Moscow  - A week after Russia's defence ministry denied it planned to send nuclear-armed bombers to Cuba, a high-ranking Russian elected official renewed the idea of military cooperation, according to a report Saturday.

Andrei Klimov, the deputy head of Russia's International Affairs Committee in the Duma, said Russia intended to become more involved in Cuba. He did not rule out the possibility of a military presence on the Caribbean Island just off the US coast, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti.

Moscow  - Three people were killed and at least seven injured in firefights in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia on Friday, officials said.

Georgian soldiers were shelling the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and firing high-calibre weapons, Eduard Kokoity, leader of the separatist region told Russia's Interfax news agency.

He called for a "serious and painful" reaction against Georgia.

Georgia accused South Ossetia late Thursday of a terrorist attack that injured six Georgian police officers.

Moscow - The Russian region of Nizhny Novogorod voted on Thursday to erase California from its map - not the US state, but a deserted village by the same name.

Locals say the village, about 400 kilometers northeast of Moscow, dates to the 19th century when a whimsical aristocrat moved his peasants there and dubbed the settlement California after learning of Russia's sale of Alaska to the United States, news agency Itar-tass reported.

But in 2000 the local school, store and post office closed down, and California became a ghost town. Most residents have moved to another village seven kilometers away, where they are known as Californians.

Moscow - The sky will darken and thousands of sun chasers in ultraviolet goggles will travel to Siberia to see the 140-second phenomenon Friday when a total solar eclipse will rise in the Arctic and cross over central Russia setting in Mongolia and Western China.

Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city which lies in the path of the eclipse, is readying itself for an influx of over 15,000 hobby astronomers and tourists.

Hotels have been full booked since 2003, and city authorities are setting up tents to accommodate the extra guests, local news agencies reported.

Moscow - Russian began withdrawing a military mission sent to repair railways in Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia on Wednesday, a spokesman for the troops said.

Georgia lodged international protests against Russia's support for the breakaway region, saying such steps were aimed at the annexation of part of its territory.

Moscow, however, underlined the 450 railway troops were unarmed and dubbed their work a humanitarian mission that complied with its peacekeeping role in the region since a UN ceasefire ended a bloody civil war in 1994.

A third of the Russian troops pulled out of Abkhazia this week while the remaining soldiers will leave following an official ceremony Wednesday.

Moscow- Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday saw off the nation's Olympic team with a rallying call and a prayer service at the Kremlin to the upcoming Beijing Games.

"We will not make prognoses, but all Olympians should know that we will cheer for you with all our hearts," Medvedev told the blue- and red-jacketed athletes in the Kremlin's gilded Georgevsky hall.