That screeching sound coming from Georgia isn’t feedback from a guitar amp. It is, apparently, the sound of the brakes being applied to an MTV-sponsored blockbuster rock festival.
Recent publicity about an allegedly 129-year-old woman living in a mountain village in western Georgia has revived the country's Soviet-era reputation for hale and hearty centenarians. But data collected by experts in Tbilisi suggest that Georgia is not exactly a Garden of Youth.
The tragic death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and other top Polish officials in an airliner crash outside of the Russian city of Smolensk is striking an emotional chord in Georgia. Kaczynski had been one of Georgia's top boosters for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Their presence runs the gamut of sports. Australian coach Tim Lane led the Georgian national rugby team to victory over Russia in March for the top spot in the European Nations Cup; two Brazilian beach volleyball players delivered a fourth-place finish in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Eager to demonstrate its reliability as Washington's strategic partner, the Georgian government is downplaying security concerns about three former prisoners dispatched from the United States' Guantanamo Bay prison to Georgia.
US President Barack Obama's administration has been under ongoing pressure to find new homes for prisoners housed at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba aft
Tape recordings have surfaced that suggest Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili may have had a role in the broadcast of a fake television report about a Russian invasion of Georgia.
A media controversy in Georgia involving a fake report about a Russian invasion is threatening to turn into a political incident. Western diplomats have assailed the broadcast as "irresponsible," while the Russian Foreign Ministry has branded it "immoral." The Georgian government, meanwhile, is saying it cannot take responsibility for programming aired by a privately owned media outlet.
As elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, Georgians marked March 8 International Women's Day with public displays of respect for women - offering flowers, congratulations or even giving up bus seats to female passengers.
