DFWatch staff 
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,
TBILISI, DFWatch–Belgium became the last member country to add its consent to Georgia’s association agreement with the European Union on Thursday.
The agreement has now been ratified by all 28 member states as well as EU’s own institutions
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian Dream coalition has agreed on Giorgi Kvirikashvili as their candidate for new prime minister, as replacement for Irakli Garibashvili, who resigned Wednesday evening.
Kvirikashvili is former vice prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.
TBILISI, DFWatch–The deadline for parliament to approve a new government is 14 or 15 January, 2016, but the procedure may finish before New Year, Georgia’s speaker of parliament said Thursday.
Irakli Garibashvili announced his resignation last night
TBILISI, DFWatch–The candidate for new prime minister will be discussed at a session of the Georgian Dream coalition on Friday, the speaker of parliament said Wednesday evening after the PM announced his resignation.
Speaker Davit Usupashvili
TBILISI, DFWatch–Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced his resignation in a brief TV address on Wednesday, after more than two years in the post.
He did not state any specific reasons for leaving, nor offer advice on who his successor should be, which ultimately