By empty (11/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Foreign Ministry has addressed an official protest to the Moscow bureau of Canada\'s \"Globe and Mail\" following the publication by that paper on 3 November of an extensive interview with radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev. The protest warned the head of the paper\'s Moscow bureau, who commissioned the interview, that it is unacceptable to grant publicity to \"murderers and terrorists whose hands are stained with the blood of the Russian people, including the children of Beslan.\" (RFE/RL).

By empty (11/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

During the ongoing parliament debate on the draft budget for 2005, Finance Minister Avaz Alekperov said on 5 November that Azerbaijan values advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but does not need credits from that organization. Following the visit of an IMF delegation to Azerbaijan last month, it was announced that Baku will not receive the seventh tranche, worth approximately $19 million, of a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility loan program that is due to expire in March 2005. Due to protracted disagreements with the fund over economic liberalization, Azerbaijan has to date received only some $60 million of the total $120 million available under that program.

By empty (11/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

President Rakhmonov signed a decree on 4 November raising the minimum wage and salaries of government employees as of 1 January 2005. Spokesman Abdufattoh Sharipov told the news agency that workers in science, health care, and social services will get a 100 percent raise, preschool and elementary school teachers a 70 percent raise, other teachers a 60 percent raise, and other state employees in the educational and cultural spheres a 50 percent raise. The minimum-wage unit, which is also used to calculate pensions, will increase from 7 somonis ($2.