MOSCOW - Rescue workers raced to save 59 people trapped inside Russia's largest coal mine on Monday as the death toll from twin underground explosions rose to 31.

The death toll at the Raspadskaya coal mine, 3,000 km east of Moscow, rose from 12 overnight as more bodies were found following two methane explosions on Saturday, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.

Aman Tuleyev, governor of Kemerovo region where the mine is located, said time was now running out to rescue those trapped in areas of the mine where anti-flooding systems had failed.

"God willing, they are still alive," he said in remarks shown on Russian television. "That possibility still exists, but ... we only have 48 hours until it floods."

The death toll makes the disaster the deadliest in a Russian mine since May 2007, when 39 died as a result of a methane explosion at Yubileynaya mine, also located in Kemerovo.

More than 350 miners were underground when the first explosion rocked the Raspadskaya mine just before midnight on Saturday. Nearly 300 miners managed to escape.

"We felt the wave: dust, gas and hot air," one unnamed miner told Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station. "We were blocked from both sides but we got out through the emergency exit."

Dozens of relatives gathered in a building nearby, many hugging each other and some crying as they waited for news.

Her voice breaking, one woman, Alexandra Onishchenko, said she was beginning to lose hope that her son was still alive.

"What grounds blast."

A criminal investigation has been opened into possible safety violations, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

"We need to do everything possible to save the people," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a video conference with rescue leaders on Sunday.

RISING FLOOD WATERS

At Raspadskaya, the country's biggest underground mine, rising flood waters were complicating the efforts of more than 500 people involved in rescue work on Monday, officials said.

Nineteen rescuers were themselves trapped underground after a second blast four hours later reduced several buildings to smouldering ruins and forced a halt to rescue work.

The bodies of 17 rescuers were found after a fall in methane levels allowed colleagues to re-enter the mine. Sixty-five were injured, the Emergencies Ministry said.

Every hour 2,000 cubic meters of water were pouring into two areas of the mine where at least 13 people were trapped, news agencies quoted Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

Rescuers restored electricity to the ventilation system, but faced the threat that higher levels of oxygen in the mine would increase the risk of another explosion, Shoigu said.

Raspadskaya is part-owned by steel-and-mining firm Evraz Group. The mine in the city of Mezhdurechensk had reserves of some 450 million tons of coal and produced 8.9 million tons in 2007, according to the Raspadskaya company. It says the pit is the largest underground mine in Russia.

MUMBAI, May 10 - Indian overnight call money rates eased slightly on Monday, amid comfortable liquidity conditions and despite strong demand for funds at the beginning of the fresh reporting cycle.

The overnight cash rate ended at 3.75/85 percent, lower than Friday's close of 3.90/4.0 percent. The overnight weighted average call money rate was at 3.89 percent. Volume in overnight cash rates were a high 126.44 billion rupees.

Banks parked only 294 billion rupees with the central bank at its reverse repo auction on Monday, compared with 417.85 billion rupees on Friday.

"Cash is ample and people prefer to see how liquidity pans out for the week. So they don't prefer to park the entire surplus in reverse repo," said a dealer.

The CBLO rate was at 3.65 percent and the weighted average rate was at 3.73 percent.

Dealers said there are no concerns on liquidity as government is expected to spend in a big way, as reflected in its borrowings under the ways and means advances from the Reserve Bank of India .

The government borrowed 288.68 billion rupees from the central bank in the week ending April 30 from the bank's ways and means advances and in the previous week it had borrowed 313.49 billion rupees, central bank data showed.

RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn also assured that there will not be any significant pressure on liquidity in the first half of the current financial year despite high government borrowing and credit offtake.

The European Union has cobbled a last ditch, $960 billion safety net for financially struggling members, hoping to calm fears that the Greek financial crisis will spread to other countries using the euro currency.

European Union finance ministers worked through the night to come up with a massive financial backstop for other weaker economies in the 16-nation eurozone. They wanted to announce the measure before financial markets opened for business this week.

The package includes about $75 billion of loans available from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to troubled countries; almost $570 billion more backing through bilateral loans and $315 billion from the International Monetary Fund. It follows a worldwide stock market plunge late last week on fears that the Greek financial crisis might spread to other shaky EU economies, notably those of Spain and Portugal.

At a press conference early Monday, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn recognized the problem posed for the nations sharing the euro currency.

"This has clearly been a systemic challenge for financial stability in the euro area," said Rehn. "It is not an attack on one or another individual member state, it is a threat to financial stability of the euro area and the European Union."

Greece's skyrocketing public deficit and debt has sparked international concern that it may default on its loan payments. Financial ratings agencies have downgraded its ratings, along with those of Portugal and Spain. But other European economies are also sending troubling signals, notably Britain which is projected to have a 12 percent deficit this year.

Critics fault the EU for its slow and divided response in dealing with the Greek crisis, notably from the German government which was reluctant to lend Athens money without it first agreeing to further austerity measures.

Berlin ultimately signed onto a massive rescue package for Athens, cobbled by the EU and the IMF. But the idea of shoring up Greece is deeply unpopular in Germany, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's party lost a regional election on Sunday.

Micro lending for small businesses is common in some countries, especially in the developing world.

But with the economic recession, micro lending is growing in the United States because it's difficult to get a bank loan to start a small business, especially for people with low incomes.

A private group is lending money to low income people in Washington so they can follow their dream. The loans range from $500 to $50,000.

Fidel Garcia is the owner of Capital Pilates and Patrick Carl is co-owner of the Capital City Diner. Both were able to start businesses in Washington with a small loan from the Latino Economic Development Corporation.

Garcia is a Cuban immigrant who opened his pilates exercise studio in November in an upscale neighborhood after retiring as a professional ballet dancer.

He applied for loans at many banks but was turned down. Then he went to LEDC and got $10,000. "It was a great help, because at that point, I really needed that money to help (buy) equipment, and with the rent. And I am very thankful to them because I really needed that extra push that they gave me," he said.

Patrick Carl and his business partner say LEDC let them borrow $35,000. "They walked you through the process like you were family. It wasn't so business-like that it was uncomfortable or difficult or surprising. It was just helpful," he said.

The Latino Economic Development Corporation began the lending program more than 10 years ago to help Hispanics, but now provides loans to anyone with a low income.

"We look to see how much a client can afford to pay and that's how we determine how much they get -- how much a client has available after they've paid all of their expenses to be able to take on a new debt," said Charlene Van Dijk, the lending manager.

She says more than half the clients are Latino. "There's a huge immigrant population in Washington. We have a bunch of Ethiopian clients. We have clients from Southeast Asia."

LEDC is often the last stop for people with low incomes who want to set up small businesses. "We've worked with an accounting firm, an autopsy service, and a lot of on-line services, companies that are starting on-line businesses," she said.

Financing is also given to restaurants like the Capital City Diner, which was constructed in the 1940s. The diner was moved by truck from a small town in New York to a low income neighborhood in Washington.

"We bought the entire restaurant, the entire building, plates, dishes. We found the diner on E-bay. We live in the neighborhood and there's no place for breakfast. There's no sit-down restaurants and it seemed like a good opportunity for us," said Patrick Carl, co-owner, Capital City Diner.

Capital City Diner opened two months ago, and like Garcia's pilates studio, business is booming. "On any given day, you can have a rich person next to a poor person. It could be anybody who can walk in because everyone wants good food at good prices in a comfortable atmosphere," he said.

Garcia says after he pays off his loan, he plans to apply for another small loan from LEDC. "Because the studio has to grow. And there are a lot of people who want to take classes," he said.

Last year, LEDC handed out $600,000 in small loans. Only one client has not repaid a loan, after he lost a job that helped support his business.

Volcanic ash from Iceland's erupting volcano is again grounding flights in Europe as it continues to spread across the continent. Millions of travelers are being affected as flights are canceled and delayed. Civil aviation authorities say the disruption could last for several more days.
The European Air Traffic navigation and safety organization, Eurocontrol, says it expects further flight disruptions across European airspace as a plume of ash from the Icelandic volcano snakes through southern France, Switzerland and northern Italy.

The ash, stretching up from the surface to about 6,000 meters, has forced the closure of a number of airports in northern Italy. The Italian civil aviation authorities announced there would be no flying over a large part of the north of the country most of Sunday due to the ash cloud.

The airport in Venice, a major tourist destination, has so far been spared and is still open for travel. But other popular arrival points, like Pisa and Florence are closed. Passengers are being urged to check details of their flights before traveling to airports.

Millions of travelers in Europe and also those arriving and leaving the continent are being affected. Flight delays and cancellations are expected across Europe on Sunday as the ash cloud continues to disrupt international travel.
It is unclear how long the volcanic ash travel misery will last but authorities expect it could run into next week.

On a normal day, European air traffic control centers handle between 26,000 and 30,000 flights.

Until the volcano in southern Iceland stops its emissions, the future course of Europe's ash crisis will depend heavily on the prevailing winds.
The eruption of the glacier-capped volcano has shown no signs of stopping since it began belching ash April 13.

The five-day closure of European airspace last month due to the ash cloud forced the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights.