News

The Feast of Flowers is celebrated today in Azerbaijan within the events dedicated to the 90th birthday of the former President of the country Geidar Aliev.

Today, in the Sochi residence "Bocharov Ruchei", the Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with the British Prime Minister David Cameron, where they agreed on cooperation of the countries' security services in the field of security during the Olympic Winter Games in 2014.

The Azerbaijan's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) believes that the opposition is politicizing the traffic accident that occurred on May 9 in the city of Khudat, located in the north of the country and incites the local population for illegal actions. The opposition, in its turn, accuses the authorities of favouring law violators.

In Georgia, the meeting of President Mikhail Saakashvili with students at the Tbilisi State University (TSU) named after Ivane Djavakhishvili was held against the background of protests. One of the protesters - Revaz Revazishvili - was detained by the police for insulting shouts addressed to the head of Georgia.

The Georgian government is considering a possible decriminalization of using marijuana, as bans are sometimes fraught with reverse consequences, said David Sergeyenko, Minister of Labour, Health and Social Protection.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan has refuted the information that in the course of the special operation conducted in the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan power agents were looting the village. So far, there is no reliable information on whether the local residents had suffered from the marauding, said the spokesman of the MIA.

In the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, the local hospital does not work; only some of the pupils attend the local school; and villagers prefer not to appear in the streets, local residents report. The authorities, in their turn, assert that life is slowly returning to the normal way; and the commission to assess the damage suffered by locals, has completed its work.

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh celebrate the 21st anniversary of the liberation of the city of Shushi (Shusha). In recent years, the reconstruction works in the city were intensified, and the historic buildings and monuments are protected by the authorities. This was stated by Georgy Airapetyan, Chief Architect of the Shushi District.

The number of victims suffered in the emergency situation arising because of the railway accident, which occurred at the station Belaya Kalitva in the Rostov Region, reached 44 persons, and 17 persons were hospitalized. This updated information was reported by the Chief Department of the Regional Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

In Beslan, the school No. 6, where Zaur Djibilov, the inspector of the GBDD (road traffic police), who perished at the "Chermen" checkpoint during the terror act committed in October 2012, held the solemn opening of the memorial plate in the form of a stone bas-relief on the wall in the hall.

Temur Pareulidze, who was sentenced in the "case of twelve" in 2011, did not arrive to the prison of Minusinsk where he was sent from the Krasnoyarsk SIZO (pre-trial prison). This was reported by his wife Alexandra Zhivaeva. She expresses her concern over the life and health of her husband and asks human rights defenders to take part in the search for him.

Today, in Volgograd, at the Marshal Chuikov's tomb at Mamaev Kurgan, parents of large families announced that they postpone the beginning of a hunger strike and that they would report the start date of the protest action later.

Law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan refute the reports that the blogger Nilufer Magerramova, who died after falling down from the balcony, had been subjected to pressure by the police because of her publications. According to prosecutors, she often quarrelled with her parents and underwent medical examination.

The Chechen capital has held celebrations on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In the afternoon on May 8 the central Grozny saw a solemn procession, whose participants carried a symbolic 68-meter-long "St George Ribbon". The celebration ended with a today's military parade.

Azerbaijani authorities have stopped the authorities of the well-known lawyer Aslan Ismajlov. On May 8, the Presidium of the Bar of Azerbaijan decided to suspend his advocacy and the law firm "Aslan Ismajlov and Partners" founded by him. It was also decided to file a lawsuit on termination Ismajlov's advocacy practice and expel him from the Bar. Ismajlov himself has treated these decisions as illegal and politically motivated.

On the occasion of the Day of Europe, the Azerbaijani European Movement (AEM) has chosen the form of a flash mob, held in Baku within the campaign "European Construction", for promoting the European values. The action was not sanctioned, but the police did not prevent it.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a suspect of committing the Boston Marathon terror act was buried at night on May 9 in the United States; the place of burial is not disclosed.

Tigran Urikhanyan, an Armenian MP from the "Prosperous Armenia", withdrew his lawsuit from the court on the case of insulting filed against Armenian blogger Edgar Barsegyan.

At present, the academic week in Chechen schools will begin with the Russian and Chechen anthems. This was reported by the Republic's Ministry of Education. Officials emphasize that the innovation is aimed at increasing patriotism among school children and educating them in respect to the state attributes. Principals of Chechen schools express ambivalent attitudes towards the new direction of the leaders.

The court sentenced Captain Akop Manukyan, the main defendant in the case of the death of Officer Artak Nazaryan, to 10 years of imprisonment. Three other defendants in the case Senior Lieutenant Vaagn Airapetyan, soldiers Adibek Ovannisyan and Mkhitar Mkhitaryan were sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment, and soldier Arutik Kirakosyan to 3 years of imprisonment.