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On the eve of the rally in Baku, appointed by the Azerbaijani opposition for April 17 with a demand of democratic reforms, the international human rights organization Amnesty International has urged the Azerbaijani authorities not to admit any police's attack on peaceful demonstrators.

The participants of the rally, which started today in the capital of South Ossetia at 11 a.m., want to get money from regional authorities to build new houses; their homes burnt down during the August 2008 war.

In Ingushetia, the central part of the city of Nazran is blocked. Many streets are patrolled by power agents in masks with firearms; the city is full of armoured vehicles, local residents say.

As stated by the operative headquarters (OHQ) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), since April 16, because of continuing threat of subversive and terror acts, the republic keeps all its mountain resorts near Elbrus closed for tourists.

The rain that poured on Astrakhan on April 12-13 flooded the main streets and houses of residents who live in their private houses in the low areas of the city. The city administration has sent 28 special vehicles to pumping water from the streets. The problem is aggravated since the city has no storm sewer system.

The Georgian Labour Party has moved a legislative initiative assuming a large-scale amnesty in the country.

The multinational exercises "Viking-2011" were held at the military base in Vaziani near Tbilisi within the framework of the NATO programme "Partnership for Peace".

Maria Ameli, a native of North Ossetia and deportee from Norway, shall compensate to Norwegian authorities their expenses on her deportation to Russia. Only after that, she will be able to come to work to Norway.

On April 15, as a result of an accident with the water line "Vezur-Kvaisa", the city of Kvaisa, South Ossetia, remained without water. The municipal services detected three significant damages of the water line caused by mudflows.

In an attempt to attract attention of local authorities to the problem of shortage of places in kindergartens of Volgograd, 16 young mothers have announced a three-day-long hunger strike.

The leadership of the Lutheran Church of Finland has dismissed the Finnish pastor, doctor of theology Juha Molari for his criticism of the website "Kavkaz-Centre", which is close to the terrorist leader Dokku Umarov. Human rights activists from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) offer Molari to move to Orthodoxy.

As reported by John Crowfoot, the creator of the database and an expert of the International Federation of Journalists, and Roman Serebryany, advisor of the chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia, at the training seminar on "Youth Leadership" in Makhachkala, Russia is creating a database of crimes committed against journalists. The seminar was attended by Dagestani, Chechen and Ingush journalists.

The former Deputy Minister of Construction of Ingushetia Sultan-Girei Khashagulgov, who received serious injuries as a result of an attempt on him, fears for his life.

In Makhachkala, the court session dealing with the criminal case against Ziyavdin Dapaev, a follower of Turkish theologian Said Nursi, whose written works have been banned in Russia since 2007, listened to Gasan Gasanov, an expert, head of the division of general psychology and chairman of the advisory council for psychology of the Dagestan State University, who stated that there is nothing illegal in Nursi's writings.

On Saturday, April 16, the Chechen Republic will mark the second anniversary of cancellation of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime, which had lasted in the republic for almost 10 years. This day is celebrated in Chechnya as the end of war; therefore, it is declared the Day of Peace. However, the official authorities and NGOs disagree in evaluation of this event.

At the maternity hospital of the capital of South Ossetia, the absence of a child resuscitator-neonatology physician creates problems in rearing premature babies. This was stated by Vadim Tedeev chief physician of the hospital. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to find out that the young woman-postgraduate student, sent by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of South Ossetia to Russia for training in this specialty, got married and never returned to Tskhinvali.

The rights defender from South Ossetia is going to apply to the Prosecutor's Office against those who threatened her. Inara Gabaraeva has confirmed the information spread within the last day on the Internet that on April 14 she received threats from three unidentified men who introduced themselves as employees of the Ministry of Defence of South Ossetia.

The confrontation of Zegduleti villagers and local authorities continues. After interference of Irakli Alasaniya, activist of the "Free Democrats" Party, Roman Aladze, a resident of the village, detained in the morning, was released.

By decision of the Government of Armenia, chess will be taught at primary schools. Officials believe that this will contribute to mental development of younger schoolchildren.

Today, a trial has started in Finland on the case of illegal immigration of Chechen natives. One of the defendants in this case is Abdulkhamid Mechiev, 26, who identified himself as the brother of Shamil Basaev, field commander of Chechen militants. The court will announce its verdict on May 9.