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Modernization of the Russian law-enforcement system is a must. This was stated by Ella Pamfilova, head of the Council for Promotion of Civil Society Institutes under Russian President at Dmitri Medvedev's meeting with the Council members. In her statement, the human rights defender mentioned the recent scandal caused by the resonant video appeal of Militia Major from Novorossisk of Alexei Dymovskiy.

Victoria Radochinskaya, 31, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, is the winner of the prestigious international contest "Missis of the World-2009", which was held in the evening on November 22 in the southern Vietnamese city of Vungtau. She was awarded a white-gold crown decorated with 63 rubies worth about 100,000 US dollars.

Vandals continue desecrating the memorial boulder installed in the place of mass executions of Jews by fascists. This statement was made by Ms Yael Ioffe, leader of the Jewish community of Volgograd, in her welcoming speech at the opening of the information-methodical seminar "Efficient Counteraction to Extremism and Xenophobia".

Children-invalids from this republic have no chances to receive due treatment - for more than 40,000 such children Chechnya has only one rehabilitation centre.

Today, the court precinct No. 106 of Khasavyurt began preliminary hearings on the criminal case against lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova, who is accused by Arslankhan Arslankhanov, an inspector for especially important cases of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan, of insulting him with swear words. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Salimat Kadyrova, an advocate of the Kizilyurt Inter-District Bar, who is defending Magomedova.

Starting Monday, November 23, schoolchildren of Chechnya will go to additional vacations in the context of possible swine flu epidemic. The pupils' forced rest will last for at least ten days.

As a result of revising drugstores in Vladikavkaz, employees of the republic's prosecutor's office revealed facts of setting extra charges on 20 vital and major medicines in four city drugstores.

Activists of ten NGOs from different regions of Russia have announced establishment of the Public Commission on Chechnya, which will have its main tasks in defending victims of torture and inhuman treatment and bringing those guilty of rough violations of human rights or of failure to take the necessary measures to prevent such violations and punish for them to responsibility.

An unidentified culprit used a grenade launcher to shell a stationary militia post in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia; one employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has suffered.

Hadjimurad Kamalov, a Dagestan political scientist and director of the LLC "Freedom of Speech", said in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Moscow had not decided yet whom to support at the presidential election in Dagestan.

As reported by Andrei Goncharuk, deputy head of the secretariat of the President of Ukraine, in designing the gas line "White Stream", Georgia will rely on the potential of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

As reported by Armen Minasyan, chair of the Yerevan-based "Democracy and Peace Centre", the statement of Ilham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan, about possible force solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a threat to regional stability.

Opinions differ in Dagestan as to the chances of the five candidates for presidency, approved on November 19.

In the context of the recent collapse of the Church Surb Gevorg in Tbilisi, erected in 1356, the Supreme See of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) has accused the authorities of Georgia of indifference to preservation of the Armenian relics located in this country.

Militia Major Alexei Dymovskiy from Novorossisk, who had earlier asked Russian Premier Putin about a personal meeting in his video appeal, has given up his intention, now saying that his meeting with Putin will be an "offence to his honour."

The totals of the first ever city students' contest of photo works under the motto "Bright Prospects" have been summed up in the capital of North Ossetia.

The development prospects and safety issues of Southern Caucasus as a whole and Azerbaijan in particular were the debate points at the international conference "Safety Challenges in Southern Caucasus: Realities and Prospects of Regional Cooperation" held on November 20 in Baku.

On November 20, the Georgian parliament unanimously (86 votes) adopted, at its plenary session, the Law "On Amnesty", which assumes to halve the punishment for the people imprisoned for drug using. The current legislation provides up to 10 years of imprisonment for drug using.

The crew members of the Greek tanker "Thelema Т", now in the roads (off-harbour) in the vicinity of the city of Novorossisk, Krasnodar Territory, continue to fight for their salary debts and refuse coming ashore. The employer company promises to square up with the Ukrainian seamen on November 26.

In Yerevan, at the National Aesthetics Centre, within the plan of actions dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the date of signing the UN Convention on Children's Rights, a solemn opening of the exhibition of Swedish artist Ilon Vikland was held.