26.7% of the ballots in Chechnya's single-mandate constituency were counted by 8:00 Moscow time, December 8, reported Chairman of the Chechen Election Commission Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov.

On December 4, Freimut Duve addressed a special letter to Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev in which he expressed concern about the case of editor-in-chief of the Yeni Musavat newspaper Rauf Arifoglu.

There are several events planned in the Czech Republic for the period between December 8 and 13 that will be devoted to the Caucasus: its culture, history, tradition, as well as a current situation in the Caucasian republics. These events are also aimed at helping Chechen refugees.

The republican population is extremely alarmed with what is happening and express indignation about the continuing high-handedness from the direction of security agents.

Yesterday, December 5, 42 people were killed and more than 100 passengers were wounded as a result of the explosion of a railway car in the vicinity of the Essentuki station.

"The Azerbaijan party has information there is drug trafficking through Nagorny Karabakh. It is possible that drug plantations as well as camps to provide training to international terrorists are situated there," noted Mr. Aliyev.

Mothers whose sons were abducted or disappeared without a trace during the second Chechen war have blocked the building of the Government and let nobody in or out.

The administration of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University gathered all the university staff in the rector's office, gave them a task to vote for the United Russia party, and threatened to dismiss those who would not follow the instruction.

The Grozny Office of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" is one of the few human rights organizations still operating in Chechnya and providing the world with crucial information on violations of human rights in this Russian republic.

35 people died at the site of the terrorist act, the other 7 died in a hospital.

The Russian Embassy to Georgia demanded that Georgian authorities immediately launch an investigation in the armed attack on charge de'affaires of the embassy Viktor Rynza, press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi Denis Gonchar reported via phone.

According to FSB director Nikolay Patrushev, two women were in the carriage and jumped out of it before the explosion. One woman led the action and observed. She has hardly survived, Mr. Patrushev noted.

On December 3, President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov received in his Magas residence Islamic Relief's Country Director for the Russian Federation Mohammed Allaa Ammar.

Tamaz Maghlakelidze, Supervisory Board Chairman of the United Georgian Bank, was kidnapped early in the morning yesterday, December 5.

A press conference of Oleg Orlov, Council Chairman of the Human Rights Center "Memorial", was held at the Independent Press Center on December 3. Its subject was "Chechnya After the Election: Abductions, Illegal Prisons, and Torture".

The total number of victims has reached 155 people, a spokesman for the South Regional Center of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations (MEC) told Interfax-South.

According to the data by the Independent Military Review, altogether the group of forces in Chechnya and around it (in the North Caucasian Military District) comes to no less than 300 thousand soldiers.

According to the preliminary data, 4 people were killed and 50 were injured.

The contest for libraries in memory of Doctor Gaaz has been summed up in Moscow. It was held by the Tolerance Institute of the All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature, the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation).

The parties stressed it was necessary that negotiations between Tbilisi and Sukhumi on the conflict settlement should continue, Heidi Tagliavini told journalists after the meeting.