DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–A 30-year-old Georgian unexpectedly won a sumo wrestling championship in Japan. Levan Gorgadze clinched his first ever victory in the highest division, Makuuchi.
Gorgadze, who competes under the ring name (shikona) Tochinoshin,
GALI, DFWatch–The breakaway region Abkhazia demands an official document issued by the Georgian Ministry of Justice proving that someone has renounced their Georgian citizenship in order to grant them an Abkhazian passport, Gali residents told DFWatch.
GALI, DFWatch–Georgian opera singer Giorgi Todua will hold a concert in the breakaway region Abkhazia on Wednesday, for the first time after the bloody war in 1991-92, which killed tens and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
VoA contributor Greta Van Susteren interviewed H.R. McMaster, 26th National Security Advisor, serving under President Donald Trump, at the White House. This is a transcript of a part of the interview pertaining to Russia.
TBILISI, DFWatch–A former militiaman was assassinated in South Ossetia on Tuesday. Breakaway authorities claim the suspect fled to Georgian-controlled territory.
Marek Dudayev was shot three times in Artsevi, his native village near the breakaway capital Tskhinvali, local media reports. His body was found in a building
TBILISI, DFWatch–The death of a young Chechen man who was shot in an anti-terror operation last month has sparked an outcry among locals in the Muslim-inhabited region he came from, while activists in Tbilisi rallied outside the government building.
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian volunteers who have been fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 accuse their commander of betrayal and have abandoned the brigade they belonged to in the Ukrainian military.
All but three of the around 40 Georgian volunteers
TBILISI, DFWatch–A court in Georgia on Friday found the country’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili guilty of abuse of power and sentenced him to three years in jail.
The sentence, which was passed in absentia, was initially four years, but the term was curtailed due to an amnesty law.
ახალი წლის ღამეს უკრაინელმა მესაზღვრეებმა ოდესის სანაპიროსთან ცეცხლი გაუხსნეს და დააკავეს გემი, რომელსაც ბულგარეთში კონტრაბანდული სიგარეტი გადაჰქონდა.
TBILISI, DFWatch–On December 31, Ukrainian border guards fired warning shots at a ship off the coast of Odessa and took it into custody.
The ship, which was flying a Tanzanian flag, was found to be carrying counterfeit cigarettes from Abkhazia, destined for Bulgaria.