Prominent journalist gunned down in Russia

The Interior Ministry says that the founder of a leading independent weekly publication critical of authorities in the restive province of Dagestan in Russias North Caucasus has been shot dead outside the newspapers office.Khadzhimurad Kamalov founded the Chernovik weekly in 2003. He worked as its editor for several years and remained its publisher until his killing late Thursday.Vyacheslav Gasanov, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministers branch in Dagestan said that unidentified assailants gunned Kamalov down outside his office in the provincial capital, Makhachkala.Kamalovs paper has been strongly critical of authorities and reported extensively on police abuses in the fight against an Islamist insurgency that originated in neighboring Chechnya and has spread across Russias Caucasus region.