DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–The new defense minister in Georgia promises to sign a disputed military deal with France about air defense. Her predecessor Irakli Alasania claims the reason he was dismissed last November was that he wanted to go ahead with the same deal.
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s foreign trade turnover in the first four months of 2014 was 13 percent less than in the same period last year, according to preliminary figures published by the National Statistics Department, GeoStat.
The turnover totaled USD 3,015
TBILISI, DFWatch–The government in Georgia is facing another challenge – fire safety in buildings – after three boys died in a hotel fire in Kobuleti, a town on the Black Sea coast, a few days ago.
Wednesday morning there was a fire at a café in Batumi. No-one
ndi
TBILISI, DFWatch–A new poll shows that the ruling coalition has lost almost half of its support since last year, while the National Movement has slightly increased its support. For other parties there is no significant change.
If there were held a parliamentary
TBILISI, DFWatch–China has gifted 245 units of tractors and other machinery to Georgia. The hardware, which also includes bulldozers, excavators, trucks and off-road vehicles, is worth about USD 10 million.
Accepting this gift from one of Georgia’s top trading
TBILISI, DFWatch–The head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) commends the head of the National Bank for conducting an exemplary monetary policy. The Georgian lari has tanked in recent months.
The lari has gone down
TBILISI, DFWatch–EU is allocating 150,000 euros for Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili learned about this decision during his visit to Brussels during a meeting with EU’s neighborhood commissioner Johannes Hahn.
TBILISI, DFWatch–“This street is taken – there’s no place for homophobia and transphobia here!” This is the slogan of another online campaign to prepare for the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), May 17.
Behind the campaign stands
TBILISI, DFWatch–Locals in a village in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region installed a bust of Joseph Stalin on Victory Day, May 9.
This was the third time someone put up a bust of the dictator in Akura since Victory Day, May 9, 2012.
On the previous two occasions
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies reports in Abkhazian media that representatives of a German company visited the region.
Media outlets in Sukhumi reported that representatives of an unspecified German company met with the de facto leaders