AZERBAIJANI PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMED.

President Haidar Aliev yesterday named Arthur Rasizade as Prime Minister, a post that he had filled in an acting capacity since July. Rasizade, 62, headed the economics department of the Azerbaijani Communist party’s Central Committee and was deputy prime minister of the republic during the final Soviet years. He then withdrew into academic life. A respected economist, Rasizade was drafted back into the government this year to replace Prime Minister Fuad Guliev, whom Aliev criticized for delays in implementing reforms. (Turan, Interfax, November 26)

Georgian Paramilitary Group Members Sentenced.