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The News in Brief

Tuesday, August 31
Fire in Mestia District extinguished

The fire in Latali district, in the village of Matskhvarishi has been extinguished, - reported the governor of Mestia, Gocha Chelidze to InterpressNews.

According to his information the last sources of fire have now been put out. The fire did not reach urban areas, but 400 square km of wood was damaged.

The Emergency department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working there. The investigation continues.
(Interpressnews)



Instructing Russian Soldiers in “South Ossetia”

Russian soldiers are being instructed in “South Ossetia”, reports the Tskhinvalian media.

The instruction took place on the “Dzarcem” shooting-range.

The instructions consisted of taking position in the battlefield, disguising an armed personal carrier, finding torpedo mines and obstacles and so on.

In the active phase of instruction, the soldiers will have to destroy conditional attackers.
(Interpressnews)



Georgia - Bulgaria 94:83

Georgia beat Bulgaria on the final day of the EuroBasket qualifying round. However the victory left a bitter aftertaste, as it was insufficient for Georgia to qualify directly for the final. In the first period, the guests scored 48, leading the hosts by 7. Georgia replied with a 13:2 rally of their own at the start of the second half and leapt in front.

Georgia played a total of 7 games in group C, gaining 14 points and finished in second place in the group.
(Rustavi 2)



Four people die in road accident

Four people died in a road accident in the village of Tskhramukha, Khashuri district, yesterday. One of the car crash victims was a 14-year-old boy. Three passengers died in the accident itself, while the driver, 50-year-old Nodar Malatsidze died at the hospital. Three people were injured in the accident.
(Rustavi 2)



Dmitri Makhtin performs at Classical Music Festival

Nightly serenades continue in the ancient Gonio Fortress. The festival under the patronage of Georgian musician Liana Isakadze put on a concert by Dutch violinist, Dmitri Makhtin, who came to Georgia especially for the festival. Georgian Symphonic Orchestra accompanied the violinist. A conductor from South Korea was invited to the festival to conduct the Symphonic orchestra of Georgia.
(Rustavi 2)



Day of Kolkhoba marked in Adjara

An old festivity on the Day of Kolkhoba was held in Sarfi, Adjara, on Sunday. The tradition that was restored a few years ago is becoming more and more impressive each year. A special stage was arranged at the border with Turkey, where old Laz songs were sang. The chairperson of the Adjara government offered his congratulations for the Day of Kolkhoba.

Organisers of the event arranged a special open market around the stage, where each village of the Khelvachauri district offered the visitors Laz dishes.

The Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. One of the chief tribes of ancient kingdom of Colchis, the Laz were initially early followers of Christianity, but most of them subsequently converted to Sunni Islam during the Ottoman rule of Caucasus in the 16th century.
(Rustavi 2)



Driver, suspected of murder, arrested

On August 13 2010 at around 9:00 pm, an unidentified vehicle crashed into Ketevan Zarandia (DoB 1987) and her infant child, Ilia Gulua on Tsereteli Avenue in Tbilisi. The driver fled the scene when he realised that both the mother and child were dead.

As a result of the investigative operation and extracting video records from the surveillance cameras, the police were able to identify the driver. Lasha Kajaia, 23, had already repaired the damage to his Mitsubishi Pajero to conceal any trace of crime.

The suspect has already admitted the crime. Lasha Qajaia was detained under the articles 276 and 128 of the Criminal Code of Georgia which envisages imprisonment of up to 11 years.
(Rustavi 2)



Lufthansa apologises for incident in Tbilisi airport

Lufthansa Airlines Head Office has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers of the Tbilisi-Munich flight yesterday. The company authorities stated that the crew of the plane made uncomfortable decision for the security of the flight.

Yesterday morning, 10 passengers aboard the Tbilisi-Munich flight were asked to disembark the plane, while the luggage of the other passengers was unloaded without explanation. The airline's Tbilisi office gave no explanation regarding the incident, while head office explained that the crew was in charge of making decisions and one of the reasons for the incident might be the bad weather in Germany. They said the plane could not land overloaded.

The ten passengers, who were unable to fly to Germany yesterday, will be flown there today.
(Rustavi 2)