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MOSCOW (JTA) — An anti-Semitic article in a newspaper in the former Soviet republic of Georgia has triggered a sharp response from the country's leader.

Noah, an independent newspaper published in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, published an article earlier this month blaming Jews for the high level of unemployment and other economic ills besetting the country in recent years.

The article, by the paper's publisher, called Jews "vampires," who have been "pumping money, gold, nerves, thoughts" out of Georgia.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze described the article as full of "fascism and bigotry."

"If the free press continues to publish such articles, we would have to reconsider our attitude" toward these publications, he said.

Lubavitch tycoon may save soccer team

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Joseph Gutnick, an ordained Lubavitch rabbi and mining magnate, emerged last week in a new role as the potential savior of an Australian professional soccer team, the Melbourne Demons.

Gutnick, who appeared last year in the Top 20 in the Business Review Weekly annual list of wealthy Australians, is the chairman and director of nine public companies.

The 44-year-old Gutnick described himself as a "loyal emotional supporter" of the Melbourne Demons, though he rarely watches the team play because nearly all the games take place on the Sabbath.

In the past, this father of 10 has come to the aid of his old school, Yeshivah College in Melbourne, and is known as a generous benefactor of Jewish community concerns in Australia and abroad.

Gutnick said he could run gold mines without being present and therefore is sure he could play a leading role in an Australian soccer club without attending matches on the Sabbath.

Quebec Jews debate English kosher labels

MONTREAL (JTA) — Canadian Jewish groups are at odds over an agreement that will enable English-labeled kosher food products to remain on store shelves in Quebec for Passover.

The Canadian Jewish Congress' Quebec region and the province's French Language Office signed an agreement last month that brings an end to a controversy over the Passover products.

This spring, matzah and other kosher products labeled only in English were removed from some store shelves because they were believed to contravene Quebec language laws, which require that French appear on all products.

The French Language Office, which is Quebec's language watchdog, has now agreed that special provisions in the law apply for Passover and other time-limited situations.

B'nai B'rith Canada's Quebec regional office was pleased that the government agency acknowledged that the sale of kosher-for-Passover food labeled only in English is legal. But it voiced concern about "the precedent established by the signing of a formal agreement between the French Language Office and Canadian Jewish Congress purporting to define the legal rights of merchants."

Czech Jews mark museum's birthday

PRAGUE (JTA) — The Jewish Museum in Prague observed its 90th anniversary last week, affirming the resurgence of the Czech Jewish community.

Czech President Vaclav Havel and other Czech officials were on hand when museum Director Leo Pavlat unveiled a plaque recognizing the history of the museum at the Aug. 29 ceremony.

The plaque states, in Czech, English and Hebrew, that the building now designated as the museum's administrative center housed a Jewish elementary school between 1920 and 1942, and that its teachers and pupils perished in the Holocaust.

Havel opened the museum's new educational and cultural center, which will provide in-depth historical information about the Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia.

The museum was established at the turn of the century in an effort to preserve artifacts from two synagogues that had been destroyed during a renovation of Prague's Jewish Quarter.