12 March: A counterterrorist operation is underway in an area of country houses in Kabardino-Balkaria's Chegem district. A group of gunmen is blocked in a house. They opened fire in response to the order to surrender. Fighting is continuing there.(It

12 March: The Defence Minister of Azerbaijan, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev is in Tehran on an official visit at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart General Ahmad Vahidi. (APA)

11 March: Parliamentary elections in Abkhazia ended on Saturday with turnout nearing 40 percent, sufficient to consider them legitimate, local authorities said. (RIA Novosti)

11 March: Thousands of opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rallied under the banner “For Fair Elections” in Moscow and several other major cities in Russia on Saturday. In contrast with March 5 protests, the rallies were held without serious public

10 March: A new natural gas field has been discovered in Turkmenistan, state TV reported. The gas field, able to produce up to 1.5 million cubic meters of natural gas daily, was discovered at the Bagtyyarlyk area, a large contractual production sharing ag

Commentary

8 March: European Cultural sources have expressed dissapointment at Armenia's decision not to participate in the Eurovision Song Festival in Baku in May. A statement from the Armenian Public Television which is responsible for Armenia's Eurovisi

8 March: The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey have concluded a meeting in the Azerbaijani city of Nakhichevan. In a statement at the end of the meeting the three sides noted “the importance of the earliest resolution of the Nagorno-Karabak

International Women's Day marked in the Caucasus, but women in the region continue to face many problems.

7 March: 117 mosques, 1 church and 1 synagogue have been constructed, dozens of mosques, as well as 4 churches and 2 synagogues have been overhauled in Azerbaijan over the last 8 years, says the report on the activity of Azerbaijani government in 2011. (a