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Georgia is ranked 20th out of 46 countries in the rating "Best European Countries for Business-2017", stepping up four positions against last year. Armenia went three places down and takes the 39th place, while Azerbaijan is one but last in the rating, having lost one position.

In the course of his "direct talk", the Russian President did not respond to the appeal of Ramazan Djalaldinov's relatives, who are now afraid of a negative reaction to their request to return the head of the family home.

Rashid Abdurakhmanov, a resident of the Dagestani village of Chervleny Buruny, whose disappearance after detention was reported by his relatives, is at the police station. This was reported by Rashid's wife.

The situation with the construction of the "Park Evropeisky" Residential Complex in Volgograd is under special supervision of the "Minstroy" (Ministry of Construction) of Russia, the shareholders of the complex said after their meeting with the Minister.

About 5.334 million US dollars from the Azerbaijani President's Reserve Fund has been allocated for the construction of 100 houses in the village of Chodjuk Mardjanly, which is controlled by the Azerbaijani militaries since April 2016.

In its resolution adopted today, the European Parliament has called on the Georgian authorities to investigate the kidnapping of an Azerbaijani journalist in Tbilisi and the Azerbaijani authorities to release Afghan Mukhtarly.

In Sochi, the "Kinotavr" film festival finished, and its main prize went to the film "Arrhythmia" directed by Boris Khlebnikov. The prize "To the Best Film Director" was awarded to Rezo Gigineishvili, a film director of Georgian origin, for his film "Hostages".

The Nasimi District Court of Baku has not dismissed the defence's request to release Aziz Orudjev, the director of the online "Kanal-13" TV Channel, under house arrest.

According to political analyst Sergey Minasyan, it is possible that Armenia may use political tools of pressure against Azerbaijan, including economic sanctions. The sanctions will allow avoiding escalation of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone, believes political analyst Stepan Safaryan.

In the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder, the judge gave the defendants for examination the materials of the court hearings not attended by them. Meanwhile, the judge ignored the statements of the defendants that the documents would be taken away from them during their transfer to the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

In the village of Novogrozny, power agents are looking for the author of a video depicting the demolition by the authorities of residential houses, and detained over 10 persons, local residents report. In their turn, Chechen law enforcers said they had no information about detentions.

Murad Amriev, suspected of using a fraudulent document, has rejected power agents' demand to plead guilty and filed a petition to stop his criminal case, the "Novaya Gazeta" reports.

Following the results of the All-Russian the Nogai People's Congress held in the aul (village) of Terekli-Mekteb, its participants have adopted a resolution and an appeal to Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.

The journalist Sevinj Vagifgyzy, questioned within the criminal case opened against her colleague Afghan Mukhtarly, was forced to sign a non-disclosure obligation, her advocate reports. Members of the oppositional "Musavat" Party have also been summoned for questioning. The party leader has treated the Mukhtarly's case as politically motivated.

Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of the "Echo Moskvy", has announced his readiness to come to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to be questioned in connection with his appeal about threats from Chechnya against journalists of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

The Central District Court of Sochi has sentenced Alexei Bychkov and Vitaly Buchenkov to administrative arrest for participation in an anticorruption rally. It took ten minutes from the Court to pronounce the decision to arrest both activists, and no people were allowed to attend the court hearing.

Two young people from Chechnya have reported about torture and beatings to which they were subjected in the republic because of their homosexual orientation. One of them reported that he was tortured with electric current, and the second man managed to escape from the house, where his relatives planned to kill him.

Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, who was convicted for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and died in a Vologda colony, was buried into the cemetery of Achkhoy-Martan village, his relatives have reported. In Achkhoy-Martan, they do not believe that Gaitukaev was the organizer of Politkovskaya's murder, said a local woman.

In Baku, the court has found journalist Fikret Faramazoglu guilty of extortion. He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment with the prohibition to be engaged in journalistic activities for two years after his release. He himself claimed being tortured after his arrest. His defence intends to appeal against the verdict.

Nurmagomed Gazimagomedov has claimed that he was detained in the Makhachkala Park named after the 50th anniversary of October, where he planned to read out his appeal to the Russian President.