TBILISI, DFWatch–Traffic resumed Tuesday across the Enguri bridge, the only crossing between the breakaway region Abkhazia and Georgia proper, locals told DFWatch. However, the bureaucratic hurdles bar most of Gali residents from crossing the conflict line. January 11, breakaway authorities declared a quarantine and unilaterally blocked passage on Enguri bridge due to outbreak of swine … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–From August, 2019, several new flight destinations will connect Kutaisi with cities in Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, Netherlands and Italy. The new flights to Basel, Copenhagen, Brussels, Tallinn, Eindhoven and Bari will be offered by Wizzair, the Hungarian budget airline, operating out of David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport. The new routes will become … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Police in Georgia detained 16 persons on Friday after compromising videos were spread on social media showing a well-known politician from the ruling Georgian Dream party. The detainees, who include two opposition activists and a popular singer, are charged with keeping and distributing videos depicting someone’s private life. The opposition immediately criticized the government, … Read more
GALI, DFWatch–Sokhumi ponders prohibiting Abkhazians from travelling to Georgia proper for medical treatment and in search of other opportunities, because these developments undermine the breakaway region’s ‘statehood’. “Those Abkhazians who go to Georgia and receive Georgian citizenship in exchange for loans or other social benefits are actually betraying their nation. I hope the legislators will … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Jack Shepherd, 31, a UK national who was sentenced to six years in jail last July for the unintentional killing of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown, surrendered to police in Tbilisi, Georgia where he has been hiding for months. Prior to his surrender, Shepherd gave an interview to the Georgian TV station Rustavi 2 in which … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Due to the closure of the Enguri checkpoint, students from breakaway Abkhazia’s Gali district are unable pass their exams, which may result in their expulsion from the university. The problems come on the heel of a quarantine declared in early January by Georgia’s two breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia in order to prevent … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–The only road that connects South Ossetia to Russia was still blocked Monday after being closed for traffic seven days ago due to heavy snowfall and avalanches. Personnal dispatched by Tskhinvali has been trying to clear the road throughout the weekend and even carried out several controled explosions to try to trigger artificial avalanches. … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–The police on Friday detained two people in relation to the deadly gas explosion in Tbilisi which claimed the lives of four, including a 4 year old boy, his mother and an aunt. The two detainees are employees of KazTransGaz and are part of a crew that was dispatched to the scene of the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Four people were killed and seven people injured when an explosion rocked a block of apartments in uptown Tbilisi Wednesday evening. Among the injured is one child, whose condition is serious, health minister Davit Sergeenko said. The explosion is thought to have been caused by a natural gas leak in a flat in Didi … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s two breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Friday declared a quarantine in order to prevent the spread of the influenza virus H1N1 from Georgia proper. The quarantine will last for two months and not 20 days, as previously reported. In practice, a quarantine means an almost total ban on entering and … Read more