BAKU (Combined Sources)-Azeri and Armenian forces exchanged gunfire near the Aghdam region of Nagorno-Karabakh over the weekend. According to officials in Baku, two civilians and at least two soldiers were killed in the fighting.

More than 50 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives called upon Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday to challenge Azerbaijan's threats of renewed war against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, and to take concrete action to hold leaders in Baku accountable for actions that directly undermine the Administration's policy of fostering peace and stability in the South Caucasus region, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--International mediators claimed on Thursday to have made further progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but indicated that no Armenian-Azeri peace accords will be signed before Armenia's forthcoming presidential election, as the Azeri president threatened war again.

STERPANAKERT (Armenpress)---As one of the oldest Armenian cultural centers, the city of Shoushi will be the home of Karabakh's Ministry of Culture and Education, announced its minister Wednesday.

YEREVAN (Armenpress)--A spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Khazar Ibrahim, told Azerbaijan-Novosti news agency that "Azerbaijan does not trade in its land; Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied regions and Azeri refugees and internally displaced persons must return to their previous homes." "This should be followed by defining the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of an integral Azerbaijani republic,' he added.

Todays de facto independence of Artsakh has been acquired with blood and there is no doubt that it will be finally confirmed and legalized by the international community, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said during the Telethon-2007 in Los Angeles.

On November 25 Nagorno-Karabakh celebrates the 50th anniversary of the legend of the war in Karabakh Monte Melkonyan (Avo) who was killed in June 1993. The main celebration will be in Martuni where there is a monument to Monte. There will be classes at schools devoted to the 50th anniversary of the hero, the correspondent of Regnum in Stepanakert reports.