Nice, France - On Friday, European Union and Russian leaders agreed to re-launch negotiations on a "new EU-Russia agreement" on December 2, with expert meetings due on November 21-22.

The new deal is meant to replace an earlier Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) agreed for 10 years with Boris Yeltsin's Russia in 1997.

The PCA still governs EU-Russia relations, since EU leaders decided to freeze talks on the new deal on September 1 in protest at Russia's August invasion of Georgia.

Nice, France - Russia supports the idea of holding a summit of the world's greatest powers in 101 days' time to debate the reform of the global financial system, a Kremlin official said Friday.

"As I understand it, we support" a proposal from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to hold a summit of the world's 20 greatest powers 100 days after a similar meeting planned in Washington on Saturday, Natalia Timakova, spokeswoman of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, told journalists at an EU-Russia summit in Nice, France.

Nice, France - The global financial crisis and concerns over Russian and US plans to site missiles in Europe looked set to top the agenda on Friday as Russian and European Union leaders met in the French resort of Nice.

With a meeting of the world's greatest powers in Washington on the financial crisis just 24 hours away, the summit's host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and his guest, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, are expected to spend much of their time discussing a joint approach to solving the world's financial problems.

Nice, France - When European Union and Russian leaders meet in the French resort of Nice on Friday, the following points are expected to draw their attention:

FINANCIAL CRISIS: The EU-Russia summit comes less than 24 hours before the leaders of the world's most powerful nations meet in Washington to discuss a response to the global financial crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the host of Friday's meeting,

Nice, France - The European Union's finance ministers Saturday piled pressure on banks and insurance companies to provide greater transparency in the wake of the global financial turmoil.

At an informal meeting in the French seaside city of Nice, ministers said "measures designed to restore confidence through transparency and the responsibility of the actors will be put in place without delay."

The EU's internal market commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, is due to unveil a set of proposals aimed at improving the transparency of financial market operators in October.

Though details are as yet unclear, the proposals are expected to include a set of requirements for credit rating agencies wishing to operate in the EU.

Nice, France - EU finance ministers failed Saturday to agree on a proposal on reduced VAT rates in labour-intensive sectors such as catering or cleaning, saying its impact on jobs and on public accounts required further study.

At an informal meeting in the French seaside city of Nice, Germany headed a pack of countries which oppose the European Commission's plans.

Its finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, told reporters that about eight of the EU's 27 member states had sided with the German position.