News

Tonight, a strong hailstorm has damaged orchards in Eastern Georgia, in ten villages of the Kakheti Region.

Some deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation believe that that fact that Grigol Vashadze, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, has Russian citizenship allows him to be engaged in "anti-Russian activities."

As reported by Shota Utiashvili, head of the information-analytical department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia, on November 3, in the city of Gali, at a meeting under the mechanism of incident-prevention in the conflict zone, an agreement was reached on unobstructed transportation of patients across the Georgian-Abkhazian border to the hospitals located in the Tbilisi-controlled territory.

It is planned to set up a special commission under the government of the Chechen Republic in charge of supervising the process of demining the territory of the republic. Officials and militaries have come to the conclusion that such body is a must.

Today in Baku, the international journalistic organization "Article 19" has held a presentation of the report on the state of affairs in Azerbaijan in the sphere of the freedom of obtaining information. The report under the figurative title "Time to Reset Code Locks" covers a four-year period (2005-2009). The research studied the issues of receiving answers to requests submitted to state bodies.

Today, President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has offered Azamat Nalgiev to the parliament as his nominee for the post of national Ombudsman. The candidate will be considered by the MPs within the next few days.

The nomination, which lasted from October 13 to November 2, of candidates to the post of the President of the republic is over. The candidates are the incumbent President Sergey Bagapsh - from the Party "Edinaya Abkhazia", Beslan Butba - from the "Party of Economic Development", Raul Khadzhimba, Zaur Ardzinba and Vitaly Bganba - from their initiative groups.

Advocate Genry Reznik, who is representing the interests of Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", finds it senseless to appeal against the decision of the Moscow GUVD (City Interior Department) to initiate a criminal case against his client on slander under the claim of President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

In the last 20 years, the Russian-speaking population of Dagestan dropped by more than a third. This fact was announced at the session of the governmental commission on the problems of the Russian-speaking population held in Makhachkala.

If in the days of the USSR thousands of Karachais had not been deported, now the population of this nation in Russia would have made some 400-450 thousand persons, that is, twice as today. This was stated by Professor Murat Karaketov, Doctor of History.

From April till end of October, almost 150 persons were liquidated in Northern Caucasus, who were treated by power agents as militants. The figure was made public by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya at the sitting on November 2 in Grozny with participation of President Ramzan Kadyrov and bosses of power agencies.

Officials from the Sverdlovsk Region, where resettlement is prepares, report that serious problems may arise with accommodation of Ingush migrants in the Urals Mountains, since practically nothing is ready.

As reported by Sergey Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, citizens of the republic can use their Soviet passports "until further notice" of the Russian government.

Because of downpours incessant in Georgia for two weeks already, thousands of hectares of farmland are under water. As a result of floods and snowfalls a number of regions of the country are cut off from the outer world; the calamity destroys houses, and several persons were registered as missing.

The Coordination Centre of Moslems of Northern Caucasus has called to scale up the struggle against crime in Dagestan in the context of the murder of Tinamagomed Ramazanov, Imam of the mosque of Bavtugai village.

In Georgia, activists of oppositional movements and NGOs get ready to mark the second anniversary of dispersal of the protest action of the opposition in Tbilisi on November 7, 2007. A new action and protest march will be held in central Tbilisi, as Dzhaba Dzhishkariani, leader of the "Movements of November 7", said to the press conference.

Today, relatives of residents of Kabardino-Balkaria Timur Begidov from Kenzhe village, Ibragim Shogenov and Anzor Nagoev from Dugulubgei village, who on October 2 left for Ufa in a cold storage truck with fruits aiming to sell them there and disappeared, rallied in Nalchik in the square near the House of Government.

In Azerbaijan, the health condition of Mushvig Guseinov, convicted journalist from the "Bizim Yol" (Our Way) newspaper, who was placed two weeks ago in a specialized medical establishment for tuberculosis (TB) patients of the Penitentiary Service, has become still worse. This was stated by his brother Sarvar Guseinov.

On November 2, Moscow hosted a roundtable dedicated to role of Russia in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenian, Azerbaijani, Russian and European experts took part in the event - ten analysts in total.

The health condition of Tauzela Dzeitova, the main witness of Maksharip Aushev's murder, who received wounds, when Aushev's car was shelled in Nalchik, remains grave. This was stated by Shamil Kudaev, deputy chief physician of the Republic's Clinical Hospital of Nalchik. The woman is still in resuscitation ward.