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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.

In the last two day in Makhachkala, unknown persons shot dead four militiamen, and several more were wounded. Militiamen suppose that a group of snipers is hunting them.

The excavation of the city of Tigranakert, founded in the 1st century BC in Artsakh (Karabakh) by Armenia Tsar Tigran the Great, resumed in mid-July, will last till the end of August.

The residents of Dagestan, with whom the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to talk, have expressed their discontent with the statements of Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of the Dagestan-based newspaper "Chernovik", that the population approves the actions of the militants who shot dead 11 persons in Buinaksk.

One hundred thousand hutchlings of vyrezub – a fish from the Red Book of Russia were let out into the Medveditsa River, Volgograd Region. Scientists not only managed to save the precious species from disappearance, but also to learn to farm vyrezub in ponds. Until now, it was believed that vyrezub cannot be reared by fish-farms.

On August 14, Abkhazia marked the 17th anniversary of the start of the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, know in this republic as the Patriotic War of Abkhazian nation. Georgia also marks every anniversary of the start of this conflict.

Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the ICPO, has stated that witnesses are afraid to evidence on murder cases of human rights activists in Chechnya.