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“Two people die of carbon monoxide poisoning in Tbilisi”

Akhali Taoba reports that two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the Didi Digomi district of Tbilisi.

60-year-old Liana Keleksashvili and her 70-year-old husband, Nodar Zakariadze, were found dead in their flat on January 21.

According to district representatives of the natural gas distribution company, a faulty heater could be to blame. The heater was still on when they entered the flat, gas company officials told the newspaper.

Experts are still working to confirm the cause of death.

Relatives said they last heard from the couple on January 18.



“Criminals attacked a Georgian family in the village of Chuburkhinji”

Criminals attacked a family in the Gali region village of Chuburkhinji late on the night of January 21, according to Rezonansi.

Representatives of the Abkhaz secessionist administration reportedly claim Georgian special service officers planned the “provocation.”

But Tornike Kilanava, Gali coordinator for the Tbilisi-backed Abkhazian government-in-exile, denied the separatists’ claims.

“Two masked criminals attacked the Jakhaiaia family, seriously injuring 45-year-old Neiron Jakhaia,” Kilanava said. “He was hospitalized at once. We don’t know further details of the incident yet, but I will stress that separatists’ accusations that the attack was organized by the Georgian military are false.”



“The size of the Georgian population is falling”

By 2025, Sakartvelos Respublika reports, the population of Georgia will fall by 800 000 people.

The newspaper cited a World Bank report on demographics on post-Soviet states.

The World Bank ranked post-Soviet countries by how dire their demographic situation is, placing Georgia fifth. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine all face population loss as well, according to the Bank. Russia will see a drop of nearly 20 million people in the next twenty years, the report warns.

Population figures will wane, albeit less dramatically, in most other post-Soviet states. The glaring exceptions are in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, which the newspaper points out are Muslim nations, where those countries can expect millions more citizens in 2025.



“National Guard instructors to pass through five-week retraining course”

Akhali Taoba writes about a training course for Georgian National Guard instructors. The course began at the Mukhrovani military base on January 21.

Over a month and a half, the trainees will go through technical, medical and topographic courses, among others. The goal of the new program is to impart training skills for the instructors to use with the reservists under their command.



“Georgian pop singer Achi Purtseladze released”

Sakartvelos Respublika reports that well-known Georgian pop singer and TV anchor Achi Purtseladze was released from jail on January 21.

In summer 2007, he was arrested for failing to notify police about a crime on Leselidze Street in central Tbilisi, when the robbers attacked a currency exchange booth. 36-year-old police officer Mamuka Gogoladze was killed in an ensuing shootout.

Purtseladze faced one to three years’ imprisonment, apparently for covering up for one of the culprits. After cooperating with investigators, his sentence was reduced to six months.