DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has appointed veteran diplomat and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in Georgia’s Parliament Tedo Japaridze as foreign affairs advisor.
Japaridze served as foreign minister in 2003 to 2004,
TBILISI, DFWatch–The European Union on Thursday finally agreed on a visa waiver suspension mechanism, the last obstacle to the long-awaited visa free travel scheme to go into effect for Georgian and Ukrainian nationals.
On December 7, the EU’s three governing bodies, the European Council,
TBILISI, DFWatch–There are road restrictions all over Georgia due to bad weather, the Roads Department warned Thursday.
Trailers and semi-trailers are prohibited from driving between the 1km and 50km mark on the S-8 Khashuri-Akhaltsikhe-Vale road,
TBILISI, DFWatch–The district court in Telavi, in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region, on Thursday sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for murdering a US citizen last August.
The court determined that on August 12, 2016, Mikheil Chincharashvili met the US tourist
DFWatch recently had a Skype interview with Kenneth Yalowitz, former US Ambassador to Georgia (1998-2001).
Mr. Yalowitz emphasized that Georgia is a country which expects problems and delays on the way toward democratic reforms, while firmly moving forward
TBILISI, DFWatch–In 2014, Georgia signed an international convention to end violence against women and impunity of perpetrators, but two years later the country has still not ratified it.
After Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani had signed the Istanbul Convention on
TBILISI, DFWatch–A 53-year-old man died in an accident in a manganese mine in Chiatura on Saturday.
Paata Ghavtadze died from injuries while leaning out of the locomotive he was driving in the poorly-lit Itkhvisi mine in the mining town in the Imereti region in central Georgia.
TBILISI, DFWatch–Muslims in Mokhe in southern Georgia do not accept a compromise suggested by a government commission and continue to pray on the ruins of a mosque in the village.
Local Muslims and Orthodox Christians have disagreed for two years
TBILISI, DFWatch–One person died and eight were injured Saturday in an accident in the south of Georgia.
The accident happened on the Tbilisi-Akhaltsikhe highway near Atskuri at about 13:00.
The local newspaper Sknews.ge reported that a truck crashed with a minibus
Almost 5.9 million international visitors arrived in Georgia during 2016, which is 7.9 percent more than in the same period last year, the head of Georgian National Tourism Administration said on Friday.
Out of these tourists (who stayed in the country during 24 hours and longer)