MINERS’ STRIKE SPREADS.

Coalminers in Rostov oblast in south-western Russia and in Chelyabinsk oblast in the Urals yesterday joined the two-week strike underway among miners in Primorsky krai in the Far East and Krasnoyarsk krai in southern Siberia. Leaders of the 800,000-member Union of Coal Industry Workers will meet in Moscow on August 6 to coordinate their plans for future action. "There is a very high probability of an all-Russia strike," Ruben Badalov, deputy head of the union, told Reuters. (NTV, Interfax, Reuters, August 1)

Refugees Flee Chechnya.