Tbilisi (Georgia): Georgia will lift a state of emergency on Friday, a top official has said, but doubts remained about whether one of the country s main television channels would be allowed back on the air. "Georgian life will return to normal on November 16," the Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze said in televised comments yesterday.

"I hope that after lifting the state of emergency our country will continue its normal democratic process," Burjanadze said. The move was welcomed by the United States, a close ally and backer of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The US and European Union had been urging the immediate lifting of emergency rule.

"That's a very important step. It s crucial," Matthew Bryza, the US deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told journalists in Tbilisi, where he met with Saakashvili.

Saakashvili imposed the state of emergency, which banned demonstrations and independent news broadcasts, last week for a maximum period of 15 days after violent clashes last week between police and anti-government protesters.

Authorities also shut down Imedi television, a channel widely seen as backing the protesters. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which controls Imedi, said yesterday it had been informed that the channel s licence had been suspended and that all of its equipment had been seized.

"The reason given for this seizure and suspension by the Georgian authorities is the allegation that our partner in Georgia, Badri Patarkatsishvili, is under investigation for plotting a Russian-backed coup and that Imedi is somehow involved in this," said Martin Pompadur, the chairman of News Corp Europe, in an e-mailed statement.

Source : PTI