By empty (3/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In a March 10 interview printed in \"Slovo Kyrgyzstana,\" Kyrgyz Deputy Prosecutor-General Abibulla Abdygaparov said that prosecutors have opened 68 criminal cases against the Akaev family. He said that the cases involve real estate and other property. The charitable foundation Meerim, which was run by Akaev\'s wife, Mairam Akaeva, is the focus of 28 criminal cases.

By empty (3/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Four pupils from a Tbilisi school, and four other people have been hospitalized with suspected influenza following the deaths of two pupils at the same school last week. The patients are reportedly in an isolated ward and are being treated with the drug Tamiflu, which is prescribed in cases of some strains of influenza as well as bird flu in humans. Georgian Health Minister Lado Chipashvili told journalists that an autopsy has revealed that the two girls died of a respiratory infection, not of bird flu, but he nonetheless ordered the school closed for disinfection.

By empty (3/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Azerbaijan\'s Deputy Health Minister Abbas Velibeyov said in Baku on March 13 that tests conducted by the World Health Organization have confirmed that three persons from Azerbaijan\'s Salyany district have died of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. A Health Ministry statement said that the diagnosis of bird flu has not been confirmed in six more inhabitants of Salyany suffering from flu-like symptoms. A March 10 statement by the WHO described Azerbaijan\'s response to the discovery of bird flu as \"prompt and efficient, but hampered by the lack of some essential equipment and supplies and inadequate diagnostic capacity.