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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.

In the Grozny District of Chechnya, power agents have severely beaten and tortured two residents of Pervomaiskoe village, located in this district, a father and his son. The reason was that the son received a call to his mobile phone his former friend who had joined militants a year ago.

In Dagestan, the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has informed that law enforcers know the names of several militants from the grouping that committed, in the evening on August 13, an attack a militia post and a sauna killing 11 persons. According to militiamen, the bandits, from 10 to 15 persons, were commanded by Nabi Migitdinov.

The end of the preliminary investigation of the case on the attack on Mikael Danielyan, a well-known human rights activist and chairman of the Helsinki Association, committed by Tigran Urikhanyan, former leader of the pro-governmental Progressive Party of Armenia (PPA), was unexpected - both parties were regarded innocent. Mr Danielyan himself told journalists about it.

In the opinion of Liudmila Alekseeva, chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the murders in Chechnya of Zarema Sadulayeva and Alik Dzhabrailov - leaders of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation" - is a result of the vertical of power, built at different levels.

At a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the outcomes of today's talks, President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev has stated that the recently committed murders of human rights activists and politicians have the aim to destabilize the situation in the Caucasus.