Brussels - The European Commission is investigating whether Ryanair's decision to cancel thousands of tickets bought through third-party websites breaches EU rules on air passenger rights.

"I can confirm that we have sent a letter" asking Ryanair to provide additional information, Fabio Pirotta, the EU's transport commission spokesman, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Wednesday.

The Irish low-cost carrier recently announced that all bookings made on non-Ryanair websites after August 11 would not be honoured, and that passengers would be refunded.

Brussels- The security situation in Georgia is improving by the day, but international aid workers still have no access to the breakaway province of South Ossetia, European Union officials said Wednesday.

Latest EU estimates put the number of refugees and people internally displaced by the conflict with Russia at 124,000. They are currently being hosted in 672 Georgian refugee centres.

Brussels - The European Union is helping the Palestinian Authority pay for public sector wages and pensions by providing it with an extra 40 million euros (60 million dollars) in aid, officials in Brussels said Wednesday.

The money, which was requested by the cash-strapped office ran by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, comes on top of 440 million euros in aid pledged by the bloc at a donors conference in Paris in December.

"Today we are strengthening our commitment by adding 40 million to help the Palestinian Authority overcome the financial difficulties it is facing," said EU external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday gave its blessing to a proposed merger between two of Japan's best-known makers of electronics equipment 
- Kenwood Corporation and Victor Company of Japan (JVC).

European Union market regulators agreed to approve the deal after concluding that the new entity "would not give rise to any competition concerns in the markets concerned."

Kenwood specializes in such products as car and home hi-fi systems and in communication equipment, while JVC is one of the biggest makers of audio, visual and computer-related electronics.

Brussels - NATO and the European Union strongly condemned Tuesday's suicide bomb attack against a police academy in Algeria that left at least 43 people dead.

In a statement, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said there could be no justification for such a "heinous act." The NATO chief said the alliance would continue to cooperate with Algeria in "the fight against the scourge of terrorism."

The EU's external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said she was "profoundly shocked" by the bombing.

Brussels - The European Union wants to see Russian troops move out of Georgia "today," Javier Solana, the bloc's foreign policy chief, said in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Some troops are beginning to move ... and I hope very much that within the day, the troops will begin seriously to withdraw," said Solana.

The EU high representative was speaking as NATO ministers met at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels and ahead of talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.