* Rescue efforts finished at a Kemerovo Region coal mine in West Siberia where a methane explosion left 38 dead and seven injured, local emergency officials said, updating earlier reports of 35 dead and three missing
* Polish TV channel TVP1 said the United States will deploy a missile defense base on the Baltic Sea coast in Poland, as official talks on the deployment of U.S. missile shield elements in Central Europe between the United States and Poland continued
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said:
- the U.S. should have consulted European nations on whether they needed to be protected with the help of U.S. missile defense elements in Central Europe
- a political and diplomatic resolution should be found to the Iranian nuclear issue to avoid a deadlock
* Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue developing its nuclear energy sector and would not stop "even for a moment."
* The head of Russia's nuclear equipment export monopoly, Atomstroyexport, said he would visit Iran in late May for talks on the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant
* U.S. President George W. Bush said he would work with Russian and Chinese leaders to toughen sanctions against Iran
* South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited a government source as saying Seoul had suspended rice deliveries to North Korea until it shuts down its nuclear reactor
* Kyrgyzstan will not allow the U.S. to use an airbase on the republic's territory to wage war on Iran or Iraq, the prime minister said
* Ukraine's Supreme Rada passed a resolution warning of a possible usurpation of power in the country by President Viktor Yushchenko
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he had agreed with his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on a date for snap parliamentary elections, but did not specify it
* Yushchenko ruled out use of force to resolve a political crisis in the country that was aggravated by the dismissal of the prosecutor general earlier in the day
* Russia's Federal Security Service said it had evidence that a top Russian rocket expert had illegally passed on to China know-how that could be used to design nuclear missiles.
* Russia's prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, said GDP grew 7.7% in the first quarter of this year
* Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot said it was considering issuing 800-900 million euros in bonds to buy a 39% stake in Italy's struggling national carrier Alitalia SpA from the country's government
* Leading Russian steelmaker Severstal said it had purchased a further 9% stake in Italian firm Lucchini SpA for 85.2 million euros ($14 million) to bring its shareholding in the company up to 79.82%
* Germany's E.ON, the largest power company in Europe, and Russian energy corporation STS announced the establishment of a joint venture on a parity basis for electricity generation in Western Siberia
* Authorities in Wales confirmed an outbreak of bird flu, but said there was no threat to humans
* A stash of heroin weighing several hundred kilograms was seized in a special operation conducted by anti-drugs police in Moscow, a police source said
