The messenger logo

The News in Brief

Monday, September 20
24-year-old Georgian alpinist killed while ascending peak in Tchaukhi massif

One member of a Georgian expedition died in the Tchaukhi mountain range on Saturday night. While ascending Javakhishvili peak in the Kazbegi district, a group of four mountaineers were struck by falling stones on the slope.

24-year alpinist Zurab Ebanoidze was immediately killed. His body was carried down the mountain by two experienced climbers. Representatives of Kazbegi rescue services, border guards and locals also arrived at the camp to where his body was carried.

Friends of Zurab Ebanoidze also joined the alpinists in Tchaukhi massif late night. The body was transported to Tbilisi.

It was not Zurab Ebanoidze`s first ascent to Javakhishvili peak. He was a professional mountaineer and had scaled a number of peaks during many years of experience.
(Rustavi 2)



Georgian Economy Minister holds talks in US

For the purposes of attracting new investments to Georgia, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development is holding talks in the United States. Vera Kobalia is in California now and has already visited several American companies.

After the talks, heads of the world known brands expressed their desire to visit Georgia and learn the business environment and opportunities first hand.

`All the companies, we held meetings with, are interested in entering Georgia and therefore, they are looking for business partners in the same fields, with whom they would be able to establish relations`, Vera Kobalia said.
(Rustavi 2)



Coach-in-chief of Georgian National Judo Team resigns

The Coach-in-chief of the Georgian National Judo Team Amiran Totikashvili has resigned. Along with him, according to the decision of the executive committee of Judo Federation, all the coaches of the team have also been dismissed. The committee held a meeting where the reasons for Judoka Irakli Tsirekidze`s exclusion from the World Judo Championship 2010 in Japan were discussed.

`The coach-in-chief made a good decision, when he raised the question of his resignation. We discussed the issue at the meeting of the executive committee of the Judo Federation. We also discussed all the problems the federation is facing today`,Lado Vardzelashvili, the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs said after the meeting.

The minister added that a new candidate for the coach-in chief of the Georgian National Judo Team will be presented on Monday (September 20). Vardzelashvili said, the new coach will be Georgian.

`Within days, the minister for sports and youth affairs will work out and present new standards of all the functions and obligations concerning sportsmen and coaches`, he said.
(Rustavi 2)



First Clinical Hospital of Tbilisi to be privatized

Hospital buildings located on the territory of the First Clinical Hospital of Tbilisi, also known as Aramyants Clinic, are going to be subjected to privatization. The territory is being examined now.

The official spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said at the briefing on Friday that the process would not refer to any building in which internally displaced people are living.
(Rustavi 2)



Polish Tourist Hospitalized To Gudushauri Clinic

A Polish tourist has been hospitalized in the Gudushauri clinic.

A member of a tourist group from Poland, traveling in Kazbegi, had been taken from Mkinvartsveri (Mount Kazbegi) to the Gudushauri clinic of Tbilisi by helicopter.

The tourists went up the hill on September 15 and The Polish visitor suddenly felt ill last night. Rescuers of the Internal Ministry took her to the Tbilisi clinic safely.

According to the doctors, the tourist’s health was affected by the high pressure at the summit of the mountain, which is 3,800 meters above the sea level.
(Prime-News)



Books To Be Sold At Fixed Prices

Textbooks will be sold at fixed prices at 26 bookstores.

As Deputy Minister of Education Irina Kurdadze has stated at a briefing, the textbooks were not the property of the ministry and therefore the ministry could not determine books’ prices; however, before the beginning of the academic year, the ministry was negotiating with large distributors and an agreement on books’ fixed prices was achieved.

A list of the bookstores, where the books are sold at the lowest prices, is published on the official website of the ministry (www.mes.gov.ge).
(Prime-News)