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In 2010, the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani Republic will allocate 80 million manats (about 100 million US dollars) for the measures aimed to improve the social status and accommodation of refugees and forced migrants.

Today in the morning in Makhachkala, a terrorist-suicide bomber in a car tried to ram through the gate of the battalion of the city State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI, also known as GIBDD), where at that time road policemen gathered before going to their posts. However, at the last moment, at the very entrance, the blow was taken by a special fire team (SFT). Its members rammed the terrorist's car by their UAZ minivan and blew up together with the suicide bomber.

Advocates of Nazim Guliev, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Ideal", demand to stop the investigation against their client. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that at a press conference today lawyers Elbrus Saryvelli and Vugar Khasaev said that the investigation "from the very beginning was illegal."

On January 4, the office of the Azerbaijani National Committee of the Helsinki Civil Assembly hosted a sitting of the committee in defence of the freedom of speech dedicated to the new criminal case opened against the imprisoned journalist Einullah Fatullaev.

Under assertions of the South-Ossetian party, Gennady Pliev, an employee of the state security service of South Ossetia was kidnapped at 7:00 a.m. in the district of South Ossetia named Shanghai and bordering on Georgia. The Georgian party asserts that Pliev was detained in its territory.

On January 4, structures of businessman Oleg Deripaska sold the control over 100 percent of shares of the oil company "Russneft" back to the structures of its founder - former head of the "Russneft" and a native of Ingushetia Mikhail Gutseriev. This was reported by a source close to one of the parties of the deal.

As stated by Vladimir Churov, chair of the Russian Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the election of the Mayor of Derbent was nullified because the majority of voters were listed by the polling stations, which failed to open on the voting day.

In 2010, the authorities of Abkhazia expect further recognition of independence of this breakaway republic by the countries of the Pacific basin, Latin America and Middle East. This was stated by Sergey Shamba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, who added that "a whole range of countries are ready to consider the issue."

The oppositional parties of Georgia have prepared an appeal to the Secretary General of the United Nations asking him to take the forthcoming municipal elections in this country under the aegis of this international organization. The leaders of the opposition are sure that democratic elections in Georgia are possible only with a direct participation of the United Nations.

Georgian experts and politicians believe that possible opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will affect the whole Caucasus and radically change the political picture of the region.

Today in Nazran, a railway track was blown up under a cargo train. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, there are no victims of the incident.

As reported by Nino Giorgobiani, head of the PR Service of the Georgian Airways, the airline will make three direct Tbilisi-Moscow flight - on January 8, 9 and 10.

The authorities of the Chechen Republic plan to rebuild 13 major industrial enterprises by 2012, which will allow, under their forecasts, to employ about three thousand persons.

As a result of the hurricane, which covered southern areas of Azerbaijan on January 2-3, over 300 power transmission line supports were tumbled down at the distance of several dozens kilometres. Roofs were torn off a number of houses.

Relatives of human rights activist Farid Babaev, leader of the Dagestan branch of the "Yabloko" Party, who was killed in 2007 "Apple", are sure that defendants' advocates are doing everything to ruin the case, and in the near future the killers will be at large. The main witness of the prosecution, who saw the gunman, has already given up his evidence.

Double Olympic pole vault champion Elena Isinbaeva from Volgograd and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt are recognized the athletes of the year according to the version of the International Association of Sports Journalists (AIPS).

The organization named "Reporters without Borders" (RwB) has put Azerbaijan on the list of countries practicing censorship on the Internet.

The action of setting up artificial coral reefs to the bottom of Red Sea was held within the agenda of the International Festival "Artificial Reeves-2009" by experts of the Caspian Branch of the Oceanology Institute under the request of Egyptian ecologists.

The civil works at the Yerevan CHPP (combined heat and power plant) are practically over. Its new power unit will be commissioned in April 2010, Armen Movsisyan, minister for energy and natural resources, told journalists.

The airline named Georgian Airways is still waiting for a permit from the Aviation Department of Russia (Rosaviation) to make air flights. This was reported by Nino Giorgobiani, head of the airline's PR service. The Russia's decision is anticipated by January 4.