News

The sudden death of Arshaluis Akopyan, a human rights activist and a member of the Helsinki Association of Armenia, happened on August 11 in Canada, where he went to apply for political asylum. As reported by Mikael Danielyan, Chairman of the Association, with reference to the data of medical examination, Arshaluis died from meningitis.

Today from early morning the central Volgograd is covered with smoke having some chemical smell. Employees of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) are at a loss to explain the reason of this phenomenon.

In the context of aggravated fire-hazardous situation, the Ministry for Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has entered a complete ban on access to the woods of the region.

The explosion happened in the morning on August 13 in an one-storey house in the Nasimin District of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The house took fire.

The Council of the European Union has decided to extend the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia till September 14, 2011. This was reported by the press service of the EUMM.

For the fourth week already the trade ship "REF 607" remains in the sea port of the city of Novorossisk, Krasnodar Territory; the crew refuse to go to sea or ashore in protest against their salary debts. For two weeks the ship owner is inaccessible by communication means. Should there be no news from him within the next few days, the ship may be arrested.

Madina Lupezheva, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), has stated that on August 12, 2010, at about 9:30 p.m., her son Lupezhev, Aslan Arsenovich, left his home and never returned. The woman asserts that he was kidnapped.

Higher vocational training is completely suspended in seven and partially (in some specialities) in six higher schools of Armenia. The decision was made after the checks by the commission for licensing educational programmes.

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced eight activists of the radical Orthodox movement "Union of Orthodox Parents of Georgia" to 4.5 years of imprisonment each. They were detained after the incident in May 2010 in the TV Company "Kavkasia". The convicts were accused of hooliganism and "interfering with journalist's professional work."

As reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", Magomed Mutsolgov, 15, who was kidnapped on August 8 by power agents, was brought to some unknown place, where he was tortured and beaten.

The republic's concept of tourism development till 2015 defines six mountain-recreational zones, which may become tourist centres with highly developed transport infrastructure.

Foodstuffs and articles of prime necessity arrived from Ingushetia and Khasavyurt to villagers of Anchikh, Akhvakh District of Dagestan, who suffered from fire. Every fire victim received 10,000 roubles.

The statement that appeared in separatists' websites that the explosion committed on August 9 near the Gazprom office in Moscow was organized by a group of suicide bombers "Riyadus Salikhiin" (Righteous' Gardens) is causing serious doubts in local observers.

The fate of Zelimkhan Mutsolgov and Ibragim Tochiev, who were kidnapped by power agents on August 5, is now clear. Beaten Mutsolgov was thrown out by unknown persons from a car in the suburb of Nesterovskaya village, and Tochiev was presented charges of participation in the armed underground. The latter's relatives state that he was also strongly beaten.

The Stepnov District Court of the Stavropol Territory has sentenced six local residents accused of an attempt to expel a Dagestan family from the village, hooligan actions and beating people.

The water supply problems of all the 15 villages of the Zolskiy District, where they feel deficit of potable water, may be solved only after development of Gedmikhsh waterfall. This is the opinion of the head of the administration of Shordakovo village, where residents addressed human rights activists with a complaint on absence of water.

Today is the first day of Moslem fast. Traditionally, Chechnya starts the sacred month one day later than the rest of the Moslem world.

Alexander Tkachov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, has raised an issue on expediency of the present location of the "Azov-City" gambling zone - between the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory.

The leader of North-Caucasian militants Dokku Umarov has taken responsibility for the explosion triggered in the garage of a high-ranking official from the Moscow government, located not far from the Gazprom headquarters.

On August 11, all the Moslems of the world, those in the Caucasus inclusive, started their Ramadan - the sacred month of fasting, prayers and pious deeds.