21.   Dozens of miners in two Russian mining regions refused to leave their mines at the end of their shifts Tuesday, demanding back wages, Russian news agencies reported.

22.   In the Arctic mining region of Vorkuta, miners went back to work because they were losing customers, a union leader said.

23.   In the past Congo has denied U.N. monitors already in the country permission to travel to some battlefronts and mining regions.

24.   Memorial ceremonies also were held in several other cities in the mining region.

25.   On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov announced that the government will stop financing mining regions where unpaid workers block railroads, ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported.

26.   So far, the protests have been mostly in remote mining regions and have not caused major disruptions to the national economy.

27.   The companies were granted permits in Atacora, a gold mining region in northwest Benin.

28.   The compromise came one day after Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov warned that the government would stop financing mining regions where unpaid workers block railroads.

29.   The following year, he became the party leader in the mining region of Katowice, in southern Poland.

30.   The explosion of protest started in distant mining regions, but very quickly embraced other areas, posing a serious challenge to the government.