Friday, August 17, 2007, #157 (1424)

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Headline: City Hall holds elections for kindergarten directors
City Hall announced elections for the city's kindergarten directors, Akhali Taoba reports. Anyone under 60 years old with higher education and three years' job is eligible to run in the competition, which, for the first time, will be conducted by City Hall rather than the Ministry of Education.

The competition will include tests and interviews; the application deadline is August 24. 300 will be picked to direct Tbilisi kindergartens.

Headline: Saakashvili feels no responsibility towards Nadiradze
It's rumor season again in Tbilisi. The latest whispers say that Maia Nadiradze, parliamentary leader of the ruling party, won't make the abridged party list in next year's elections. Parliament will then shrink from 235 to 150 members, meaning some MPs are destined to end their careers shortly.

Word is, however, that Nadiradze will land the ambassadorship to Britain.

But MP Levan Berdzenishvili, a member of the parliamentary opposition faction Democratic Front, says President Mikheil Saakashvili has little loyalty or use for the former Aslan Abashidze ally. Her appointment is no sure thing, he says.

Headline: There was no need to call in police special forces
Head of the parliamentary Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee Elene Tevdoradze criticized the handling of a riot in a juvenile prison on August 13. She could not understand, she said, how the prison administration let the fight escalate and why police special forces were called in, writes Akhali Taoba.

Tevdoradze visited the Avchala prison on August 15 to investigate the incident.

"Georgia can't afford to lose a single child. If we need to, we'll change the law to help integrate youths after their sentences," Tevdoradze said.

At least twelve young inmates were injured in the riot. Some of them reportedly cut themselves with broken glass after police special forces appeared outside the compound. Prison administrators insist the special forces never actually entered the prison.

Headline: Presentation of Georgian wine held in Latvia
Riga held a presentation of Georgian wine on August 16, writes Akhali Taoba. The event was reportedly aimed at educating the market about counterfeit wine produced in Bulgaria and other countries with Georgian appellations.

The Russian ban on Georgian wine was justified by Moscow, in part, because of problems with counterfeiting.

More presentations along the same vein are planned in other countries.


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