Georgia

TBILISI, September 29. /TASS/: Georgian Airways welcomes the statement made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding possible lifting of a ban on direct flights between the two countries and supports resumption of flights with consideration of Georgia’s interests, CEO of the Georgian air carrier Roman Bokeriya said in a statement released on Saturday.

TBILISI, September 11. /TASS/: Georgia will find itself in the epicenter of a clash between the United States and Russia if the country joins NATO, which will affect the future of the republic, former Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia political party Nino Burjanadze said on the national TV on Wednesday.

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on The Latest on an overturned cargo ship off the coast of Georgia (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

A Coast Guard officer says it could take “weeks, if not months” to remove a cargo ship that overturned while heading to sea from a port on the Georgia coast.

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Coast Guard rescuers pulled four trapped men alive from a capsized cargo ship Monday, drilling into the hull’s steel plates to extract the crew members more than a day after their vessel overturned while leaving a Georgia port.

All four were described as alert and in relatively good condition and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

“Best day of my 16-year career,” Lt. Lloyd Heflin, who was coordinating the effort, wrote in a text message to The Associated Press.

SUKHUM, September 9. /TASS/: Incumbent Abkhaz President Raul Khajimba has won the presidential runoff, according to preliminary data, garnering 47.38% of the vote, head of Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Tamaz Gogia told TASS in the early hours of Monday.

"According to preliminary data, Raul Khajimba is deemed elected in accordance with Article 19 of Abkhazia’s constitutional law on electing the president of the Republic of Abkhazia. Alkhas Kvitsiniya has garnered 46.19% [of the vote], while Raul Khajimba has secured 47.38% in the presidential runoff," he said.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on a cargo ship overturned off Georgia coast (all times local):

2 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard says rescuers have been stymied in their search for the remaining four crew members of a cargo ship overturned near a Georgia port by a fire onboard the vessel.

Coast Guard Capt. John Reed said Sunday afternoon that rescue teams safely evacuated 20 people from the ship in St. Simons Sound, but then determined the situation was too risky to go further inside the vessel.

TBILISI, September 2. /TASS/: Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced Monday that he is officially resigning.

"It was a great honor, and a massive responsibility at the same time, for me to serve to protect the interests of our country as the prime minister of Georgia. I have been and will always be a member of the Georgian Dream (ruling political party - TASS) and a devoted soldier of our country," he said in a Facebook statement.

ATLANTA (AP) — Six people were injured Saturday when lightning struck a 60-foot pine at the Tour Championship where they were taking cover from rain and showered them with debris, Atlanta police said.

The third round of the season-ending PGA Tour event had been suspended for about 30 minutes because of storms in the area, and fans were instructed to seek shelter. The strike hit the top of the tree just off the 16th tee and shattered the bark all the way to the bottom.

TBILISI, August 19. /TASS/: The export of goods from Georgia to Russia in value terms for the 7 months of 2019 amounted to around $303.8 mln, which is 26.1% higher than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office of Georgia reported on Monday.

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren framed their Democratic presidential bids in personal, faith-based terms Saturday before black millennial Christians who could help determine which candidate becomes the leading progressive alternative to former Vice President Joe Biden.

Sanders, the Vermont senator whose struggles with black voters helped cost him the 2016 nomination, told the Young Leaders Conference that his family history shapes his approach to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the rise of white nationalism in the United States.