DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s prime minister in waiting defended his handling of the economic crisis as he answered questions from parliamentarians on Monday ahead of a confirmation vote today, Tuesday.
As expected, Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s tenure as economy minister
TBILISI, DFWatch–Tarkhan Batirashvili, a.k.a. Abu Omar al-Shishani, a notorious IS field commander from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, was reportedly seized by Kurdish and American commandos in Northern Iraq on Friday.
Abu Omar’s arrest was reported by the Russian
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s High Council of Justice on Friday appointed a new judge to the Appeals Court who was criticized as one of the court officials who decided to go easy on of those involved in the murder of a bank employee in 2006.
The murder of Sandro Girgvliani
TBILISI, DFWatch–Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the designated new prime minister of Georgia, plans to present his cabinet tomorrow. The list is expected to be almost identical to the current government, but he does not rule out changes in the future.
The former vice prime minister
TBILISI, DFWatch–Supporters of a second mosque in Batumi began collecting signatures Friday. The city on Georgia’s Black Sea coast is largely Muslim but the only mosque has been overcrowded for decades.
Signatures were collected at a corner of the Orta Jame
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Finance Ministry’s investigation service have detained a group of ten people for manufacturing fake credit cards and stealing more than 1.5 million laris.
Investigators describe the case as ‘a large-scale international crime.’ The ten are suspected of illegally
TBILISI, DFWatch–President Giorgi Margvelashvili Friday supported the ruling coalition’s nominee, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, as candidate for new prime minister and asked parliament to approve him.
The president’s administration supported Kvirikashvili’s candidacy
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian president pardoned 238 prisoners on Friday, 18 of whom were women and three minors.
According to Zviad Koridze, head of the president’s pardon commission, 172 prisoners will leave jail today. 11 of them are women and two are minors.
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Prosecutor General’s Office has launched an investigation into an incident where a man was allegedly beaten by police officers.
The Public Defender wrote on Thursday that a person had surgery at the central hospital in Tbilisi on November 10,