By empty (2/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

At a rally in Tbilisi on Wednesday organized by trade unions, about 2,000 people demanded an official minimum wage that is up to the minimum subsistence level and protested the unemployment level and delayed payments of unemployment benefits. Speakers at the rally said President Mikheil Saakashvili had failed to live up to the expectations of ordinary people who supported him during Georgia\'s \"Rose Revolution\" of November 2003 and that ordinary people were even worse off today than a year ago. The rally participants issued a warning that, if their demands remained unsatisfied, there would be more rallies and demonstrations and that demands for the dismissal of the Georgian leadership would be put forward.

By empty (2/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Supporters of former Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva, co-chair of the opposition movement Ata-Jurt, announced at a press conference in Bishkek on 31 January that they have suspended their public protest to take part in the election campaigns of opposition candidates for parliament, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported. Protests have taken place in Bishkek since a district election commission barred Otunbaeva on 6 January from running in the 27 February parliamentary elections. The commission argued that Otunbaeva did not meet the five-year in-country residency requirement, a provision that has kept other ex-envoys off the ballot as well.

By empty (2/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

At a cabinet meeting on 1 February, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev criticized state-owned companies, banks and large holding companies for holding too many noncore assets. Nazarbaev said overly large companies need to slim down, adding that bloat hinders competition and stifles small business. \"They should rid themselves of their noncore assets in line with the market by selling them into a competitive environment,\" Nazarbayev said.