Monday, January 19, 2026

Wild fire close to gas pipeline in Georgia

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Firefighters are trying to prevent the flames from reaching a gas pipeline. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Three acres of a nature reserve is on fire in Kobuleti, a coastal town in the Adjara region.

According to a reporter for the news agency Interpressnews, the fire is close to the juice processing plant in Kobuleti and firefighters say it is close to populated areas. A gas pipe in the area

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January 1 not the first attack on Jehova's Witnesses in Ozurgeti

Giorgi Arbolishvili
Giorgi Arbolishvili, spokesperson for Jehova’s Witnesses in Ozurgeti. (DF Watch.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–When strangers attacked a car and a house where Jehova’s Witnesses are meeting in Ozurgeti, Georgia, on January 1, it was not the first such attack.

Two years ago, strangers broke the windows of Kingdom Hall in Ozurgeti. The perpetrators were

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Georgia's Interior Ministry destroys surveillance material

alexandre_chikaidze_-_destroying_dirty_archive
Minister of Internal Affairs Alexandre Chikaidze personally ensuring the DVDs are destroyed Friday. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–45 DVDs and two hard drives were destroyed at the Interior Ministry on Friday, which included footage obtained through illegal surveillance.

Alexandre Chikaidze, Minister of Internal Affairs, said that the commission tasked with studying the illegally

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Georgia to keep archive obtained by illegal political surveillance

lasha_tughushi
Lasha Tughushi, one of the members of the commission, says the interior ministry has kept about 28 000 files, or 789 hours, of a surveillance archive, mostly of a political content. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s Interior Ministry still stocks about 28 000 computer files with recordings that were part of a system of political surveillance obtained through illegal means.

Only a few of the files will be destroyed – those which contain material of an intimate nature.

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Georgian PM visited Israel

Maya_Panjikidze_-_Irakli_Gharibashvili_-_Benjamin_netanyahu_-_January_2014
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze (left), Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo published by Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has visited Israel to meet with his colleague Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.

The meeting with Peres was about the good bilateral relations between the two countries and confirmed an intention to deepen

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GeoStat: Georgia's GDP 8% higher in Dec '13 than Dec '12

vegetable street vendor
The unofficial economy is not part of GeoStat’s rapid monthly estimates. (DF Watch.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s estimated real GDP growth rate was 8.4 percent in December 2013, compared to the same month in 2012, according to preliminary data published by the National Statistics Department, GeoStat.

According to the estimate, real GDP growth

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Villagers block road to stop hydro power dam

Khaishi_demonstration_2014-01-29
People from Khaishi on Wednesday blocked a road to prevent surveying work for the gigantic Khudoni hydro power dam. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–People from the Svaneti mountain village Khaishi Wednesday demonstrated against the construction of a gigantic hydro power dam that will wipe out their community.

Demonstrators blocked the road to Jvari-Mestia with stones to interrupt land surveying

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