By empty (5/4/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Armenian government on 3 May sought to reroute 63 freight cars carrying fuel and other commodities bound for Armenia that are currently stranded in the Georgian port of Batumi following the destruction on 2 May of bridges and rail lines linking Adjaria with the rest of Georgia, Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian told RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service. On 4 May, the independent Azerbaijani daily \"Ekho\" estimated Azerbaijan\'s losses due to the temporary impossibility of shipping crude oil via Georgia to Batumi for export at $200,000 per day. (RFE/RL) .

By empty (5/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russian newspapers carried on 28 and 29 April reactions to a December 2000 report by the CIA\'s U.S. National Intelligence Council, which allegedly forecast that Russia could break up into six or eight separate countries by 2015.

By empty (5/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Musavat party activist Seyidali Mamedov was arrested late on 2 May and remanded in pretrial detention. He is charged with participating in the clashes between police and opposition supporters in Baku on 15-16 October in the wake of the disputed presidential election and with obstructing state officials. On 3 May, the Baku municipal authorities refused a request by the Musavat party for permission to picket the Justice Ministry to protest the continued detention of seven opposition politicians arrested in October although their term of pretrial detention expired last month (Turan).