Russian emergency experts, oceanologists to examine sea floor near

SOCHI, August 17 (Itar-Tass) - Experts from the Russian Ministry for
Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ and oceanologists are due
to begin an inspection of the floor of the Black Sea near the city of
Sochi Monday.
The goal of their effort is to set up a register of potentially
dangerous submerged objects in Russia's territorial waters, a spokeswoman
for EMERCOM's Krasnodar territory branch told Itar-Tass.
The first stage of the expedition was held last year in the coastal
waters off the Sochi resort and the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar
territory.
"Preliminary information on the potentially dangerous submerged
objects was gathered then," said Tatiana Kobzarenko, the spokeswoman.
"Now the expedition members will be expected to research and classify
the previously detected objects and to chart their location," she said.
In the course of their studies, the experts will use a range of
specialized equipment, including S-3000 side-scanning sonars, the Falcon
telemetrically controlled submersible capsule, and the TrakLink underwater
hydroacoustic navigation system.
EMERCOM has committed a rescue boat and the search and rescue ship
'Igor Prokopchik' to the effort.

.N Korea says to open border with S Korea again.

PYONGYANG, August 17 (Itar-Tass) - Democratic People's Republic of
Korea will open the border with South Korea again for promotion of tourism
and assistance to reunification of split families, Korean Central News
Agency /KCNA/ said in a report Monday.
Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met with visiting Hyundai
Group President Hung Jung-eun, who arrived in Pyongyang August 10.
It was believed initially that her talks in Pyongyang will concentrate
on the release of Hyundai's staff members, the South Korean citizen Yu
Song-jin, who was arrested in March for levying criticism at the North
Korean political system and whom the authorities let leave for home last
Thursday.
However, foreign analysts suggest that Kim Jong Il and Hung Jung-eun
might discuss assistance to the resumption of inter-Korean tourist
projects and prospects for operations of the Gaeseong industrial complex
where more than a hundred South Korean companies are present.

.Belarussian, Venezuelan officials to discuss bilateral cooperation.

MINSK, August 17 (Itar-Tass) - Belarussian and Venezuelan officials
meet here Monday at a session of the high-level bilateral commission to
discuss cooperation between the two countries.
The Belarussian Foreign Ministry said in a report the commission will
focus on projects in trade, science and technology. Attention will also be
given to the strengthening of political contacts.
The Belarussian delegation to the talks is led by the Presidential
Aide at Large, Viktor Sheiman, and the Venezuelan delegation, by Vice
President Ramon Carrizales.
The Foreign Ministry said bilateral trade grew almost 300% in 2008 to
reach 173.3 million U.S. dollars, in which the Belarussian exports
accounted 173.1 million U.S. dollars, marking a spectacular rise by 305.9%.
In spite of the ongoing global economic crisis, Belarussian-Venezuelan
trade doubled from January through June 2009 versus the same period a year
ago and reached 132.5 million U.S. dollars.
This country mostly exports machinery - tractors, trailers, trucks,
and agricultural vehicles.
In addition to this, Belarussian companies exported 4.8 million U.S.
dollars worth of powdered milk to Venezuela.

.Volcano in Kamchatka ejecting columns of gas, vapor.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 17 (Itar-Tass) - Koryaksky volcano,
which is located some 28 kilometers away from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky,
the administrative center of the Kamchatka territory, is ejecting columns
of vapor, gas and ash to the altitude of about 4,000 meters above sea
level.
The trail of gas and ash extends over a distance of almost 20
kilometers.
Experts from the Kamchakta Volcanic Eruption Response Team told
Itar-Tass the eruption does not pose any threat to nearby population
centers.
The cloud of vapor and gas is seen perfectly well from
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the trail extending westwards can be seen
clearly, too.
According to the information provided by the Geophysical Service of
the Russian Academy of Sciences, seismic activity at the volcano has
exceeded the background parameters but there is no strong activation yet.
Registering equipment started sending signals of growing seismic
tremors from the volcano in the night hours of Sunday and they might have
been caused by the admix of ash to the gas and vapors, experts said.
In the meantime, gas and vapor clouds containing volcanic ash may pose
risks for commercial aviation flights, and that is why all the services
and departments concerned have been warned that flying through the trails
extending from the volcano may be dangerous.
The Koryaksky volcano is 3,456 meters high. Its previous activation
occurred in 1956 and 1957.
Experts say the volcano witnessed powerful eruptions from 7,000 to
3,500 years ago.
-0-kle