🏔🎿💰 A major financial scandal is brewing in Georgia.
The Italian company "Demaclenko" accuses the government and the manager of the ski resorts "MTA" in a possible corruption conspiracy in preparation for the world championship in freestyle and snowboarding.
There were two competitors for the 137 million lari (about $47 million) tender announced in April, but the Ministry of Economy chose Technoalpin, which offered a higher price. The MTA itself stated that Demaclenko did not gain the necessary experience points required by the tender. At the moment, the Italians have offered a price of $ 3 million lower than their competitors and are ready to provide additional documents, leaving no opportunity to go to court.
ℹ️ In March 2023, the World Freestyle and Snowboard Championships will be held in Bakuriani and Gudauri. Local entrepreneurs who are engaged in ski resorts are already predicting the next winter season to be "fat", since in addition to competitions, foreign athletes will come to train, and tourists will want to visit the places where the champions skied.

👩‍🦰🇬🇪 Hundreds of women in Tbilisi, Batumi and other cities came out to protest against domestic violence.
The pickets were silent. The women came in black clothes, with placards: "Your silence kills", "Don't kill my mother", "Don't close your eyes".
The reason was the Saturday murder of a 30-year-old girl by her husband. A man slit her throat and stabbed her in a crowded Tbilisi bus right in front of the children. He did not try to hide and surrendered to the police without resistance, he faces 13 to 17 years in prison.
ℹ️ Domestic violence in 2021 ranks second (!) in Georgia among all crimes committed - 4100 (72% solved). It is not customary to talk about it loudly, but in private conversations, many acquaintances claim that this problem exists in society.

🇬🇪🗣 Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili made several important statements over the weekend.
📍About Ukraine: “The goal of the Ukrainian government was to open a second front in Georgia. Arestovich said that if Saakashvili was in power, he would go to war with Russia. However, of course, they did not receive it and never will receive it. Today we are in power and we will never allow this.”
📍About Saakashvili: “He will not be transferred for treatment abroad. No and no again. This is decided by the law and the constitution. And I obey the law and the constitution.”
📍About Borjomi: “I have already given the necessary instructions to the Ministry of Justice, the final decision will be made at the next government meeting. Our brand will continue to work, I want to turn to employed employees and say that all problems will be solved.”
📍About Gvaramia: “Everyone who breaks the law and commits a crime must be punished. He is no exception."

⚽️❗️🇬🇪 Football scandal in Georgia: two second league clubs were punished for selling games.
The National Football Federation imposed penalties on Dynamo (Zugdidi) and the capital's Shevardeni 1906 for selling matches and fraudulent transactions.
Both clubs were transferred to a lower division, fined $3,000 each, excluded from the 2022 league and Kipiani Cup. Eight players are banned from playing for a year, and six more for six months. Individual players are subject to personal fines - from $800 to $1000.

❗️Following Saturday, a new case of domestic violence in Tbilisi: a man attacked his wife with a knife at a bus stop.
The injured woman is in the hospital. The attacker has been arrested. A criminal case has been opened on the fact of attempted murder.
After the two events, even the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, could not remain silent, writing in social networks: "No to the murder of women!"

🇷🇺🇬🇪 The State Duma of the Russian Federation named countries with “discriminatory actions against Russian media”, Georgia was included in it.
Piskarev, head of the State Duma Commission on investigating the facts of interference by foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia, said that an analysis of information over the past 5 years on discriminatory actions and outright repression against Russian media and journalists abroad showed that 13 countries behave most aggressively, including Georgia. According to him, the West has been conducting a massive campaign to discredit Russian projects for several years and has promised in the near future a law on mirror measures against countries that allow hostile actions against their journalists.
🧐 Georgia is included in this list, although Russia Today's subdivision SputnikGeorgia (whose materials are regularly propagandistic), pro-Russian AltInfo is quietly working in the country, and local residents watch Channel One and Rossiya24 without any problems.

🚘🇬🇪 Cars in Georgia on foreign license plates.
A lot of channel members have come to the country in recent months and I decided to remind the rules of being here with a car. A car on foreign plates can stay in Georgia for 90 days without sanctions. After that, either leave and "reset the term", or rearrange the numbers to Georgian (you can do it for up to 3 years), and the third option is to score and pay a fine upon departure (50 GEL per day, but no more 1000 GEL).

🦧 Monkeypox is not a serious threat to Georgia.
This was stated by the scientific director of the Center for Disease Control of Georgia Paata Imnadze, noting that no one in the world is waiting for a pandemic of this disease. The smallpox vaccine hasn't been used since 1980 and should be enough to prevent complications, he said, but it has the potential to be produced if needed.
🦠 Meanwhile, statistics on covid-19 (let me remind you that the Ministry of Health now gives it weekly):
586 new cases
605 recovered
113058 tests
5 died

🇬🇪🚫🇪🇺 Georgia may be denied the status of a candidate for EU membership.
Formula TV reports that they have a copy of the document handed over to Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in Brussels. It mentions 6 points that, according to the European Union, can become an obstacle to European integration:
📍 Withdrawal from the Charles Michel Agreement, a decision that the ruling party made in July 2021, although it had previously signed it
📍 Violations during the first and second rounds of local government elections
📍 Mistakes and bias revealed in the appointment of judges, possible violations and failure of agreements with the opposition in this regard
📍Possible violation of the rights of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili as a prisoner
📍 Politically motivated persecution of Mtavari Arkhi CEO Nika Gvaramia, who was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on May 16
📍 The events of July 5, 2021, when Tbilisi Pride was supposed to take place and the lack of response to them, a large number of journalists affected

📺 The Communications Commission has published a report on the Georgian TV market.
According to the study, the most important segment of television is the elderly population.
Viewing level by age:
65: 30.6%
55-64: 26.9%
44-54: 21.6%
35-44: 15.8%
25-34: 10.8%
16-24: 9.9%
💰 In the first quarter of 2022, TV channels' advertising revenues grew by $6 million, which is $500,000 more than last year.
Income was distributed by TV companies as follows (in GEL):
Imedi 5.4 million, Mtavari Arkhi 2.5 million, Rustavi2 1.9 million, TV Pirveli 1.6 million.
In advertising categories, gambling ranked first with 26% of revenue, followed by medicine 13.5%, industry 12.8%, drinks 11%, food 7.6%, cosmetics 7.1%.
❗️Gambling advertising has been banned in Georgia since March 2022, which will change the advertising market on an annualized basis.

🇬🇪❤️ Tomorrow, May 26, is a holiday and official holiday in Georgia - Independence Day.
Many cities will host celebrations, concerts and exhibitions. In Tbilisi, the entire central part of the city will be blocked for traffic. Banks, houses of justice, state and most private institutions do not work on this day. There have been huge traffic jams in the city for three days.
📹 In the video, a rehearsal of the flight of aircraft over the Georgian capital. Do not be afraid if you see military equipment in the country today and tomorrow.

🇷🇺🚫🇬🇪 Famous Georgian singer Tamara Gverdtsiteli canceled concerts and returned to her homeland in Georgia.
In an interview with the local television company Imedi, she said that she "respects Russia, where she has lived for 30 years, loves her, it’s a part of her life, but the feeling of homeland is the highest." Gverdtsiteli said that she decided not to perform in Moscow at a festive concert dedicated to March 8, as the war began and said that her mother, a native of Odessa, was in a very difficult situation: “She often cries. All my ancestors are from Odessa. For my mother, all the streets are dear there. It's very hard for me to talk about it."