Azerbaijani rescuers on March 12 saved 15 Russians from a fishing boat that caught fire on the stormy Caspian Sea, local news services reported.
The Caucasus country's Ministry of Emergency Situations rushed its maritime fire brigade to the aid of the sinking vessel after receiving a distress signal at around noon on March 12, the APA news agency reported.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has praised the US State Department's country report on Georgia's 2009 human rights record. While criticizing certain problem areas, the annual assessment, released on March 11, commended Georgia for plans for the first direct election of Tbilisi's mayor, and for amending election and criminal laws.
Baku's Court of Appeals on March 11 turned down a petition to release jailed bloggers and youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. The decision has sparked a fresh wave of criticism from human rights watchdogs about the pair's July 2009 detention on hooliganism charges.
Detailed reasons for denial of the appeal were not released.
French insurance company Axa has reportedly provided life insurance premiums to descendants of Armenians killed during a 1915 bloody crackdown on ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, Armtown news agency reported on March 10.
Call it the power of positive thinking: In a televised speech on March 9, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili predicted that Georgia will become the Switzerland of the Caucasus with "elements of Singapore."
Azerbaijan has more than doubled its natural gas exports to Russia, shipping up to 3 million cubic meters of gas per day to its northern neighbor as of March 5, the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on March 9.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank and European Neighborhood Investment Facility announced plans to provide a 15-million-euro ($20.4 million) low-interest loan to Armenia to help overhaul the capital city's 30-year-old subway system, the RIA Novosti agency is reporting.
Traders at the Siob Bazaar in Samarkand are on strike in protest against new tariffs imposed by the local government.
According to a report distributed by opposition website Uznews.net, rents and costs for services that traders use in the market, such as renting weights or even paying for use of toilets, have skyrocketed since March 5.
