising more rallies towards holding a vote in the spring of 2009.

Moscow- At least five people were killed in the explosion of a mini-van on Thursday in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, just across the border from South Ossetia where Russia fought a war with Georgia in August, news agencies reported

Another five people were injured in the blast outside the entrance to a movie theater and market on Kuibysheva street in the populous southern Russian city, a police source told Interfax.