.Germany offers to form EUR 500 bln pan-European anti-crisis fund.

BRUSSELS, May 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Germany offered to form a
500-billion-euro pan-European anti-crisis fund, a diplomatic source said
on the sidelines of an ongoing extraordinary meeting of the EU finance
ministers here on Sunday.

.Rescuers enter Raspadskaya coalmine to evacuate injured miners.
(adds)

MEZHDURECHENSK, May 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Despite the rescue operation has
not been resumed in the Raspadskaya coalmine yet, four units of rescuers
entered the coalmine risking their lives to evacuate the injured miners,
whose location is unclear, chief of the Novokuznetsk rescue force
Alexander Apolkov said at a meeting with the relatives of the trapped
miners.
"Four units of rescuers entered the coalmine putting their lives at
risk to evacuate five injured miners, whose location is unclear," he said.
Apolkov noted that the rescuers are going along the major horizontal shaft
3.5 kilometers long. "The deadline of the rescue operation is 3.5 hours,"
the chief of the rescue force said.
The chief of the Novokuznetsk rescue force elaborated that "the oxygen
volume in the gas masks of the rescuers will be enough for 3-4 hours. This
time will be enough to get to the blast sites and come back," Apolkov
believes.
He noted that the rescue operation is obstructed by a heavy gas screen
and the absence of the ventilation system. Relatives and friends of the
miners said at the meeting that they wish to enter the coalmine themselves
in order to save their near and dear. "There are no obstructions in the
coalmine that hamper to get there, but a high gas concentration is the
major obstacle," he underlined.
He emphasized that the shaft pressurization in two sections of the
coalmine is under restoration. "The shaft was destroyed, its
pressurization should be restored for the air to get there. By Monday
morning we are planning to raise the air pumping to 23,000 cubic meters,
currently 20,000 cubic meters are being pumped into the shaft that is not
enough," Apolkov said. He also noted that all shafts would be examined.

.Wreaths laid to monument to Soviet warriors on V-Day in Havana.

HAVANA, May 10 (Itar-Tass) -- A ceremony of laying wreaths to the
monument to Soviet warriors, who perished in the performance of the
international military duty in Cuba, was held on the occasion of the 65th
WWII Victory anniversary in the Cuban capital on Sunday. Top military
officials of the Cuban Revolutionary Forces and representatives of Cuban
public agencies, as well as the heads of the diplomatic missions of
Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were attending the
ceremony.
"The victory that we celebrate today allowed to liberate the world
from the horrors of Nazism and made a tangible contribution in attaining
independence by many Asian and African countries, as well as in
establishing the United Nations Organization," Cuban Minister of Basic
Industries Yadira Garcia said in a statement.
For his part, the chairman of the Cuba-Russia Friendship Association
and the first Cuban pilot cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez told Itar-Tass
that "the victory over Nazism became one of the most important victories
of humankind thanks to the efforts of the Soviet people." He also noted
that the Soviet Union role in the defeat of Nazism "cannot be revised."

.All 12 miners killed in Kemerovo mine gas blast lifted from mine.

MEZHDURECHENSK, May 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The death toll of a methane
blast that went off at the Raspadskaya coalmine in the Kemerovo Region did
not change, all 12 miners killed in the gas blast were lifted from the
coalmine.
"The death toll did not change and still makes 12 miners, seven of
whom were lifted from the coalmine and identified on Sunday," a source in
the operational headquarters for the coalmine disaster told Itar-Tass.
"Overnight to Monday four units of rescuers descended in the coalmine
and lifted from the depth of 250 meters five miners, who were found dead
on Sunday," the source said.
A high methane level remains in the Raspadskaya coalmine, a source in
the rescue task force told Itar-Tass on Monday. The source noted that the
rescuers descended in the coalmine to lift the dead miners. It is
premature to speak about a full-scale rescue operation.

.Death toll of Kemerovo coalmine blast rises to 13 miners.

MEZHDURECHENSK, May 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The death toll rose to 13 miners
in a methane blast that went off at the Raspadskaya coalmine in the
Kemerovo Region on Monday.
"One more miner was found dead," coalmine director Igor Volkov said at
a meeting with the relatives of the miners. So, the current death toll
makes 13 miners.
-0-baz


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