News

The Volgograd Regional Central Election Commission (CEC) has dismissed Sergey Smirnov, the chairman of one of territorial election commissions (TECs), who on December 6, 2011, refused to recount the votes in his district after the State Duma elections.

In early 2012, during the New Year and Christmas holidays, the vicinities of Mount Elbrus welcomed about three thousand tourists, two times less than last year, said the press-service of the administration of the Elbrus District of Kabardino-Balkaria.

The Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) has issued a statement expressing concern about the fact of collapse of the Armenian Church Surb Nshan in Tbilisi and calling on the Georgian authorities to take immediate steps to save it.

An explosion occurred in a private medical centre "Med-Luxe" in Kizlyar, which wounded two persons. The reasons of the explosion are being established, said the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of Dagestan.

On January 11, believers of Rostov-on-Don and the town of Matveyev-Kurgan held two rallies against abortions. Their participants were handing out leaflets and held talks with passers-by.

The programme of removal (exclusion) of juveniles from criminal punishments, which is now operating in six cities in Georgia, will be gradually spread throughout the whole country.

Zagra Magomedova, a resident of Makhachkala, has sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev asking him to stop the harassment by local law enforcers of her sick son Ruslan Magomedov.

Law enforcers have failed to find some of the militants who were blocked on January 8 in the mountainous Vedeno District of Chechnya. The power agents do not exclude that about ten militants could break through the cordon and hide at one of their mountain bases.

Implementation of a project "Reform of social rights: involving disabled and physically challenged children in pre-school education" is beginning in Azerbaijan.

Production of 48 enterprises of North-Caucasian Federal Okrug (NCFO) is planned to be promoted at the all-Russian and World market under the brand "Made in Northern Caucasus". 19 out of these enterprises are located in Dagestan.

A group of journalists residing in Azerbaijan after being replaced as a result of occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia will file an appeal against Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights.

A Special Investigative service in Armenia is carrying out investigation on a criminal case of theft of books from the National Library and the library of Yerevan State University in 2010-2011. There are six figurants in the case, including two policemen and a citizen of Georgia.

On January, 11, a new cottage community for resettlement of residents of a landslip zone in Malgobek district was opened in the rural settlement of Nizhniye Achaluki, Ingushetia.

Alexander Kirpichenko, the journalist of the "Astrakhanskaya Pravda" (Astrakhan Truth), the activist of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), disagrees with the decision of the magistrate, who fined him in the administrative case for violation of the established order of the rally held on December 24, 2011, in Astrakhan. Alexander Kirpichenko intends to challenge the court's ruling at the higher court. Supporters of the journalist believe that his detention and the trial had political background.

In the village of Tsagan-Aman of the Yusta District of Kalmykia, during the clean-up of the distribution sewage wells, five persons were poisoned by gas. One of them died in place, another one in the district hospital.

On January 6, in Armenia, activists from the NGO "Velosiped+" (Bicycle) found traces of the mass felling of trees in the Azat Gorge. At present, the Republic's Ministry of Nature Protection conducts the investigation into the incident.

Georgian journalist Lazo Lazareishvili, the editor of the newspaper "Metro", asked President Ilham Aliev for temporary asylum in Azerbaijan. This was reported by Lazo Lazareishvili at today's press conference at the office of the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in Baku. Administration of the Azerbaijani Presidential still does not comment on the statement of the journalist, and the Georgian Embassy in Azerbaijan has reported that the allegations of Lazo Lazareishvili are unfounded.

Starting from January 10, in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, staff members of the municipal unitary enterprise "Nalchikavtobustrans" went on strike to protest against arrears on wages and poor working conditions. More than two hundred of city and intercity buses did not come to their routes.

In Rostov-on-Don, Eduard Avanesyan, the former deputy chief of the Inspection of the Federal Tax Service in the Proletarsky District of the city of Rostov-on-Don, and Vyacheslav Avanesiyan, the former chief state tax inspector of the same inspection, accused of receiving large bribes, were conditionally sentenced.

Today, the Labour Party of Georgia held a rally called "Sorry, you will die". The protest of the Labour Party was caused by the resolution adopted by the Tbilisi government, which had determined the fee for ambulance.