Brussels - Georgia was Wednesday promised a higher-than- expected 4.55 billion dollars in aid over the next three years to help it recover from its 5-day war with Russia.

Pledges were made by some 40 countries and 15 international organizations attending a donors' conference in Brussels.

The total far exceeded the 3.2 billion dollars that the World Bank had estimated Georgia would need to rebuild its infrastructure, settle its refugees and get its economy back on track.

Moscow  - Russia said Wednesday it could start an oil reserve as part of an effort with OPEC countries to bolstered prices down by half since July peaks.

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri met with President Dmitry Medvedev on a two-day visit to coordinate policy with Moscow Wednesday before an emergency session of oil-exporting countries in Vienna Friday to discuss stop-gap measures to halt plummeting prices.

Brussels - Representatives from nearly 70 countries gathered in Brussels on Wednesday for a donors' conference designed to raise billions of dollars in aid to help Georgia recover from its August conflict with Russia.

According to a World Bank report, Georgia needs a total of 3.7 billion dollars (2.9 billion euros) in aid over the next three years. Of these, some 560 million dollars are already accounted for.

Much of the additional help is to be spent on rebuilding damaged roads, helping resettle scores of refugees and getting the economy back on track.

The European Union's executive arm, which is jointly hosting the conference with the World Bank, has already pledged up to 500 million euros in aid over a three-year period.

Moscow - Its organization unchanged since 1945, Russia's military now faces an overhaul, after its brief war with Georgia this summer showed leaders the country needs a more agile force that does not operate on Cold War scenarios.

While reforms were in the works before the Georgia war, the sight last August of Soviet-made tanks stalling as they pushed into South Ossetia and instances of military officers forced to use journalists' satellite phones to communicate with command muddied Russia's victory.

Helsinki - Top military leaders from the United States and Russia met Tuesday near Helsinki for their first time since this summer's war between Russia and Georgia.

The agenda was reported to have included talks on the situation in Georgia, an ally of the United States that in August fought a short war with Russia.

The meeting was attended by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, and General Nikolai Makarov, head of Russia's general staff.

Details of the discussions were not released, but it was reported to be the first direct meeting between these two defence chiefs.

Moscow/Minsk - Moscow will give Belarus a two billion dollar credit to purchase Russian natural gas Minsk cannot otherwise afford, the Belapan news agency reported Tuesday.

Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin announced the loan at a Moscow press conference. At least half of the money would be transferred to the Belarusian government by the end of 2008, he said.