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The News in Brief

Wednesday, September 12
13 Syrian families provided with homes in Abkhazeti

The Abkhazian de-facto government provided 13 Syrian families who arrived from Syria with houses. According to the Apsni Press, Alexander Ankvab met with Zurab Adleiba, the Chairman of the Repatriation State Committee, and talked about the state of the compatriots who returned to their historic motherland. According to Adleiba, one more family will be provided with a house in the nearest future. (IPN)



Health Minister monitors work of insurance program

The Minister of Health, Labour and Social Care of Georgia continues observing the work of the state-funded insurance program launched on September 1, 2012. Zurab Tchiaberashvili visited the clinic Traumatologist, where he met with patients who were provided free surgical operations within their insurance policies. Currently, four insured patients are being treated at the hospital; two of them are pensioners, one disabled and one child. (Rustavi 2)



Kartuli Dasi plans to hold rallies from October 2

The opposition party Kartuli Dasi plans to begin peaceful demonstrations beginning October 2– the day after the parliamentary elections. The leader of the party, Jondi Baghaturia, says with these rallies the party will either celebrate the desired result of the election or object to the bias of the polls and demand the protection of votes. Baghaturia says the rallies will be held outside the parliament in Tbilisi and the new parliament in Kutaisi. The opposition party leader will submit the required statement at the municipalities of both cities today. (Rustavi 2)



Ruling party downplays Ivanishvili`s decision to sell his assets in Russia

The United National Movement (UNM) downplayed the decision of the leader of the Georgian Dream Coalition to sell his assets in Russia. UNM's Zurab Japaridze said at the briefing yesterday that selling assets in Russia did not mean that Ivanishvili was no longer dependent on Russia and Putin. Zurab Japaridze commented on the article published in the British online version of the Independent entitled: `Bidzina Ivanishvili: The billionaire with a Georgian dream'.

"Ivanishvili says he had a rule in Tbilisi, in Moscow and in Paris – his house was for family only, and only one or two business partners who had become friends were allowed in. It`s customary in business to invite your partners to your house, to make the families friends, it helps with business. But for me, the home is sacred. No business partners were ever allowed in, let alone Saakashvili! If Putin had found out I was meeting him, my business in Russia would have been over the next day."

Even before the August 2008 War between Russia and Georgia, there was extreme suspicion of Saakashvili and his pro-NATO agenda in Moscow, and Ivanishvili claims he would fly to Saakashvili`s residence by helicopter, where the two men would have meetings in secret, to avoid the Russian leadership finding out,` the article said.

"This statement made it clear once again who influenced and still influences Ivanishvili– even such an easy decision as to meet with the president of Georgia– this is the Kremlin and this is Putin. The same statement shows how strong and influential the support of the Kremlin is in Georgia and how successfully Putin uses it for achieving his goals," Zurab Japaridze said.

Bidzina Ivanishvili also commented on this controversy, saying the quotations in the article were exaggerated. (Rustavi 2)



Georgian Dream holds ‘memory event’

The Georgian Dream coalition’s youth organization held a ‘memory event’, dedicated to the 11th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, in front of the US Embassy. Participants of the event brought flowers and candles to the rally. Majoritarian candidates Tea Tsulukiani and Shota Khabareli also attended the event. Representatives of the US Embassy arrived at the event too. They thanked the organizers of the rally for support. (IPN)