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The village of Balakhani, Untsukul District of Dagestan, is still blocked by power agents, while the adjacent forest is on fire, local residents assert. However, as stated by a source from the Untsukul ROVD (District Interior Division), there is no fire threat to the villages located in the district.

Evidence of witnesses for state prosecution received at a trial on Yuri Budanov’s case today play no fundamental role for the defense party, Valentin Varkentin, attorney of defendant Yusup Temerkhanov, declared.

Chechen authorities are going to build three new modern railway stations that would meet increasing demands of the republic in the towns of Grozny, Gudermes and Argun. A suggestion of including this project into the State program of development of North-Caucasian Federal Okrug till 2025 was submitted to Federal Center.

Ruling coalition the “Georgian Dream” in Georgia prepared an amendment stipulating entry into effect of already adopted constitutional regulations of extension of powers of Prime Minister for account of limiting the President’s authority. This amendment is expected to come into effect at the moment of inauguration of next Head of the state.

The number of prime contractors working in the sphere of recovery of destroyed infrastructure in South Ossetia will be considerably reduced. It is planned to set up contracts only with the contractors who “deserve confidence” of the Government. This was reported by Prime Minister of South Ossetia Rostik Khugaev at a briefing in Tskhinvali on December, 2.

On December 2, Albert Dyshekov, 27, a local resident, held a solo picket in Nalchik in Abkhazia Square with a demand to provide help to Circassians in Syria, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Vano Merabishvili, Secretary General of the "United National Movement and the former Prime Minister of Georgia was interrogated in the context of information about his use of a fake passport when crossing the border of Georgia as a member of the presidential delegation. The MIA of Georgia wants to question him again.

In Nagorno-Karabakh, the NGO named "Education and Training Centre" is conducting – within the project "Mobilization of Youth Through Training" – lessons for elder pupils on the topic "Conflict Settlement". In the opinion of Svetlana Djangiryan, the head of the organization, such training sessions give a chance to young people to acquire skills of settling both everyday conflict situations and interethnic conflicts.

On December 6, the Dzerzhinsk City Court of the Nizhni Novgorod Region will consider the presentation of the City Prosecutor on recognition of the monograph named "International Tribunal for Chechnya" as an extremist material. Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, a local rights defender and the editor of the edition, has been summoned to the session as an interested person.

On November, 27, the Porfirievs family who are being evicted from their house in Astrakhan with their baby upon a decision of the court received an answer from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about acceptance of two first claims for processing which concern gross violation of their rights in connection with the actions of Astrakhan municipal Administration by confiscation of their house and the land where it is located.

An inter-departmental commission formed in Grozny is carrying out inspection of housing resources and making a data bank of the houses, their owners and tenants. Simultaneously, illegally built structures are being pulled down in the private sector. Residents of Grozny told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the goal of this campaign was to find a pretext for new extortions of money from the population.

Migration Service of Russia in Armenia stopped receiving applications from the citizens who wished to move to Russia for permanent residence within the framework of the program “Resettlement of compatriots”. The decision to stop receiving applications will remain in force till January, 10, 2013.

Human rights activists from HRC “Memorial” presented their books to the readers at XIV International Non/fiction book market in Moscow. The visitors were able to receive for free “Magomedov’s “New Policy”?” by Oleg Orlov, Head of the program “Hot points”, and Ekaterina Sokirianskaya, Director of the project of International crisis group for Southern Caucasus, as well as a book about people missing since the Second Chechen war “Fate Unknown” by Chairman of the Council of the organization Alexander Cherkasov.

The "Funkids" and the "Compass Band", the bands, representing Georgia and Armenia, respectively, at the song contest "Junior Eurovision-2012" in the Netherlands, won the second and third places, following Ukraine.

Officials of the Ministry of Justice of Dagestan refused to receive a notification of holding an anti-corruption meeting, the organizers of the action informed the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Five out of seven members of the crew of the IL-76 cargo aircraft that on November 30, crashed in Congo, were citizens of Armenia.

The advocates of Shamil Gasanov, a resident of Makhachkala, who was killed when his flat was searched, have lodged a complaint to the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan against illegitimate actions of law enforcement bodies. Let us remind you that Shamil Gasanov, 35, a surgeon of the Second City Hospital of Makhachkala, was detained by law enforcers on November 28.

Participants of the conference “On activities of mass media in the sphere of interethnic relations and struggle against xenophobia” held in Moscow considered preservation of national peace the main problem of the Russian capital and called for the journalists to oppose escalation of national extremism, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports.

160,000 roubles were transferred to the account on the Internet, opened for residents of Derbent, affected by the flooding of October 10. From the total amount of the funds, transferred to the volunteer Yandex purse "Help Derbent", the activists spent 60,000 roubles for the purchase of essential goods.

As long as the murder case of Khadjimurad Kamalov, the founder of the Dagestani public and political weekly "Chernovik, is accompanied by the operative service of the MIA of Dagestan, all the requests of the public will be blocked at the level of the republic's power structures. This was stated by the casualty's brother Magdi-Magomed Kamalov at the press conference held at the "Interfax" Press Centre on November 30. The founder of the "Chernovik" Khadjimurad Kamalov was killed on December 15, 2011, in Makhachkala, when the gunmen made 14 shots at him. Investigators associate the murder with Kamalov's professional activities. His colleagues assert that the inquiry is boycotted.