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In Ingushetia, ruins after the explosion on August 17 in Nazran are still cleared away. Vakha Chapanov, head of the Ingush Information Agency "Maximum", said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the fate of several persons remains unknown.

Today, at the sitting of the antiterrorist commission of Makhachkala, chaired by City Mayor Said Amirov, officials gave their estimates of the current operative situation in the context of recent frequent attacks on militia posts and encroachments on law enforcers. According to the Mayor, the situation is hard.

A number of well-known international human rights organizations have decided to send their representatives to Azerbaijan to the forthcoming litigation against young bloggers and activists Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli.

The Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus is going to stop felling at the construction of the combined highway Adler-Krasnaya Polyana (Red Meadow). Andrei Rudomakha, coordinator of the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus said that now ecologists plan to lodge applications to law enforcement bodies. Then the "greens" want to stop the tree felling, which is underway there, according to ecology activists, with their own bodies.

On August 17, the letter of Beslan mothers, which the members of the all-Russian NGO "Voice of Beslan" could not hand over to Dmitri Medvedev in North Ossetia, was sent to President's administration in Moscow. In the document, relatives of the victims of the terror act in Beslan ask the country leader to receive them and discuss the course of investigation of the terror act and the law on the status of the victims of terror acts.

The advocates of Anna Politkovskaya's family have appealed at the Supreme Court of Russia against the decision of the court to return the murder case of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" back to the public prosecutor. This was announced today by advocate Anna Stavitskaya, who represents the interests of the journalist's children.

Five years on from the Beslan hostage drama, the security situation in the North Caucasus is deteriorating. The website of BBC Russian - bbcrussian.com - has teamed up with the web publication, "Caucasian Knot" (kavkaz-uzel.ru) to launch a major editorial initiative, engaging online audiences in a discussion about key issues faced by people in the North Caucasus.

Ruslan Alkhanov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic has reported that a Russian-speaking family was killed in Pervomaiskaya village of Chechnya, but did not say, when the crime had been committed.

The militants who participated in the attack on President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov have been revealed; and at present they are not alive. This was reported today in an interview to journalists by Mr Evkurov himself.

Ahmed Zakaev, former emissary of Chechen separatists, now living in Great Britain, in future can return to Russia, as the forthcoming congress of the Chechen people will suggest Russian law enforcers to give up his prosecution; this was stated by Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, speaker of the parliament of Chechnya.

Today in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a powerful bomb was triggered on the way of a militia's UAZ van. According to preliminary information, one militiaman was killed and three others were hospitalized with wounds; one is in a grave condition.

Today, in Azerbaijan, Novruzali Mamedov, head of the Talysh Cultural Centre and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" (Voice of Talysh) died in the prison hospital.

According to latest data, the explosion in Nazran (Ingushetia) killed 20 persons and wounded 138 more; searches continue. This was reported by the Department of Information of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of Russia.

Today at night, in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, unknown persons burnt down a shop named "Sunna" that was selling Islamic literature, clothes and associated goods. The owner of the shop Makhmud Kurbanov asserts that supporters of the Spiritual Department of Moslems (SDM) of Dagestan could be involved in the incident.

The course of investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Zarema Sadulayeva, leader of the youth NGO "Let's Save the Generation", and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov, infuses no optimism in their colleagues and relatives. One week after the incident, inspectors still cannot announce any possible organizers of this crime.

Employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the Human Rights Watch have addressed Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin with a complaint of being shadowed in Grozny.

Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of the Dagestan-based edition named "Chernovik" (Blueprint), has stated that the militants' attacks on August 13 on a sauna and a militia post in Buinaksk are interconnected and fit into the general picture of what happens in Dagestan. Its reasons should be looked for in the corruption that reigns in the republic, which forces people to start acting within their own alternative legal environment.

The first group of military instructors from the USA has arrived to Georgia to start training, as of September 1, a Georgian infantry battalion for participation in peacemaking operations in Afghanistan.

In North Ossetia, the second case of A/H1N1 virus has been registered (the so-called "swine flu"). This was reported by the republic's Ministry of Public Health.

Tamaz Lakerbaya, an ethnic Abkhazian, has applied for political asylum in Georgia. He crossed the Georgian-Abkhazian border over the Inguri Bridge and met the head of the government of Abkhazia in exile Giorgiy Baramiya.