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According to arachnologist Alexander Khnykin, a rapid growth of population of karakurt spiders is possible in Volgograd region. Aid posts must be equipped with medications against aftermath of the bites and the authorities should organize training among the population, the scientist warns.

On February, 17, a republican contest “The best blog” the participants of which will be pupils of secondary schools and institutions of higher education and colleges will start on February, 17, in Adygea.

A Special Investigative service started considering a complaint of double voting of some deputies of the Parliament submitted by Center of Parliamentarism of Armenia. Head of the Center Ruben Torosyan does not even rule out an appeal to court.

The judgment of Krasnodar regional court of taking retired judge of Khosta district of Sochi Dmitry Novikov into custody is unlawful and unjustified, the human rights activists and lawyers from different regions of the country who were presents at the trial consider.

Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Georgia are collecting signatures – within the campaign "It's about you! Change the unjust legislation!" – under the petition demanding to amend the national electoral legislation. They plan to submit the petition and draft amendments to the parliament on February 17.

The journalist from Azerbaijan Khadija Ismailova has become one of five winners of Award "The Free Press of Eastern Europe," named after Gerd Bucerius and awarded by the German Foundation "Zeit-Stiftung" and the Norwegian Foundation "Free Speech".

The Presnya Court of Moscow has repeatedly addressed the issue of extension of the arrest of the sambo fighter Rasul Mirzaev, after whose punch the 19-year-old Muscovite Ivan Agafonov died, and decided to keep the athlete in custody until May 17.

Two young women, residents of Grozny, were detained by law enforcers on charges of kidnapping two young boys for ransom, the local MIA asserts.

The pelicans, who settled there because of abnormal frosts, are dying in Makhachkala Bay. The staff of the Dagestani Ministry of Natural Resources has stopped feeding the birds, the Dagestani Regional Branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" asserts. The ministry denies this information.

The members of the initiative groups "We are owners of this city" and "Our city", who demand to suspend the transfer of the kiosks dismantled in Abovyan Street to the public park near Mashtots Avenue, were not satisfied with the outcomes of their meeting with the Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan and decided to continue their protests. The Mayor promised that no construction would be run in the city at the expense of green zones.

Four Georgian sailors, who are staying for about a year aboard the Turkish cargo ship Hakki Cillioglu in the Sukhumi port, ask to help them to return home. The Abkhazian party denied information about detention of sailors.

The gunmen confirmed that leader of armed underground of the republic Ibrahimhalil Daydov (known as emir Salih among the gunmen) was killed in Dagestan. Sheikh Abdusalam, ethnic Turk, became his successor, a source in power-wielding structures of NCFO reports.

Four people perished and one got wounded as a result of an explosion in a vessel standing at a dock of Bakinskaya bay in the settlement of Zykh, Press secretary of State Nautical Administration of Azerbaijan (SNAA) Er-Salam Aliev reported.

A presentation of a joint documentary by a Georgian and an Ossetian producer “Trace of War” narrating about friendship between a man from Georgia and one from South Ossetia passed off on February, 15, in “Rustaveli” cinema, Tbilisi.

Natives of Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia Khajimurat Akkaev and Svetlana Tsarukaeva are the best weightlifters of 2011. This was acknowledged based on the results of voting held by “World Weightlifting” journal together with International Weightlifting Federation.

The religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses has announced 197 cases of violations of their rights in the North-Caucasian and Southern Federal Districts (NCFD and SFD) of Russia after the religious organization was banned in the Rostov Region in 2009. Expert's opinions on the operation principles of the community in Russia remain controversial: some of them still believe that Jehovah's Witnesses fail to observe the Russian legislation. Others are certain that the community is persecuted for ideological and political reasons.

Today, the Karabulak Court of Ingushetia held a session on the case of former employees of the Ingush Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Nazir Guliev and Ilyas Nalgiev, accused of torturing their detainees. During the court session, Gazdieva, a defence witness was questioned and asserted that Ilyas Nalgiev had an alibi.

A special flight of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) with ten victims of the explosion in the Volgograd cafe has landed in Moscow today.

On February 17, in Karachay-Cherkessia, the Drama Theatre of the city of Cherkessk will host a charity concert in support of the 17-year-old Aslan Khutov, who was diagnosed a malignant tumour of the spinal cord. His relatives are raising money, including through social networks.

Advocates of Ivan Agafonov's family expect that law enforcement bodies will agree to conduct a new examination in the case of world champion in mixed martial arts Rasul Mirzaev accused of causing death by negligence to Muscovite Ivan Agafonov.