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Sochi streets were practically empty on December 31, 2013, and January 1, 2014, seeing only police patrol units cruising through the city, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports. Sochi residents explain their reluctance to leave home by fear of terror acts.

As reported by Alla Akhpolova, the press secretary of the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), after the explosions Volgograd and Pyatigorsk, law enforcement bodies of North Ossetia were put into the strengthened regime of service.

About 30 people have attended the foundation conference of the public movement "For Our Vladikavkaz", held in the capital of North Ossetia. The initiators report that they intend to implement projects related to the development of the urban ambient, environment protection and improvement of the tourist potential.

During their New Year visits to military units, officials of Nagorno-Karabakh recorded violations of the ceasefire. Compared with 2012, 2013 saw a decreased number of shots at the frontline, but an increased number of attacks from heavy sniper weapons, said Lieutenant General Movses Akopyan, the head of the Ministry of Defence of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The city of Malgobek has commissioned opening 32 houses with the total floor area of 90,400 square meters, built for residents of the landslide area, which contain the new apartments for 800 families. Besides, in the city of Magas, they have commissioned a new residential complex of 17 houses.

In 2013, not a single crime in Ingushetia was qualified as an act of terror, said Magomed Mutsolgov, the head of the Ingush human rights organization "Mashr", adding, by summing up the year, that the republic saw no kidnappings and no disappearances.

On Wednesday, activists of the "Ecological Watch for North Caucasus" Alexei Mandrigelya, Anna Mikhailova and sisters Tatiana and Valentina Borisova, sentenced to three days of administrative arrest, left the detention centre in Tuapse, Krasnodar Territory.

Today, five youth activists kept in Baku under administrative arrest have announced a hunger strike in protest against torture and inhuman treatment. The start of the action was reported by their parents.

On December 31, the funeral of Alexei Valenta, 12, and Alexander Dolgikh, 11, who died in the terror act in Volgograd, took place in the farm of Vertyachy, Gorodische District of Volgograd Region.

A spontaneous dump that appeared in Parallelnaya Street in Sochi and caused protests of local residents is liquidated. However, district officials and special truck fleet, as well as local residents, believe that the problem is solved only temporarily.

On January 5, 2014, Sochi will host a rally demanding to put the systems of housing utilities and urban management into proper order. The action was sanctioned, said the Mayoralty.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has published the book "Three Years of 'Stability'", which combines quarterly newsletters with analysis of the situation in the conflict zone in Northern Caucasus from the human rights defenders' point of view. The book is interesting in the context of the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi. Thus was emphasized by Alexander Cherkasov, Chairman of the Board of the HRC "Memorial".

The change of power in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria; refusal from direct elections of heads of most of the regions; termination of the militants' adaptation commission and suspension of dialogue among different currents of Islam in Dagestan – these events, as the most significant for Northern Caucasus in 2013, as of December 24, were assessed by the experts dealing with the region.

Ibragim Nurov, 25, a resident of the aul of Abram-Tybe, Neftekumsk District of the Stavropol Territory, who was killed on December 30 near the village of Kayasula, had been earlier kidnapped by unidentified persons on December 27 from the mosque in Neftekumsk, his relatives assert.

Today, about two thousand people took part in the memorial rally about the victims of the terror acts committed in Volgograd, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the press service of the head of Dagestan.

Rasul Gasanov, an assistant to the Public Prosecutor of the city of Buynaksk, was in his car, when an explosion occurred underneath. Gasanov died on the spot, said Rasul Temerbekov, the spokesman of the local Investigating Committee.

The explosion in Volgograd trolleybus killed 16 people, including the suicide bomber, not 15, as reported earlier, the spokesman of the local Ministry of Public Health said today. Thus, the total number of casualties of the explosions on December 29 and 30 is 36 people.

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reports with reference to the latest data of power agents that the explosion of a police car in Khasavyurt on December 30 claimed two human lives.

The US Govt has offered its Russian counterpart a full support in ensuring security of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, said Caitlin Hayden, the press secretary of the US National Security Council.

107 million roubles have been transferred to the social care bodies of the Volgograd Region, engaged in payments to casualties' families and victims of the terror acts committed in Volgograd. On December 30, financial aid was paid to 17 people, said the regional governor Sergey Bozhenov.