Meeting in emergency session on 8 July, the parliament of the Karachaevo-Cherkessia Republic adopted a resolution creating national districts for the Abazin and Nogai minorities. The two ethnic groups account for 4.6 and 3.1 percent, respectively, of the republic\'s total population of 440,000. The parliament also voted to suspend controversial legislation on redistricting that resulted in the transfer of land near a largely Abazin-populated village to an adjacent, predominantly Karachai, municipality. That transfer triggered protests by representatives of the Abazin minority, who stormed the parliament building on 29 June to demand the law be annulled. (RIA-Novosti)